Happy Birthday Pa!

HAPPY 65TH BIRTHDAY PA!!! 

Owen - My favorite thing about Pa is he likes to play with me and be funny. Also when I ask for a cookie I just have to say the password, Pa gives me the cookie and it's easy peasy lemon squeezy!  - Pa has a 1957 Chevy cookie jar in his office that the kids have to say the name to of the car in order to get a cookie from it. 

Owen and Pa at Medieval Times - September 2014 

Getting pushed around in the ball...sadly the ball meet it's demise! 

Jack - My favorite thing about Pa is that he loves cars. 

Pa and Jack in Cars Land at California Adventure- September 2014

Ella - My favorite thing about Pa is...when he plays with me. 

Pa and Ella on the Astro Orbitor at Disneyland - September 2014.

Zeke - My favorite thing about Pa is...getting 'Queen' out on the garage.

Pa carrying Zeke around the Challenge Trail at California Adventure - September 2014

My favorite thing about Pa is...that he is would do anything for his kids and his grandkids because he loves us so very much! 

Love you Pa!!! 

Disneyland Road Trip - Day 11

Sunday September 28th was the last day of our road trip. We had planned to go to the Ape Caves at Mount St. Helens, but this morning we decided to sleep in. The Ape Caves are close enough we can go to them another time. We were so tired and it was so nice to sleep until 8am! It's the little things sometimes that make the biggest difference! 

We went out to breakfast at Elmer's with Ga-Ga & Pa and then we went our separate ways. 

On this second leg of our journey....the part after Disneyland we were much more lenient with the kids in regards to watching movies. We were all so tired so literally it was just one movie after another. It was funny because once the credits would start even Zeke would start saying, "nother one!"  

After driving over 2000 miles it was so nice when we started seeing signs of home!!! 

Crossing over the state line! 

And since we were going to drive right through Vancouver we figured it would be a pity to not stop at Joe's Crab Shack. We love us some seafood! 

After a few more hours in the van we finally drove up to....

HOME!!! 

2633 miles, 30+ pills of Ibuprofen taken, 21 meals at restaurants, 11 days of vacation, 7 different hotels, 6 people in one van, 4 days at Disneyland, 4 times swimming in hotel pools, 3 state traveled through, 3 visits to National Parks....making wonderful memories as a family....priceless!!! 

And you'd think we'd rest when we first got home, but nope! We had the kids help us clear out the van. I just wanted to get it over with so I could sit down and relax and not feel like I needed to jump up and finish anything. 

Then it was time to break out Zeke's present from Disneyland. I had specifically kept it from him because I knew it was too big for him to play with while he was strapped into his seat. 

He calls this his 'Big Mac'! And he loves it. He doesn't necessarily play with Mac all the time, but he loves all the Cars! 

So the big question...were we crazy to take an 11 day road trip with 4 small children? Heck ya! But it was so great! The kids are awesome car travelers and I seriously can not wait for our next car trip. There are so many cool things to see and do and I want to make more memories with our kids while they're young! 

Disneyland Road Trip - Day 10

Saturday September 27th we had planned to go to Crater Lake and again we almost decided to sleep in, but couldn't pass up the experience. So we were off on another adventure. 

On our drive north we got some terrific views of Mt. Shasta. 

It was fun to see the mountain that the building I worked in while at Safeco was named after.

 This particular day was about the same amount of travel as the day before, but the longest stretch of driving was in the morning instead of the afternoon. That seemed to make a difference in regards to our attitudes about being in the car though. 

Once we got up to Crater Lake we went into the Cafe/Shop to eat. We thought about buying lunch, but a regular old PB&J was almost $5! I did get a soup and Michael got a coffee, but other than that we just ate the food that we had left in our cooler. 

The upstairs of the Cafe had a bunch of big tables so we ate up there. It was a nice area and I didn't feel all weird bringing in outside food. 

Silly grape eating girl! 

By far Crater Lake is the most beautiful thing I've ever seen! The blue color of the water is so deep and so radiant. 

It was also cold!!! Of course Ella would not wear her coat worth anything! 

Strolling around! 

This is something I want to do...visit as many National Parks as possible! 

See the different shades of blue in the water! If you don't know anything about Crater Lake let me enlighten you. It's was formed forever ago when a volcano collapsed on itself. Wizard island in the middle is the crater of the volcano trying to rebuild itself. The water in the lake is completely pure. It's all from rain. There are no rivers that flow into Crater Lake nor out of it...yet the water level remains almost the same all year long due to evaporation and seepage. So cool!!! 

Making memories with my babies!!! 

Absolutely...

without a doubt...

the most...

incredible thing...

I've seen! 

The first night of our trip we stayed in Roseburg and the last night of our trip we did again. Ga-Ga & Pa were going to stay a little further up north in Eugene and we happened to be in Roseburg at the same time so I asked if they wanted to join us for dinner. Of course they said yes and actually they canceled their hotel reservations in Eugene and stayed at the same hotel as we did. 

For dinner we ate at this nice little Italian restaurant I found using my phone. I had a serious craving for some ravioli. 

When we walked in I could tell this wasn't a normal restaurant that people bring children too. Oh well...we were there for an early dinner so not that many people were there yet. By the time we left there were quite a few people and we even got told by the couple at the next table that they were really impressed by how well behaved our kids were. That's always nice to hear! 

After dinner it was back to the hotel for this....

Look at that face! It says it all! After days of not being able to swim he was finally able to swim in an indoor pool! He was one happy boy! 

