Family Vaca

The Hubs and I flew in a week ago to the beautiful state of Oregon. Mount Hood greeted us as we began our decent into the Portland Airport, where I knew some family members were waiting to jump out from their hiding spots after fully convincing me that no one had come to pick us up. It happens every time. Not kidding. A week ago yesterday our vacation started and tomorrow it's over. We fly out, will see the same mountain, but be heading a different direction. 

We have had so much fun this past week with all the sisters together, a friend visiting from Canada and husbands and boyfriends. We celebrated Mother's Day (only a little bit late) by the gals painting pottery. With our lattes in hand, we descended upon Create a Memory only to discover the daunting task of choosing what exactly you wanted to create. From choosing the piece of pottery, to colors, to designs, to when you should just put the brush down and stop dinking around, it's a stressful activity. We had a blast and each of our pieces turned out amazingly unique and beautiful!

The whole group of us also got to enjoy one of the rarest occasions out at the coast: a beautiful, warm sunny day. We did as much as we could in one day from climbing out past the "No Trespassing" sign and the giant sand dune at Pacific city; making noises and yelling at sea lions in Newport in hopes they might be inspired to rolled off the dock and swim around for us; having a very competitive game of bocce ball on the beach in the wet sand, around the rocks and avoiding the water; a friendly game of USA vs. Canada vs. England soccer match on the field with "real" sidelines, goal boxes and a kickoff line marked in the sand; finished with a campfire to roast jumbo marshmallows while watching the most boring, uncolorful sunset in ocean history completed an incredible day.

Of course, what vacation in Oregon would be complete without a good ol' rainy day that just happened to have a soccer game scheduled during the rainy-est part of the day. They lost, but who cares. We got wet, but who cares. Oregon soccer is special and as long as you have an umbrella, no one even notices the rain. Almost.

Since none of us are very competitive (HA!) we thought a nice friendly game of wiffle (how do you spell wiffle?!) ball would be a healthy solution to having so many athletes around once the rain cleared up. We divided the teams and a game ensued. Wet grass, horrible batting form, little knowledge of the rules, and enthusiastic players made for a fantastic game.

We said our good-byes yesterday. It is always hard to leave. Always hard to say good-bye. I keep hoping someday I'll get used to giving a hug that needs to last 6 months, sometimes longer. I keep hoping the 5 days I get to see my sisters out of the year matter and none of the things we said or did will fade. I keep hoping, but I know even in a month I will look back at pictures and have already forgotten. Maybe this time will be different, let's hope....