Oregon Trip Day 7

The beach house was wonderful and beautiful and left little to be desired.

Arcade machines and a wii were the big hits for the little kids.

Massage chair (that I never tired because of the way people cringed when using it) and hot tub were a hit with the big kids.

Brian's birthday was a week before the trip, so we celebrated it now that we are all together.

of course, Andy has no clothes on. Surprise, surprise.

The big kids (my siblings and I) planned to go out to a karaoke bar to celebrate.

Would that not have been hilarious?!

A karaoke bar in a vacation town?

We were thrilled with the anticipation of being greeting by all kinds of crazy. Plus I had my harem pants on and everyone agreed that I must request "Can't Touch This" . And just because I know you are all singing it in your heads right now, go ahead and play this

l;;

kareoke bar- check!

Hammer pants- check!

dance moves- check!

kids in bed....

The last thing to do before I could break it down like Hammer was get the kids to bed...

and...

I fell asleep.

ah!

It happens all the time at home when I put the kids to sleep, so I should have been better prepared to fight it off. I woke up a few hours later. Brian and Dad were chatting it up in the hot tub, Chris and Andrea were watching a movie, Ben and Erica were putting their kids to sleep. Mom was watching a movie. Mike was playing with his kids.

I knew the opportunity had passed, but because of it, others opened up... so maybe not such a bad thing. (at least that's what I told myself when I realized I crashed our plans)

Next time guys! And I will make sure to bring Hammer pants for everyone!

On to bigger and brighter things.

We spent our last full day at the beach, of course.

This time the tide was out and we were able to explore the amazing tide pools finding fish, sea anemones, star fish, crabs, etc.

Can you believe this was all covered the first afternoon we were there because they tide was in?

Scroll back to yesterday's pictures. Never mind I will do it for you.

We are in the exact same location! We had no idea this was even there! Or the treasures it would hold...

Things we learned that day:

1.Ben is the best sand castle builder

2. Brian has gained a lot of patience.

This picture makes me laugh. Brian had started (many times) and tried to build (many times) a sand castle but all of the kids, for some reason, were drawn to his castle and kept "helping him". In the top picture you can see Lauren running over to join in. Love it. If you look in front of Brynn there are a bunch of "windows" the kids, so thoughtfully, poked in to the wall. Not once did Brian tell them to leave or stop. He just shrugged his shoulders and laughed. A far cry from the Brian who two years ago on a trip for a similar thing- Caden's baptism- who earnestly shushed a whiny, tired Andybaby during the talk before Caden's baptism. As if a 9 month old was going to heed his shushing! We still have a good laugh about that. "Andy, shhhhhhh!" He, himself would admit that he was impatient and annoyed by kids. Bri, you're growing up. You are a fantastic uncle and never let any impatience or annoyance show... even if you do still feel it! And I will always love you for that.

3. If you hold something up to someones mouth, they will automatically open it

And that's how grandma ended up eating an ABC sucker she really didn't want, and grandpa ended up spending the next 5 minutes feeding Jackson pretzels right in to his mouth:)

4.Sea anemones feel like sticky hands

5.Velour does not mix well with sand. (see Lauren)

6.Kids never tire of this.

Brynn.

I love this little girl. Her sweet, gentle disposition. Her raspy little voice and English accent. How she mothers my boys and how they listen to her. I am so glad after the chaos and heart ache and hurt feelings, we can still be a part of her life. I love her dearly. Happy 8th Birthday, Brynn. I am so glad we are family. You are truly delightful.

Tomorrow blogging the flight home (because that is absolutely worth blogging about) and then back to normal posts. Woo hoo!

Oregon Trip Day 4

We woke up after a cold night in the Montana mountains.

Dad got breakfast going.

We got the kids dressed.

Jackson and Andy played cars out on the picnic table.

Perfection.

We all piled in to B & E's van to drive up to the cavern entrance "just up the hill".

hahaha.

After 15 minutes of roller coaster worthy twists, turns, and steep inclines, we reached the top.

Lewis and Clark Caverns is named after the explorers Lewis and Clark (obvi) since the cavern overlooks over 50 miles of the trail from the Lewis and Clark Expedition along the Jefferson River, although Lewis and Clark never saw the cavern.

