One thing that we did get at the tractor show was a cowboy hat for Jacob.  Apparently they don’t make cowboy hats for babies, at least we couldn’t find any, but we found some kid sized ones, Jacob was asleep in his carrier at the time so we couldn’t try it on him, but he has a big noggin so we figured it would be close enough.  It was a tad bit too big, but he wore it proudly! Just pretend that his jumper is in fact a horse

Who doesn’t like to go for a ride in the morning in your PJs and cowboy hat?

I mean it is great exercise and the perfect way to start your day

Giddy up!!

And my absolute favorite picture of my boys is now this one

My brother and sister in law bought a ranch about 10 minutes away from my parents.  So we went over there one day and looked at the house and property.  I absolutely love old barns and have always wanted to do some pictures in a rustic beat up barn and my brother had one.  So we found a spot along a wall and set up some hay and had a little photo shoot.  My mom was holding Jacob while I was getting the settings on my camera ready and they looked so cute, I started snapping.

Then we got my dad and Jane in the picture and Jane and Jacob had to say their hello’s before we could get down to business.

Then everyone was all smiles 🙂

After taking a bunch of pictures, we realized that Jacob didn’t have his cowboy hat on, so of course, we had to take more.

Then it was mom and dad’s turn

Our handsome little cowboy

Back at my parents ranch it was a beautiful evening so we spent some time out on the porch.  If you remember the pictures we took with the tractors last year, you will recognize this one

We had lots of good old fashioned playtime

On our last night there, my parents neighbors came over to visit and meet Jacob.

My brother and his wife came over and we ended our trip with a family dinner.

We had such a good time and really enjoyed the relaxing (but busy) time away from home.  We didn’t get the extra third seat on the plane ride home, but Jacob was such a good little traveler and slept the entire flight! Grandma and Grandpa wore him out!

The next day we had a relaxing morning and then went into town to do some shopping at a farmers market and the guys went to the butcher and got some HUGE steaks for dinner.  When we got back to the ranch that afternoon we did one of our favorite things to do in Oregon, target practice.

The guys went up on the hill behind the ranch to set up the target, which was a large piece of wood with a drawing of a bat, cougar, raccoon, beaver and a bear on it.

After putting Jacob to bed I walked up the hill to join them.

After each person had their turn the board was inspected to see where the shots landed and mark them off.

View of the ranch

The following day was the very much anticipated annual “Great Oregon Steam Up” in Brooks which is a little over an hour north of the ranch.  It is a big fair type event over a few days that is dedicated to the restoration and operation of antique steam powered engines and farm equipment.  My parents friends Vicki & Roscoe joined us again and the guys had big plans for the day and wanted to get there the minute it opened.  So they left shortly after 6:00 am that way they could have a big breakfast and get all the things they wanted to do and look at done before we got there.  Which included watching the loggers in action. After getting ready at a more reasonable hour my mom, Jacob and I picked up Vicki and drove up to meet the guys.  We had lunch, wandered around the swap meet that had all kind of neat antiques and looked at lots and lots of old tractors.  Then it came time for the tractor parade, we found some seats in the grandstands and watched an hour and a half of every kind of antique tractor you could imagine go by.

Even this little guy got in the spirit with his new John Deere hat from grandma & grandpa.

As much as I tried to take pictures of the tractors that were going by

This guy will always steal the attention of my camera lens

On the way home we stopped in Eugene to eat some delicious pizza at Track Town Pizza on the University of Oregon campus.  Back at the ranch we continued the tractor theme of the day and started up grandpa’s 1952 John Deere Model R Diesel tractor.

Look at the tires on that thing (and Jacob’s excited face)!

We ended the day with a bath in grandma’s kitchen sink before bed

Okay that’s enough for today, I have one more Oregon post coming up soon! Good Night!

Three days after Balboa we made our annual trip to Oregon to visit my parents.  This being the first “big travel” vacation with Jacob, packing was quite the production! We made sure to stop packing for a bit to play with our little guy before he went to bed.

