Bend to Seattle

The past few days were pretty much spent at home. It was too hot to do anything outside. Cooper remembered when I showed him Second Life on my laptop a year ago and he wanted to see it again, so we did that one night. His mom allowed us to use her unused account and we dressed up the avatar as a little blue dragon. (He's into dragons.)

But, today was a long day. I decided to spend time with Cooper so I picked him up from his golf class around noon, then we went to McD's for lunch. We both got the chicken nuggets.

Then we headed to the High Desert Museum. He had been there several times before, so he was pretty much the tour guide. We were moving quickly from one exhibit to another as he was showing me the creatures. It was more like a small-animal zoo than a museum, really. We saw little squirrels (or maybe chipmunks) along the paths. They had an area that was a recreation of an 1890 town with the lumber mill and a barn.

We giggled at the rooster with no tail and made up a story that he was supposed to be dinner but he escaped. One of the docents, who was dressed in a costume for that era, showed him a Jacob's Ladder and he was fascinated with that.

Then we had to leave by 3pm to meet his grandma at the house at 3:30pm. But as we were heading out, one of the docents near the exit asked if we had seen the Sasquatch. So we went back to chase the very tall Sasquatch. Cooper didn't want to have his picture taken with the man though. And, in the car, he said it was just "a man in a gorilla suit". Of course, I insisted it was a real Sasquatch. :D

His grandma arrived at 4pm because she got delayed coming back from his grandpa's doctor's appointment. So, after hugs and goodbye's, I was off.

I stopped by a grocery store at Redmond, OR for bottled water, some snacks, and sushi for dinner later and packed them into my cooler. I stopped once for dinner and for gas. I got home sometime after 11pm.

Tantrum at the pool

My nephew woke me up again. *sigh* I miss my bed... because my own bed doesn't come with a nephew who wakes you up in the morning. I didn't sleep as well because I kept waking up. I'm not sure why. I think it might be because my nose was kinda stuffed up. But I was okay by morning. It could also have been because of the heat, and it cools off in the morning.

We all went to MacKay Cottage Restaurant (their favorite restaurant) for lunch. We put in our order and I helped my nephew color the stuff they give kids. I had the Waldorf Chicken Salad in Croissant and Mango Lemonade. Then I shared my nephew's chocolate chip cookie. We didn't finish it between the two of us. But the meal was yummy.

I drove my nephew home in my car while my sister and her hubby (and the baby) went to the bike store to look for a bike rack. They didn't find any.

Meanwhile, my nephew and I were making fun of the cartoons we were watching. There was one where a little superhero boy was talking to his carrion(?) how he planned to start a fire so that they could escape in under the smoke. And as they were about to get out of the cage, he tells his carrion to be quiet but he himself yelled out, "Mightor!" And we giggled about that and that has been a secret joke between us for the rest of the day.

When my sister got home, we headed to her in-laws home in this beautiful resort, where they live year-long. There were lots of pine trees, it almost looked like Tahoe. The father-in-law was roasting a huge turkey breast and the mother-in-law was preparing the sides. The plan was to go to the pool first though, so I went with them. The in-laws stayed home.


At first, my brother-in-law took my nephew to the big pool and Sam and I took the baby to the baby pool. Sam was holding the baby at the surface while she occasionally moved her arms and legs. Then the big pool was restricted to adults for 15 minutes, so brother-in-law and nephew came over to the baby pool. Sam went to get a floater of sorts for my niece. And soon after she got fitted with it, the big pool was opened to everybody again, so it was just me and Sam. Sam tried to get the baby to float with just the vest, but she was leaning backwards, so Sam decided to take it off. And the baby screamed! We couldn't figure out what she wanted. She screamed when she was taken back to the water, she screamed when we tried to remove the life jacket. She screamed until she was blue in the face. And people around us were watching us and wondering what we were doing to the baby. Finally, Sam decided to find her hubby and the baby screamed when *he* tried to take the life jacket off her. So they decided it was time to go home. They finally got the life jacket off of her but she started crying when she saw me holding it, so I let her hold it until we got to the place where it came from. When we had to take it from her, she started crying and fussing again. I tried to trick her by giving her the bag to hold on to, but it was too heavy. And as I was emptying it to make it lighter, I found her bottle in the bag and that calmed her down.


