THE SAGA OF LINDSEY’S OREGON VISIT, 2001
Neona Owen - Jul 28, 2001
This is the first of 5 E-mail letters to Lindsey’s parents at Bullfrog Marina, Lake Powell, UT, while she stayed with us here in Oregon for six weeks. I will post the others one at a time...don't want you to get too tired out trying to read them all at once!! Lindsey is 11 years old. I have added to the original letters ages and the parents of the kids for those who aren't familiar with all the names mentioned.
THE SAGA OF LINDSEY’S OREGON VISIT, 2001
June 13th -20th.
Well, we have been very busy since we picked up your lovely daughter. We went to Sherwood and picked her up on Thursday morning. We got home sometime after noon and just relaxed that afternoon. David and his son Chris came over later that afternoon and visited for awhile.
Lindsey unpacked and got her room to her liking.
Friday we went to Wildlife Safari and enjoyed a day with just the three of us.
Saturday morning we left to go back to Sherwood for Ashley's eighth birthday party. On the way we stopped at David's son, Conway's house and visited with David's son, Colton (age
12) who is staying with his brother and family for awhile.
We were planning to take him with us to the party, but he decided he didn't want to go. We didn't get home until late that evening. We brought Ashley home with us after the party.
Lindsey had a bad headache most of the way home. The only painkiller I had with me was aspirin and I didn't want to give her any of that. We all went to bed right away after we got home and Lindsey took some non-aspirin pain reliever (generic Tylenol).
Some time after midnight, Lindsey woke me up and said she couldn't get back to sleep. I went into her room with her and crawled into her bed. She tossed and turned, and moaned. She said she had a stomachache. I haven't dealt with stomach aches for a while, and really didn't know what I should give her...I got up to get her a Tums...I thought that might help and knew it wouldn't hurt.
When I got back to her room, she was in the bathroom, throwing up. After she threw up, she went back to sleep. She didn't feel good the rest of Sunday...she was running a slight fever...99.6. She was afraid to take another pain pill, she thought it may make her throw up again. When it got to 100.2, I gave her another "Tylenol" .
Greg, Carolyn and kids came about 8 o'clock. We had eaten, and Greg had some macaroni salad. Carolyn didn't want salad, and I told her there was a steak in the
fridge, and she was welcome to cook it. She asked Greg if he wanted some of it, but he said he had had enough.
The girls had some Ramen noodles. I think the fragrance of the steak cooking made her hungry...She was willing to try to eat some noodles when I asked her if she thought she could eat. She ate it all, and in a half hour or so she was up playing with the girls...not roughhousing, just enjoying feeling good again, and checking out little Zerin (age 6 months).
Monday she was fine. Greg and Carolyn took Zerin and went to the coast for their anniversary 'weekend'. We kept the girls...all four of them... We had a good time. Monday at lunch time we put all the girls on their bikes (we have one for each of them, but Sierrah (age 4) won't ride...she couldn't do it the first time she tried, ya know!)
Dick found a little cart to pull behind the bike that has mesh screen on the sides and the 'door' zips down to enclose the child completely...and safety harness to belt her in. She thought that was great...she got to ride behind Grandpa's bike.
I drove the truck behind the parade, and we took off for McDonalds. Every one made it, (Kaylee (age
5) has training wheels on her bike and when they took the gravel path shortcut she high-centered and Lindsey had to help her get going
again!) We had a good (?) lunch and then the trek homeward! The girls thought that was a lot of fun. Of course they spent almost all the rest of the time in and out of the 'pool' AKA 'hot tub'.
Dick told them they could only get in and out of the tub 20 times a day...and they actually made a chart and wrote all the names on the top of it with numbers 1-20 down the line. Each time they got out they crossed out one of the numbers...I don't think anyone actually crossed off all 20 numbers.
Mid-afternoon we all got out of the water to dry out in the sunshine with an Ice Cream bar or Fudgecicle. Then it was back into the water!!
Later that evening we went up to Carolyn's folks house for a...guess what .....Swimming Party...one of the girls cousins' birthday was that day and their other grandmother gave her a party. The little girl, Alyssa, lives in Tennessee and was here for a visit for this week with her Dad.
Tuesday was much the same as Monday, but we didn't ride the bikes to McDonalds...Dick went for Papa Murphy's pizza and we ate at home. Again...almost all day in the pool, with the afternoon dry out time with the Ice Cream bars.
