Brielle and Ronan blog: Cousin reunion in Bandon

Every summer, we drive down to Bandon for a family visit with Grammy Barbara, Kelly, and Kraig's sisters' families, including cousins Stella and Emmy. It's a beautiful, fun place for a family reunion. It will probably be our biggest trip this summer, so please excuse the insane amount of photos I'm about to post...

But first, we'll back up a little. The visits actually started early when Aunt Amy, Cousin Stella, and Grammy came to visit us in Portland for a few days. This gave Brielle a chance to show off her home and her town to Stella. She, of course, also showed off some of her taekwondo moves. We love how Ronan likes to copy her with a little kick and a baby-voiced "hi-ya!"

We went out to dinner with Kraig's Aunt Karen and Uncle Phil, who enjoyed meeting Stella for the first time.

Grammy and I took the kids to one of their favorite hang-outs, Pump It Up.

They had a fantastic time on the inflatables, running, jumping, and sliding. Ronan is brave on the big slides, but his favorite activity continues to be throwing big balls.

Funny mirrors...funny girls...

A few days later, our family drove down to Bandon to meet up with the rest of the family, this time including Uncle Todd, Aunt Kelly, Uncle Tim, and Cousin Emmy. We weren't sure about our day-to-day plans because it was supposed to be cool and rainy the few days after we arrived. However, we managed to have our usual "weather luck" in Bandon and enjoyed some amazing, sunny weather for most of the time.

Kelly's family stayed at Grammy and Kelly's house, and Amy's family and our family stayed at a fantastic beach house a few minutes away.

The kids love staying in new environments and had fun exploring the house and running back and forth on the decks facing the ocean.

Meanwhile, the adults enjoyed having a glass of wine and good conversations with a view of the sunset over the beach.

Brielle and Stella liked spinning together on the swivel chairs in the living room. I liked how their expressions looked so similar in this photo. They often looked like they could be sisters.

Our first trip to the beach was a short walk down from the beach house. On this day, unfortunately, it was pretty windy and cool, so it was a rather short visit. Brielle and Stella don't seem to be affected by poor beach weather because they're so excited to run around and explore. But it was a little much for Ronan and Emmy. Unlike in Florida, you sometimes have to wear a jacket to an Oregon beach, even close to summer. On the flip side, in Bandon you never have to worry about crowds. Again, we had the beach to ourselves.

Washed-up debris from the Japan tsunami...

We also made several visits to Grammy and Kelly's house to watch the kids play and relax in the sun on the lakefront deck.

The cousins enjoyed the hot tub...except for Ronan, unfortunately. He had gotten sick just before the trip and was feeling bad and clingy (i.e., can't stand to be out of Mommy's arms) during a portion of the trip. At other times he was feeling better and had a lot of fun. But he definitely didn't like Mommy taking this photo instead of holding him.

One day we drove about 45 minutes south to visit the Prehistoric Gardens. This was a special attraction for Kraig, who remembered visiting this place with his family as a little boy. Plus he loves dinosaurs and wanted to share the experience with his kids. Ronan wore his dinosaur shirt.

The rainforest environment includes life-sized models of 23 dinosaurs, emerging amongst the ferns and large ancient trees and foliage.

The kids ran down the path from dinosaur to dinosaur with a lot of "wow!"s.

On the way back, we stopped for lunch on a shipping dock in Port Orford.

The drive along the coast was absolutely stunning.

The cousins (and us) also enjoyed visits with Grandpa Taylor and Linda. Ronan (in this sick, clingy phase) was a little shy at first. But Grandpa engaged him with a game of "hot potato", throwing little bean bags back and forth.

Look out, Grandpa! Like his sister at the same age, Ronan has quite a strong arm on him.

Grandpa also joined us on a trip to the park.

Ronan was excited to see Grandpa's dog, Sassi.

Our next beach visit was sunny and beautiful.

Grammy invited us to an area of the beach that included little streams for the kids to play in. She came prepared with shovels, buckets, trucks, and other toys for playing in the sand.

Brielle and Stella loved running out into the waves, not bothered at all by the cold water and sandy clothes.

The weather in Bandon can be interesting. It's a place where you can be both hot and cold at the same time. Wearing jackets helped with the cool wind, but the bright sun allowed some people to wear short sleeves without discomfort. It's always difficult to know how to pack!

Stella and her parents enjoyed a walk along the beach.

It was difficult to keep Ronan's pants rolled up, so we eventually set him free in just a diaper. If you look back at this blog, you'll see similar photos of Brielle at the beach in Bandon with a jacket and diapers.