We were getting toward the end of the Harvey trip ...
This is the second summer in a row that we've done a journey with our three oldest grandsons - I say oldest because we have a new one! just weeks old now, but far too young for this trip! - and we were heading down the home stretch of the road trip.
Last year we went in a Recreational Vehicle, y'know ... an RV. But the boys renamed it a Har-Vee, or using a proper name, a Harvey. Hence the Harvey 2.0 name for this trek.
We had been up on the North Coast of Oregon in the Fort area - Fort Stevens, Fort Clatsop etc. - and worked our way down through a series of stops all the way to Newport. We have an apartment there, and spent the last couple days in that town.
There is a park nearby where we stay and it's call the Pirate Park because all the toys there are shaped like Pirate ships and such. There is a big honkin slide there. The boys had a great time playing, and part of the goal is to wear them out! Later that night we watched a DVD called "Babe" - it's and older movie now with the pig that became a sheep dog ....
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A highlight was a treasure/scavenger hunt on the last morning of the trip. I went out for my morning jog, but with a secret plan. I had a bag of cool toys that little boys would like. This took a fair amount of planning in advance, and we had to keep the stuff hidden while we spent the week with the lads.
So there is a really cool trail nearby. As I was "jogging" and made my way through there, I used orange flagging tape to mark spots where there was a toy nearby, which I had hidden in the bushes. It took a little time, and I was slightly concerned that someone else might come along and find all this hidden stuff.
Anyway, upon my return to the apartment, I announced that we were going to have a scavenger hunt. I anticipated great excitement over this, but was met with ... indifference.
So I then changed tactics and announced that it was a Treasure Hunt! for awesome toys hidden by Pirates! This new approach received a much more enthusiastic "AAAwesome!!! Dude! COOL!! Let's go!"
Off we went, and it worked out really good. They raced up the trail and found the goodies and had a great time. Except you have expect the inevitable "he got more than I did" comments. So at the end it all came out okay as they swapped stuff and shared stuff.
And then they promptly forgot most of their "treasures" and began to chant - WE WANT BREAKFAST! We want Breakfast! ... you get the picture. Little boys, like many adults, have a short attention span.
We headed off to Pig and Pancake and wolfed down a whole bunch of unhealthy goo. Hot chocolate with a mountain of whipped cream should be illegal ...
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Almost Home ...
At long last we began our return to the Willamette Valley with one final event that I was not looking forward to. We were going to have a camp out in our side yard. Frankly, this is the last thing I wanted to do, I was exhausted and halfway sick from a bug I got on the trip.
So we talked our son TK into sleeping in the tent with the boys, and he deserves a prize. It was a long night, or maybe I should say a short night, as they woke up early and nobody slept much.
Of course, before bed we had one final surprise ... sparklers! And Of course, we built this up too. Hey, you have to do a little promotion of your cool surprise features! They loved it, just in time to go to bed and be really pumped up! Who's idea was this?
You go as long as you can on these trips and you give it your best, but after a week, well ... you kind of run out of gas. It was a lot of fun and maybe we'll do this next year? ... Maybe?
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