And Again there was a Birthday Party at the other grandmother's house, this time for Sierrah...her birthday is the 22nd, but most of the folks were going to be at Carolyn's aunt's house in Eastern Oregon for a mini family reunion, so they had it early to have all of us there.
The party didn't start till 8 PM, as Greg and Carolyn were over to the coast, and all the rest of their family went on over to the coast for the day and they all got back just before party time....we had just left the decorations up from the night before...By the time the cake and presents were done it was way past our bedtime, so we took the kids and went home.
On Sunday and Tuesday nights, Ashley had to give up her bed to Greg and Carolyn and be the 'camp counselor' for the two campers in the living room...Kaylee and Sierrah. I think she must have liked being the camp counselor, as she didn't use her bedroom on Monday night either. She is in there tonite though.
Wednesday morning (oh, that was today, wasn't it) Greg's family all got up and left to go to Eastern Oregon to the Aunt's house for the rest of their family reunion. After everyone left, and we just kind of absorbed some of the quiet, we went to
McDonalds...their choice, not ours...for lunch and then on to the Wildlife Safari...(we figured out that our car is too small…when we have 4 grandchildren at one time, we have to take 2 vehicles…ours is a 5 passenger car!)
We went to the village first this time, and got to see the animal show. We rode the train...again...and then did the drive through...it was so hot (about 90 degrees) the animals were mostly just lying around trying to get
cool.
We did get to see the Rhino's up close...the first time in several years we have seen them down by the road.
Gosh...I was just going to say, "We got Lindsey home OK, and she didn't feel well on Sunday, but we are all having a lot of fun.".....Where did I go wrong???....
We got the check and letter today....not having it right away didn't slow us down a bit, did it???
Love,
Mom
Neona Owen - Aug 3, 2001
June 20th – July 1st
Well, another week is gone.... Greg's girls went home on Tuesday last week, so only Lindsey and Ashley were left. I think we just stayed home and played in the hot tub on Thursday...that was about a month ago, wasn't it??
Friday we went to the coast. We stopped at our daughter, Jamie’s house first, and visited with her and hubby Don. We looked at all of her flowers and the girls each picked a handful of different flowers. Aunt Jamie made bouquets of their flowers for them. They were very nice bouquets.
We went to the beach at Winchester Bay and flew the kites, played in the sand, ran in the surf..(got all wet, too!!), and just had a lot of fun on a day that was just perfect...just the right amount of sun, clouds and wind.
We only lost one kite once...it got away and went on its own for a while then the string-winder got caught on a clump of beach grass...Grandma and Grandpa had to go chasing it. The other kite decided to fall from the sky. It went down beyond the park manager's trailer house, across the dune grass, down and up again.
Grandma and Grandpa had to make their way to it and wind up the string...the kite was all the way to the end of the string when it went down...they had to roll all of it up while going for the kite.
Each of the girls dug a hole and Grandpa buried them in sand up to their necks. Then Grandpa took a nap on the sand, in the sun...but since we put on sunscreen he didn't burn.
Saturday we picked up Colton and went to the Enchanted Forest. We met Ashley’s dad, Brent there and we all went in and played on the fun things they have there. They had a good time checking out all the rides.
We went to the play they put on. Every year it is a different one. Once it was 'Cinderella', another time it was 'Jack in the Bean Stalk'.
This year it was 'Snow White and the Seven Dorks!'!! They stole our title!! They had a pretty good show, but the one that the kids did at the family reunion at Loon Lake last year was better!!
We ate lunch there...pizza slices, popcorn and drinks...they didn't have much to offer! Brent took Ashley home with him, and we left and took Colton home.
We visited with Stephanie and Conway for a little while, getting acquainted with their Ashley, (age 5) James (almost 2) and Stephen, (age 7 months) They are really cute kids. These are our great-grand children...Our son, David's grandchildren. We talked to David on the phone, and he told us how to get to where he is staying now, in Creswell. We went and visited with him for awhile then went on home.
Sunday we went to church. Lindsey is in the class just younger than the one we teach. Next year, if they keep us in the same class she will be in our class.
Sunday afternoon was just a nice quiet time. I think this is the day that Lindsey’s mom and dad, Robin and Keith called and talked to her...but I'm not sure....I know they called, but not sure of the day.
