June 2016

NEOS LOG
June 1, 2016

Karissa’s graduation from kindergarten was June 2. All four classes had a program with songs, certificates and snacks. The ceremony ended before Max got out of class so we went to Mel’s Drive In for a banana split with Michelle and Karissa to celebrate. Meanwhile we were babysitting Princess, Beth and Ryan’s dog while they were having their house painted.

The following weekend, we drove to Tracy to have dinner with my sister Laura and her new fiance, Tom. As an added surprise, my niece Katie was also there. A great evening.

The project with the kids this month was chalk painting. They drew a scene and then became “part of it”. Can’t believe we found a day cool enough to lay on the driveway!.

We spent the beginning of the month preparing the van for our next road trip. We spent one morning at Jim’s house in Auburn, sewing the binding on the edges of the carpeting for the floor. He has an industrial sewing machine he let us use. What a job. Then we took him out to lunch. Rog finished the drawers and cupboard drawers and I got everything painted.

Our road trip was a 2 week trip to British Columbia. The trip was planned around seeing the train layouts in Medford. They open them to the public 2 Sundays a month. So we headed up to Shasta City on Saturday, June 11. We spent a few hours at the Sisson Museum, named after a distant relative of Rog’s who had founded the town. We spent the night at the Shasta City KOA.

The next day, since we only had to travel to Medford, we ate a leisurely breakfast. Just as we were preparing to leave, Rog mentioned passports. Egads...neither of us had remembered to take them. That changed plans a bit. We spent the day driving back home to get them. We made it to our next stop, Valley of the Rogue Oregon State Park, by about 7pm...but had to skip the train layouts. Bad start to the trip, but the rest of the trip went well.

Day 3: Portland, Oregon
Walk the Willamette waterfront, visit the Japanese Gardens, visit nephew Mark’s

Day 4 Mt Rainier, WA
Snow on the summit, Silver Springs Campground...VERY cold!!! Never actually saw Mt. Rainier with all of the clouds and fog

Day 5 Leavenworth, WA
Toured town, camped in Leavenworth KOA

Day 6 Seattle, WA
Snoqualmie Falls, Pike’s Place Market, Space Needle, Seattle-Tacoma KOA

Day 7 Parksville, Vancouver Island BC
Ferry from Vancouver to Nanaimo, Park Sands Resort Campground was right on the beach and we spent an hour walking the boardwalk

Day 8 Gardenside Acres
Drove to west coast, Ucluelet and Pacific Trail, then back to Victoria for tea at the Empress Hotel, spent the night at Gardenside Acres in Brentwood Bay

Day 9 Gardenside Acres
Butchart Gardens

Day 10 Olympic National Park
Morning spent walking Victoria, ferry to Port Angeles, to Sol Duc campground in Olympic National Park

Day 11 Sheridan, OR
To brother in law’s, David, for dinner

Day 12, Lincoln City, OR
Spent day at beach and relaxing; Night at Devil’s Lake State Park

Day 13, Bandon, OR
Oregon dunes, toured town of Bandon; night at Bullards Beach State Park

Day 14, Fort Bragg, CA
Eureka, coast highway, Van Damme Park, Camp Wildwood

Day 15, Home

A great time. Weather was cool and mild until we left Fort Bragg. Tess ran great and all of the campgrounds were clean and comfortable. All of my plants survived our absence and the weeds went wild! I spent the last week of the month getting rid of all of them.