Ditchin' the kids (again)

So before this year, we had never left Zoe for more than a night, either of us.  And we had left Caleb with grandparents, once. For three days.  This year? "Eh.  Can someone watch these kids while we go to a party/go to New York (just Erin)/go to Detroit (just Luke)/go to a wedding/go to Vancouver/go to another wedding/drive back down to Oakland WITHOUT THE KIDS?"  Our poor babies.

But we always leave them in very capable hands:

and then we were off. Here's an honor-system honey hut we stumbled upon. It was in someone's junk strewn backyard outside of Dundee, OR.

And here are a few of Luke's college friends drinking Oregon beer to support Mcminnville's Habitat for Humanity:

And here's Luke's hand filled with ripe roadside blackberries.

And here Luke is looking "fancy" (as Caleb would say) at his good college friend's wedding at a lovely winery outside of Mcminnville.

 

And then after a lovely brunch the next morning, we left the sunshine and entered the fog: the Oregon Coast. Luke has never driven along the coast and since we didn't have the kids, we thought this would be the perfect time to do it. However, except for little glimpses here and there, it was so foggy we couldn't see much.  That's right folks, we added HOURS on to our drive to see fog.

But we woke up the next morning, after a miserable meal/night in Brookings and crossed the border into "the Redwood Gate to the Golden State." Thank goodness!

 

and right as I was mentioning that I've never seen elk in the wild...

And then, eventually we were home.  It was nice to be back in Oakland.

Sprinklers!

Papou's birthday

"Caleb, how old do you think Papou is?" "Senenteen."

Camp Zulauf

Activities include: piano lessons and boating

 

Sunset Cruise

We all took the boat over Kenmore for dinner, but these were the only photos I got. It looks like Luke's online dating photo... or they engagement photo... I don't know, but its pretty silly.

A visit to see Grandma's mom

After a torturous trip back from Vancouver, including an eternity spent trying to cross the border, the last thing we wanted to do was to get back in the car.  But we did.  And it was worth it.  We were able to have a nice visit with my grandma, their great-grandma, and were even able to play with their great-uncle's dogs. Grandma Noble also reminded me how many of my cousins still weren't talking more than babble at Zoe's age and are very verbal now... so maybe Zoe is following in the Nobles' footsteps.

Vancouver, we love(d) you

What amazed me about Vancouver is how kid-friendly the city is. It is a first class, international metropolis and still, there are beautiful playgrounds everywhere and so many things to do with kids. We could have stayed so much longer and still not gone everywhere we wanted to go with the babies. If only the weather were better up there...