Road Trip!

In the early part of June Mom and I took the girls to visit my grandparents in Haines, OR. G'ma and Papa Toney, as I call them, seemed happy to get to see the girls. I really enjoyed myself, I love visiting with my family and Haines is one of my favorite places anywhere.

Here we are with G'ma and Papa. My G'ma Toney is one of the most elegant women I know, and her recent (and ongoing) battle with cancer has only served to prove to me that she is also one of the strongest. And I just love Papa to pieces...

While in Oregon Mom and I took the girls to the "Eastern Oregon Interpretative Center" (Oregon Trail museum). I have always loved visiting museums, this one in particular. And as you can see, Bryar enjoyed herself as well. She climbed right up on the displays to make friends with the animals...

There is a small re-creation of a 19th century gold mine outside the museum...

View from the trail outside the museum. Very, very faintly you can see the wagon ruts from the Oregon Trail on the floor of the valley...

G'ma and Papa's front porch is great! It's big and there is a swing and a little table and chairs... A perfect place to spend a summer evening!

And now, ladies and gentlemen, the story of the Killdeer.

The Killdeer is a bird that likes to build it's nests in gravel. Any old gravel will do. Even the gravel driveway in front of G'ma and Papa's house. Yes, right there on the ground only a few feet from the road.

 Since this is not a very safe place to build a nest, the Killdeer mommy bird has a cool trick to keep her babies safe. She pretends to have a broken wing and runs away from the nest in order to draw predators away from the eggs. You should have heard the racket she made when I took this picture of the eggs. She tried to attack my feet...

The poor mommy bird tried so hard, but the morning after I took these pictures the eggs were gone...

All in all, it was a great vacation. And I got to introduce another generation to what my cousins and I dubbed "Sherwood Forest" when we were still small...