Big Sky Country

We recently got back from a 12 day road trip starting in Spokane, Washington and working our way from the northern part of Montana to the southwest and then back again to Washington. 

The whole point of the trip was to get the chance to spend time with my brother and his family, and two of our very good friends from Sacramento who both ended up in Montana. 

We logged nearly 1000 miles in the car, went through three states, slept in five different places and had two flights each way just to get to and from our starting point. 

This is the second time we've done this trip, the first was about a year and a half ago, and just like the first time it was a ton of fun. It didn't hurt that we love spending time with all three of the people we visited, something that due to distance we don't get to do nearly often enough. 

We even found some snow for the kids to play in.  

It is also obvious why they call Montana "Big Sky Country". Its seems a bit crazy to call the sky bigger in any one place, but really, it seems bigger. It is as if the sky there never ends.

Now we are back home and enjoying the very spring-like weather we have been having. 

Union Creek

Yesterday the mister and I celebrated our eighth anniversary.

This is the most recent picture I could find of the two of us together.
It is from July 2nd. That's over two months ago. And it's a pretty darn poor iPhone selfie at that.
 I guess I need to start taking more pictures of the two of us. 

We were doubly lucky because Bryce had the day off and his brother and his super sweet girlfriend were here visiting. We decided to escape the heat and smoke (from many wildfires burning in every direction around us) and head into the hills a bit.

We ended up at Union Creek and explored the Natural Bridge, a place where the Rogue River flows into underground lava tubes. It was beautiful. There is a very easy paved trail to the Natural Bridge and then another easy hiking trail continued up the river from there. It was the perfect hike for two little kids.

I love hiking with the kids. We didn't keep track of how far we went, I'd be surprised if it was even a mile, but watching the kids take it all in is so much fun. Audrey was our fearless leader and Owen made sure to climb on every stump, downed tree, and rock he could find.

The best group shot, minus Bryce, we got. I love it! 

We ended our outing at Beckie's, a small cafe in Union Creek that is famous for their pies. The food was delicious and the pie lived up to its reputation.

It was a pretty perfect way to celebrate the last eight years.

Labor Day in the Redwoods

While I realize that Labor Day isn't technically the end of summer, it sure feels a bit like the last hurrah before the weather cools down, school starts (a first for us this year), and projects around the house take over. We were able to spend the long weekend camping in the Redwoods with several other families from our church. It was pretty perfect.

The Redwoods are breathtaking. If you've never been, you must try to get there at some point. We camped at Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park. The campground was great, lots of private spots and clean bathrooms - when camping, you can't get much better than that. And the trees are amazing, it is hard to really grasp just how big they are until you see them in person.

The kids loved every minute of it. Audrey spent most of the weekend trying to keep up with the big kids on her bike. I'm pretty sure she logged several miles by simply going around the loop in the campground over and over.

Audrey fulfilled her sisterly duties and introduced Owen to hot chocolate. He whole heartedly approved. 

Owen is always happiest outside, so he was right in his element. He managed to get dirty from the moment we arrived and stayed that way until we left and couldn't have been happier (well, other than at 3am on the first night, but that's a different story).

This is the face I get when I say, "smile Owen". Charming, isn't it? 

On Saturday we made our way over to the coast, just south of Smith River. One of the families in our church owns a home there and was nice enough to open it up to our group to use for the day. Despite being born in California Audrey truly earned her Oregonian status by jumping right into the water and playing for quite awhile. She never batted an eye at the fact that the water was FREEZING. I couldn't even stand to keep my feet in it.

It was a great weekend and such a nice way to wrap up the unscheduled days of summer. Now we are diving head first into several projects around the house and Audrey starts school on Friday (eek!).

Disneyland!

Last week we had to have some extensive work done on our cabinets (a long story) which meant we needed to be out of the house for the whole week. We had known about this since June, but had not totally committed to where we would go for the week. We tossed a few ideas around but for one reason or another none stuck. So on a total whim four days before we needed to be gone we booked a trip to Disneyland, breaking all of our own Disneyland rules (I swore I would never change a diaper in Disneyland).

We didn't tell Audrey until the morning we left. She was SO SURPRISED!

Needless to say we had an amazing time.

Audrey just reached the 42" mark so she was able to join the adults on the "big kid" rides. She's a brave little girl and was game to give them all a try.

Owen was fascinated by all the excitement. He spent a lot of time watching the boats and feeding the ducks.

And the flowers, oh my! Disney definitely knows how to plan and plant beautiful gardens.

I took way too many pictures of all the flowers as "research" as we plan our front and side yard landscaping.

Unfortunately we came home to a lot of unfinished work that left us "homeless" for yet another week. We are just now back in our house and trying to get the aftermath of the work cleaned up. Disneyland was a lot of fun, but it sure is nice to be home. 

