Beacon Rock

Friday the weather was beautiful, so we decided to hike Beacon Rock.

My brother's son Brevin took the day off of school and joined us for this hike. He is such a great helper with the younger kids. He even offered to carry Valerie in the back pack. I thought he would be sad if he did, (he is not quite big enough) so I kept the pack on me, but it was really sweet of him to offer.

The hike was a bunch of switchbacks up the side of the rock, so even though we were going up, it was not too difficult.

All the way up the side of the rock the view got better and better. Josh kept looking down at the train tracks. He could hear train whistles, but usually the train was on the other side of the river. When we were just about to the top a train finally came on the tracks that went right by the rock. Josh kept asking if that was the train who's whistle we heard. Then when I said maybe he said, "I know it is." A few minutes later we heard another whistle and Josh told everyone that it was the train we just saw.

The hike was about 1 mile long. When we reached the top, the view was amazing.

A Day At The Beach

As I said in the cave post, Wednesday was supposed to be a nice day. So we planned to go to the beach. Tuesday the forecast changed and it was supposed to be rainy. We decided to take our chances and head to the coast anyway. I am glad we did because it turned out to be a great day to go to the Oregon Coast.

It takes 2 hours to drive to the beach, so we got there just in time to have lunch at Mo's. It is right off the beach, so the view and the food is great. The kids got nice and full, and were ready to go play.


We thought it would be cold so we had the kids dress for cold weather, with the ability to get wet just in case. My mom took us to Indian Beach because there are tide pools there. That way if it was cold and rainy the kids would still be entertained without going into the water. Lucky for us the day was perfect for the Oregon coast. It was a little overcast, but there was no rain and when we went into the water I was surprised how warm it was.


Ellen's kids stayed home from school and came with us too.

Emily was born in Utah, but lived in San Diego for 5 years and loves the beach. She has no fear of the water and does not mind cold at all. So it was no surprise to me that she ran right into the water. She and Scott headed over to the tide pools first and immediately started finding sea life.

Joe loved the beach. He started looking for seashells and found a bunch of broken ones. At the tide pools he was able to find a couple of good ones, and a starfish.

Josh also loved the beach, and shadowed Joe most of the time. He did go his own way every now and then, but always ended up back with Joe. He really liked digging in the sand, and running from the waves.

Valerie started out her visit to the beach sitting with Grandpa, enjoying a bottle. When she finished, she played with the rocks, having fun banging them together. When the other kids and I got back from the tide pools, I brought her down to the sand to see what she thought of it. She acted like she wanted to go towards the water, so I eventually let her stand in the tide. I thought she would cry as soon as the water touched her feet, but she laughed, and thought it was great. It didn't last long though. After the 5th time she was done with the water, and went back to play in the sand.

In our family a trip to the beach also means a trip to the Tillamook Cheese Factory. So on the way home we took our usual detour to Tillamook.

Josh was 2 the last time we visited and has no memory of Oregon. He also loves cheese and would eat it 3 meals a day if I would let him, so he was very excited about the cheese factory. When I was young there used to be real cows in the viewing areas, but now the milk is shipped in from the local farms and the processing and packaging is done at the factory. When Josh saw the big blocks of cheese he got as close to the window as he could and would not look away for me to take his picture. He was even happier when we got to the sample area.

We stopped in the store to get a pepperoni stick and some squeaky cheese. Then of course we got ice cream cones. We all left Tillamook tired and happy after a big day of fun.

The Ape Caves

All last week the weather report had said it was supposed to be dry Monday,Tuesday and Wednesday. Monday was a beautiful day and the kids spent a lot of time outside. We decided that we should take advantage of the good weather on Tuesday and go on another hike. My mom thought the kids would like to hike to the top of Beacon Rock. It is the spot where Lewis and Clark realized they were almost to the Pacific Ocean.


So Tuesday morning we got ready and packed our picnic. Then as we were loading the kids in the car this started.........
Rain. and not just sprinkling you can ignore. Buckets of rain.



But instead of unloading everyone and going back inside for a rainy day, we just changed the location of our hike to Mount St Helen's Ape Caves. 99% of this hike is underground, so rain or shine you can hike it.

The cave is really cold and dark, so we went back into the house and got warmer clothes and a few flashlights. Then we were off.


By the time we got to the hike we decided we better eat lunch first. It was still pouring rain, so we set the picnic up in the back of Grandma's Vehicle.


The chipmunks were not afraid of us or the rain and came right up to us to get the crumbs that fell on the ground. By the time we finished eating the rain had slowed to a sprinkle, so we headed to the caves.