Monday we mostly just sat or lay around and didn't do any thing of note...just enjoyed the quiet again. Dick went to Salvation Army store and brought home a GREAT BIG bag of Lego and other building type toys. Lindsey spent most of Monday sitting in the living room, watching TV and building things, making up stories to go with the things she was making.
Tuesday our daughter, Elaine and Ashley were going to come back to visit with a friend of Elaine's who was visiting her parents and baby-sitting her niece and nephew, while their mom went to girls camp...(what a nice Auntie!! She lives in Utah!!)
I didn't know if Elaine was going to drop Ashley off here first then go out to Cindy's or not...I finally called out there to see if they had arrived...they went there first and were waiting for the car with the car-seat in it to come home so they could leave and come to town.
They spent their day doing what ever they did and then Elaine and Ashley came to our house. It was raining and getting on toward evening so they decided to spend the night.
Ashley got sick and threw up. She thought she was over what ever it was and ate a little something, but it came up too.
After lunch on Wednesday, Cindy and the kids came to town. It was a nice day so we met them at the park and played on the swings, slides, and monkey bars. Then Cindy took "her" kids and went home, and Elaine and Ashley came to our house.
Ashley didn't feel so bad, but kept throwing up what ever she ate or drank. They stayed at our house for awhile and then went back home.
On Thursday, there was a Family Support meeting in Eugene for David, Kathy and Colton. We went to Conway's house and followed them to the place it was held. A lot of the family members and a few friends were there...I don't know that it accomplished anything, but it showed the State workers that there were a lot of family members who cared what was happening with David's family.
We followed Stephanie to Veneta to pick up her kids and Colton who were being watched by a friend of theirs, and have lunch. They went back to Cottage Grove and we went on to Florence after we finished lunch. But before we parted it was decided that Stephanie and the kids should come to our house tomorrow and play in the hot tub, and go to Wildlife Safari.
We continued on to Betty's house and visited with her for quite a while then left and went on home.
When we got home there was a message on the answering machine from Carolyn...just to say hi. In another message someone (a male voice) said 'no one is at home'. So I called Carolyn back to see what she needed. She told us that Alan (her step-dad) had visited that day to pick up a motorcycle her brother-in-law left at their house.
He made the mistake of asking if she needed him to haul anything else down there. She said, "the girls”. So she called us to see if it would be OK to send them down.
We weren't home...she asked Alan if they were prepared to keep the girls for a couple of days if we didn't come home. He said they could. (with their adult care homes it is hard to keep the girls there).
So when Alan called back, I was going to answer like the answering machine and tell him he had full charge of the girls for the next 3 days! Of course I didn't do that! I went up to their house and picked Kaylee and Sierrah up and brought them down here.
On Friday, Stephanie and the kids came to visit. All the kids had a good time playing with each other and in and out of the hot tub.
We had a barbecue for lunch and after the kids got tired of the pool....that is, after we made the kids get out of the pool....we went to Wildlife Safari.
We have a grandparents membership that gets us in 'free' and we can take up to three kids ages 4-17. Kids under 4 are free. We had 5 kids over 4 and 2 kids under. (Dick said that we needed another kid over 4!) Also Stephanie isn't on the membership so we would have to pay for her.
So we took two vehicles...Dick in one and me in the other...I had 3 kids, Ashley, Kaylee and
Sierrah.
Dick and Stephanie had the others. I went through the gate with my charges...and Dick and Stephanie followed me through. When the lady looked at Dick's membership card, Dick jokingly said that he was the grandpa and Stephanie was the grandma! Of course she didn't believe it, but when Stephanie asked if she had to pay, the lady said 'no' and they got it without paying any extra.
We got there at 5 PM and the closing time for the last drive through is at 6 PM, which is probably why she didn’t charge for Stephanie. So we did our drive through and then stopped at the village. Everything was closed but we walked around and looked at all the animals anyway.
When Dick had gotten out of our car and got into Stephanie's van, he left his keys in the ignition and when I got out of the car at the village, I don't recall what I did with his keys. My set of keys has a clip on them with which I clip to the ring on the strap of my purse. His doesn't have a clip on it. I had to get the little girls out of the car and then as everyone had to hurry to the bathrooms, I have no recollection as to what I did with them.
