Long Vacation = Long Post

We've recently returned from an awesome summer vacation. Our summer has been full of about a million things, but we really enjoyed our last hurrah before school began. We flew to Redmond, Oregon, drove to Pacific Beach, Washington for a family reunion, visited Olympia and Seattle, Washington, and then made our way back down the Oregon coast. Here are some, or a lot of the highlights from our trip. I know, there are a lot of pics, but I couldn't cut any of them out. They all have a story to tell...

Monday, August 2

We had three super excited boys ready to fly on an airplane. Trey was actually quite nervous, but once we got on the plane he was calm. Kyson and Ridge on the other hand were all ready to go until we got on the plane. The first 30 minutes or so of the flight were rough, but we made it through and by the end of the flight they were already excited for the flight home.

We got to board the airplane from the back

Each of the boys packed their own backpack full of snacks, cars, coloring books, crayons, pencils, etc. to keep them busy on the airplane and in the car. It all came in handy for keeping them occupied.

(P.S. all nine cousins (ages ranging from 1-8) that were with us did great on the flight. We were a bit worried, as I'm sure some of the other passengers were, that it would be a noisy kid fest, but they were all really good.)

This is a picture of Trey, Kyson, Ridge, and cousin Macon taken in Redmond, OR. We met up with Aunt Jannie (John's aunt) and she took us to a fun splash park. It was great for the kids to get their wiggles out while the adults relaxed and visited.

From Redmond, we head to Mount Hood and the Timberline Lodge. Timberline Lodge is an old ski lodge and hotel made famous in the movie, The Shining. From there we took a scenic route through the Columbia River gorge area to the Bonneville Dam, but unfortunately by the time we got there we were too late and the dam was already closed. The boys made due however with some fun rock throwing competitions. The fishermen near us weren't too happy, but we pretended not to noticed and just enjoyed ourselves and the cool outdoor freedom.

Our next stop was Multnomah Falls. The above pictures don't do it much justice, but it was a fun stop along our way. We hiked .2 miles to the bridge and attempted to hike clear to the top, but after breathlessly coming to the sign that read "switchback 1 of 12" we stopped for a breather and a picture and happily made our way back down. The view was just as enjoyable from the bottom, right?

Tuesday, August 3

We started our second day out leisurely with sleeping in and swimming. Once we were ready for the day we headed over to the LCI 713, a navy ship that is currently being restored by some old navy friends of John's uncle LaVar Kempton. Uncle LaVar passed away last October and when John flew up for the funeral LaVar's son Brad took him down for a tour of the ship. John was super excited to have us go tour the ship. There was a lot to see and a lot of "no touching", but the boys really enjoyed getting to explore the ship and blow the horn. Kyson later told me that seeing the ship was one of his favorite parts of the trip.

For the last several months Kyson has been very interested in volcanoes so we knew that a stop at Mount Saint Helens was a must. We actually only made it to the first of a series of four visitors' centers that lead up to to the volcano, but it was still really interesting and the boys loved it. We saw a movie about the explosion itself which was a little scary for the boys, but that was really interesting. There were several hands on exhibits all about volcanoes and a seismograph that measured how big of an eruption you could make by jumping up and down. All five of us jumped and jumped, but never came close to any big, measurable movements.

This is the best picture that we got of Mount Saint Helens. We didn't get very close and it was extremely cloudy on the day we were there. Most of the mountain was covered by clouds, but the view was still really pretty.

Trey, Kyson, and Ridge (proof we were there, kind of)

We arrived at our family reunion at Pacific Beach, Washington late Tuesday afternoon and were greeted by Grandma Heap, Jodi, Traci and Stran who were all on beach bikes from the cottage rental shop. Bike rentals were free and unlimited and boy did the all the kids love it! They spent a lot of time riding around the house as well as down on the beach.

We rented a beach house that was so much fun and so spacious. We needed all that room for the 12 adults and 10 kids that would be residing there for a couple of days. My parents as well as each of my siblings along with their families all enjoyed a comfy stay in this house, the Adeline house at Seabrook Village.

Adeline

Each of the families there for the reunion rented houses to share with their immediate families. My Uncle Charley and Aunt Myrtle had a fun rental like ours, but with a much better view of the beach. John and I had to pose with the view, but I think we covered most of it up. Right behind us was the great view of the beach.

One of the greatest features of Adeline was her jacuzzi. All the cousins had a great time relaxing and playing in the nice warm water. They even won an award at the reunion for the most kids to occupy a jacuzzi at one time. It was quite the sight, but unfortunately we didn't get a picture of it.

Wednesday, August 4

Wednesday morning we drove the short 15 miles to Ocean Shores. We found some fun shops and even had some hoodie sweat shirts made for the boys. Our favorite shop was Sharky's. The shark's mouth entrance was really cool and fun for the boys.

