Mini-Vacation to Long Beach, WA

Our family took a 3 night getaway to Long Beach, WA this past weekend. Mike and I decided we would take the kids away on a fun trip after all the stress of house-hunting and our house purchase falling through. We had a great time exploring the peninsula in the sunshine! Although the beach was fun, the highlights of the trip were the two hikes we took to the Cape Disappointment and North Head lighthouses. The photo above was taken in Dead Man's Cove on the way to the Cape Disappointment Lighthouse. It was this beautiful little cove with rocks to climb on and driftwood to explore. It was definitely a highlight of the trip.

This is the North Head Lighthouse. We couldn't go inside, but the views were pretty.

This boy loves to be outdoors. Sometimes I'm amazed at how he can entertain himself for hours with sticks and dirt (or sand).

Noah loved the sand too. Oregon is perfect for winter hats and bare feet!

It was fun to drive on Long Beach! We even passed other vehicles and horses on our way into town.

On Sunday we played at Fort Columbia. We explored the bunkers and hiked around the beautiful park. The bunkers are pretty creepy, but I'm sure the men stationed here during WWII were thankful for them.

Sunday was also the Loyalty Day Parade for the Long Beach Peninsula. We sat for a few hours and watched the parade. The kids were more excited about the candy than any of the marching bands or clowns. My favorite club that marched was a group of people from Portland called the "Get a Life Marching Band". They appeared to all be in their late 50's to 70's. I found their webpage and this is how they describe themselves, "We were all in high school or college marching bands. We still haven't gotten over it. We'd rather miss a note than a meal!" Their 2011 slogan is, "We don't need good taste to know what tastes good." I'm still not sure what the eating has to do with marching bands and drill teams, but they were having tons of fun so I guess it doesn't matter. In fact, they seemed to be having way more fun than the junior high and high school marching bands and drill teams. Noah waved at everyone marching by. We're talking hours of waving. He's quite the friendly guy!

A break from hiking to enjoy the daisies.

Mike and I agreed we could have stayed on the peninsula for a week and kept busy. What a beautiful part of Washington! We look forward to visiting again someday!

Summer Vacation Part 1 - Olympia, Renton, Seattle

On Friday, August 1st we headed out on our annual summer vacation. About 20 minutes into our vacation, near the Clark County Fairgrounds, I was pulled over by a police officer for speeding for the first time in my life (13 years of driving without being pulled over. Not to say I haven't deserved it)! The officer gruffly asked my why I was speeding (I won't say how fast) and I meekly replied, "lead foot". I think he was trying not to laugh at the very pregnant mom in the mini-van with the very red face. He decided he wasn't cranky enough to give a pregnant and embarrassed mom her very first ticket ever and let me off with a stern warning. Whew! What a way to start vacation!
Friday night we made it to Olympia to spend the night with Mike's Uncle John and Aunt Marion. We visited the new Cabella's store with Aunt Marion that evening and were so impressed with all the animal displays. The kids thought it was even better than the zoo as none of the animals could move or hide! Thanks Uncle John and Aunt Marion for your hospitality!
Saturday afternoon we packed up and left for Renton, WA where Mike's Uncle Jack and Aunt Elaine (pictured above) live. John and Marion and Mike's brother, Tim, also met us there for a barbecue before the guys took off to the Mariner's game. Weston had a great time at the game despite the horrible loss by the Mariner's. :( Apparently, Weston was able to stuff an entire cotton candy in his mouth in about 2 minutes which entertained the other fans sitting nearby. He still had a blue mouth when they got back to Renton at 10:30 pm.
At about midnight on Saturday we heard the phone ring and Uncle Jack informed us that Mike's cousin, Jeff, and his wife, Tawsha, were at the hospital in labor with their first baby. About 5 hours later Tawsha gave birth to Colton James Connell and Jack and Elaine became grandparents! Were weren't able to visit the new baby before leaving town due to heavy traffic and Jeff and Tawsha being so exhausted from a night labor and delivery. Hopefully we'll get to meet him soon!

Here's Uncle Tim and Grace in front of Jack and Elaine's home. They have quite the view from their patio which overlooks the lake in Renton! Tim treated us to lunch at Red Robin on Sunday before we left to head back to Gresham. We also managed to fit in some Cold Stone ice cream after lunch. Hey, we're on vacation!

Mike and Tim thought this Trans Am was so funny. They were certain the driver of the car had a mullet and a mesh cut-off shirt. It was in the parking lot near Red Robin and the driver didn't show up so we'll never know. Too bad!

