I'M BAAAAACK!!!!!!!!

Did you miss me???

The vacation was AMAZING! It will be hard to give you the highlights because all of it truely was great....but it true BW fashion I will break it down to our highlights!

1. The Drive: Ok, so I knew we were going far...I wanted to go just a bit further than we would normally go...well...let's just say it was about 10 HOURS door to door! Wait wait wait...this includes stopping, the countless potty breaks for our children (all 5 of which ranged from 15 months to 8). To top that fabulous drive off our DVD player broke on the last trip! We attempted to buy another but the one we wanted....SOLD OUT. What do you do??? To my great amazement (which always seems to happen with these kids)they...were fine. Oh what did we do before DVD??? I will tell you....read, sleep, play, talk, and FIGHT! And that....is what they did for a whopping total of 20 HOURS!

2. The Rental Home: WOW! I knew this house would be amazing...that is why I chose it. Pictures do not do justice to the craftsmanship and uniqueness that went into building this home. There were fossils in the wall, trees growing through the house, and everything was eco friendly. The setting couldn't have been more perfect with a creek for a backyard, firepit for roasting, sauna for relaxing, and hammock to lay around in all day. We had the street lined with fresh blackberries we could pick and eat each day...wow! Now that all being said....here is the humor.... ok we get there to our 3 bedroom home for our 3 families and the 2 upstairs are amazing...beds hang from the ceiling and really cool. The house talks of the loft with a king bed, double bed, and futon....all true TECHNICALLY! The "LOFT" is mattresses on the floor in the top of each bedroom with a head clearance of 3 feet (maybe). You go in each room and climb a tree to get to it and then IF and only IF you can get up there you are right in the bedroom of your friend or family....Well you might say...hey I thought there was a 3rd bedroom you should just take that....We did but it also doubled as our only room to watch TV! We pulled a mattress out of the loft brought it down and 2 of our family slept on the floor and 2 on the wonderful Couch/Fouton! Oh the memories we make!

3. The Drive to the Home: This is actually a separate highlight. The drive was just reffering to the time to get to Coos Bay....the home wasn't exactly in Coos Bay per say... We drove for 45 minutes on a dirt road past ALL civilization, STORES, and CELL SERVICE! We decided before we left to bring the "dry goods" with us and then hit the store to get the stuff that couldn't make the drive. Well, we did not anticipate our lack of desire to return to town after the 45 minute drive on narrow gravel road at 20 mph.....so our "First Feast" was cheese sticks, yogurt, snack crackers and the adults ate salami and cheese sandwiches on the half of loaf of bread we had....ahhh the memories made!

4. The Waterfalls: This was amazing...there were several trails you could take to hike. We took them all. My favorite however was the last one on the last day...We hiked to 5200 feet to the top of the waterfall we had been looking at. it really reminded me of what I have been doing this last 6 months..The road was long, at times hard (especially carrying a 2 year old), and we were often unsure....but when we reached the top.....that is when it became worth it all! The pictures once again will not show the beauty that I saw that day and the feeling I had looking at those two mountains that I just climbed. It was so inspiring to me and hope to everyone else that was with us!

5. The Change: Another wonderful highlight for me was watching our video game and tv junkie children discover the "playground" they were living in. They went from not really knowing what to do outside to never being in. They created games, discovered nature (slugs, snakes, and crayfish), and were in the creek exploring. This transformation was priceless!

6. "ROD" Survivor Man: OMG...this was by far the funniest....My husband transformed into a survivalist on this trip along with the other guys. BUT my husband had a headband (the bandana) and a Stick that he was trying to carve with his fillet knife (because I failed to buy him a "Big Rambo Sized Knife" when I went to the store the first day...oh yeah it was Safeway by the way) This turned into a nickname that was origianlly for his stick but now his name...ROD SURVIVIOR MAN!!

Well there are a million other funny and priceless memories that I could have shared but these by far are the highlights....
It was a privilage to go on such a great vacation with my sister and fam and my best friends and fam. I had a great time and I look forward to making some more crazy memories on our next trip. I don't know, however, if any of them will allow ME to choose our destination agaian??????? Have a Memorable day everyone!