When we got back to the car to go, home he asked about his keys...we looked all over for them...in my purse, in and around the car...they were not to be found. It was too late to call at the Safari office to find out if anyone had turned in some keys.
We went on home. I had to drive as he had no keys!!! :-) Stephanie and the kids went on home from the Safari and we went to our house. I searched again for the keys and didn't find them. On Saturday morning I called back to the Safari and the keys had been turned into the office, so, we HAD to go back to the Safari!!! Bummer!!...:-)
And, as of July 1, our membership has expired!! Good thing we went back when we did!! We didn't go through the drive around this time...we just went to the village and saw the 'Lights, Camera, Animals' show. After the show, the kids got to feed the elephant some ice cream cones filled with alfalfa pellets. All the kids were lined up at the ring wall and the elephant went around the ring accepting the offered cones and eating them. The kids thought that was fun... except for the elephant slobber that got on their hands...fortunately there are hand washing stations all around the village.
After the Safari, we went to the pond to feed the ducks, then we went home and climbed into the hot tub. After the hot tub it was bathtub and shampoos all around, then pj's and story time. Kaylee and Sierrah were asleep almost before I finished the stories.
Today, Sunday, we got up and got ready for church. After church was over we came home, took off our Sunday clothes and put on playthings. We then got on the bicycles and rode to Burger King for lunch.
Our son, Greg, came and took his girls home this afternoon. I keep looking around to see what they are up to, as it is so quiet. (you know, if they are quiet they are into something!!)
And that is that for another week. A new update will be available in about 8-10 days!!
Love Lots,
Mom
Part 3 Lindsey’s Saga
July 2nd – July 9th
Monday, July 2, we mostly just stayed home and rested, played in the hot tub, watched TV, got some laundry and cleaning done.
Tuesday we went to the coast via highway 42...Dick had to hold onto the steering wheel extra tight as we went by the turn off that leads to Wildlife Safari...it ALWAYS goes that way...and today we weren't going to stop there.
There were lots of wild sweet peas growing along the roadway and we stopped and picked some of them and some big daisies. Lindsey made a daisy chain with them.
When we got to Coos Bay/North Bend it was lunch-time so we stopped at Taco Bell and had lunch. We called a lady who owns the Echo's of Time antique store, who used to live in the other half of the duplex when Dick was a kid. We found her through Classmates.com and the Rio Vista Alumni web sites. We found where her store is and went to visit with her. Dick said she had changed some since the last time he had seen her!! (she was just a kid then, you know!)
We had a nice visit and then went to Sunset Beach and the flower gardens there. We had a good day, and then came on home via Reedsport. We didn't stop by Jamie's, as the day was fast slipping away, and Carolyn had called and asked if they could come down that night and spend the 4th with us. We got home about an hour before they arrived.
We went to her parent’s house for an evening of pizza and swimming...in the big pool. Greg's girls shot off their fireworks that evening and everyone enjoyed them.
We had barbecued steaks and hot-dogs, salads and watermelon, the girls played in the hot tub. We set off Lindsey's fireworks and then every one went to see the fireworks held at the Sutherlin Golf Course. I stayed home with (6months old) Zerin. After the fireworks Greg and family left for home as both Greg and Carolyn had to work the next day.
Thursday we were just sitting around, enjoying the day and David rode up on his motorcycle. We visited awhile and then David took Lindsey for a ride on his motorcycle. David spent the night with us and left late the next day. We had a good visit with him.
Saturday was another restful day...we went to KFC for lunch, then went 'shopping' at the Goodwill and Salvation Army stores…two of our favorite places to shop!! Lindsey found two dresses she liked and I found one that would fit!!! I'm 'outgrowing' all of my clothes so when I find something that fits, I take it!
Sunday we went to church again, and for lunch grilled cheese...later Dick went and got Chinese dinners and brought it home.
Monday was another restful day. Not much happening around here. It was hot, and Lindsey didn't wait for the hot tub to be hot!! She got in when it was just over 80 degrees and spent quite a while in there.
This morning we are going to go get Colton and Ashley Bruhn and bring them down here. Don't know just what this day will be yet, but we will have fun!
We are enjoying Lindsey's stay, and as you can see, the pace has slowed some...
