The Grandgirls are Here

Greetings to all and a late Happy Father’s Day to all you Dads out there.  Didn’t have internet yesterday so couldn’t post my greeting until today.

A lot of today’s post is for the enjoyment of my family near and far but you are certainly invited to share our day if you are so inclined.  We’re all family in Blogland anyway LOL!!

We had a great Father’s Day in Portland yesterday and picked up a couple of extra passengers on our way home this morning.

Yesterday we had a taco feed at John’s…and what a feed it was.  We had shredded pork and shredded chicken…and for the not so adventurous (ME!) good old hamburger, plus all the fixings, AND beans and rice.  It was yummy.

John, Laurie (John's step-mom), and Kari (Laurie's daughter)

Then John made root beer floats and Bekah served them.  I think they went through a LOT of root beer and ice cream.



We had four Fathers present…and they all liked their root beer floats.

Russ, Bob (SIL), John (Red), and Steve (John's other Dad!)

Afterwards, I asked John to play me some tunes on the piano.  He was a bit embarrassed as he said he hasn’t practiced for awhile but it was still music to my ears!  I’m pretty proud of John for teaching himself not only the piano, but the drums and guitar as well.

When we got tired, we went back to our little temporary home and relaxed to the sights and sounds of the river.  I love Clackamette Park – even if it is little and doesn’t have full hook-ups.



To those of you who read about my “Dilemma” earlier…we missed the dogs and are going to try and find a way to have them with us as much as possible when we travel.

Today Bekah and Anna came home with us for a week.  (If you want to read a touching Father’s Day post go to Red’s page and see what he wrote about Bekah and being a father).

We stopped at Champoeg State Park just for a quick look-see on the way home.  Dave and Carol made us very curious about this park and we have to say, they are right…it’s beautiful.  We went through the visitors center and found some things to amuse ourselves.

Bekah, Anna, and Grandpa outside the visitors center.  The girls had 3D glasses

 that they took the lenses out of and they wore them almost all day.

Bekah found a shadow box first thing.



And Anna found the perfect boyfriend.



Grandpa found a political philosophy that he could relate to.



And this is what happened to him for his rebellion.



Anna liked the reference to her hometown.



And Anna also liked the dress-up display but Bekah was not so happy with her outfit.



Almost before we were unloaded, the girls wanted to get in the pool…what the heck, we can unload later when it’s too cold to swim.



Bekah was just a little wary of the water being too cold so she went in the shallow end first.



But Anna went for the deep end…it’s COLD, she said!!



They both agreed it really wasn’t that cold and soon they were swimming around like little mermaids.



And that’s the way it was for the Krecklows this weekend.  That’s all for now.

Poppy’s in the Fish Pond!!

Here I am again, home after being without internet for several days…now I have so much to tell I don’t know where to start or where to end.  Oh well, ya’ll already know I’m long-winded!  We’ve been at Clackamette Park for the last few days.  You can read about the park in an earlier blog by clicking on the link.

Wednesday we did a bit of sightseeing around Oregon City.  We went downtown and walked along the river and got some pictures of the falls.



There were not as many boats in the water as there were last month, but we still saw some salmon being caught.

Do you know what this is?

It’s the other end of THIS:

“MY, what big TEETH you have.”  “The better to steal your salmon with, my dear!”

We also saw an interesting tour boat.

“Sit down, lady.  There are NO restrooms on this boat.”

And another:


And another…

Now you’re talking!!


Russ found some ancient hieroglyphics:


And Rusty found a great place to get in the water:

“Sorry Rusty, the leash is just TOO short for you to reach that tree!!”

Wednesday evening we went to see Red and his family.  Red, incidentally, has a new blog up with a story I remember well from his younger days.  Sometimes I think it might be better not to remind the old folks of those days so long ago!! 

Anyway, Poppy and Rusty were SO happy to be off leash in a fenced yard that they ran around like dogs half their age!  Suddenly, we heard Bekah yelling, “Poppy’s in the fish pond.”  Now, John’s fish pond is not exactly a fish pond.  There have been no fish in there for quite some time but it is full of about 3-4 feet of scummy rainwater at the moment and not something Poppy would normally be drawn to.  I can only surmise that in her frenzied joy at being unleashed, she wasn’t paying any attention to where she was going and thus fell into the pond.  John ran out and rescued her (she was hanging onto the edge for dear life) and we dumped a bucket of warm water over her to get the yuk off and she is none the worse for wear.  She will get a proper bath now that we are home.  I should have taken a picture but I was too concerned with getting Poppy taken care of that I didn’t think of it.  She sure looked chagrined at the whole matter and tried to make us believe she went in on purpose, but we know better.

While we were there, Russ got tired and took his usual late afternoon nap.  He had a napping partner, Pita, John and Joni’s old kitty cat.


John and Joni adopted Pita from a shelter when she was around three years old.  That was about 12 years ago.  Pita has always been tiny but now she is old and has long term health problems and weighs less than 5 lbs.  She is still spunky though.  She held her ground against both of my dogs and they quickly learned that this was HER house and they backed off and deferred to Miss Pita.

The river at Clackamette Park was way up from when we visited just last month.  That’s the sidewalk all covered with water.  Rusty thought it was a great place to wade!  I’m not sure I would be brave enough to park where that motorhome is parked – that was the camp host!!


Thursday we went to see our daughter Merry and her family.  Our granddaughter, Anna, was graduating from Jr. High and so we celebrated with her.  Where did the years go?


Thursday evening we were relaxing at the park when I heard a sound I haven’t heard in a LONG time – the sound of an ice cream truck!  We all know those treats are over-priced but somehow, they just taste better when you buy them from the ice-cream man.  We saw him making his way through the park and rushed out to meet him.  There were more grown-ups lined up to sample his wares than there were kids!  Guess there’s a little kid in all of us.


We also were treated to a gorgeous sunset over the river that night.  We tried to get a photo but the little point and shoot just doesn’t do sunsets very well.  If we had taken the time to get out the tri-pod and set up the big camera the sunset would have been long gone so this is the best I could do.  Doesn’t do it justice but you get the idea.


This morning I was just too lazy to cook breakfast.  Truth be told, I am SICK TO DEATH of the smoke alarm going off!  No I do not burn everything but the smoke alarm is (in my humble opinion) way too close to the stove and no matter what I do the alarm goes off several times every time I cook.  It’s so bad that when I start getting out a pot or a pan, Poppy runs for the bedroom and wants to hide until it’s all over.  Russ took them for a walk yesterday morning when I cooked breakfast.

So anyway, this morning we decided to go out.  We followed the GPS directions to a Denny’s that was no longer there, then to an IHOP that was now for lease.  Finally we saw a place called simply “Hales”.  Now our daughter is married to a Hale and so we thought this might be a good choice.  Turns out we were right.  This is a little restaurant about two miles from the park.


The interior is nicely done with several different seating areas.

The breakfast was not cheap but it was delicious and definitely worth waiting for.  I would recommend this restaurant if you are in the area.













Well, if you have made it this far, I am surprised.  Sorry, just too much catching up to do.  So now you have come to the end so I shall say “Good-bye” for now” and I am going to go read YOUR blog…I’m kinda behind and missing it.