Fernie, British Columbia

Last month we took a trip with my family up to Fernie, British Columbia. It was beyond beautiful and a place I would love to go visit again. Here are a few photos from the trip.

 Audrey is trying to make "moose ears". It was a challenge for her the whole trip. These are actually some of her better ones, usually she would just put her pointer fingers on her head and yell, "moose ears!" Unfortunately with all the "moose ears" hype we didn't actually see a moose, although a few other people in the family did. 

If you're interested my brother posted more, and even better, photos from the trip. You can see them here. While you're there take a minute and look around, he has some amazing photographs.

Mother's Day and a Parade

Happy Mother's Day to all the moms out there. We spent the weekend with my in-laws. Their small town was having their annual parade and picnic. Although I've been part of the family for many years now it has never worked with our schedules to go in the past, so this was my first time.

It was exactly what you would picture a small town farming community's annual parade and picnic would be. Lots of hometown pride, lots of tractors, and plenty of food.

A train went by in the middle of the parade. As soon as you could just start to hear it coming down the tracks I heard every local within ear shot mutter (almost simultaneously), "and here comes a train... it happens every year during the parade" and then chuckle a little. The main street runs parallel to the train tracks, they all know it is going to happen, but I just love that it makes them all laugh each year as though it is some sort of inside joke.

Audrey loved every minute of it. At first she just sat and watched, but soon caught on to running out to get candy. 

Apparently it is tradition that the newest volunteer firefighters pull the old water tank down the street as they get sprayed with water.

After the parade we headed over to the picnic. Audrey got her first taste of hot dog, mango soda, and snow cone. She wholeheartedly approved of them all.

Monterey Bay

For our anniversary last year we were given tickets to the Monterey Bay Aquarium. One of my favorite places to visit. A few weeks ago we decided it was finally time to use them. We were not disappointed. Monterey is such a fun town to visit. We spent the first evening there walking along the wharf and watching the sea lions. Audrey even got to try her first taste of caramel apple, I think it may be a new favorite for her.

The next day we made our way to the aquarium. Audrey was fascinated by the fish. She was nearly falling asleep on her feet when we finally left and even still she didn't want to leave.

We had such a great time and it was so nice to get away for a night. We will definitely be visiting again soon. 

Homemade Toys = Complete Success

I forgot to mention, but the homemade toys were a complete hit with Audrey. They kept her entertained for a long time, especially the collecting game with the pom poms. My biggest regret was not having another game or two that was new for the return trip.

Definitely give them a try this season if you are doing any sort of traveling. Just be careful with the pom poms, they could be a choking hazard if you aren't looking.

Vacation Recap

Here's a little recap of our trip last week in picture form. Fair warning, there are a lot of pictures.

Omaha's Henry Doorly Zoo is totally and completely amazing! I was blown away by how great it was. We will definitely be making a return trip just for the zoo. Here we are watching the gorillas.

Here is the best photo I got of Audrey and Bryce at the wedding we went to. Major photography fail on my part.

Outside of Monticello (Thomas Jefferson's home).  The house was nice, but I thought the grounds were beautiful.

 

 This pictures makes me laugh. By the looks of Bryce you would think it was 30 degrees out and down pouring. It was more like 60 with a little bit of mist... I think Oregon might be a bit of an adjustment for him. Oh and in case you're wondering, here we are outside of James Monroe's home.

Bryce's family. 

$2.48 Airplane Toys

We have a lot of flying in our near future. First to Nebraska later today, then to Virginia on Sunday, and back home to California next week. Anyone who has traveled with a toddler knows that keeping them entertained and relatively still for that long will be a challenge. So we came up with a few new (also ridiculously inexpensive and homemade) toys to try to keep little miss Audrey (and all the fellow passengers) happy. 

A Collecting Game

Audrey is fascinated by putting different items into containers and taking them out again so this is perfect and couldn't be more simple. Bryce put holes in the top of a deli container and melted them a little to get rid of any sharp edges. Add a package of pom poms at $1.99 and that is all there is to it. Audrey can push the poms poms through the holes to her little hearts content.

A Stringing Game

I went down to Home Depot and bought two feet of rope for a whopping total of 49 cents. We put a knot in one end and wrapped the other with electrical tape to make it stiff. Add in the blocks we borrowed from her train set and now she has her own stringing game.

It always amazes me how the simplest little things seem to grab her attention, hopefully these will do the same. I'll let you know how it goes.

And don't worry, I'm not completely disillusioned that these two toys are the answer to toddler-airplane happiness. We also have a bag full of toys, books, and food; along with a few new apps on our phones and a computer full of new-to-her movies. Wish us luck.

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