Busy, busy and then....BYE!

Here is one final post about my visitors from Illinois. It was such a whirlwind 4 1/2 days, I truly felt like we were going non-stop almost the whole time.

Below are just a few of the highlights that made me smile:

Marcee and kids in front of Oregon's famous Multnomah Falls (and poor Roxy in her pink winter sweater):

I think the Columbia River Gorge is one of the most beautiful places on Earth. This is a shot of the Washington state side of the Gorge. Washington is *almost* as pretty as Oregon. :-) (kidding, kidding... Wendy, Marigold, Tammy, and Kim!):

G. was happy almost the entire time, but occasionally *this* heartbreaking face would appear:

Have you ever noticed that everyone has their own way of eating ice cream? Here J. illustrates the "hole in the bottom of the cone" method:

While K. illustrates the "two-spoon" method:

Little G., on the other hand, couldn't be locked down to just one, and alternated fluidly between the tongue and the mini-spoon techniques:

Back at the house, his mama insisted it was time to put the little guy to work cleaning the spice rack. It was really dusty. I'm so glad they noticed this:

Roxy tried to help, but was mostly perplexed by the lack of anything edible lying on the ground:

I've never cared much for spices being in alphabetical order and G., sensing this, handled it perfectly. I'm surprised his mama didn't have a breakdown on the spot when she saw the willy-nilly placement of the bottles:

A trip to visit Pistol, Holly and Sarah at their new home in the coast range was incredible. Look at the wonder on this little guy's face!:

G. had absolutely no fear and the donkeys were fascinated with him:

J. was pretty thrilled to finally meet the donks, too:

G. is clearly in love with all animals. Here he can be seen offering up kisses to a really adorable nubian/pygmy goat:

Getting back in the car to leave was a bit challenging:

Seems that both Holly and Sarah wanted to go for a ride, too:

But it was on to the coast from there:

It was a typical day at the Oregon coast...gray and stormy!:

Illinois folk appreciating the balmy Pacific Ocean:

Roxy, gorgeous with that windswept look:

She was always on the move, that girl. Here's Roxy running big circles around J. and K.:

The big box of cars was a hit at the house. Here little G. plays while testing out a farmgirl's signature hat:

The days flew by. It's time to go back home:

Roxy says goodbye:

It's dangerous to take pictures while driving. That's the Illinois clan in the lane behind me on their way to the airport:

It was a fun and busy time....a great way for a spontaneous trip across the country to turn out, don't you think?