Summer Vacation - Part 1

Not sure why it has taken me so long to write this, but before I forget every last memory of it, I wanted to share a few stories about our vacation earlier this summer. 

Side note: actually, I do know why it has taken so long...a combination of our photos only being on the iMac in the kitchen, the kids never leaving me alone if I try to use the computer there, and wanting to spend the time when they are both sleeping doing more fun things like working or drinking wine or both.  Oh, and did I mention my husband has decided to travel for work *all the time*?  Yes, I believe I have mentioned that to a few of you repeatedly.  :-)

Back to our story...we motivated to head up to Oregon at the end of July to attend my 20th high school reunion (yikes), and then head out to the beach for a half week on the coast.  After that, we flew south to Disneyland, but we'll get to that in the next post.  The trip got off to a rough start when I remembered as we were pulling up to SFO that our flight was in fact out of SJC.  If you are curious if it is possible to make it from SFO to SJC in less than 30 minutes during rush hour, the answer is yes if you qualify as a car pool and you drive like an idiot.  Then we got to Portland and discovered that the car I had rented would not even come close to holding the four of us, car seats, and our luggage.  The days of the sedan rental are sadly over.  With our costly upgrade behind us, we finally left the airport trauma behind and things improved steadily from there. The high school reunion was good, but uneventful.  In the age of Facebook, you pretty much know what everyone is up to, which takes away any of the surprise factor.  And having it be a paid bar was crazy bad news, because believe me more free-flowing alcohol would have livened things up considerably.  Sameer was a trooper to attend, was no doubt bored out of his mind, and as a consequence made an excellent drink sherpa.  Leave it to Sameer to make friends with multiple husbands in the line at the bar who were also responsible for drink fetching.  So, good to put the check in the box, and I'll see everyone again in 10 years.

The next day we drove out to Gearhart (with a pit stop at the Vineyard on the way out of town), and spent a wonderful few days hanging out on the coast.  The house my parents rented was super nice, we got to spend time with Kevin & Beth, and even convinced Charity, Kellie & family (plus Gina) to come out for a day.  The kids loved playing in the sand and the waves (although no one but the truly hardy ventures out into the very, very cold water) and running around the yard chasing bubbles.  Sonia got to hit the putting green with Grandpa at the golf course within walking distance, another day we walked to the ice cream shop in "town" (approximately 5 stores comprise all of "downtown"), and best of all the house came with its own playhouse outside stocked with toys (not to mention a sleeping loft reached only by a ladder which Sonia declared at first sight would be her room for the duration of the trip). There was of course lots of wine tasting (these are the Johnsons, after all), good food, and vows all around to repeat it again in the future for a whole week.  A few highlights:

Picking dandelions at the vineyard

"Sissy" gets a hug

Sonia and Jayna scream while the waves "chase them" (while Kellie makes sure no one really gets caught)

Deven sticks to digging in the sand (I know we used this picture in the last post, but it is too cute not to include again)

Sonia proudly points out that she ate 4 pieces of corn at dinner (hollow leg?)

Grandpa tries to explain the comics to Sonia (harder than you think) while Deven mugs for the camera

Grandpa checks on how his future golfers are coming along with their chipping practice

All in all, we were sad to leave Oregon, even if it was to head to Disneyland.  Yet another reminder that some of the best trips are where you get to just hang out with friends and family and not try to cram everything in.  Or, maybe just the best trips are where you rent a place large enough that everyone has their own room to sleep in.  But, we'll leave the stories of the whole family sharing one hotel room for the next post...