Caden and Finn's Blog: West Coast trip

The last big event of our West Coast trip was spending Thanksgiving at Camp Magruder on the Oregon Coast. Since this year was poised to be our last of about 20 Magruder Thanksgivings, with the Godard family 'shifting generations' after Grandma Jean left us in May, the grandkids/aka cousins decided to host the feast in honor of Grandma, Grandad, and our parents that made the weekend possible for so many years. Unfortunately, Adad had his leg/knee surgery on Tuesday and got home to Corvallis on Wednesday, so he and Ama weren't able to come. That meant that there were 12 of us grandkids & spouses cooking, 2 great grandkids, and only 4 parents to do the dishes. The feast was delicious! Notably, Jerry & Misty's first try cooking a turkey was a rousing success, and Matt carried on the tradition of Great Grandma Guyer bread rolls, usually made by Ama Jo. And what about Caden? Well, Caden was too excited about playing with 11-month old Jacquelyn's toys to eat much dinner - here he is sitting a moment for a photo...

This year happened to be one of our stormy and rainy Thanksgivings (there was one year where Sally and Mama went wave jumping and for a dip in the lake!). We did get a couple of beach walks in

and went down to watch a Coast Guard rescue attempt on Friday. A crab boat capsized near the Barview jetty (Tillamook Bay entrance) and surfboats, helicopters, and bystanders on the dunes with eyes peeled searched for hours. Note the huge breaking wave visible on the far side of the jetty...

We also visited the donkeys. This is Caleb, the same donkey Mama rode her first time at Magruder summer camp in 1988.

Just for fun, here's a surprisingly similar photo from Thanksgiving 2007. Looks like Caden is pretty good at convincing Misty to take him to see the donkeys!

Friday night was Bingo night, and Caden got the important job of helping cousin Meg turn the Bingo cage! It was a rousing game with "O" numbers prompting all of us Beaver fans (exactly 50% of us being OSU alums, plus Sally and Mama growing up in Corvallis) to let out a resounding "O-oh" (being that it was the day before the Civil War game). [Note: back home in Massachusetts, we overheard Caden teaching his toy people how to play Bingo and how to say "O-oh" like an Oregon Stater!]

Saturday, we packed up and went on one last walk to the beach...

then headed back to Corvallis via the Tillamook Cheese Factory (below), lunch at Mo's in Taft, a quick visit at Meg's new house in Newport, and a swing past Reser Stadium on our way into Corvallis.

[Look, we take the same pictures every year! That's the glory of tradition - no thought required!]

We spent our last 2 days in Corvallis, enjoying a little more time with Ama and Adad. Caden was glad that, although immobile, Adad could still read to him.