Jacksonville & Oregon Caves & Butte Creek Mill Aug 27, 28 & 29

After our trip to Harry and David we decided to head out to Jacksonville: a pretty historical town just outside of Medford where over 100 buildings are on the National Register of Historic Places.

There was a neat museum there with an original Coleman stove... not that much different from the Coleman stove today!The kids enjoyed playing the in the Children's museum So did I :-) The vineyards and fruit orchards around Jacksonville were so prettyThursday night and Friday we took some time to do some back to school shopping atTHE MALL! Wahoo!Ethan got fixated on buying this puppet with his birthday money

"Burt" has since provided many hours of entertainment.Friday morning we headed out for the Oregon Caves.

We plugged the address into our trusty GPS and headed out. It was a beautiful trip into the valleys and farmlands, then up a mountain.... on a dirt road??? We ended up getting lost up on some Forest Road with no satellite service and crazy narrow dirt roads. Luckily we had a travelling companion we met along the way who was just as lost as we were, but he had better maps, so we DID eventually find our way after an extra hour of travel and some frustration.

The van was FILTHY from all the dust on the roads

The cave tour was really cool

It was a 90 minute tour, so we got to spend a LOT of time meandering through the underworld

We took the "scenic route" hike down from the caves and got this cool view of the Siskiyou mountain range

Needless to say, we took the highway home!

Saturday we headed back home with a stop in Eagle Point to see the Butte Creek Mill.

This ended up being a fun stop. Here's a little info:

The mill began operation in 1872, built by the pioneers with double-bitted axes and hand saws felled trees that were already more than one hundred years old. Foundation pillars nearly two feet square, were hewn with broad axes; the beams were morticed together and secured to one another with hardwood pegs; boards for the walls were whipsawed from logs and nailed on with hand made square nails. The mill consists of a basement and three floors.

Water from the dam, a short walk upstream, flows in the millrace to the lower level of the mill where it turns a turbine that powers the wheels, pulleys, shafts, belts, and the millstones that power the whole milling process. Water returns to the creek through the tailrace.

The stones (1,400 pounds each) that do the work were quarried in France, assembled in Illinois, shipped around the horn to Crescent City and then carried over the mountains by horse and wagon and put into service more than 134 years ago.

Here's Ethan letting the water in to start everything turning to grind the grain

At the mill was a cute little store where you could buy their products

and this super cool old refrigerator

Next door was one of the coolest antique stores I have ever seen as well. Well worth the stop.

Great little Oregon vacation!

Crater Lake & Harry and David Aug 26 &27

August 25 our family headed out for a little mini-vaca and checked out Crater Lake (about 90 min. from Bend).

The lake is SO BLUE, it is hard to describe.

At 2000 feet deep it is the deepest lake in the U.S.

It is a caldera filled only by precipitation, hence it's pure clarity.

I thought about packing a lunch, but read there were dining options available.

Um, not next time... we paid 4 BUCKS for a PB & J!!!
So pretty... you can drive all around the rim of the lake

Along our drive on the rim

These were called the pinnacles

Interesting volcanic fumaroles

After Crater Lake we headed into Medford.

Here is the princess travelling light.

She is carrying 4 bags in this pic, and I had to take her shoes for her for our 2 night stay!!

Medford is the home of Harry and David.

Their pear orchard is in Medford as is their production plant, so the next day we went on the free tour they offered. It was really interesting.

EVERYTHING is packaged by hand!!

I'd never seen anything like it... lots and lots and lots of food and candy!

Here is a woman tying bows by hand!

Now I have a better appreciation for and know why their products are rather pricey.

Making "Moose Munch" Yum!!

At the end of our tour we got a little treat. Mmmm!

I thoroughly enjoyed the tour and recommend it to anyone heading out to Medford.

While in Medford we were also able to catch up with Brad's colleague, Po, from Boston, and his fiance, so that was a nice treat too.

Abby's 6th Birthday

On August 24th we celebrated Abby's 6th birthday.

In attendance were Isaac, Ethan, Chole, McKenzie, Carson, Kennedy and Taylor Abby helped decorate her puppy cake.

I thought it turned out cute!

The party guests

Grandpa's first visit without snow: Aug 16-25

As part of our backyard improvements we have finally bought a firepit and chairs for everyone to sit on. It only took us 2 years... I know... sad.

The kids were having a great time having rolling races in the backyard until they noticed they were getting tiny cuts from the grass. In an effort to protect themselves they donned the carrying totes for our chairs and continued to roll around in the grass... weirdos! Dad chillin' by our new fire pitGoofin' around in the yard

Ethan's first cub scout activity was the Space Derby. The boys and their siblings were invited to make rockets to later race with the other boys and their families.

This was a great activity and kept them engaged in sanding, glueing, shaping and painting for the better part of the afternoon. This was a great grandpa activity too since he spent a good 10 years as a cub scout leader in the 80's. Sadly I do not have a picture of Ethan with his finished product, and I was unable to attend the actual Space Derby which sounded fun. The real hit however was not the Space Derby itself but the awesome backyard it was hosted in. Check it out...
Aug 19 Space Derby



We took dad up to Sparks Lake
where it got a little toasty, and Abby and Ethan engaged in a little sibling rivalry

Abby lookin' for frogs

Caught one! (actually a bunch :D)

Saturday August 22nd we headed out to the Central Oregon Airshow.

It was a perfect day for an airshow. Not too hot at all (notice we ALL have chairs!! :D)

Grandpa's always up for an airshow.

It was a pretty small scale airshow. This was the only jet they had, but it was still a fun, entertaining afternoon.

We also went floating down the river, but it is a bit risky taking the camera down the river, so we don't have pictures of our float trip I'm afraid.

It was nice having dad visit with some nice weather. The only time he has visited us in the last 8 years was in the winter, so it was great to go out and have some summer fun!

First snow fall?? on Oct. 4th???

This morning we woke up at 6:45am to Ethan jumping on our heads telling us: "Get up! Get up! Come see I wrote my name in the snow... It's snowing outside!" I thought there was maybe a skiff of snow (it IS after all OCT. 4TH), and then Ethan threw up the blinds to show us the accumulation outside, and it was a pretty good snow!

The kids were so giddy with excitement to go out and play in the snow. I think there is nothing like the excitement of kids on the first day of snow. They are so thrilled, it's just like they've seen it again for the first time. It is so fun!!
The first snowfall is always so fun... especially so when it was so unexpected!

It continued to snow until early afternoon and we ended up with a couple inches of snow to play with in the afternoon.

It was especially nice that it was General Conference today, so we didn't have to go to church and could stay at home with the fire and hot chocolate :-D