Valerie's First Big Road Trip

Last week Valerie, Samson and I took a trip down through Oregon to visit family. We stopped many times along the way - some stops to visit family, other stops just to feed Valerie and walk Samson! It was a long trip, but a great one!

Our first visit was to Valerie's Great-Grandma and Grandpa Kaufman (Micah's grandparents) in Portland. Great Uncle Dave was there as well. We enjoyed seeing them and they loved meeting Valerie! Grandma's first comment was, "Well, hello there, Little Micah!" when she first saw Valerie. This little girl definitely still takes after her Daddy! After that visit, we drove across Portland to see Aunt Stephanie and cousins... Kolbie couldn't resist holding her (of course she also didn't want to take the sucker out of her mouth!). Neither could big cousin Kai. He was desperate to hold her, but after about 5 seconds said, "Okay, I'm done." We continued our journey down to Salem that first day, where we stayed for the night. Grandma Pilgrim fed Valerie her evening bottle before she went to bed! Valerie slept most of the way down to Grants Pass... here is her reflection in her special mirror!
Thankfully, Southerlin was the perfect stop along the way for me to get charged up with Dutch Bros coffee (my favorite!) and finish the drive! We made it to Grants Pass in time for an afternoon lunch with Grandma, Aunt Tera and the cousins! The cousins (Ethan, Isaac and Lexi) were just about (or maybe more!) excited to see Samson than they were Val! He's just such a love-able dog.
Aunt Tera... getting ready to kiss Val's sweet little head! Valerie met SO many people on this trip! Aunt Kim...
Uncle D... Great-Grandma Hill (Grammy)...Great-Grandpa Hill (Papa)... Great-Grandpa Spliethof (Papa)...

Great-Grandma Spliethof (Nana)... Cousin Lexi... Just hanging out with Grandpa & Grandma!

This was a special moment. We went to visit my Great-Grandma, Valerie's Great, Great-Grandma! 5 generations of women... Valerie also got to experience "The Olive House" on Rogue River Highway - the only bad news was that their shipment of olives wasn't due till later that evening! Bummer! We enjoyed their sweets and a few of the remaining olives they had in stock!

On Saturday we went to Ethan's last Little League game of the season. Tera keeps score while Dustin watches intently!

We all have fun watching as well!

Ethan plays catcher and did a great job! And best of all, he hit a game-winning triple to end the season. Way to go, Ethan!

Samson enjoyed the trip too. He loved running around on the property and playing with the little dogs, Lilly & Teddy (pictured in order below).

While my dad road the riding lawnmower around for a while, my sister and niece drove the quads on the track at the front of my parent's property!

Titus - this big black dog, was exhausted after the quad ride because he would chase them around the field!

We enjoyed relaxing times sitting on the front porch and watching the kids and dogs play together!

On Sunday night a bunch of the family got together at one of my favorite restaurants in Grants Pass: Wild River Brewery. There were 17 of us altogether. Thanks for coming everyone!

On Monday, Tera and her boys went with Val and I to Jacksonville to meet a high school friend of mine. We met at a local park that had this great water fountain for kids to play in. All of the boys had a great time - including my friend, Cindy's 1-year old son Preston!

This was the first time that all 4 grand-kids on the Hill side of the family were together. How fun to see them altogether!

My cousin and his wife had a little girl about 6 weeks before Valerie was born. Her name is Haley Jo... isn't she a cutie?!

On Tuesday, Val, Samson & I made our way back north, with another overnight stop in Salem. Valerie spend some time with Grandpa Pilgrim....

And her cousins Gabby and Alex came over with their mom Julie!

Thanks for helping to feed and change Valerie!

We made one final visiting stop on our way home on Wednesday to see Aunt Stacey... though Valerie was a little grumpy (and definitely tired of her carseat at this point!), we had a good visit.





Traveling with a baby and a dog can be quite the adventure, but we had such a good time! Thanks for letting us visit! We love you!