Road Trip '09

We did it! We successfully completed yet another family road trip. This time we chose to head north, starting with a visit to North Cascades National Park in Washington. I LOVE the National Parks and it is my goal to visit all of them before I die. I think I am about halfway done. We set out on Friday June 19th, with the trailer in tow and an extra passenger in the back seat. Paul's mom was invited to join us and lucky for us she had nothing better to do so she came along. It was great for the kids to get some alone time with Grandma. She was a great helper and an even greater conversationalist on the road. That night we stayed at Bay View State Park north of Seattle.
Out first "stop" was North Cascades National Park. It was pretty cloudy and a bit rainy so we probably missed most of the beautiful mountain peaks but we had a good time searching for them through the clouds. We stopped at the visitor center and got our National Parks Passports stamped, Darcy's very first one! I can't say this was the most impressive park I have been to but then the weather didn't help much. What we did see was pretty.

Drew and Mason are standing on a grated sidewalk on a bridge, looking down into a rushing river as it empties into the lake. Mason was pretty leery about the bridge and was walking pretty slowly and carefully to get across.




This is a view from the highway. Pretty nice scenery. We camped that night at Pearrygin State Park in a cool little town called Winthrop, WA. Darcy had been fighting a fever for days before we left and it all seemed to come to a head on Saturday night. She was blotchy and red all over and just miserable. We spent quite a bit of time calling nurses to see if we could give her anything but since she is so young we were advised to give her a bath without soap. Gee thanks. She was blotchy for maybe another day and then it and the fever miraculously went away. Maybe it had something to do with the arrival of 2 new top front teeth.

We crossed into British Columbia on Sunday where we camped in Revelstoke. I was surprised at just how populated the highway was up to this point. There were beautiful lakes with resorts and homes on them. A really pretty area.

Monday we arrived at Banff National Park in Alberta, Canada. I have heard of this place for years from various family members so I was very excited to finally be there. Our first stop was Lake Louise. Well wouldn't you know it, all three kids decided to have a break-down at the same time. And that leads to mommy having a break-down too. Needless to say, our visit to the lake was pretty short-lived. But it was absolutely beautiful and I highly recommend stopping by if you are in the area.
Oh shoot, I just deleted the picture!

Monday night we stayed in Canmore, Canada, at Paul's mom's time-share place. It was nice to get out of the trailer and stay put for two nights. We could spread out a bit too, which the kids appreciated. Tuesday we explored the town of Banff and the National Park. We took a gondola ride up to the top of a mountian and were able to have a 360 degree view of magnificent mountain peaks and stunning valleys. What a beautiful place. As we were exiting the gondola Paul snapped a picture of the picture they want you to buy. The girl was yelling at him and trying to turn off the screen so he couldn't get it but I think he did a pretty good job! Grandma ended up buying the picture anyway but it was fun being sneaky.

This is us with grandma on the observation deck at the top. Beautiful!

A view of Banff from the top.

Here is a friend Drew spotted while my attention was on the mountain goats on the side of the road. I have no idea how she saw him up on the cliff, camoflauged in the trees. Good eyes Drew!

Wednesday we crossed back into the US in Montana. The border guard asked Paul where we were coming from. "Uh, Canada." That made the guard laugh, along with me, who was in hysterics. There were 6 guys at this podunky little border crossing but they were sure taking their job seriously. We needed our passports and the kids had to have birth certificates but it was pretty easy to get through. Unless you are grandma and you admit that you have a bag of apples at your feet that you just bought and they make you throw them away before you cross into Canada. We didn't happen to mention the fridge full of fruit and veggies in the trailer, which they never bothered to search. We were very careful not to throw apple cores out the window though!
We had a fire 3 nights I think and roasted lots of marshmallows.

Drew was having a great time roasting them to perfection.

Mason was all about the gooey S'mores.

Thursday we visited Glacier National Park in Montana. This place was absolutely gorgeous. I think it ranks up there with my favorites. There were raging rivers, snow-capped mountains, and quiet cedar forests. We spent the day moving from site to site, hoping the Going-to-the-Sun Road would finally open up for the summer. We actually got farther than we thought we would but we couldn't get the entire way over to the east side of the park. We drove to the top of Logan Pass which is the Continental Divide. The kids got to play in some snow and had a good time with that. I was so thankful we got to the top for the snow because I had been telling Drew we would find some the entire trip. It was what I was using to keep her positive about being stuck in the back of the car, being bounced around by the trailer the whole trip. She was a great helper back there, distributing bags of chips and Capri Suns when the calls came through.

I was SOOOOO disappointed that we never saw a bear. We had warnings the entire trip about being in bear country and what to do if you came across one but we were never lucky enough to experience it. We did see elk, deer, rams, mountain goats, squirrels, chipmunks, and mosquitos, but no bears. The closest we got was Darcy's "bear" feet when she kept taking her socks off as a game to keep her sane in the car all those hours!