Back at the in-laws', the kids showered and we had a lovely dinner on the patio with me and the nephew playing a quiet game (first one to talk loses, and his grandpa teasing him to make him talk). After dinner, nephew and I played Scrabble. Actually, it was more like nephew, grandma and Sam against me in Scrabble. Then nephew found a K'nex motorcycle he built and it actually runs if you drag it backward first, so we were playing that on the table. Then, once when he was picking it up from the floor, he hit his head on a chair and we had to put ice on it. He'll probably have a black eye for a while. Towards the end, Sam was doing some research online for coupons for the bike rack, niece was fast asleep on her dad's lap, and the rest of us were watching "The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly". I hadn't seen the movie before and whatshisname looked kinda cute when he was younger.

It was past 10pm when we said goodbye and headed home.

Fireworks in Bend, OR

My nephew sat on the bed and stared at me until I woke up. It was only 9am. His parents weren't even up yet. To buy time, I played a game with him where we slapped each other's hand if it was on the bed. Eventually, I relented and hopped in the shower. Besides the pet parade was on TV. My nephew wanted to go, but, well, we all slept late, so we just watched it on TV. There was a little doggie on helium balloons and they had to hang on to his leash so he wouldn't fly away. The poor dog looked terrified.

We went to the baby store so Sam could try out a baby carrier that they need for a camping trip. It was uncomfortable for her, but my nephew took home a dinosaur egg and a Shrek CD, and the baby took home a Disney Princess chair and a dolly (her fifth, but she refused to set this one down) and a purple hat (which she refuses to wear).

For lunch, my sister and I and the kids went to Pollo Gordo (I'm not sure if I remember the name right) and went through their drive-thru. It was very good chicken actually and the fajitas were delicious. I wonder if they're a franchise. It's the first time I've seen that brand.

Around 3pm, my sister's in-laws arrived with food and fireworks. My brother-in-law was already barbequeing the ribs that he marinated, my sister was taking care of the other stuff, and I was helping entertain the kids.


After a nice dinner, we half played and half watched TV until it got dark and we started hearing fire crackers outside. So, we went out and sat to watch the fireworks from the neighborhood around us. My sister and her hubby lit the fireworks that the in-laws brought. The moon was almost full.

Around 10pm, when it got really dark, the official fireworks started over the little mountain just northeast(?) of us. And that lasted for a while. Then the in-laws went home and the kids went to bed. I turned in around 11pm.

Seattle to Bend

I got delayed leaving because Dee needed me to take care of something. It was past 1:30pm when I left home to head to Uwajimaya in Bellevue for stuff that Sam needed. I also picked up other stuff for the kids and for me to snack on on the road. I got a long roll of salmon sushi, wrapped in a plastic wrap, for lunch. And it was very yummy.

It was 3pm when I left Bellevue and headed towards I-90 east. Since it was a Friday of a holiday weekend, I figured I'd hit traffic if I took I-5 towards Portland, so I decided to take the smaller highways.

The trip was fairly uneventful. It was hot, but I've driven through worse heat before. I stopped at a rest area near Cle Elum, about 20 miles before Hwy 85, which took me to Hwy 97. It was a long drive with few rest areas and even fewer gas stations. But the scenery was well worth the trip. I didn't stop again until I got to Madras, OR. It was after 8pm. I got gas, and a very late dinner at the McDonald's across the street. Then it was only another 45 minutes to Sam's.

After playing with my 6-year-old nephew and my year-old niece (she likes me!), I washed up and got to bed at 1am; I shared my nephew's bed. I must have been very tired because I had strong dreams. I think it's been a while since I've had strong dreams like that.