Love,
Mom
Part 4 Lindsey’s Saga
Neona Owen
July 10th –July 16th
Tuesday we went to Cottage Grove and picked up Colton and Ashley Bruhn (Ashley is Conway and Stephanie's daughter, age 5) and brought them down here. We went to Roseburg, fed the ducks and ate lunch and played at McDonalds. Then we came home and they played in the hot tub most of the rest of the afternoon. Conway and Stephanie & the little ones came in the afternoon. We had b b que and salads and just enjoyed each other's company until time for them to gather up the kids and head home.
On Wednesday we mostly just stayed around here and rested up for what we were planning for Thursday.
On Thursday morning we picked Colton and Ashley up and went to Florence. We went to Old Town down at the river and booked passage on the paddle-wheeler. It was 45 minutes until time for it to set sail, so we walked around and visited some of the shops...and bought some salt-water taffy. We cannot go to the coast and not buy Salt Water Taffy!!
We then went down and boarded. Just as we started to travel up the river we saw a harbor seal eating a fish right in front of the boat. We saw cormorant rookery and lots of cormorants. ( I know I've misspelled that birds name, but maybe no teachers will see this and give me a poor grade in spelling!) We saw half a dozen great gray herons. We had a very nice tour and after that we went and played at the beach. The weather was nice, breezier than the last time we were at the coast, but warm when you got out of the wind. The kids built sand-castles and just had a good time playing on the beach...They didn't even get wet this time.
On the way to the coast, we had to stop on the way at a boat launch area to find a restroom. There was a nice place to play in the water...there were lots of Crawdads (Crayfish). We thought that we would stop on the way home and do some exploring. So on the way home we did stop there and spent about an hour chasing, (and Colton caught 5) crawdads.
We had seen a couple of old snags on the way to the coast with nests on top of them. We thought they might have been Egret nests. We looked at them again on the way home and saw one of the nesting birds...it was a bald eagle!
Conway and Stephanie had a meeting to go to that evening so we just deposited the kids with them and went on our way. After we got home we had a message on our answering machine that I had left my purse there. So....on Friday we had to go back to Cottage Grove and pick up my purse. We visited awhile and then came on home.
This weekend was the Sutherlin Stampede...a local rodeo. Saturday morning watched the parade, and afterwards we went to Roseburg, fed ducks (what would those ducks do if we didn't feed them so often???), watched skateboarders etc. We checked out all the second hand stores looking for bunk beds.
After we came home we went to the Rodeo. What fun! We watched the little tykes with the Mutton Busting rides...little kids up to 8 years old riding on sheep. We saw the older kids 8-12 riding on the calves. Then we watched the men teams rope the steers. And the last thing we watched was the girls riding the barrel race. It was a fun evening...Lindsey bought herself a cowboy hat...a red one.
Sunday church and after church we went to Lunch at Los Dos Amigos a new Mexican restaurant here in Sutherlin.
Today, we mostly just rested again....seems we do that every other day or so...Are we, indeed getting old???
One more update to follow...next Thursday.
See you then
Love
Mom
Part 5 Lindsey’s Saga
Neona Owen - Aug 16, 2001
July 16th – July 26th
We didn't do much of note during the week. We went to Roseburg almost everyday for something or another. We went once to see if we could find Chris a bicycle at the Salvation Army Store. We did.
Another day we found a set of Bunk Beds advertised in the Shopper, and we went out to that person's house and purchased them for Greg and Carolyn.
I E-mailed Elaine and asked if Ashley wanted to come down for a few more days during Lindsey's visit, maybe she or Brent might bring her down to Conway's house on Saturday and meet us there. She could spend Sunday and Monday with us and then we would go to their house on Tuesday, visit the zoo and OMSI or something else fun to do on Lindsey's last day.
Elaine said that Ashley had been practicing for the last couple of weeks for an ice skating competition to be held early Sunday Morning, so would not be able to come down.
On Friday we took Lindsey over to Stephanie and Conway's house where she spent the night. (Colton and Lindsey planned this outing when we went to the Wildlife Safari with Stephanie and Kids.) We also dropped off the bicycle for Chris.
Bohemia Mining Days were in full swing in Cottage Grove that weekend, and they went to see all of the things going on in the town that evening. Lindsey will have to tell you all about that, as we weren't there.
On Saturday Grandpa and I drove to Cottage Grove early enough not to be entangled in the traffic of the parade entrants that would be getting ready for the noon parade through town.