I relied on Erica again for photos because this place was a better adventure than the last caves with a lake ,

a slide- yes, we all (including pregnant SIL) had to sit down and slide down the limestone floor at one point,

and paths that I couldn't describe any better than "tricky" as there was not a good place to put your hand or foot for balance.

At one point the tour guide was telling a very dramatic story of a cave worker who snuck in to the cave at night alone, with a lantern (it was a long time ago), to steal some of the best rock formations. He slipped and dropped his lantern and was left in complete darkness for 3 days until the other workers found him. By then, he was crazy. Literally. Anyway, during the story, right when she said he dropped his lantern, she shut off the lights in the cave for dramatic impact, for it would have been completely dark with absolutely no hint of light- so dark you can't see your hand in front of your face. Unfortunately for our tour group, Jackson, Andy, Nate and Lauren all had their own flashlights. When the tour guide hit the lights, Jackson's flashlight was on. Ben hurried to cover it, just for Andy to turn his on! Then Nate, the Lauren. I kid you not. Ben apologized to the group who muffled laughter. We felt bad for killing the moment, but couldn't help but laugh too.

Cute pictures of the kids all together in the exit tunnel leading out of the cave to come, from Erica.

After that, we broke camp and continued West.

A couple of cute stories that happened on the drive the day before it had rained coming out of Yellowstone. When it stopped, we saw a complete rainbow! (one of the many rainbows we saw on the trip- Andy was always the one to eye-spy them). As we drove past "the end of the rainbow" grandpa gave the boys each a gold coin because we made it to the end of the rainbow. With smiles on their faces, the turned their coins over and over again studying them. Isn't he a great grandpa?

I am not sure when it started, but at some point in the trip, my mom was dozing off and Andy exclaimed, " We got a nodder!" a classic line from the movie Cars (see here). I know you won't believe me, but he probably said it two thousand times on the trip after that. Any time there was a lull in conversation Andy would exclaim, "We GOTTA NODDER!" And since it usually provoked laughter, he would said it again and again and again.

My parents, bless their hearts, never once complained (at least to me) about traveling with my kids. The only minutes on silence was when both boys were asleep at the same time- which was not often. Andy felt the need to fill the air with singing, commentating the drive, point out anything he saw interesting, ask if he could climb on every mountain he saw, play in every river, lake, pond or puddle, eat at every Old Mc Donalds.... you get the idea. Every time I answered his inquiry with "no"... (which was every time he ask a question), it would go like this:

Mom! Look at that mountain! Should we go there? Should we go there, Mom? Can we climb it?

- No, not today. Maybe next trip.

Maybe next time?

- Yeah

Maybe tomorrow?

-No

Maybe later?

-Yeah.

Mom! Look! A river! A river, Mom! Should we go there? Should we go there, Mom? Can we play in it?

- No, not today.

Maybe next time?

-Yeah

Maybe tomorrow?

-No

Maybe later?

-Yeah

.. and so on. I tried to change my answers to discourage this such as, we need to get to our next campsite or maybe when we go on a trip with dad, or you're too little climb a mountain, maybe when you are older, etc. It didn't matter my answers, the questions still followed the same order. The. entire. drive. But since it comes out of this adorable face

I let it slide.

This night I had not booked a campsite, but printed off a couple of different options along the route. The first one we checked out was... um.... how do I say this... it wasn't that it was run-down, it was just never get good in the first place. We didn't even pull in. We scooped the loop and headed back out of town. The next place was right off of the interstate and was by far the worst place we stayed with trucks pulling in and out all night. We survived knowing the next night we would be in Portland and in a hotel! Woo hoo!

Oregon Trip Day 3

Morning of Day 3

Day two we had hoped to camp in Yellowstone, but when I was making reservations, all soft sided RVs or popout spots were spoken for. The bear are extremely active this year and many camp sites were sticking to a "hard sided only" RV vehicles. So, I I found a place out of "bear country" who allowed tent sided pop outs that had a playground and booked it.

The kids and I played soccer on the grass and played on the playground while the guys hooked up the camper and Mom got dinner started. Mmmmm a cheese burger never tasted so good!

In the morning we got up early and finished the drive to Yellowstone.

This is the day Andy still talks about. He says, " Member that time we stopped and ate in the camper and got out and there were big animals (buffalo) but we can't touch them. And we drove and got out and saw some big animals (carribou) . Yeah. That was fun."

