Our Beautiful Florence, Oregon Hale Family Reunion

For the 2011 Hale family reunion we chose to visit Florence, Oregon for the week. (thanks to Brian and April who chose the location, but sadly were unable to make it...same with Brian and Natalie and their family..Natalie was too far along in her pregnancy to risk it.. Blake would join us later in the week due to work, and Keawe wasn't sure he'd make it at all due to work....we missed them all so very much!) We took what family could come and off we went. Day one was spent on the road....driving....driving.....then staying overnight at a hotel...then driving to the Redwoods in California. A little detour in our adventure, but definitely worth it! Incredible in fact.

We arrived late Saturday night to our vacation home, unpacked, and fell into bed with the anticipation of exploring tomorrow when we could see. Sunday morning we went to church and then spent a relaxing day at home. What a beautiful home we were to spend the week at!!

Monday we went to the Sea Lions Cave.  They were barking and fighting and were altogether fun to watch.  Afterwards we visited a Lighthouse. Very pretty. Down below there was a beach of which our kids couldn't resist even if it was cloudy and a little chilly.  Our scenery was so breathtaking that I don't think I ever stopped taking pictures. Turn a corner "stop for a photo!" around the bend "photo!" down the hill "photo!" 15 steps later "photo!" Unbelievable!

On Tuesday we decided to spend the day at our pretty vacation home again.  The sun was shining, it was warm and gorgeous! We spent the time outside doing races on the paddleboat. Since Angela and I didn't have a husband to team with we teamed up together and won! Until Anela and Kanani decided to race. They won. But Angela and I were so proud for our second place! The kids caught salamanders in the pond. We did photo shoots of Angela and her girls. We pet the horses, went on a walk, read books, played games...such a great day!

Wednesday we took our time getting out the door...no big plans except for the fact that we were picking up Blake up at the airport in the early evening. We all drove to Eugene, found a park, had a picnic, and played for hours while we waited for Blake's plane to land.

Keawe then called me and said that he was able to fly in later that same evening if that was okay with us....um, YES!  I kept it a secret from the kids and put them to bed...My dad and I drove back to Eugene late that night and picked him up at the airport. My heart sighed. It's not a family vacation without daddy/hubby there. Now it was. We climbed into bed quietly (shared a room with Kekoa and Alakai) and went to sleep. A couple of hours later we woke up to a loud crash in our bedroom. Alakai had fallen out of bed and brought the end table down with him. Keawe jumped out of bed to his rescue. Alakai let him pick him up and put him back into the bed...and just stared at dad. Keawe never said a word, just crawled back into bed. We then heard Alakai whispering, "Kekoa, wake up! I think Dad is here." We just softly chuckled to ourselves and waited until morning.
Morning came and surprise to the kids! They were so excited to see their daddy. As was I. It was promising to be another beautiful day so we headed to a beach close by. We bought sand sleds, a picnic, frisbees, and swimsuits (some of the crazy ones:) and had a great time together slowly baking in the fog. Some didn't put on sunscreen (Grandma, Greg, Trisha, Kanani) until it was too late..ouch later that night!

On our last day we hung out at our cute touristy town of Florence. We found a cute part of town that had fun stores, restaurants, and a boat dock. We needed seafood! Found some at a cute restaurant. Greg and Megan would have none of that so they went down the street for some pasta. (my kids would have joined them if I let them) Afterwards we got some ice cream and walked the docks looking at boats and smelling fresh seafood. (pure stinkiness!)

Check out the hot guy I found walking the docks:)

Sadly, Saturday arrived and that meant going home. We sure did not want to leave. You know how sometimes after a vacation you feel that it was the perfect amount of time and you're okay about going home? Didn't feel that. Not even a little bit. It was an incredible week of beauty, fun, and adventure. Wouldn't mind visiting it again! Erika and Rob loved Oregon so much that they accepted a job offer there a couple of weeks later and now live in Portland....
On the way back to our Utah desert we stopped off at Crater Lake. Gorgeous. Best. trip. ever. (until the next one:)