|
|
We couldn't resist another week of hanging with our pals...
Kid Heaven
Hey Jim, let the little guy have a turn!
Matt's first solo on a dirt bike!
Beware the powers of cuteness...this is the look Matthew and Patrick use when they want something! Strangely enough....
Maddie and Lizzy have a cute look too. Remember girls, use your powers for good..not evil!
Brian (16) just realizing girls have super powers. Be afraid Brian...be very afraid.
Sadly, all good things must end. We promised to come back when they get their bus to help pimp it out.
Bye Guys!!!
We headed North to Humboldt Redwoods State Park to see the giant redwoods.
These pictures simply cannot do the trees justice...
we've lived in California our whole lives and have never seen these ancient ones...
they are amazing.
We also found a great swimming hole.
Life is good!
If you've never been here, it's a must do!
We decided to return to one of our favorite places, Crater Lake Resort in Oregon.
On the way we saw some beautiful land...
and one of the largest herds of Roosevelt Elk.
During the drive, Matthew decided to do a puzzle, not just any puzzle, but a super cool double-sided Star Wars puzzle! It had been a while since I had seen this puzzle however, so when Matthew asked for help starting it, I gave him the advice any wise mother would, "Get the corners and edges in first". "What do you mean Mom?" I was trying to find a place to stop for the night so I was wasn't really welcoming the interruption, "You know corners and edges!". "How do I know if it's a corner?", he asked. "What do you mean? A corner has two straight edges that meet and an edge is straight on one side!" "This doesn't make sense can you help me?" Flustered, I get up ready to point out the obvious. Then I see the puzzle. Oh....sorry bud. So I helped him with the outline and he took over from there, remember this is a two sided puzzle...very tricky!
Good Job Matthew!
We love Crater Lake Resort!!
We enjoyed Bend, Oregon and headed to Seattle to celebrate my (Cindy) birthday.
As we drove we passed many exotic places,
and some not so great places.
I wanted to sleep in a BIG bed for my birthday...in a room with a DOOR. I know, not a big deal to most, but for me they were! Maddie found a great hotel in downtown Seattle, the Hotel Alexis. When making the reservations, we mentioned that it was my birthday. Upon check in, they wished me a happy birthday and informed us they had upgraded our room.
That was an understatement, they gave us room that was 1200 square feet, bigger than our first house! We had two bedrooms, two full bathrooms, a huge living room, a real kitchen and a balcony!!
We toured the city and really enjoyed Pikes Place Market and decided that rather than go out for dinner at a restaurant we would indulge in a special treat...a crab feast!!
We had these guys crack and clean 6 fresh crabs and deliver them to our hotel. We shopped the market for the rest of our dinner, lemons, wine and French bread! What a great place.
But back to the basics...it was my birthday...so we had priorities....
a pilgrimage to the very first NORDSTROM!!!
Peruvian musicians...very cool.
So the kids asked if they could have Shirley Temples with dinner. It was a celebration after all, so we said okay, bought Sprite and cherries and set about to find some grenadine. We didn't have any luck until we found a liquor store and we were shocked by how expensive it was $9! We were used to paying $3 or $4, but whatever, we needed it so we bought it.
When we returned to the hotel, we were invited to a cocktail hour. The kids stayed in the room while Jim and I enjoyed some free wine. When we returned, we found this...
There was also a letter with a birthday greeting from the hotel and a card for a free pint of Haagen Daaz ice cream! Could it get any better??? Why yes, it can, because there was an Aveda Spa connected to the hotel and I got to have a 90 minute massage!!! When I came back to the room, Jim and the kids had dinner ready to go.
It was wonderful. I had an awesome birthday!!!
How will they top this for my 40th next year??
Afterwards, I relaxed while Jim took the kids out for advanced urban stealthing skills...that's all I can legally say.
Now it was time to get back to nature so we were off to the Kalaloch campground in the Olympic National Rain Forest.
We scored an awesome campsite!
It was beautiful and very relaxing. I had a new book and all was good!
A word of caution, when in the wilderness our children can make a fort out of almost any wild area. This fort however, was extra cool...
it had a Zen garden,
dragons,
and magical elves!
The beach was wild and beautiful.
Afterwards, we hung out in the Hoh Rainforest.
We enjoyed some of the best weather the area has had all year.
The park was amazing.
This tree reminded us of something in Earnest Scared Stupid.
Dude these berries are awesome!
Unfortunately, our enjoyment of the park was tempered by our really nasty camp hosts. We have run into some interesting characters before, but this couple didn't like us from the minute our bus drove in and seemed to show up every day to point out rules they thought we were breaking. When we corrected them they would screw up their faces and storm off. It was a bummer, someone should remind them that the National Parks belong to everyone, whether you drive a diesel motorhome or not. They should also remember the title camp host implies hospitality.
Beautiful as it was, we quickly ruled out his area to settle in when we discovered that incredibly they get way more rain than even Seattle!
Remember the grenadine we bought? Well it was $9 a bottle because it was alcoholic!! What the...who knew they made alcoholic grenadine! Well it's okay, the kids only had a little with their Sprite and it was only 6% alcohol...I'm sure they weren't too badly damaged . We're such bad parents...no wonder the camp hosts hated us...I wouldn't be surprised if our drunken children pelted their RV with water balloons at night!