The Great Oregon Steam-Up

The Great Oregon Steam-Up in Brooks (just north of Salem) is always the last weekend of July and the first weekend of August.  Last year, Paul, Becky, Mandy, and Justin took Judson and kept him overnight, so Nate and I could celebrate our anniversary and have a night off before Cooper joined our family.  (Uncle Justin has gone every year since he was a kid, I believe.)

This year Nate, Cooper, and I joined the fun.  We  went on a SUPER hot day, but had a terrific time.  Brooks is home to "Antique Powerland," which is basically a bunch of museums all clustered together.  Old trucks in one, tractors in another, and so on.  Total boy heaven.  In addition to seeing all of the vehicles, there's a tractor parade (complete with fascinating OLD steam tractors), fun trains to ride, and a number of other fun activities.  If you have boys and live near Salem, I highly recommend it.  (I myself would be fine with doing it once, but Judson loves it so much that it is definitely going to be part of my future summer plans, at least some years.)

I've put this post off because I have so many pictures from which to choose.  I'll do my best to keep it brief.  :)

Starting our day with a train ride.  Nate didn't like the fact that I was in a Ducks car.  :) The ride was at least five minutes long.  Judson was stoic the entire time, but loved every second of it!

Participating in the "tractor pull" with five year olds.  It was too heavy for him, but he gave quite the effort.

Random steam tractor that went by during the tractor pull.

First ever ribbon.  :)

Cooper loved the ice cream...a girl after her mama's heart.

We ate lunch in the shade next to this train track (right side of the picture).  It was perfect!  Judson would've watched it all day.  Eventually, they reversed the Amtrak train and that really bugged him.  "It's going the wrong way!  It needs to go the 'udder' way."  As my mom puts it, such an engineer's brain...  :)

Old log truck

Hearse

Driving a tiny fire truck

The "fire" kids could put out.

Judson's turn.

I loved this old fashioned gas station!

Yes, he had permission to sit on these vehicles. :)  It was so great that they weren't all off-limits.

One last train ride before heading home to cool off and give the kids long-overdue naps.

This summer has been so great!  We've packed a lot in and made some really fun memories.  We are so blessed.