"Speed" Monopoly

Nolan went online and found the instructions for Speed Monopoly.  This is favorite game; and the rest of us aren't so fond of such a big commitment to a board game.

It turns out that Speed Monopoly comes down to a special die.  We have a bag of dice and so he took a Sharpie and convinced the kids they would be able to play Monopoly in one hour.  Not so much! ::snort:: But it only took two hours. LOL

#WYFF - Mom G Turns 88

We rushed back from Michael's VA appointment to be here for Mom G's 88th birthday! How fun is that?

One week Mom had asked for short ribs and I could not find any in stock, anywhere in town. I suspected ribs would be welcome for a birthday dinner, we found some ribs, all the fixins, the cheesecake  and headed over. 

Stacia really liked those BBQ ribs

Ah - cake and gifts - Mom asked for Cheesecake

This is our 11th week here. I've been buying Mom G's groceries and I've noted she has a ginormous SWEET TOOTH....at 88...eat what you want!  We filled that bag with a variety of chocolates we knew she'd like....

There was some thought the chocolate would fit in this glass container...

Nope - needed an overflow container. 800+ pieces....

It was  a fun celebration and we are happy to be here for it.

#WYFF (Where's Your Feet Friday) is sponsored by Fulltime Families. For more #WYFF entries, click the tab above.

Late Night Light Show

We made it back to town....stopped in to deliver some food and check in with Mom G. We wondered if she'd like to sit outside and watch the Perseid Meteor showers.  The idea didn't appeal to her this year.

  That's o.k. We came back to the campground - which was sort of nice anyway. We set out the chairs, grabbed sleeping bags and watched the show until sometime after midnight. We were able to see quite a few meteors.  I like catching them in August better than in November.

Travel Day

It's a travel day.

We are getting very familiar with I5 between WA and CA. ::snort::

We stopped in Eugene and picked up brownies from Rebecca, Michael's sister, for Mom G's birthday.  She generously filled a couple of coolers with ORGANIC produce for us. Yummmo. It was good to see her. The warehouse at Organic Grown Inc. is something else - and the trucks and vans are pretty. I wanted to eat a salad just walking by them.

Via Google Images

We also stopped in Springfield and picked up a kayak at my parents. We had given it to Krista, and she didn't remember.  She suggested we take it with us as we are "living" on the river.....

We're rushing, as fast as we can while pulling the Caboose, back to the Redwoods....bringing a birthday celebration with us for Mom G.

We're about to hit the windy roads of the Redwood Hwy and I will lose cell and not be able to continue blogging....but I'm caught up.

Neurology Appointment

The kids stayed home and worked on some school. Michael and I headed in to Portland. Our 25 min drive took 40 min on the way in and 1.5 hours on the way home.  We were blessing Uncle Olie (Walt)  as we parked the beast. We also reconfirmed our desire NOT to live in a big city.

Michael did an internship here 26 years ago. Life came full-circle as we entered an out-building for his neurology consult. The bottom line is Michael still has Parkinson's Disease.  HOWEVER, the two we saw yesterday were great. Dr. C is going to fight for Michael to get the drugs he currently takes. His mother has PD and he told us he is invested in making sure his patients get current and thorough care. He added another drug to the daily mix. He also gave Michael referrals to physical and speech therapy. He encouraged early intervention to teach skills which will help Michael be steady on his feet and improve his voice volume.  They are also checking some swallowing issues. We aren't sure how the referrals will work with our traveling, but we'll get on it while we are  in C City helping Mom G. 

By the time we got back to the Caboose the kids had already had dinner. We headed out to REGAL 9....yes. The kids had Regal cards and we've not been where there are Regal theaters. We watched Secret Lives of Pets. 

This little break was nice. We were doing what we envisioned doing when we moved into the Caboose. We explored a new area, played games, watched movies, sat in  hot tubs.....this is not a complaint - just a reality  - we're usually too tired to do much family connecting lately. LOL 

Our next appointment with the neurologist is in February.  We are sad to leave Dr. Duffy, but feel like this doctor is as close as we could come in the VA system.  He's an answer to prayer. 

OMSI - Oregon Museum of Science and Industry

We purchased a zoo membership which included membership in the Association of Zoos and Aquariums. This means we can go to many zoos and aquariums for free or 50% off. We headed for the Oregon Zoo. It turns out the 2nd Tuesday of the month is $4 day at the zoo and all the lots were full, the crowds were crazy. 

We opted for plan B. We also have a membership from the Seattle Air Museum which gives us reciprocal membership to centers belonging to the Association of Science-Technology Centers. Both are great money savers for Fulltime RV/Traveling families.   We've made our money back, we've not  used either as much as we'd like as we've been fairly stationary. Today, we headed to the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry in Portland, OR.  We highly recommend a visit to OMSI.  Entrance was free for our family of 5, we did have to pay $5 for parking. 

These were surprisingly hard to do. LOL 

We enjoyed the space exhibit. It even had a Destiny Lab/International Space Station Simulator. 

I never could see this one. You were supposed to "float." 

Wearing a space suit glove and moving items in different atmospheric conditions. 

We aren't great at balancing. LOL 

We enjoyed the Planetarium show - we paid for this. 

We counted this as our first day of school for the year. After OMSI, we stopped by Michael's alma matter - Western Seminary. Here he is at Johnson Chapel, 26 years later.

A few of us headed to the hot tub/pool. 

For your viewing pleasure

Visiting Veteran & Solved Mysteries

In addition to their two shelves in the closet, each of our kids has one tub for their personal things. I don't police what they choose to keep with them. These sit on their beds. It seemed essential when we were first ditching suburbia.  They are stored on their bunks. Moving them each evening and morning seemed like a small price to pay. BUT they are HEAVY.....when they aren't on the bunks, they block plastic shelving units we are using on the unused 4th bunk.  When we travel, Stacia and I pull them to the middle or front of the Caboose. Today, I picked the first one up with EASE and then each of the others. 

I was especially impressed with the difference in weight in Alex's tub. We had all been trying to figure out why HIS tub was SO heavy. He had said he suspected  legos weighed a lot. Well - he DID have a lot of legos.....but I'd not seen him take much out of the tub for Mom's attic. Further questioning produced the info  the box he'd stored in the attic was his ROCK COLLECTION! Yep, that would make a difference. ::snort::

We drove on up to Wilsonville this afternoon. We have reservations at Pheasant Ridge RV Resort for three nights. We are told it will be 35 - 45 minutes to the zoo and 25 min to the VA hospital. We are setting up for our trip to the Neurologist/Movement Disorder Specialist. We had JUST finished setting up when there was a knock on the Caboose. Uncle Olie had found us! Go figure! He didn't know which park we were at, what space we were in - but he found us.  I lvoe that. Walt is Dad's childhood friend. He was the first Veteran I knew...and I liked him so well I went and married one. ::wink::

Walt's advice ended up saving us a lot of heartache when we had to park the beast at the VA hospital....