This was a beautiful river that was pretty full this early in the year. It turns into a pretty small trickle later in the summer.

Here is grandma having some fun! She was a real trooper. She kept up with our walking around the parks and the towns pretty well. I think she had fun visiting with Darcy when it was her turn to sit in the back seat. I know Darcy appreciated it. We got lots of pictures of the 5 of us since we had a photographer around!

I took the kids across the bridge, down a trail, and out on to the rocks. I don't think Paul was thrilled I was out there but I gave Mason a boundary and he surprisingly kept to it. I don't think he had any interest in taking a ride down the freezing rapids.

Drew and Mason climbed into an old cedar on the trail. I was really hoping to find a bear on this walk but some people had bells on to scare the bears away. Wusses.

This is Heaven's Peak as viewed from the Going-to-the-Sun road. Beautiful mountain ridges and waterfalls were all around us.

We made it to the Continental Divide but they weren't interested in posing for yet another picture at yet another sign. I am great at taking pictures of signs.

By the end of the trip Drew and Mason were helping Paul put up and take down the trailer. I bet they could make a pretty good go of setting it up by themselves now!

Friday we camped outside of Spokane and got to visit with my brother for a few hours. It was fun to see him and visit without other family around.

We had a GREAT trip I think. There were ups and downs, and my mother-in-law probably thinks I am the crankiest thing she has ever seen, but we saw absolutely beautiful scenery and we all arrived home in one piece so I call that a success. I am already tossing new road trip ideas around in my head but I don't think Paul wants to hear about them quite yet. The kids hung in there pretty well and hopefully they will have good memories of our family trips along with all the pictures of them posing at signs. For even more pictures visit my Flicker site!

Strawberry Season

Yesterday we headed out to Sauvie Island to pick berries! Drew was a great helper, Mason had a great time throwing dirt clods, and Darcy was eating the berries as fast as we could get them in the buckets. We ended up with 13.75 lbs of ripe berries, which equates to lots of jam and lots of dried and frozen berries.

Darcy probably should have been weighed before and after so we could pay for all the strawberries she ate. I caught her with stems in her mouth a couple times but they didn't slow her down a bit! I purposely dressed her in clothes that could be ruined!

Mason and Drew like to mash the berries for the jam. We had splatters all over the kitchen but I guess that is part of the fun! I can now mark strawberries off my list but I still have blueberries, peaches, apples, and apricots on my summer preservation schedule. Its tons of work but also lots of fun.

Here are my sweethearts at the park. I just couldn't pass up including this picture! Too cute.

Fun Times!

The last couple of weeks have been busy but tons of fun. Three weekends ago we took a trip to the zoo via the MAX to reward Mason for his great job potty training. He took to it like a fish to water. What a guy! I forgot though, that with potty training comes the potty talk. It seems every statement of his includes or ends with "poop," "pee," "booty," or shaking his buns. And it has brought out the potty talk in Drew too. Hopefully this too shall pass.

The next weekend we stayed in Seaside at a resort with Paul's mom's timeshare points, and had a GREAT time with his family. If you forget about my severely burned right shoulder from spending too much time in the beautiful 75 degree sunshine on the beach with the kids. They were fine, I bathed them in sunscreen, but I forgot about myself.

We took a walk along Broadway and stopped in lots of the shops. I never realized what I was missing when I was in high school, cruising the turn-around. I was shopping for something a little bit different than knick-knacks at that point in my life. Mason and Drew took a ride on the carousel with their cousin Megan. The operator hopped on and held on to Mason so he wouldn't try to jump off in his terror. Poor guy, I just laughed at him. And I just deleted the picture so I have no proof right now!

The day after we got home I took the kids to the Childrens' Museum for Drew's preschool field trip. That picture didn't get loaded, don't know what my problem is! We had a great time there too. We had never been there before and the kids loved it. Mason especially enjoyed the water room. Drew painted her face warrior-like and insisted on wearing it to her t-ball game that night. The coaches loved it!

Wednesday was Drew's last day of school. She was so sad! This girl LOVES school. I don't know what she will do all summer, or what I will do with her. She and I attended the Kindergarten round-up at her new school and we got to visit classrooms and take a ride on a real school bus. She was in heaven. We got her the "Bob" series of books for beginning readers and she has almost finished the first 10 books. Go Drew! Tuesday we fit in Mason's 3 year check-up and heard that he is a healthy guy, only 4 pounds behind his big sister. Wednesday was also Mason's birthday party with tons of fun all day. Its great to be 3!

Friday we packed up our trailer and headed south to Honeyman State Park, just south of Florence. We camped with Paul's family and lots of people from his sister's ward who camp there every Memorial and Labor Day weekends. It was great to camp again. Good practice for our road trip in June.

