tue, 8/31...day 243

Sieglinde and I both wanted to get some Market Spice Tea, so we decided we'd head down to Pike Place Market today with the boys. Both to get the tea and to enjoy roaming around the Market.

After a rocky start (the boys were hungry when we arrived and whined and complained until we finally found a good spot to eat, with the requisite fish-n-chips as well as something Cory could have), we had a great time exploring the Market all afternoon.



As a bonus, Kellen swung by to visit for a bit before heading down to work, and showed us a yummy gelato spot on First Avenue where we got a final treat before heading home.

mon, 8/30...day 242

Niall went with me when I ran some errands today, and one of our stops was the library in Redmond. I've been reading "The Trumpet of the Swan" to Cory at bedtime, and I left our copy in Astoria with the broken-down van. So I checked the shelves to see if they had a copy on hand, and they did.

While we were in the W's (searching for E. B. White), I found this book and that book that I thought Niall would really enjoy. So we ended up getting about a half dozen more books, just from browsing that one shelf.

Now that's the kind of experience I don't have browsing through books online. I just get a different "feel" for a book when I can hold it and open it and scan the summaries and pages.

Niall is really enjoying the books. :-)

sun, 8/29...day 241

My dear sister is in town for a few days, for meetings at her alma mater WSU and to visit us, her family! We spent the day working in the front yard (and gabbing up a storm, of course), playing 4-way cribbage, and then going for a walk to see the goats and enjoy ripe blackberries. Topped off by an amazing baked salmon and melt-in-your-mouth potatoes dinner. Just a wonderful, relaxing day.

These are earrings Sieglinde gave me for my birthday - in memory and honor of our time in Africa together this year. So perfect!

sat, 8/28...day 240

Niall asked Tynor to go to Target with him today (dropped off by Mom, since Tynor doesn't have his license yet :P) to buy a gift for my birthday. He gathered up all his money and ended up with about $20. He was so excited to go shopping for me. What a sweetie.

They ended up deciding on a beautiful card (see photo) and a $15 iTunes gift certificate. Certainly made my day!

Also had a lovely birthday dinner out at my favorite Chinese spot (Chan's Place), hosted by my dad and his wife, and attended by my sister as well!

fri, 8/27...day 239

The car guys checking out the computer readout after hooking up the van. It didn't look good...

We headed over to the Maritime Museum (right next door) while the car guys investigated further. It was a great museum! So glad we had a chance to check it out, even if it was for a not-so-fun reason.



Got a call from North Coast Auto just as we were finishing up our tour of the light boat and taking pictures by the enormous anchor. Bad news: Sparkplug tip had broken off and rattled around in the engine, it seems, and now the car has no compression in one cylinder and little in another. It has to stay in Astoria with the tent trailer, with repairs to commence Monday (sigh), while we head back to Washington in a 4-Runner rented on the spot from the owner of the repair shop.

What an adventure this trip has been!

thu, 8/26...day 238

We drove up to Astoria today to drop off the van at North Coast Auto Works for a look-see at the engine problem. While we were there, we stopped off at the famous Bowpicker for fish-n-chips. Yum!

This sign cracks me up: 11-ish to 6-ish, hmm? Apparently that means they want to get home for dinner themselves? :D

wed, 8/25...day 237

Cory was thrilled to learn to ride Niall's bike today...and now doesn't want to stop riding it! In fact, he keeps saying that it should be his since he can ride it and he's sure that Niall is too big for it now.

Nevermind that Niall doesn't have another bike to ride (yet) and Cory does. Sigh. Probably time to get Niall a bike with gears and hand down this bike to Cory.

tue, 8/24...day 236

Took our traditional trek down to Tillamook today, along with Grandpa and Grandma, and their friends, Mike & Jody Anderson, all of whom arrived and set up camp across the way from us yesterday.

We wanted to tour the cheese factory, of course, and have lunch, cheese samples, and ice cream. But we were also hoping to drop the car off at a dealership to be checked out. Unfortunately, although the iPhone helpfully told us there was a Honda place in Tillamook, it neglected to tell us it was a shop for small Honda motors, not a car dealership.

So we drove back up to camp after our Tillamook factory excursion and a quick stop at Freddy's for necessities like a bike pump (ours turned out to be broken) and a sweatshirt for Tynor (so I could have mine back!). Managed to lose my keys there for about 15 scary minutes but whew - found them in the back of the van with the grocery bags and we headed on up the highway.

mon, 8/23...day 235

It was unbelievably windy at the beach today. Just blowing to beat blazes. We lasted for almost an hour, and then beat feet back to the calmer side of the dunes.

Unfortunately in the process, sand blew into my pants pocket and I put my pocket camera in there. It got sand in its mechanism and is out of commission until I can get it to a repair shop. Bummer...

In other news of this trip, we barely made it to camp yesterday (engine repeatedly missing on hills and barely crawling along) and then awoke this morning to a flood in the tent trailer (turned out to be a cracked pipe to the outside shower fitting). Feels like we've got a jinx on us! At least the weather is beautiful. :D