Welcome to the Whitsett Family web site

Hello Friends! What an absolutely wonderful day it was today! God gave us another day of great weather. The kids heard more than their share of "growing up" stories. It was just a neat day filled with memories; some we made, and some I relived.

We started on the Oregon coast. Kevin just needed to take a couple more pictures of the sand dunes (He thinks they are really cool). We then went straight to the Sea Lion Caves. The kids (and us!) got to see live, wild sea lions. We could hear them "barking" before we saw them. There were hundreds of them! The ones at the caves don't migrate, so we were able to watch them play and rest. There, we also saw deer on the hills next to the sea. We have been able to see lots of wild life. Kevin also got to take another picture of a lighthouse. It was very pretty.

From there, I took a nap. Shew! Kevin woke me up around Albany, Oregon where we ate lunch at a Skippers (fast food seafood). We continued north on I-5 all the way through Washington. We passed two brush fires. It is rare for this area, but the ground is brown from lack of rain. We were able to see Mt. Saint Helens and of course Mt. Rainier. The mountains are beautiful here with snow on the tops all year long.

We finally arrived at Seattle. You will get pictures of this tomorrow, as we are taking the tours. Today was the day to go straight to Bellevue, where I used to live. We arrived at my old house at the same time a teenager arrived there. He thought I was a bit odd at first when I tearfully asked if I could take a couple of pictures of the old place. We talked about old neighbors, businesses, and schools. He had lived there his entire life. The house has changed a bunch. It sure seemed the front yard was smaller ;-)

We drove around and saw my old elementary school, Bellwood, and jr. high, Odle. I got to take the kids to the blueberry farm that was near my house where I would walk through on my way to school. We drove up "Danger Hill", and by Lakewood and Medina. It is just beautiful. Unlike San Jose, I did a fair job of remembering where things were. Some of the business have changed, but the buildings are still there. It was neat to show the kids my old stomping grounds.

We went back across the lake to Mercer Island where we are staying. The sunset was gorgeous, just filling the sky with color. Yet another perfect ending to a great day.

We will check in again tomorrow. Thank you for all of your prayers.

~Cindy (and KSWx3)

I slept like a baby when I finally got to bed. It felt so good to sleep. Kevin took the car to Wal-Mart to get the oil changed and the tires balanced (the never-ending story!) I don't think the shake is any better. I'm thinking it is just the car. Other than that, it has been performing wonderfully. Thanks for all your prayers!

We left Ukiah, California, and headed into the redwood territory. We took pictures at the Avenue of the Giants. Kelley is getting pretty good at composition of the pictures. Korey is getting good too, and is eager to have the camera whenever we will let him (which is pretty often, actually). Kevin took a mini-movie of the redwoods with the digital camera.

The Redwoods are just massive! They are God's original skyscrapers. It is so peaceful and serene to be in the forest. It just amazes me what God has created. I am glad we took the scenic drive off of the beaten path. It was worth it to just see the beauty of His handiwork. The kids were pointing out all the different trees and noticing how big they were. I love seeing things through their eyes.

Soon we were at the ocean. It was foggy along the coast all day long. We couldn't even see much of it until near the Oregon border. Kevin marveled at the huge rocks in the ocean. I had fun playing with the kids, dodging waves and trying not to get wet. Korey got nailed by a big wave, and he had to change before getting back in the car.

Right around Coos Bay, Oregon, we stopped at the dunes. It never occurred to me that the rest of the family had never seen sand dunes before. They were huge hills that spanned miles, and were not of the kind of sand that the beaches were. I remember as a child when my parents took my brother and I to dunes how much fun it was. Kevin really liked them. The kids had a great time. We were at the "no dunes" section and just let the sand go between our toes. We had to hike up a HUGE hill to get to the top of the first dune, which just had larger dunes before us. To our right we saw the dune buggies playing. Kevin and Korey especially liked watching them. It was great to experience that through their eyes.

We stopped and took some pictures of lighthouses. The first one was at Bullards Beach at the Coquille River Lighthouse. There we saw the lighthouse, but we also saw an otter. It was the first one in the wild the rest of the family has seen. It was cold and windy. The car said the outside temperature was only 60! I'm going to be sure to have my jacket with me tomorrow!The last lighthouse was at sunset. It was a perfect ending to the day.

We enjoyed looking at the scenery, munching sourdough bread and Ghirardelli chocolate. It's an official vacation since Korey was singing 99 Bottles of Pop on the Wall and B-I-N-G-O. We just giggled and sang along with him. He and Kelley have really made this vacation for us. They have been perfect angels all along the way.

Scott would be happy with us. We deviated from our schedule another day, and didn't even make reservations on the road! We are staying the night in Reedsville, Oregon. Tomorrow we will go up the coast to see the Sea Lion Caves. I think the family will enjoy that.

Thanks for praying for us! We're having a great time being together.

Until tomorrow!

~Cindy (and KSWx3)

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