fun with family

After an action-packed weekend, my brother and his family drove back home yesterday morning. We had a great time and so enjoyed having our very first houseguests. I feel like we must be established now that we are actually hosting people in our home! And, to my surprise - and probably also our guests' - we found several fun things to do in the area that made for a busy, pleasant weekend. A few highlights:

• The children's science museum in Ashland. Though small, it had a lot of fun, different activities to do. We easily spent several hours there, followed by a fun picnic lunch in the surprise sunshine. Sadly, my camera ran out of batteries there, but here's at least one picture.

  

The bubble room was a hit




• A cool evening spent at one of our favorite parks. Again, forgot to change my batteries. (Mom and Dad, I bet you could hit Mindy up for pictures - or maybe she'll even post some on her blog.)
• Hiking Upper Table Rock, a butte formation a few miles from our house. It's a popular hike for families (though a pretty steep 1 mile) and the weather was beautiful. We had a picnic at the top and enjoyed the view. The kids were such troopers about the hike - I heard that a 4th grade field trip earlier that week made more fuss than our four, 5 and under! I got scolded by a few motherly hikers, however...

Smiling cousins on a mid-hike break





Dylan enjoying the view from the trail





There were so many beautiful wildflowers! Eve's trying to sniff one






Finally at the top and looking for a good place for lunch

One of the favorite activities at the top was pouring dirt all over each other. If you look at Eleanor you can see she is trying to stuff some in her pocket. I need to look in that pocket before I do laundry...



• Dinner in Jacksonville, a cute little goldrush town that has been lovingly restored and turned into a historic site. It's a bit of a resort town now for the summer's Shakespeare festival attendees, full of chic boutiques, restaurants, and gelato places - all in these beautiful old buildings. We enjoyed dinner and, again, the kids were so good, especially after such a long hike earlier in the day. (Forgot my camera this time! I need to get better at this.)

A few non-activities that also made for a wonderful visit:

• how well all the kids got along. I love how Eve and Dylan can still be best friends even after a year apart from each other. Within minutes of their arrival, they were busy playing "spy" and poring over dinosaur books. And even though each big kid was spoken to about not leaving Eleanor out, it was hardly necessary - they were so good and naturally included her in their games.
• chatting with my brother and his wife each evening. It's so great to family close by again!
• gorging ourselves on waffles with strawberries and whipped cream for dinner on Sunday.
• hearing so many nice things about our new house and new town. They were so complimentary and didn't make us feel like we lived in the middle of nowhere. It was very nice of them!
• seeing my sweet little niece, who has grown up so much since I saw her last summer. I so enjoyed our few moments of playing stickers ("sickees") together in sacrament meeting. She is a darling little thing.

We were sad to see them go - Eve spent most of yesterday wearing the fleece Dylan left behind ("I don't feel so sad about missing Dylan when I'm wrapped up in his coat") - but are much consoled by the fact that we'll be seeing them and the rest of the family at the Oregon coast in a few short weeks. I'm just wondering if I need to bring all the spy equipment along... how many popsicle stick swords and paper depth charges can I fit in the car? :)