Conway and Stephanie have a 'car cover' (portable garage) that is about the size of a one-car garage. All of the guys and a few of the gals grabbed a leg of this cover and walked it up to the main street (about ˝ block) and parked it in the middle of 16th street after the police closed it to traffic. They took chairs and sleeping bags up there. The little kids sat on the sleeping bags, we old people and the ones holding babies got to sit in the chairs. We took the Ice Chest with drinks and Stephanie brought snacks. We had a real good view, and didn't get sunburned!!
After the parade we walked the cover back to their yard, along with all the other stuff, and started getting lunch and Birthday Party ready. Friday was James' second birthday, but we were having the party on Saturday when everyone could be there. There was a 'gang' of folks there. Must have been almost 30 people there. It was a potluck...lots of good food, and b b q steaks, hamburgers, and hot-dogs!
We had a good time, and then (not nearly soon enough for the kids) we all went down to the carnival rides. 'Bracelets' were purchased for the kids so they could ride all the rides as many times as they could get through the lines to them. We had so much fun we that we became so tired we could hardly walk!!
We left for home about ten o'clock, and were so tired we didn't even read a story before going to bed!!! (Now you know we must have been TIRED!)
Last Sunday I had asked someone to substitute in my class for me, as I wasn't sure where we might go since it was to be Lindsey's last weekend with us. I was SO glad, when Sunday morning came and we were so tired and sore, that I didn't have to go give the lesson that day. We slept in and just rested that day.
I got an e-mail from Brent sending me photo's of Ashley with her medals for placing first in her ice skating competitions that morning.
On Monday Lindsey and I started getting her things laundered and packed. It took all day to get everything done. By late afternoon, Lindsey had a splitting headache and didn't feel good. We were planning to get up early and travel to Portland to get Ashley and go to the Zoo and OMSI but with Lindsey not feeling well, we decided to just go up later in the day and not do them.
We still had the bunk beds in the truck to take to Greg and Carolyn, so we took the truck and stopped over at their house in Sweet Home. Lindsey had never been there so it was another new place for her to visit. Carolyn is a child-care provider and had 4 other children there besides her own 3: a one year old, a two year old, another five year old and after school, an older one.
We got there just as the older one was due to come in, and she did before we left.
We unloaded the bunk beds and then traveled on to Elaine's house. Brent had flown that morning to Chicago on a business trip, and would come home on Wednesday evening. Elaine was hoping Lindsey's flight out would coincide with Brent's arrival home, but no such luck. Lindsey's flight out was at 1 PM and Brent didn't arrive home until 8 pm. Elaine was making dinner when we arrived. She made taco's for us... they were really good.
Lindsey woke up feeling much better on Wednesday morning, and had a good time with Ashley. Ashley and I were playing 'cat's cradle' with a piece of string, and Lindsey wanted to learn it. Ashley and I taught her how to play, and she would probably like to teach her friend Shannon how to play it. I told her maybe her mom or Shannon's mom will know how to do it and together, they can teach Shannon.
We arrived at the airport with enough time left over for Lindsey to play on the kids 'airport' for awhile. She 'worked' in the tower and even 'piloted' the plane!
Then it was time to board the plane. As we said good-by Lindsey said, "Grandma, promise me you won't cry!" I told her that may be a hard promise to keep. But Lindsey, I want you to know, that altho I did get tears in my eyes, I didn't cry!! I thought you would be proud of me!!
We didn't get home until almost 7 o'clock that evening. We stopped at Eugene at the Sizzler and had Dinner, then went to Cottage Grove to Conway and Stephanie's house to pick up a pair of sandals Lindsey had left there. Stephanie wasn't there, but Conway and his mom Kathy were there with the kids. We visited for a little while and before we left Stephanie came home with some family portraits they had had taken. We stayed long enough to get our copies of the pictures, one of which I have posted here on the website.
On Thursday I started getting Lindsey's leftover things into the box to ship to her. A musical doll that Aunt Betty had given to her, that wouldn't fit in her suitcase, and the two pair of shoes, some clothes and a few odds and ends. I got everything boxed up and waited another day just to make sure we hadn't missed anything then shipped it to her.
And so ends the saga of Lindsey’s Oregon Trip 2001!
Love
Mom