Lisa, Trey, Kyson, and Ridge at Sharky's

Kyson looks real excited posing in this shark mask.

When we returned from Ocean Shores we headed down to the beach. Kyson, Ridge and I stayed in one spot to fly kites and built sand castles, while John and Trey went in search for seashells and sand dollars.

Ridge, flying a kite

The water was really cold so we mostly played in the mud and posed for pictures. In the bottom picture Trey thinks he looks like he is flying through the air like a pro downhill ski jumper.

Thursday, August 5
Our stay at Pacific Beach was a lot of fun, but seemed too short. We snapped some pictures before leaving for our next adventures in Olympia and Seattle.

Grandpa and Grandma Heap and all 10 of their grandkids

John, Lisa, Trey, Kyson, and Ridge

The whole clan: Larry & Bev, Travis, Liz, Gage, Case, Ellie Cooper, John, Lisa, Trey, Kyson, Ridge, Jason, Jodi, Brynli, Ty, Traci, Macon, Stran, Spencer, and Jami...now that's a lot of chaos!

After leaving Pacific Beach we headed to Olympia. We gathered at Uncle Charley and Aunt Myrtle's house and then set off to a farmer's market and Tumwater Falls Park. It was a fun hike down the falls and the boys had another great time throwing rocks in the river.

Trey

Kyson and Ridge, doing what they love...throwing rocks

Friday, August 6

On Friday we headed to Seattle for some site seeing. Our first attraction was Ivar's seafood restaurant and feeding french fries to the seagulls.

John just loves this picture of me feeding the seagulls. The boys were a bit nervous to hold a french fry out for the seagull to fly up and snatch so I thought I'd show them how it was done. Okay, so it was bit scary. The darn birds weren't afraid to snatch the fry and even a bit of your finger if necessary.

Trey decided that throwing them in the air was a better alternative... he was right.

Next we were off to Pike's Place Market. Seafare was in full swing so there were masses of people everywhere. The Blue Angels were also flying over throughout the day. It was fun to watch and listen to them fly overhead.

Blue Angels

Trey, Kyson, Lisa, and sleeping Ridge, posing by the golden Pike's Place pig. I told the boys about this pig and they were so excited to find it and get a picture on it. Right next to the pig was a fresh fish stand. The men there always put on a fun show by yelling orders and throwing the fish around.

After Pike's Place we rode the monorail to the Seattle Center. We got seated in the very front of the monorail and the conducter let Trey blow the horn to signal our departure.

The fountain at the Seattle Center was a lot of fun to watch. Trey wanted to get in the water so bad, but I didn't have any dry clothes for him to change into after. He kept begging and begging to get in and I finally told him it was fine, but that he would have to go just in his underware. Sometimes my clever schemes backfire on me, but thankfully this one did not...

This was about as close as we got to the Seattle Space Needle. At $18.00 per person we decided that the kids were too young to really enjoy the view. Maybe next time...

From the Seattle Center we drove over to Bellevue to meet up with our friends, Matt and Sara Bennier, for dinner. John and Sara used to work together at LensCrafters and luckily we have been able to keep in contact over the years. It was good to see them and catch up on each other's lives. They endured dinner with our three kids and even the play area at the mall. They were good sports to put up with us and our three wild boys.

Saturday, August 7

We intended to get an early start on Saturday morning to head back down the coast, but saying goodbye was too hard to do. While in the Olympia area we stayed with my cousin Wendy and her family. They treated us so good and made us feel right at home. However, wild boys and Ridge getting pushed into their frontyard bushes made leaving become more of a necessity than a desire. From Wendy's we headed over to Uncle Charley and Aunt Myrtle's (only a couple miles away) to say our good-byes there.

During the previous few days our boys had become quite good friends with my cousins little girl, Sammy. As we were driving to Charley and Myrtle's they began questioning us if she'd be there, I doubted she would so I told them no. A surprise was waiting for them when we go there though, Sammy was there and was actually quite relieved to see that they too had shown up. They had one last adventure together running through the backyard and posing for some pictures. Hopefully next time we see them they can pick up right where they left off.

Trey, Sammy, Ridge, and Kyson

From Olympia we headed to Astoria, Oregon, home of the Astoria column and the Goonies.

Astoria Column

This picture was taken on stair #1 of the 164 -steps to the top of the column. We bought little souvenier airplanes for the boys to throw off the top, but only Trey wanted to let his fly. I think Kyson and Ridge were afraid they wouldn't find theirs again. Trey threw his off, watched where it landed and then ran back down the 164 stairs to find it.

In preparation for our trip I had the boys watch the movie Goonies. I loved this movie growing up, and after getting over their fear of Sloth, the boys did too. It was fun to see the house and relive the memory of the movie a bit.

