Reunion Time! - Part 2 Prehistoric Gardens

So we made an unscheduled stop on our way down the Oregon coast to this tucked-away tourist attraction called Prehistoric Gardens.  As is usually the case, it was a really good idea.  What makes more since than life-size dinosaur replicas in a forest that was probably around when they were? 

The Captain did not want to pose with T-Rex in the parking lot.

In the washed out background is a brontosaurus.

This blurry picture is the only one of the
 triceratops, which is one of my favorites.

 We just wandered around the trails, following the map, spotting cool ancient beasts. 

 The kids were in heaven.

This one looks like the dinosaur was somehow
following us.  I assure you, it was not.
Still not sure how I took that one . . .

Ichthyosaurus, a personal The Captain favorite

"get the baby dinosaurs, Mom"

 Johnny was explaining how big the stegosaurus's brain is.

Even Lee enjoyed herself.

As you can see, it was pretty great.  It was an awesome introduction to the Redwoods.  More of those to come . . .

Reunion Time! Part 1 - Lighthouse

So our family reunion this year was for my family.  We went to Crater Lake.  Since it was in the middle of August, it saved us from slowly hating each other as we ran out of things to do in the dogs days of summer. It was a nice reprieve from the heat.  It was wonderful to see our family again, and meet some of my nephews for the first time.  In short, it was glorious.  

So get ready for picture overload. 

We decided to go early to the reunion and spend some time vacationing in the redwoods before we met up with everyone.  It is my favorite place on the planet and no one else in the fam had been there, so it seemed a waste to be so close and not introduce them.  We flew into Eugene late, slept, rented a car, and drove down the coast.  We stopped at a small town for their farmer's market and had blueberries, homemade humus, and chocolate for lunch.  While we were there, we got a flier for a dinosaur park.  More on that in the next post. 

And we stopped at a lighthouse.  Of course.  We have none in Texas, that I know of, so we wanted to show them to the kids take some awesome pictures.  What can I say?  I pack my camera, I'm going to fit in some photo shoots.

Super girl!

Once this cuteness started, I jumped in on the action.

You always start with the traditional family picture . . . then things deteriorate, or in my line of work - get awesome.

The super hero thing was kind of a theme for this shoot. 

There's a reason we call her Joy.  This girl
pretty much has fun everywhere.

But she's beautiful when she's just sitting still, too.

Then this guy wanted his own solo time, too.  Which usually involves poses of his own invention.  I contribute some pointers.

In conclusion, yes lighthouses make for good photo locations.  

More Water babies!

For the last session of swimming lessons, The Captain wanted to do diving class.  What a turn around from last year, when he was scared to jump off!  The only diving classes were in the morning, so that meant swimming classes got kicked over to me.  We managed to get up and be at the pool by 8 in the morning, which meant it was only 92 degrees outside, instead of 127.  The early bird doesn't get fried in Texas.

The Captain loved his lessons.  He was good at taking direction and practicing and he got pretty good by the end.  We will definitely do diving class next year.

Front fall in

 Approach and jump.

Front dive.

 He can do a back fall in from the board, too.  But the awesome picture I took got deleted from my phone, sorry. But here's a video.

And here's Miss Joy swimming like a fish.  She's the one entirely under water. She was super happy that she got to have class in her favorite pool.  She pretty much spent the entire class wiggling around under there.  The Captain taught her everything he learned, so she's started to backstroke.  Her teachers kept asking me when she turns 5 so she could start official swim classes.  I had to tell them she wasn't even 4 yet.  

No fear from this girl.

 And this is what Miss Lee and I did while the other two swam.  She's wearing her pjs and Joy's sun hat.  And holding the lid to her tupperware container full of breakfast.