I had never been to the ape caves before, so I really had no idea what to expect. At first I wondered if there were formations shaped like apes, but my mom told us that they are called Ape caves after a Scout group who first explored the caves who called themselves the Apes.

There are two parts to the cave. The upper cave and the lower cave. My family have been on both hikes and said the upper cave is for people 9 years old and up, because there are some tricky parts, but the lower cave is perfect for little ones.

The Lower cave is called the Lava Tube, and it is not hard to see why. It is where the lava carved out a big long tube in the mountain. The cave is
3/4 of a mile long. As we kept going further and further into the cave I wondered how far under ground we were. There were some parts where the cave was really wide and others where the ceiling was very high.
After finding the cave on our last hike the kids were very excited to get to explore a cave. They also loved that it was so cold we could see our breath if we held our flash lights near our mouths. At one point they were pretending to be dragons.

One of the scenic parts of the caves is the meatballs.
(This photo came out too dark, but I lightened it a little just so we can see it, so the quality is not that great.) As we got to the end of the cave it got smaller and smaller. I did not go the last few feet to the end, because with Valerie on my back I was worried I would hit her head. So I waited while the kids went on.


The hike back was a little eerie to me, just because I was not sure when we were going to get out. Going in you know it is all underground and there is no exit, but coming back I kept wondering where the sunlight was. Towards the end I felt like we had hiked long enough, but then we would round a corner and still not see sunlight. I have to say I was happy when we spotted the sunlight coming into the opening. This hike is definitely not for the claustrophobic.


Valerie slept for most of the hike. I guess it got dark and cool, it must have been time to sleep.


It was a really cool hike and the kids loved it. They felt like real explorers with their flashlights.

A Wild Game of Mini Golf

After spending the day giving the house a good cleaning, we decided to go miniature golfing for Family Night.


I thought that this would take some time considering the ages of the youngest kids, but it only took about 1/2 hour to play. We split the kids up into groups by their ages.

The youngest three, Josh, Ian, and Timmy went first. They started out taking turns hitting the ball, but after the first hit on each hole the race began and it was every man for himself, and if they decided they were done with a hole they just picked their ball up and placed it in the hole. Then they picked it up and move on to the next hole.


The middle group Joe, Matthew, and Davis were next. They tried to play real golfing rules,meaning that who ever is farthest from the whole gets to hit their ball. They were all trying to be the farthest and were constantly calling out. I'm the farthest, no I am. I don't think they were concerned about scores at all.


The last group was the 10 year olds, Emily, Brevin, and Scott. You would think that this would be the group that played by the rules, kept score and remained focused. You would be wrong. They were just as crazy as the younger kids.

And what happens when the older kids catch up with the younger?

They make themselves part of the course.

Bethany and the babies, Sam and Valerie, also participated a little, so I guess you could say there were four groups. I think the babies group was the calmest of them all.

It was a fun wild game of mini golf!

OMSI and a Camp Out

On Friday we headed into Portland for a visit to OMSI, an interactive science museum. Valerie loved playing in the water areas and her favorite toy was this ball toy.
When other babies came near, she would try to hold all three balls in her hand. Eventually she did let another baby have one of the balls, because she could only hold two.


Emily was glad when we left the little kids area. There were animal habitats in the kiddie area, and she kept trying to organize them and make them look nice. Then kids would come in and mess it up. She loved the other exhibits though and had fun doing some of the puzzles, and science experiments.

Joe and Josh loved everything we did. They especially liked the Rocket launchers.

They also liked building the boats to see which one sailed the best. Joe spent a lot of time here.


One thing about coming this early in the year is that the cousins are still in school. So Emily waits every day fro Scott to get home and Brevin to come over. Now that it was Friday the party could begin. Brent's kids came over and joined us for a "Camp Out."

We grilled Hamburgers and Hot dogs, and then for desert the kids roasted Marshmallows over the hot coals.

Uncle Andy set up his tents in the house and the kids had an indoor camp out. That is my kind of camping. (no dirt)

Davis, Joe, and Matthew

Josh,with Timmy sleeping in the backgound. Ian was in the tent too, but did not want to get in the picture.

The Early birds. Brevin Emily and Scott (Baby Sam joined them in the morning) were up at 5:30am. They tried to keep quiet.

The next morning we all went swimming at the local pool. (sorry no pictures) The cousins had a great time together, and they always hate it when the party ends.

Learning to Dance

"Life is not about waiting for the storm to pass, but learning to dance in the rain"

-Anonymous

After our hike on Tuesday the rain began to come down again. By Thursday afternoon the boys could not take it anymore and decided rain or no rain they were going to play outside. My sister said that when you live in the Northwest you just learn how to play in the rain or you might never get to go outside again. They had a great time and screamed like little girls as they ran around the back yard.