All excuses aside, I'll be honest. I have been neglecting my baby child blog. I am a bad father at the moment. All parents have those days. Leave the kids locked in the basement closet. Forget a kid at the gas station. "Accidentally forget" to turn on the baby monitor... Send the kids to bed without dinner.... It happens to the best of us. And so I forgive myself and ask the same from you.
Last update we were in Eugene. We spent the morning in Eugene, grabbed a warm hot-tub-like bathe, ate some breakfast and headed to Salem*. Arriving in the capitol of Oregon we were caught off-guard at all of the farmland. We took a road named Fairview into what we thought was going to be the city of Salem but contrary to our belief took us deep into the Salem farmland and we came to a family farm. Complete with a corn maze, tractor rides, pumpkin patch, and petting zoo, Sheldon was nonetheless ecstatic. Seeing his own kind made him jubilant. I almost had to leave him with the piglets.... (I'm a good brother, I know.)
We hung out at the farm for a time and then headed to the inner-city to hang out with our family. Our Aunt and Uncle Clark and Vickie greeted us and invited us to stay at their lovely home. All the kids (oldest to youngest) Matt, Elizabeth, Johnny, Ben, Joe, and Libby greeted us with open arms. It was welcoming to see family for the first time in what seemed like ages and they made us feel at home. Our time there was filled with never-ending games, delicious meals, abounding laughs, dance parties (Specifically We Like to Party and Cotton-Eyed Joe), scary-stories, youtube videos, and so many other enjoyable times.
We ended up overstaying our time there (something about the whole feeling at home thing...) and stayed in Salem two full days. The summary of our events there are above. Games, children, and laughs. Great family. They made us feel so welcome and made me realize the appreciation I have for Family. Hold them close, they're all you got. :)
So the past few days have been spent in Salem. Other than at our uncle and aunt's house, we spent some time in downtown Salem. Walking through back-alleys, venturing up parking garages, hanging out in prayer passages, indulging in authentic NY style pizza (an art, by the way), bug-art gallery, and dodging beggars (basically impossible) we lived our days in Salem to the max. There was also the night our cousin Matthew, who is about Sheldon's age, took us to an amazing waterfall on the outskirts of Salem. Silver Falls was the place and the view there was breathtaking. Definitely one of the most beautiful sights amongst the whole trip. The pictures only do so much justice.
After our few days stay in Salem, we headed north to the infamous Portland. We have been hearing nothing less than wonderful things about the city so we hope to have a spectacular time there.
Ya know just some flowers from the Salem Market.
Note: All of the bug images are by an artist by the name of Chris Marley from his gallery Pheromone.
I simply took pictures of his already created art.
Fly High!
Holy Canoli!
March
Dazzling.
Flutter-by...
Wow-a-woo-a...
Butterfly
Some type of rock.
The name escapes me.
Old, Antique Car I found myself in. ;)
Ready, Set, Lift Off!
Crack
Bongo...
*Because of my failure to keep an orderly, updated blog posts I have condensed our few days in Salem into one post. I was not able to go into extreme detail about everything that occurred in Salem however, I covered the just of our time spent there. Salem ranks in the top five or so of the best cities we've visited.
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