It's so nice that Pa was there to snap all these pictures of the kids having fun! Ella is such a daredevil. Michael would stand there and tell her to jump and she would keep telling him to move back farther. 

This big boy was getting more and more used to the water! 

Beautiful Bathing Beauty! 

Zeke loved being held in the water like he was swimming! 

Love their milky white skin! 

Look at that strong brooding boy! 

It was a fantastic end to a fantastic day!  

Disneyland Road Trip - Day 9

Friday September 26th was our longest day! We planned to go to Yosemite National Park. We were so tired from Disneyland, but knew we could not miss out on seeing it. So we reluctantly set the alarm and got up at 6am in order to be out of the hotel by 7:30. We did make a stop at a gas station and a grocery store to buy our food for the day and then we were off. Actually that was our routine every morning of the trip. No matter how full the tank was we always topped off in the morning. We only had to fill up for gas at night once...it was on this particular leg of the journey! 

The open road!

It's about a 2 hour drive from Fresno to Yosemite. It's a really nice drive and thankfully I was able to find a Christian radio station while the kids enjoyed watching a movie!

Our first stop in Yosemite was Glacier Point. This picture is actually on the drive up. Right after I took this we drove a little further up and went into a seriously thick fog bank. We were so bummed! We had the little map they give you and we'd seen pictures of what the view is like from Glacier Point and now it was all fogged in. We thought about turning back, but we stuck it out and figured we'd come this far we might as well get to the top and at least have a nice hike to stretch our legs.

It was pretty foggy when we got to the top, but the kids didn't care at all! There were so many cool rocks to climb on they were in heaven!

My 4 Beautiful Blessings!

She is so cute!

The kids wanted to get as high as they could. I love letting them test their limits and see what their bodies can do, but that doesn't mean my heart doesn't pound while they're doing it!

Cute cheeser boy!

After a little while the clouds started to dissipate and reveal the beauty around us!

Getting the kids to sit down for this picture it was like trying to herd cats!

Clouds are finally gone...that huge mountain over there is called Half Dome. I can't remember the exact year, but some guy back in the 1800's said that no man would trod on it and just a decade or so later a guy made it to the top...in the 1800's! I also read that climbing Half Dome really changed the way the climbing is done today. Just goes to show you....don't tell us we can't, because we will!

I don't know the name of this falls, but I had to zoom really far to get a picture of it!

Once the fog cleared we just sat on this rock wall and checked out the gorgeous scenery and ate a snack. That's when we got company!

I know I know...don't feel the wild life! He was so cute though...he literally took a grape right out of my hand. His little claws were so gentle!

At least we didn't feed him french fries or something it was just grapes!

I love the panoramic feature on my phone! Gorgeous!

Shortly after this we decided to head down to the Yosemite Valley, but first we went into the gift shop. I got the kids each a soap stone animal. I found Ella a squirrel, Jack a Hawk, Owen a Hawk and Zeke a Bear. It was fine until Owen decided he wanted the bear and then Zeke gave it to him just thinking he wanted to trade for a minute. Then Zeke of course wanted his bear back and it was all downhill from there. Owen ended up with nothing and I wasn't the only one that was driven to the brink by him! This time it was Michael's turn to have a meltdown. I'd say one meltdown for each of us was really good for an 11 day road trip with 4 kids!!!

This was down in Yosemite Valley. Of course pictures don't do it justice at all. The shear magnitude and size of these rocks are crazy. They are so beautiful!

We were driving along following this river...probably called Yosemite River and we decided to get out and let the kids throw rocks in the river. We just happened to park next to this huge flat rock that was perfect to have a picnic on. It was so fun! It was quite cold with the wind rushing through the valley, but it was totally worth it being surrounded by all that gorgeous scenery.

Chowing down on our lunch of Ritz crackers, pepperoni, turkey, sharp cheese, Sun Chips and sugar snap peas.

Owen and Jack had fun climbing and jumping on the rocks.

We were going to get out and hike around, but the parking lot was packed and it was getting late and we still had a 5 hour drive ahead of us.

This picture is actually missing something. Yosemite Falls is supposed to be right in the middle of it. The darker area on the rock in the middle is where the falls usually is. It's been crazy dry and California is having a bunch of water issues so the falls was completely dry. This is the same falls that is shown on the Sourin' Over California ride at California Adventure.

Like I said this was the longest day...there is no real direct route to I-5 going north from Yosemite. It was hours of country back roads and it was the worse part of the trip for me. First it felt like we were going no where and second the roads were so bouncy I couldn't crochet! I was so happy to see the Interstate....I kind of sound like Lightning McQueen there! 

Anyways after going through Sacramento during rush hour we made it a little north and ate at the last fast food restaurant of the trip. MCD's of course. Mainly because it had an indoor playarea. The kids had been cooped up in the car all day and they desperately needed to get some energy out! 

Being that we were out of town guests we didn't really know where the bad areas were, but after being at this MCD's for about an hour we realized that it wasn't in the best of neighborhoods. 

Still it served it's purpose for the kids and before long we were on the road again! 

This night we didn't get to the hotel until 8:30pm and we were so tired. Of course Owen was hoping to go in the pool, but again it was an outdoor pool. Poor guy! This was the best hotel though besides the one in Anaheim. It was a Best Western and now no matter what we will be staying at Best Westerns whenever we can. We literally were there for less than 12 hours, but it was great. The beds were comfy, the room was big and clean and the continental breakfast was the best.