We woke up early the next morning and Jacob was excited to start his adventure on his first airplane ride!

It was a bit daunting thinking about everything we had to do to get all our stuff to the airport, through security and then how Jacob was going to handle the airplane ride.  But everything went seamlessly and all the TSA people were actually quite pleasant and very helpful! On the flight up to Oregon the third seat next to us on the plane was not reserved (yay!!) so we were able to take the car seat onto the plane with us.  Jacob did great during the plane ride and didn’t fuss at all.  Whew!

We arrived to my parents in the late afternoon and got settled, gave Jacob a bath and put him down to bed for the night.  The next day we loaded up the truck and drove east of my parents ranch up the mountain to Odell Lake.  It was a beautiful drive through the plush forest and small towns.  My parents friends, Vicki & Roscoe, rode up on their Harley and met us there.  First we walked along the lake for a bit.

Vicki is a mom to some grown boys and a grandma herself so she was right at home with Jacob.

In fact the Carhartt shirt that Jacob is wearing was a gift from them

Jacob’s favorite thing to do these days is bite down (not sucking) on his finger (I’m still waiting for a tooth to break through!)

The weather was perfect and we had lunch at the lodge out on the patio overlooking the lake.  It also made for a nice view for this momma when it came time for Jacob to have his lunch (and be burped, while biting his finger).

After lunch we walked through the picnic area/campsites by the river

My parents dog, Jane, is such a sweetheart!

Must have been something interesting on the ground?

It was a beautiful drive and a relaxing, peaceful lunch.

Every night after dinner we always play a few rounds of the marble game and when the boys get tired of the girls beating them 🙂 we go out on the back deck to enjoy our wine and wait for the moon to come up.

It doesn’t start getting dark until about 9:00 pm, then around 10:00 pm the moon finally starts to come out.

The tiny light on the mountain below the moon is the light shining from the town veterinarian’s house.

The next day we stayed around the ranch and had a cattle round up.  I’m pretty sure my parents save this event for when we are in town since we’ve done it pretty much every year while we are up there. But we don’t mind, it is fun for us city slickers! After getting the cows through the “shoot” where they got their shots and tags my parents and Justin saddled up the horses and moved the cows into the field in front of the house.

Well…they moved most of the cows…They left some of them in the back field to wean the calves from the mothers.  So for the next several days we heard lots of moooooooing back and forth between the mamas and babies, I definitely had some sympathy for those mama cows!

That night we went to the Dexter Lake Club for dinner and the best burger in town.

Jacob is grabbing at everything in sight and putting it in his mouth, your beer is no exception 🙂

Every night before putting Jacob to bed we read to him.  He loves stories!  Very rarely do I get to see his face while we are reading since I am usually the one reading to him.  So I had to get my camera out to capture this.

He takes story time pretty seriously!

And yes, we were reading about Mr Brown making mooing sounds like the cows outside.

I’ll be back soon with more on our trip! XO

We did our annual trip to Balboa Island where Justin’s parents rent a beach house for a few weeks every summer.  We packed the car full to the brim of all of Jacob’s necessities (pack n play, stroller, etc…) as well as all the beach necessities (beach chairs, towels, umbrella, etc…) we barely had enough room for us and drove to Balboa for the day.  True to beach weather it was cool and overcast all morning, but we were sure it would burn off later in the afternoon.  We visited, played with Jacob and played cards while he took his nap.  Unfortunately, the sun never came out…so we didn’t make it out on the sand.  Instead we loaded Jacob in the stroller and walked into “town”, where we browsed the shops and got a little exercise. That evening some extended family came to the beach house and Papa cooked up a fabulous dinner as always and we enjoyed our time visiting with them.

It was too bad that the sun never came out, we were looking forward to letting Jacob play in the sand again.  But he didn’t seem to mind, since he got lots and lots of cuddles from his GiGi who calls him her “little heater” since he keeps her warm when it is cold.

And of course Nonnie got in on the snuggles too

Here’s to hoping the sun is out when we go next year!