Mike informed me we will one day own a car like this. I informed him we will not pay money for such a car.

Vacation Scenery Post

Here's some scenery from around Joseph. I took several photos of this barn as it was so pretty. The air in the country was so fresh and the crickets were chirping. I could get used to scenery like this!

Same barn from different angle.

This was the view on the other side of the road, across from the barn.

The sunset from the next night on another drive :)

Summer Vacation Part 2 - LaGrande, Joseph, Wallowa Lake

On Monday morning we packed up again and headed out for part 2 of our vacation. On the way to Wallowa Lake we stopped to visit some friends who live in LaGrande, Steve and Beth Koza and their 3 children. We had a great time visiting with their family and playing on their farm. They were kind enough to feed us dinner and entertain us for the afternoon, although they'd had a very busy weekend.
Sarah, Grace, Weston, Elsie, Timothy (Baby Becca not in photo)

Here's Grace showing off the mini-kitchen in our little apartment/cabin in Joseph, OR.

Elsie taking a much-needed afternoon nap.

Exploring Joseph, OR on Tuesday morning. Joseph is famous for it's bronze sculptures like the cougar pictured here.

Tuesday afternoon we took off for Wallowa Lake and went up Mt. Howard on the tram. We traveled in a little gondola/tram over 8,000 ft. up the mountain. I don't consider myself afraid of heights, but I have to admit it made me a bit nervous to have my family suspended so high in the air supported by little cables. The view was amazing! We took some time to walk around on the summit enjoying the scenery. I kept thinking of the verse from Psalms, "the mountains declare the glory of God". We saw plenty of mountains declaring God's glory in Eastern Oregon!

More view from the top of the mountain.
There were groundhogs, squirrels, chipmunks and birds on the mountain that were quite used to being fed people-food. They were pretty aggressive and it would not have surprised me if they had jumped in our lap. We tried to keep some distance between them and the kids. :)

We enjoyed breakfast and lunch in our mini-kitchen at the cabin and then dinner at a wonderful local restaurant (the food was so good we went there both nights!). I had the BLT + avocado sandwich twice as it was so yummy! They also had a nice outdoor seating area shaded by large trees.

Elsie being goofy at the restaurant!

The deer at Wallowa lake are so tame they will eat from your hand. The ranger told us every year tourists are injured by deer who are angry they aren't being given food. We took this photo from the safety of our van :)

Weston having fun at the lake on Wednesday afternoon. We were a little disappointed in the condition of the beach. There were large rocks, stagnant little pools of water, and goose poo-poo's everywhere. The kids didn't seem to notice, but Mike and I were a bit grossed out.

There was also a pair of young bald eagles perched in a nearby tree. The rangers set up a telescope for viewing. Weston and Mike spent some time checking out the birds.

Elsie having fun!

Grace having fun!

Mike, Elsie and their new friend.

After time at the lake we came across a place where the kids could ride horses. This was the first time on a horse for both Weston and Grace. As you can see Grace was thrilled and had a great time!

You can also see Weston was not very thrilled and wanted to get off after being led around only once (Grace went for as long as she could). At this point Weston tends to be a bit more cautious than Grace. :)

We traveled through the little town of Anatone on the way up to Spokane Thursday. We thought this sign was funny. I guess they have to update the sign every time some one's pet dies :)

Summer Vacation Part 3 - Spokane

On Thursday we packed up the van once again and drove up to Spokane to Mike's parents' house. The drive was a bit scary as part of the way was switchbacks through a steep canyon with very little guardrail. We had to stop a couple of times as we were all feeling a bit carsick.
We had a great visit in Spokane and treasured our time with Mike's family. A few of the highlights were the new trampoline Papa and Memaw splurged on, a visit to the wild cat animal park, Weston "hunting" with Papa in the woods, Grace and Elsie playing with new dollies, and playing on the slip 'n slide we brought from home. We were all pretty spoiled!
Papa John picked this little tractor up at a garage sale for only $20! The kids had a blast riding it around. Grace was pretending it was a combine (like we saw near LaGrande).

This photo of Uncle Eric, Aunt Christi, Grace and Weston turned out really good. They are all sitting on the trampoline. We had some great "visit" time with Eric and Christi all weekend. Friday night we all feasted on salmon, snapper and halibut that Eric and Christi caught up in Alaska recently. It was delicious!

Big news! It's been over 25 years since Papa John shaved his mustache (Mike has no memories of seeing his dad without it)! He surprised everyone Sunday morning by appearing with a bare upper lip! We were amazed and we all think it makes him look 10 years younger :)