We also drove across the Astoria bridge while we were there, but didn't get any pictures. Trey and I were a little nervous about the adventure across the five-mile long bridge that seemed to almost sit in the water, but Kyson had no fear. While making our decent on to the bridge Kyson yelled, "hold on to your undies boys!" He definately lightened the mood a bit.

Next, we headed off to what the boys had been looking forward to the most during our trip: the bumper cars at Cannon Beach. My sister Traci had done a lot of searching for family friendly activities in all the areas we were going to and found a lot of fun attractions for us to hit along the way. She told the boys about them all and all they could think about or remember were the bumper cars.

There ended up being several places to ride bumper cars in the Cannon Beach area so we hit up a couple. This one didn't allow Ridge to ride, but let the older boys drive themselves. John, Trey, and Kyson all took their turn bumping into each other here.

John, Trey, & Kyson

At the next spot it was time for Ridge and I to have to some fun. Ridge couldn't reach the gas so it was my job to make us move, but it was all up to him to drive. I tried to help several times, but was quickly reminded, "I do it Mom!"

Lisa and Ridge

Traci and Stran, before Stran realized he did not like the bumper cars

Kyson and John

Ty and Trey

After the bumper car adventure we headed down to the beach. It was too cold to get in the water so we settled for swinging on the beach and putting our feet in the nice, cool, soft sand.

Macon had a great time in the sand

Stran, Kyson, and Ridge loved the swings

We had planned on going for a ride in the paddle boats, but it was so cold that we settled for donuts and hot chocolate at one of the beach stores.

As we headed along Cannon Beach we watched and watched for the "Goonies rocks". This looks like the beach area and rocks where the kids and One-Eyed Willy escaped the Fertellis so we stopped and snapped a picture.

As we were headed to our hotel in Garibaldi I kept seeing signs that led into different coves. The entrances all looked so cool so we decided to take one of the roads and see where it led. The drive down the little road was so pretty and green. It ended up leading us down to a few houses on the beach, which I think would be so fun to have as a vacation home.

This is a picture of the road into the cove. I must admit that as we were driving down this road all I could think about was how I had become just like my mother. When my parents would take us on vacation as kids, I can always remember my mom trying to keep us awake to "look at all the beautiful scenery, kids!" I didn't make my kids wake up (they were really grouchy, and who wakes a sleeping child anyway, mom?), but I really did enjoy the beautiful scenery.

Sunday, August 8

Sunday morning we got up and headed to church. We found the only LDS meeting house in the area, which was in Tillamook. We were greeted by a Brother Foot who was very friendly and had a lot of suggestions of sites to see. We were already planning to see a lighthouse in the area, Cape Meares, but he also told us of the octopus tree that we should go see. So after church we headed to Cape Meares and the Octopus Tree.

The Cape Meares lighthouse is the shortest lighthouse in Oregon and unfortunatly was shot up by two vandals in January 2010. Their shots destroyed the original glass and lenses and made the top of the lighthouse unsafe to enter. The bottom of the lighthouse holds a gift shop where we met a really nice lady from Sun City, AZ. She visited with us and gave all the boys stickers.

The Octopus Tree, a really cool, but creepy looking tree.

Our next stop was the Tillamook Cheese Factory. I love Tillamook cheese, but the crowds were crazy. We sampled the cheese (several times), watched the workers in the factory, ordered some lunch, browsed the gift shop, and ate some yummy ice cream.

After leaving Tillamook we started our journey to Salem, OR to see John's cousins. It was a pretty and peaceful drive. Pretty because of the scenery, peaceful because the kids slept a lot of the way.

In Salem we met, (left to right) Brad (cousin), John, Deanna (cousin), Tracy (Deanna's daughter), and Chris (Brad's wife). Deanna's other daughter Aubrie and Deanna's husband Norm were there as well, but left before picutre time. We had a nice, relaxing visit and just really enjoyed our afternoon there. Brad has a nice, big yard and the boys had a great time running and playing ball. They also got to walk down to the river near their home. Even though this was my first time meeting these relatives I felt so welcomed and at home. Hopefully we'll get to see them again sometime soon. We left Salem late Sunday night and made it to Bend, OR, our final vacation destination, at about midnight.

Monday, August 9

Monday morning the boys were looking forward to swimming, but unfortunately the pool was outside and way too cold. Instead we slept in a bit and then headed to the airport to make our journey home. I was so glad to know that we were flying home and not driving. We clocked our miles in our rental car and the grand total driving miles for the week was 1,225. Had we driven to Washington, as was our original plan, that would have been less than half of the total miles driven, so needless to say, the flight was worth every penny. Aunt Jannie was kind enough to meet us at the airport again to visit and say goodbye. At 11:40am we took off in nice, cool Oregon weather and a short two hours later we landed in sweltering Arizona. There was no doubt we were home!