Graduation Vacation

The Cramers headed off to Oregon the first weekend in May for Michelle's graduation. Although she received her degree in December, she wanted to walk at the ceremony. So, we made a vacation of it. We left Spokane on Thursday and arrived in Salem in the afternoon. This was Benjamin's first trip out of Washington. After picking up Michelle's cap and gown and checking into our hotel, we enjoyed dinner at Caruso's and then a relaxing evening in our room.

Friday morning started with a trip to Corban University to see our Camp Gilead friend Kiel who is a pitching coach at Corban. After a short visit we headed off to the coast. We arrived in Lincoln City and were happy to see beautiful blue skies. We walked on the beach, and Jon wrote Ben's name in the sand. Then we headed off to the outlet mall to do a little shopping. After enjoying a delicious lunch at Mo's, we headed back to Salem where we met up with Michelle's parents. We went to visit Michelle's grandparents in Monmouth. After dinner out with Michelle's parents and her grandma, we headed back to the hotel to get some rest.

Saturday was an action packed day. After breakfast we took Benjamin to the hotel pool for his first swimming experience. Ben swam with a PFD (personal floatation device) and without one. He didn't mind it either way. He seemed to really enjoy swimming; he was even trying to kick his feet. Michelle also dunked him under water a couple of times (doing the blow on the face thing so he holds his breath). He didn't cry and it didn't seem to bother him at all. It's looking like he may end up being a water baby. We then headed back to the room for nap time for the boys, yes that's plural. Jon and Ben napped while Michelle relaxed.

Then Jon dropped Michelle off at the Salem Armory so she could get graduation "practice" and instructions. A couple minutes after 2 pm the ceremony began. Michelle made quite the entrance as she started cheering and jumping when she walked in and saw her family. After all the undergrads were announced it was finally time for the graduate students. Michelle walked on stage sans shoes like she did when she received her bachelor's degree and high school diploma. After the ceremony we headed to Monmouth for a graduation party thrown by Michelle's aunt Kathy. It was just family at the party with the exception of Michelle's long time friend Ashley. Then it was back to the hotel to put Ben down for bed.

Sunday arrived with blue skies and warm weather. After a long weekend we decided to head home that morning. We stopped at Multnomah Falls and snapped a few pictures. Finally we arrived home in Spokane. It was so nice to be home again. Even Benjamin seemed happy to be home. He started looking around and smiling recognizing he was home again.

Vacation

We arrived home on Monday tired, happy, and sad. We had just spent the past five days on vacation in Lincoln City, Oregon. We stayed at the Comfort Inn, right on the D River. Michelle was able to get a discount through her work - at least there's something good about her job.

We left Wednesday, October 13 after work. We stayed at Michelle's parents' house for the night so we could be 1 1/2 hours closer to our destination. Thursday morning we hit the road. After stopping at Multnomah Falls for a brief walk and lunch we arrived at Lincoln City around 2 pm. We got checked in to our room and went across the street to enjoy our first walk on the beach since arriving. It was sprinkling a little. but it was still wonderful to be there. There's just something amazing about hearing and seeing the roar of the ocean that makes you thank God for His beautiful creation!

Our first night we enjoyed dinner at our favorite Lincoln City restaurant - Mo's. For those of you who have never been to Mo's, you need to go! They have the BEST clam chowder ever! (Mo's was actually the reason why we chose to go to Lincoln City instead of a different location.)

Friday we decided to drive down to Newport. We walked along the Bayfront, saw some Coast Guard ships, and then went to the Yaquina Bay Lighthouse. After playing around on the beach we went to the lighthouse and took a tour of it. Surprisinly, this lighhouse was only used for 3 years before it was replaced by another one a few miles away.
Michelle in the ocean.

Jon standing in the cold ocean.

Saturday morning we woke up early (6:30 am) to go search the beach for glass floats. Fortunately the weekend we were in town corresponded to the weekend of a Finders Keepers event. The organization put out about 200 floats along the 7 mile beach. After walking for about 1.5 miles we decided to head back to the hotel to get some breakfast and get warm. It was a little disappointing not finding anything, but it was still fun to walk on the beach before sunrise. We drove down to Depoe Bay and walked along the main road checking out a few stores. We also went to the Whale Observation building and saw a whale in the distant (we really only saw the spout of water it shot up when breathing). We also got to see a beautiful sunset!

Sunday we drove to Salem to visit some friends at Faith Baptist Church. It was so nice to see them! We also got a chance to talk with our friends, Brandon and Kate Weber, about their pre-field work and their support level. (They are missionaries with ABWE going to Africa.) After enjoying a Russian lunch at the church we headed back to Lincoln City for our last day at the beach. We enjoyed some more time at the beach and enjoyed one more meal at Mo's. At Mo's we finally found a Christmas ornament to represent our trip.(We have a tradition that we try and get a tree ornament from places we visit.)
Monday held yet another early morning as we packed up and headed home. We stopped in Tri-Cities for lunch at the Double Dragon. Then we stopped at Michelle's parents' house to see the deer her dad and brothers got over the weekend. Finally we made it home. We enjoyed one last dinner out and went home for the night. We were happy to be home but sad that our vacation was over.