Sextet of Singers: September 2013

Oregon (part 5)--the rest

This will really wrap up Oregon. It's nice to have today to remember it all all over again. I miss it, I miss being with everyone. Looking forward to another Singer fam reunion in a few years. Why do we all have to live so darn spread out?!?

Heading back to Roseburg from the coast we stopped at Honeyman State Park and did some paddle boating. Talk about a killer leg work out!
Can you tell these kids are excited?!

There were huge sand dunes. We pedaled over to some big ones and the kids had fun running up and then crazy running down. Some kids were even sledding and snow boarding down the dunes.

Brittney took family pictures of everyone on Saturday. Here are Dan and Whitney making someone smile!

Andrew and Miss Nora. He would rock her and sing 'baby girl, baby girl' over and over. It was really sweet.

Clem celebrated his 70th birthday just a week before the reunion so we had a surprise birthday celebration luau for him. We had fun dressing up Hawaiian, eating Hawaiian haystacks (obviously authentic food), and celebrating his day!

We went to Wildlife Safari and got up close and personal with some awesome wildlife. This freaky bird was a little too upclose and got a little too personal. He reminded me of some birdy dinosaurs in Jurassic Park

Stewart Park in Roseburg. Roseburg has great parks

There is just something about dead bodies on a bench pictures that make me smile.

Awesome train!

Singer boys!

Our last day in Oregon we went on a Hell's Gate Jet Boat Tour down in Grants Pass. It was incredible. Our boat held like 70 people and we did a 35 mile round trip on the Rogue River. We did 360 degree spins, sudden stops, big splashes. I've never done anything like it before--talk about fun.
The way down, Annie felt like it was TOO windy.

Seriously, Oregon is beautiful

Halfway through, we stopped at a lodge and were served a big lunch. The lodge was beautiful and the food was delish

A really awesome way to spend our last day. Thanks to Rita and Clem for such a wonderful vacation and for all the Singer brothers, sisters-in-law and cousins for coming. It was perfect!
And then it was getting back just in time for school to start!

Oregon (part 4)--aquarium and talent show

Rita's friend hooked us up with free tickets to the aquarium in Newport, so we headed up there one of the days. The kids loved it!

holy king crab

Picnicking with the cousins

That night (I think), Clem lead the way with the First Singer Family Talent Show. It was actually a lot of fun and the kids were super excited to share their talents with everyone.

Grandpa was the magician
Mary wrote 2 poems and recited them for us. One poem was about Narnia and one was about sea creatures. They were impressive and obviously written by someone who plans to be an author.

Annie did a card trick and then showed us her splits. Such an entertaining girl.

Andrew had a great card trick for us (and he drew an awesome picture that he chose not to share)

Whitney showed us all her finger weaving. She does NOT like to be in front of a crowd and gets super shy. I was so proud of her for getting up.

The talent show was a tender sweet moment for me. It's really something to see your kids be confident in front of a crowd and think up and share the things they are good at. Great idea Clem and Rita.

Oregon (part 3)--at the beach house

Not a lot of words for this one, just a lot of pictures showing the fun of our beach house. Cousin time is the best!! It was really just perfect being with everyone and having the kids (and us) really get to know their cousins.
It was roomy and beautiful and we were right on the water. The kids went outside and climbed on the rocks and found tons of sealife. We had a rocky beach right behind the house and just down the block was a larger sandy beach. Our first 2 days there, we even saw whales, lots of whales working their way south. It was amazing how close they were.