Tom went to Oregon!
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If you would like a full quality picture, or a photo print, please ask: michelle@burghfield.eclipse.co.uk
| Stop Press! We have a video clip of Tom walking for the first time! View it here: TomWalks.avi | |
Thursday, May 02, 2002
Tom sets off from Heathrow airport at 13:00 for a 12 hour British Airways flight to San
Francisco, where he changes
to a United flight to Portland. He arrives at 20:00 PST and is met at the airport by
his Dad's Uncle Rob and Auntie Kay.
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| Rob and Kay's house with the unexpectedly flash hire car parked outside. |
Tom immediately enjoys the large screen TV |
Tom sleeps most of Friday due to jetlag, but his second cousins Kate and Lauren, and their mum Karen, who is Dad's cousin, have been calling every hour waiting to meet him and soon catch him in the afternoon and introduce him to their dollhouse.
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| Kate | Lauren | Karen | Playing Chase | Dollhouse |
Tom visits Kate and Lauren's house and the lovely grounds they live in with a lake and
playground.
We all take Tom to lunch at a McMenamins where Tom's dad gets quite excited about the beer
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| Riding Tom's Buggy | Baby Geese | Exploring | Sampling | In the Micro Brewery |
Dad's other cousin Susan brings her family over to meet Tom and we are joined by Kate
and Lauren as Karen has to work.
Susan's kids are Andrew, Sarah and Claire and her husband is David.
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| Claire and Rob | Claire and Tom | Tom and Kay | David and Susan | Lauren, Sarah, Andrew |
They take Tom and his Dad out to the Pacific coast where there is a short forest hike to get to the beach.
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Tom's Transport |
David |
Tom, Dad, Lauren, Rob |
David, Claire, Susan, Kay |
Sarah, David, Lauren |
The scenery is beautiful... The beach is called Short Sands
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| Forest stream | See the Sea | Short Sands | Pacific Ocean |
We all have a lot of fun on the beach, although Kate and Lauren fall down in the surf and get very wet!
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| Tom and Dad | Building a SandCastle | Kay, Susan, Claire | Anemones |
Afterwards we go to the nearby town of Cannon Beach for pizza.
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| The kids get pretend pizza to play with |
And real pizza | Walking Practice |
All of great Granddad's great grandchildren in a row. (and David) |
Monday, May 06, 2002
Tom and Dad spend the day sight seeing in Portland.
They get soaked when a cold shower hits while they are on Hawthorne Bridge but they keep
smiling!
That evening Karen, Kate and Lauren come over for dinner and everyone shares a pitcher of
HammerHead beer
bought from McMenamins on Saturday
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| Hawthorne Bridge | Court House | Salmon Fountain | Tom Keeps Smiling | Beer at Dinner |
Tuesday, May 07, 2002
In the morning Tom and Dad go to Oregon Zoo with Karen Kate and Lauren on their family
ticket.
Not many photos come out so well, just these three random animals:
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| Mandrill | Peacock | Elephant |
In the afternoon Dad takes Tom to the Children's Museum.
Although many of the activities are better for older kids, Tom finds plenty to enjoy.
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| Watching Water Works | Having a go | Hiding in Cave | Crawling in Castle | Peek-A-Boo! |
Wednesday, May 08, 2002
Tom wakes up in Lauren's pyjamas that he borrowed for the night. He's moving over
to stay at Susan's house
for the rest of his holiday and needs to pack. Kay takes him and Dad to Papa's Pizza
to enjoy the kids play area.
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| Borrowed Pyjamas | Playing in a Ball Pit | Playing on a Slide | Eating Pizza (again) | Drinking from a Straw (a first!) |
Susan and David's house has a beautiful view over Salmon Creek, so Tom took a walk there.
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| Susan and David's House | The View | Walking the Trail | A Nice Spot | The View Back |
Thursday, May 09, 2002
David has taken the day off work to take Tom, Tom's Dad and his own family up to Mount
Hood.
On the way they visit Multnomah falls.
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| The Falls | The Tourists |
It's really cold up on Mount Hood with lots of snow, everyone needs to wrap up really
warm, but even with
the kind loan of some warm gear Tom is not too comfortable. The older kids have a
lot of fun sledging.
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| Mountain View | Cold Tom | Warm Kids | Susan and Claire | Sledging |
Friday, May 10, 2002
Susan and the kids take Tom to the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry (OMSI)
Tom liked the submarine parked outside and a special kids area inside called Busy Town.
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| Submarine | Tom Pushes Claire | Busy Boy |
In the evening Tom's Dad and Susan went to see Spiderman at the cinema
Here are a couple of photos of Susan's kids perhaps inspired by events of the day.
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| Building a Robot | 'Spiderman' |
Saturday, May 11, 2002
Tom and the others hike up to the top of Beacon Rock on the Columbia River Gorge. The views are magnificent!
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For some reason Tom was a bit upset once we got to the top, perhaps it was when the
walking stopped
but he was happy once we were going down again, and while distracted by the chipmunk!
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| Sarah, David, Andrew, Claire, Susan | Andrew, Tom, Dad, Claire, Susan | Chipmunk |
Once they got back it was such a clear afternoon that distant mountains could be seen.
The evening was spent at David's parents where the last two photos of the day were taken.
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| Mount Hood | Mount St. Helen's | Tom and Sarah | Dad and Susan |
Sunday, May 12, 2002
In America this is Mother's Day and a large get together was organised at Susan's
house.
These include the first pictures of Scott, who is Karen's boyfriend.
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| Karen, David, Rob Kay, Claire, Scott |
Karen and Claire | Sarah, Kate, Kay | Lauren, Sarah, Kay, Kate |
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| Rob and Tom | Scott and Tom | Dad and Claire | Claire and Scott |
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| The Cameraman | Aladdin | Sandpit | Swing |
In the evening they go to a different McMenamins for dinner, one right by the Columbia river.
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| Before | After | The Sunset on the River |
Monday, May 13, 2002
The end has come too soon and it is time to go home.
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| Tom the Pilot? | Re-united with Mum |
Overall, Tom and his Dad had a fantastic time. Thanks to everyone who helped make it such a great holiday!
Love,
Tom.