Road Trip - Cannon Beach!

A couple weekends ago we set out on a mini vacation with the kids. We moved the seats in the van around so all the kids were separated in hopes of keeping the arguments to a minimum. I also let the kids decorate their snack containers (Huggies wipe boxes) with stickers. Each morning I filled them with their snacks for the day. They knew that the snacks in there were all they got for the whole day and they could choose to eat them as fast or as slow as they wanted. This worked FABULOUSLY! Never once did we hear, "I'm hungry!" Their snack containers were filled with wheat thins, grapes, chocolate covered pretzels, fruit leather, granola bar and vanilla cookies. I would also supplement with another piece of fresh fruit from the hotels continental breakfast.

 I also made the kids each a travel binder with lots of activity pages in it...tracing letters, coloring sheets, mazes, I spy and stickers. This is something I learned from...first off Ella's lap is too small to hold up her binder. I've since been finding all sorts of ideas on Pinterest to make her a little lap desk. I'll probably make them for all the kids. Second the kids scream through all their pages in one day. Ella was really the only one that looked at her book each day. So I'm thinking when we go on our Disneyland trip I will have a main binder with new pages for each day.

We also of course brought along every type of electronic device we have...Leapsters, Leapfrog, Leappad and of course the van has a DVD player.

We left home and went to Astoria. We told the kids we were going to go over a LONG bridge. While on the bridge Ella said, "This is too scary!"

We ate lunch in Astoria and then headed to Cannon Beach. I had only been to Cannon Beach once before and the weather was dismal. On this particular day it was gorgeous. Our only complaint was signage. It didn't seem like there were any signs pointing to where the public beach was. We just ended up turning down some random street and parking at the end. The funny thing was the street we turned down was the street where The Stephanie Inn was...Christa I thought of you.

I thought about bringing the kids sand toys, but knew we couldn't be there very long and I figured the surf would keep them busy.

Such a beautiful spot!

I felt like we were trespassing coming down the inns steps, but there were no signs saying so.

Zeke got to hitch a ride on me. This was the first time I wore him on my back and the first time I wore him at all in months. He enjoyed it!

Beautiful!

I was correct...the water keep them entertained enough!

What I didn't plan for was my kids tolerance for the cold water. I didn't think they'd actually want to get wet....wrong!

Run Ella...Run!

I love the water!

Cute Shoes!

This girl had the time of her life! I don't think she quit laughing the whole time we were there....until the end when she fell and then she cried the whole way back to the van.

In the end they all had to be change and rubbed down with baby powder to get the sand off. It was a blast and now we keep hearing, "Are we going to Cannon Beach?"

Best Camping Trip!

This Labor Day weekend we packed up Michael's parents trailer and headed out for our annual camping trip with friends at American Heritage.

This year Jack wanted to ride down in the truck with Daddy and Owen. That means it was just me and Ella in the van and it was marvelously quiet!!

After getting the trailer set up and the site all ready our first place of business was going to the petting zoo that's on the campground.

Since Ella had and has been more cranky and in an effort to not have her fall as much I decided to wear her. I still love wearing her and she doesn't mind it either.

The campground has two goats...Bonnie and Clyde. Bonnie was all over eating the weeds and such that we picked for her...Clyde on the other hand was a super picky eater!

Ella was quite curious about that animals!

Every year we go camping with our friend Fred & Jen and their 5 boys. There oldest son brought along 2 friends...teenage boys at that. They also invited another family along so that was 18 people in total....lots of mouths to feed. Jen and I ended up splitting the responsibility for the meals and then the other family filled in the gaps. It worked out great and no one went hungry that's for sure!

We stayed in a different campsite than we did last year and it was awesome in size and privacy. The only downside...to us moms...was the dirt! There wasn't any grass it was all dirt! Of course the kids LOVED it! They were filthy messes the entire trip!

After lunch it was time to take the kiddos over to the pool and use their new toys that I bought them. Owen was pretty excited about his ring!

Jack was excited about his ring in theory!

Ella being a lazy girl...lounging around! Click here to check out what she looked like last year sitting in this same chair.

Super swimmer!

Jack was nervous in the beginning, but Daddy finally got him to go in when he brought out his cool froggy goggles.

On Sunday Michael needed to run to the hardware store to find a part for the trailer, Fred & Jen took their kids to this maze and John took the rest of the kids fishing so it was just me and the kids at the campsite. Ella was sleeping, but she woke up early so I decided to take the kids out on an adventure.

