Tuesday was Lucy's last day at work this week, so Jo and I were looking after the boys again. We hadn't walked the dogs on Monday so the first thing we did was take a walk round to the new Redmond park and on to the local shop for slushies for the boys and coffee for Jo and I - mine was English Toffee flavour! We took the drinks back round to the new park benches and sat in the shade for a while - see photo above.
Next trip out was in the car round to Albertson's to get the groceries for lunch and tea. Early afternoon the boys were settled and happy to stay in the house (as usual!) so I nipped out on my own to do some clothes shopping in Gottschalk's - I managed to pick up 4 good shirts and 3 pairs of trousers for work - all for just over £80!
My long-standing curiousity took the better of me on the way home and I stopped off at JD's Sports Bar - I had always wondered what it was like inside. Sure enough, it was a fairly typical American sports bar - large and with TV's all over the place all on different sports channels - definitely a male refuge. However, they did have a large selection of micro beers - 15 in all, so I supped a quick pint of Sierra Nevada's Summer ale.
No sooner had I got back to the house than Cade was looking for batteries for one of his toys, so he and I nipped out again in the car and dropped in to the local jeweller who not only supplied the required batteries, but also fixed my watch for no charge!
I was due to pick up my two new pairs of glasses from two separate opticians in Medford on Wednesday, but when we went to Binyon's they hadn't fitted the distance glasses with the "transitions" lenses. Fortunately, the girl remembered me and agreed that I had asked for these lenses so they agreed to re-do it that day - and also waive the $75 additional charge for these lenses!
We had more success at Lassmann's and my reading glasses were ready and waiting for me so it was on from there to our annual visit to Toys-R-Us to get Cade's birthday presents.
Scott came home from work pretty sharp and he and I headed off to Cave Junction for 9 holes of golf at Illinois Valley GC (formerly Laurel Pines GC). We just managed to get out before the twilight golf competition, which was just as well as it would have taken us hours longer otherwise. The course wasn't in great condition but we had a good time and when we finished, Scott and I headed to the local Wild River brewpub to pick up pizza to go for our tea. It's been a while since the Wild River won any awards, but they're still displaying them - see the banners above Scott's head in the photo above.
I got up sharp on Thursday morning and took Scott to work, leaving Lucy with her car to do any last-minute runabouts for the birthday party. I headed down to Medford, scanning all the channels on Scott's satellite radio system on the way down. Binyon's didn't open until 10:00 am so I drove around looking for potential new golf courses to play next year. The first one I saw looked very nice - Quail Point had previously been dismissed when Syd was over 3 years ago as it was only a 9 hole course and didn't look great on the web. It's located within a gated community and the course looked in magnificent condition but it was Ladies' Day, so a quick 9 holes was out of the question.
I drove on a bit further and found the new Centennial course, which is a cracker - very long off the back tees but with huge wide fairways and massive greens. They managed to squeeze me in with a group of 3 seniors and I had a great time playing with Terry, Dutch and Bruce. Terry gave me his card and said I should call him next year for game there or at Stoneridge on a Wednesday (Seniors day). It helped that I played well - they now believe the myth that all Scotsmen are good golfers! I was round the back nine in 3 over par 39, including a near eagle at one of the par 5's.
I had a beer, picked up my glasses and was back in Grants Pass for lunch. It was another hot one today and the pool was nicely warm, so I was in there once or twice - latterly with the birthday boy. Lucy had made a cake for our party today and had also made another ice cream cake for Cade's official birthday on Friday, when they are heading off with the trailer to Lost Creek to spend the weekend camping with the family.
There was a major crisis with the ice cream cake - somehow, the freezer door fell open and the dogs got in and devoured the cake! Lucy had to rush out and get all the ingredients and do the cake all over again. Not surprisingly, and perhaps deservedly, Ryan was sick on the grass that afternoon!
There was also a bit of a crisis when we went to eat the other cake after Cade had blown out the candles. The theme was sand and sea and Lucy cut slices of the requested sand for Cade and Braeden - all calm so far. She then asked the rest of us whether we wanted sand or sea and at this point Braeden had a complete melt-down - he suddenly realised the cake was going to be consumed and screamed "don't eat the cake" over and over again! He could not be calmed down but eventually he went to his room and all was well again. See pre-meltdown photo above.
We took the traditional end of holiday family photo on the bench at the front of the house - note that the bench has been moved this year from under the front window to the side of the garage.
It's now Friday morning and we're making our final packing arrangements before heading off to Medford for our lunchtime flight to SFO. The end of another great holiday. Still, as Lucy said, it's only another 10 weeks until they come over to the UK in October!
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