Day 18 Mount St. Helens area

Tiffany took us to the Mount St. Helens area where they have some really cool things. We saw some lava tubes, where trees used to be but were burned up by lave and left a tunnel that the kids could crawl through. They thought that was really cool.



Ivy even braved it as long as she could hold the flashlight. We then went to the Ape cave, also made because of lava, a huge cave. It was pitch dark damp and dripping and very cold. It was fun to go into. The kids love to explore, so it was perfect. Tiffany had to get Joseph back for soccer practice, but we decided to stay and meet them back at their place later that night. We wanted to go explore that area more. We saw such beautiful things. It was such a lush green area. We got a great view of Mount St. Helens. If we had more time it would have been fun to get closer at see more of it. There was a really pretty lake we checked out. I guess coming from the desert we always are amazed at the beauty of any natural water things. So many rivers, creeks, lakes, streams. So of course, more pictures. We found this field of the most beautiful wild flowers we have ever seen, and spent a lot of time taking lots of pictures. Rich downloaded these onto the blog, I wouldn't have put some of these on here (the ones of myself.) Paij was DONE. She didn't want to take anymore pictures. I'm hoping we may have gotten at least 1 good one with all the girls. We had a great day.

Day 17, Day 3 of Depoe Bay, Oregon

We went back to the secret beach, this time to play around in the water. We decided to carry the stroller this time, a huge pain, but very worth it, my arms were thanking him the whole time. Ashton wants to get down the whole time, and eat the sand, gross. He is exhausting to hold, extremely squirmy, and it gets old fast. My arms better be very buff by the time we get back, no need to lift weights for awhile. Rich took a shovel and dug a great hole, they called the jacuzzi. The water was very cold, it almost numbed your feet, but the kids had a blast and even got in the water. Ivy loved loved the waves, squealing in delight.
Carson and Joseph played like crazy, giggling and being very goofy. We saw sea lions pop their heads up pretty close to the shore.




Brandon saw this ball and thought he would kick it out to sea. It looked a lot lighter than it was, and really hurt his foot. It was a buoy from a fishing net that washed up on the beach and was made out of thick hard plastic. Dan and Rich had to help him get over the hill where Dan had a wheelchair waiting for him. He thinks he might have broken his big toe, or at least jammed it pretty good.
We got cleaned up, loaded the car, and the kids and headed back to Vancouver. We stopped by the Tillamook cheese factory for cheese curd and ice cream. What a treat! We barely made it there in time, about 5 minutes before it closed....phew!

Day 16 Day 2of Depoe Bay, Oregon

On Sunday we went to Lincoln City for Sacrament meeting, went back to the housr for lunch and naps. Later that afternoon we went to Newport down to the boardwalk area and saw some of the local sealions.

Later on we went to see some tide pools at a different beach, during the low tide time. Carson is holding up the starfish Sydney found. We took more pictures, much to the kids dismay. We have to keep reminding them they will be glad later. They just don't want to take the time to stop and pose, so bothersome, poor little poopsies;)

Day 15 Depoe Bay, Oregon

We headed down to Depoe Bay in Oregon with Dan and Tiffany and their kids. On the way we stopped at a fruit stand. Tiffany said that these strawberries called "hood" strawberries are the best. OK I thought I liked regular store bought ones but these are like biting into a piece of heaven. They taste like candy. The best thing I have ever tasted, wow! and definitely picture worthy!




Carson and Joseph had a blast playing together, cracking each other up and being silly.

The Oregon coast is so beautiful. I loved the contrast between the rocks and the water, and how the forest goes all the way down to the water, it's incredible. The beach house we stayed at was so great. It had these amazing paved paths through densely wooded areas that led out to cliffs overlooking the beach. I snuck out on Sunday while everyone was taking a nap and walked alone and listened to my book on the ipod and stared at the beauty of the waves crashing on the rocks. It made me feel so good! We walked to the "secret beach" with our very own tour guides. It was so cool, so different. It was covered with driftwood, it was so pretty. I had hoped to get a family pic. there where Aubrey and Syd are but we never ended up doing that.

Days 13 and 14 Vancouver, WA

The kids played with their cousins, each one had one around their age Brandon is a few years older than Logan, Bailey is 13, Aubrey is 10, Joseph is 5. Ivy and Ashton entertained everyone, since it's been a few years without a baby in their house. It was fun to see the kids all getting along. They were instantly buddies, they had a BLAST! Brandon was out of town the 1st couple of days so Logan was a bit bored but managed to find video games and movies. Rich and I just relaxed and visited with Dan and Tiffany. Rich spent some time calling around to repair places, and parts stores to figure out the trailer situation. We had a bbq that evening. They spoiled us with really YUMMY food! The little boys were cracking us up, they are 2 of a kind, liking all the same toys, same movies, same sound effects. I'm sure its partly and age thing, but it was sure fun to watch them play. The babies didn't quite know what to do not being strapped in carseats and had a bit of a time adjusting to new surroundings. They exercised their shrill screams that they so uniquely and annoyingly both have, I'm sure that they won't be missing that in their house once we are gone:)

Day 12 Drive from Kalispell, MT to Vancouver, WA

Today we didn't do too much. We drove 9 hours from Kalispell to Vancouver Washington, stopping only when we had potty breaks or growling tummies. We tease Logan, calling him lolo the water buffalo, and had to stop for the picture of the lolo forest. Logan is always drinking tons of water, even on hikes when water needs to be conserved. In elementary school, he would do this at the drinking fountain also, even if there was a line behind him. One day a kid got annoyed and called him a water buffalo, and it has stuck ever since. Kids did good, a long day. We arrived at Rich's brother's house at 12:30 midnight. When we got here we found out that the trailer had a major problem....the bearings on one of the wheels burned out and after driving about 600 miles, we were extremely lucky that the wheel didn't fall off, and we arrived safely.

Day 11 Glacier National Park

This was the second day at Glacier, the sun was out and it warmed up a bit. It was still chilly, but perfect. We drove to the other side and drove as far as we could on the "going to the sun" road. They told us we wouldn't make it far with the trailer, so we dropped it in a parking lot and went. Seriously we were in awe at how beautiful this place is. We kept telling eachother we felt like we were driving in a picture, I hope the pictures can do it justice, because it was breathtaking!
The kids were getting annoyed at Rich and I because about every 1/2 mile we'd stop and take more pictures. Paij especially was very annoyed, and was very vocal about it. We pretty much told her to get over it, and kept stopping. I made the mistake of telling them we'd stop for milkshakes, I'm sure that was mostly on her mind;)


We saw these mountain goats walking right down the little road to the hotel.










Afterwards we found a place to have the famous "huckleberry" milkshake. It was a cute shop and we had fun. We loved loved loved this place. Rich even bought and placed on our car a sticker. He really isn't a fan of stickers on cars, but he just had to. We all got hats and it was so cute, Ivy won't take hers off, she even falls asleep with it on, it's adorable!