Oregon Day IV

Our last day in Oregon was more hectic than the others. Rebecca had lost her voice and it was a cooler day. We decided to go to the zoo to see the sea otters. We got close to a bear and found river otters and then... it began to rain. But not just rain, down pour. Even the locals were amazed at how heavy it was and how long it was lasting, and when the locals are impressed with the rain, you know you're in trouble. On top of that, there were like 50 field trips that day (just go HOME, stop the field trip madness already, it's summer!) and the children were savages all trying to cram into the exhibits that had shelter. It was pretty chaotic.

So we decided to leave. As we turned the corner there it was!! The SEA otter exhibit!! My heart stopped (I really really LOVE sea otters) but then--- the sea otters were nowhere to be found! Were they napping? Afraid of the rain? I'll never know.

This picture doesn't really show just how wet we were. Plus, my eyes look like black holes.

In the end I couldn't be too sad because we did, after all, have a week without hardly any rain, AND a beach all to ourselves, without any rain. It was an adventure, right? ;)

To make ourselves feel better we went and got lunch at The Original Pancake House. That was a success.

We then went home and June and Charlie took naps. We even woke them up early to leave for our flight. But once we got on the road it was apparent that traffic was BAD. The freeway was super backed up and not moving much so we took a different route only to discover that the power was out in half the city so there were no stop lights. It was pretty bad. The trip was suppose to take 20 minutes and it was turning into an hour. I started to stress that I was going to miss my flight.

It was kind of funny. Rebecca hardly gets stressed out and if she does, she handles it and shows it in a completely different way from me. So laughed and pointed out that the moment kind of reminded her of our companionship on the mission... me stressing and her being like, "It's fine. Calm down." haha And... it was true.

We can all admit that it was a miracle from God that got us on that plane though. We had to run through the airport and even then June and I ended up with our own row! BLESSED. And we had more incredible views. (but honestly, I have flown in SO MANY airplanes my whole life and it never gets old! Seeing the earth below, being above the clouds, I can't stop looking at it! It's so wonderful!)

I was very happy to see Buck that night. And he even got a bunch of YouTube videos of sea otters up for me to watch. haha :)

The week was perfect. Max and Rebecca are some of our greatest friends and they took such great care of June and me. They fed us, wouldn't let me pay for gas, gave us comfortable places to sleep. Every time the kids napped Rebecca and I would just sit and talk for the two hours. We can talk about anything and share secrets and I love it. I'm so grateful for good friends and good people who care about our little family.

Even though they lived in Utah for a while they said that they feel like they only did the student thing in Provo so I told them when they come to visit again that I will be their tour guide. ;) Can't wait to repay the favor.

And as for Buck? He had a good but tiring time at scout camp. The lives of 12 year old boys can be exhausting. But just from the stories he told I know that he did an awesome job and those boys are lucky to have him for a leader.

I really DON'T enjoy being away from him. I missed him and thought about him constantly. I wish he could have been there. :( And so maybe I cried when we said good bye. haha I know, it was only for four days and I'm silly, but I just really like being with him. I'm grateful to him for letting us go because I know how badly he also wanted to be there. Next time Buck, next time. ;)

And I'm grateful to God for His beautiful earth and for the opportunities that I've had to see it. What a blessed and colorful world we live in!