Right before driving through the Yellowstone gates a black bear ran in front of Ben's van just in front of us. I could hear him (in my in mind) saying, "You guys see that?!" Much of the forest on the east side of the park has been destroyed by the forest fire. I remember hearing about it, but it is overwhelming to see in person. Heartbreaking.

Our first stop was Yellowstone Lake.

My mom just kept saying,"this lake is HUGE!"

But, as we live on Lake Michigan, my kids didn't even bat an eye, they just got down to business.

Throwing rocks.

Collecting sticks.

Getting wet.

Let me take a minute to say how wonderful it is to pull a camper while traveling with little kids. Though the beds pop out, the camper itself, is "ready to go" at all times.

Fooooooor example, we are on a stretch of highway and a 2 year old has to go potty.

Pull over and go in the camper.

Or we are starving, but still have another few hours to go before we get to our campsite for the night. Pull over and eat in the camper.

bathroom.

fridge.

freezer.

microwave.

oven.

stove.

sink.

table.

benches.

All at immediate access.

It was heavenly.

My only concern now is that on our next road trip, Andy will expect to be able to "pull over! I need to poop in the camper!"

We stopped for lunch just on the other side of Fishing Bridge (where, despite the name, you can't actually fish from) because there was a buffalo sitting on the hill. Erica snapped a couple of pictures of him (that I will steal). We guessed there were more up on the hill and found a good place to climb up. We were right. But did not venture closer as more people die from buffalo attacks than bear attacks each year.

My dad is coming up the hill behind Ben- you can just spot his head. I know his thinking: He was thinking he better go over and stand by Ben (who was closer than we were) in case the buffalo charges and he can jump in the way to block Jackson/distract the buffalo, etc. That's just how my dad thinks and that was the reason I had my "danger" thoughts up in the woods with the turkey. He is incredibly protective of his kids and grandkids. I can't write all of the examples, but he is always gently making suggestions for the safety of the kids. He is very aware of them. I think it's sweet and thoughtful instead of crazy and overprotective:) I know you're reading this! I love you, dad!

From buffaloes we viewed the fountain paint pots, geysers, mud pots, Old Faithful and other geothermic wonders. Again, I deferred to Erica for photos. Here she is snapping one of this geyser in Yellowstone Lake.

We did not make reservations for Night 3, as we didn't know what time we would leave Yellowstone/ how far we would drive that night. Dad bought an atlas at a gas station about an hour west of the park and eye-spied Lewis and Clark Caverns and Campground.

Picking this place off of a map, we had no idea what to expect. It was my favorite campground all trip. It had a great playground, shower houses, fire pits, picnic tables, GRASS!

Erica and I took the kids to the playground while Dad, Ben and Nate set up shop and Mom got dinner started. This had become our routine and it worked so smoothly.

This was the first night I felt like we just "hung out".

Night 1 we returned late from Mt. Rushmore and went straight to bed.

Night 2 we got to bed early so we could get up early for Yellowstone.

Night 3, we didn't need to worry about the morning, we were staying there to go to the caverns. We could just relax. We made s'mores. played on the playground until dark. And sat around talking by the fire.

this was why I wanted to come on this trip.

Perfection.

.

Oregon Trip Day 2

Morning of day2, 680 miles logged

After the pancake breakfast Grandpa made, the kids and I went on an adventure while the others packed up. Our campsite was nestled in the beautiful black hills of South Dakota.

It was incredibly beautiful.

I didn't really have a plan while exploring. We were all wearing sandals.

And pajamas.

It never crossed my mind that we would be in any sort of danger until Lauren spotted a wild turkey.

And then another.

And another.

Pretty soon, I noticed there were about 6 wild turkeys that were not walking away from us, but coming toward us on the outside edge, as if to surround us. I have no idea if wild turkeys are territorial, or attack when feeling threatened, but I casually guided the kids back toward the campsite. I realized how I was lucky it was just a few turkeys- we could have stumbled upon a mamma bear and her cubs, or a mountain lion- anything really- and what could I do to protect those kids in my jammies and flip flops? We weren't in Iowa anymore.

We had a few stops as we drove to Yellowstone.

-Black Hills gold store (boys bought flecks of gold that are floating in a (sealed) glass jar

- a fun Wyoming visitors center where we ate lunch and the kids played soccer and climbed on rocks

Mostly we just enjoyed the beautiful, beautiful drive.