Owen got to use his new shark helmet from Ga-Ga & Pa.

Then I borrowed Fred & Jen's bike trailer and took the kids for a ride to the camp store for a treat...hence the reason Ella's face looks all funny, she's chewing her treat! On the way back to the campground I decided to sing a song for our adventure...if you watch The Cat And The Hat Knows A Lot About That you'll know the song....Here we go, go, go, go on an adventure, the thingamagiger is up and away. Here we go, go, go, go we're riding bikes with Mommy today!

Early in the evening on Sunday while Michael was making dinner I took the kids on the hayride. Ella was NOT having it in the beginning. She wanted off, but I just held her and she quieted down. Of course everyone was staring at her and I had to explain why my baby looked so bad.

Can you tell Owen was super happy that the wagon is towed by a tractor!!

After dinner we took the kids swimming again...this time I went in so that's why there aren't pictures. Ella had lots of fun in her floating turtle and it felt great to cool off. Afterwards it was a bit cold so it was time to warm the kids up in the bath. I love that they all fit in the teeny tiny bathtub in the trailer!

On Monday we got up had breakfast and then packed up. We did have some rough spots such as bee stings, interrupted sleep and broken trailer parts. Overall this was our best camping trip ever...surrounded with fun, food, family and friends!

Garden D'lights

On Tuesday night we went to The Garden D'lights at Bellevue's Botanical Garden. It was one of the last free nights of the season.

We invited Ga-Ga and Pa along to enjoy the lights with us. It was cold so we bundled up, but it was NO WHERE near as cold as it was last year when we took the kids to Zoolights. An added bonus was it didn't rain a drop while we were there. Not sure how we managed that one since it's been a torrential downpour here the last few days.

Jack loved touching the lights. They all looked so pretty! It was a fun change since last year we saw animals and this year we saw flowers!

Group shot!

I thought Owen would be more excited about the light since every time we drive by a house with lights he yells, "Christmas Lights!"...maybe it was because they weren't actually on houses...who knows! He did have fun kicking the rocks on the path we walked on and jumping in a mud puddle.

Ella was all snuggly warm in her carrier. She likes being carried, but she really wants to see what's going on so she spends most the time trying to turn around. Also after about 45 minutes to an hour she's pretty much done being confined and she starts arching her back to get out...it's pretty hilarious!

The light displays were gorgeous! It's hard to get pictures since you have to have the flash off for the lights to show up.

A lot of the displays with blue lights were supposed to be water and they would twinkle and it would look like it was moving. Very cool!

On the way home I asked the boys what there favorite thing was and they both said the spider!

Since we were all a little chilly we decided to stop at Denny's and get some warm drinks and dessert.

Ella Grace munched on crackers and she might have shared my Cheesecake with me.

We got the boys hot chocolate and a brownie with hot fudge and ice cream.

Jack has done really well these last few days with potty training...he even went potty at Denny's standing up no less!!! So proud of him!

The Reason For The Season!

On Saturday night we went on another adventure, this time with Ga-Ga & Pa. There is a church in Gig Harbor that has a Living Nativity that you can either walk or drive through. Last year my parents drove through it, but this time Mom wanted to walk through since she thought it would be more interactive for the kids.

It was a clear, cool night, but once we were all bundled up it wasn't bad at all.

We've been really trying to focus on the reason for the season this year. We've never really focused on the whole Santa thing anyway. It's fun getting to see the boys "get" certain parts about the Christmas story. They both know it's Jesus' birthday and that's why we decorate and get gifts.

Back to The Living Nativity...it's supposed to be just like you are walking into the town of Bethlehem during the time Jesus was born. We first walked through the Census office and then into the market. They had a bread shop where they were serving cookies and who would have though that Ella would be a thief so young! She seriously grabbed it from me...and I let her eat it. Can you say...THIRD CHILD! I would never have let the boys eat a cookie like that at 9 months old!

After the market place we passed by the angels that told of Jesus' coming and then we met the shepherds who told us to follow the star. Then we looked up ahead and saw it...

That beautiful bright star showing the way. Like I said we've been talking to the boys about Jesus' birth and right about this time we were saying something like, "Look boys it's the stable where baby Jesus was born!" That's when Jack chimed in and said, "There was no room!" It made my heart sing...he IS listening...thank you God!!!!

We were able to walk right up to the stable and see the blessed baby lying in a manger! It was such a different and creative way to experience the Christmas story.