Here is about half of the crew eating lunch. We had lots of fun hanging out with everyone again. Mason was excited that he had yet another birthday celebration there. That made a total of 3!

We vivisted the Heceta Head Lighthouse and took the tour. They had just turned the light back on about an hour before we got there, after months of repairs. Pretty cool place.

After the lighthouse we took a walk through the tide pools. Darcy's Uncle Scott was very nice and walked her around in the stroller so she missed most of the fun. But we really liked the sea creatures and also exploring the caves in the cliffs near by.

My little fisherpeople! Paul taught Mason and Drew how to fish for the first time. Luckily there were lots of family friends in the area when the warden was making his way down the dune so they warned Paul to pass off the pole to Mason real quick! I don't think he was old enough to need a license. Nothing was caught, time was wasted, but I think they had a good time. Isn't that what fishing is about?

Drew and Mason posing on the beach in front of an historic bridge on highway 101. Pretty neat. The beach by the lighthouse is really nice.

Here is my Darcy, crawling up the dunes. If it wasn't for her aunt Alloa she would probably have kept going all the way to the top. I was amazed at how strong she was and how she just kept on going!

Now I would like to say I could relax and catch my breath, but crazy me, I signed up to start working again, pretty much up till our trip the end of June. This summer is already busy and I guess it isn't even officially summer yet. We are looking forward to lots of fun in the sun in the next few months!

Happy Birthday Mason!

Mason was born 3 years ago today. What a blessing he was in a time of turmoil. From November of '05 till October of '06 we had lots of major family drama, the death of my Father-In-Law exactly one week before Mason was born, and the deaths of both of my grandmas. It was a VERY rough time for all of us, except for the one bright spot - my sweet, sweet Mason. He was such a good baby and just seemed to make everything better. He helped me survive those 11 months. I had a pretty darn easy labor with Mase, only 4 hours and a couple pushes. I was almost too late asking for the epidural and I was only numb for 45 minutes but thank goodness I had it! He was a gorgeous little guy from the very beginning and we were actually able to nurse, which made me very happy.

Drew wasn't quite sure what to make of the new addition. She still isn't!

I love this picture. What a funny little thing.

Ah, the curls! I was so sad when Paul insisted on shaving his head. I loved his soft blonde curls, they kept him my baby. Once we shaved him he aged about 2 years.

He had this thing about being a tiger last summer. Here he is at Sunriver, covered in dirt and dust, chasing after his 2nd cousins. He had us all laughing.

Boy did he make out with the gifts today. I swear it was better than Christmas. His grandma and grandpa came to party with us and they gave him this remote control train. Trouble is, we gave him a RC car and the controls try to control the other toy. Oops! We had a hard time waiting for Paul to get home from work to eat our pizza and Devils' Food cake. Now that is my kind of menu! Mason was a bit emotional and volitile too, just like Drew was on her birthday. I don't know if that is normal or if we hype them up or something! Here are a few of Mason's favorites as a 3 year old:

color - blue

animal - snakes

food - "fire chips" (Doritos), chocolate milk, apple juice

movie - Willie Wonka

toy - "fishing toy" which I have no idea what he is talking about

activities - Having bad dreams and saying bad words. I'm not sure he understood the question! But maybe he did, his favorite word these days is "kraznots," and he uses it when he is mad or upset about something. I guess its his own personal swear word. If anyone knows what it means or where it came from please let me know!

Mason is a wonderful little guy. He keeps me on my toes and has taught me alot about being a mom. He is not always easy to handle but he is extremely easy to love. He is independent but loves to snuggle and I wouldn't give that up for anything. We are so blessed that he is ours!

Busy, Busy Days

Look at these angelic faces. Man have they been running me ragged the past few days. Call me crazy, and I know I am, but I am totally enjoying this crazy, hectic time in our family. For the last 3 weeks in April I was working almost full time from home, which is not as easy as it sounds. I give major props to those who do it full time, year round, and keep their sanity. My kids absolutely hate me working. I sit on the computer all day scoring english essays for various high school and college tests, and am monitored by someone out in cyber space so I can't get up too often to take care of small wants and desires. That doesn't go over real well with my spoiled children. The work is a blessing, it is sporadic, but it is a nice little supliment to our income, and it makes me feel good to contribute monitarily a bit also. Its just very difficult on all involved at times. It really is a great, fun, job, and if you have a Bachelors degree and are interested, check out this link.

Work ended last Thursday for me so Friday it was potty training time! Mason will be 3 on the 20th and I wanted him trained before his birthday. He was not at all interested just a few weeks ago, but it was like magic on Friday. He willingly donned the big-boy underpants and decided to give it a try. The first day we had 5 accidents and no tinkles in the potty. The next day only 1 accident! Both those nights he woke up dry. Incredible! Sunday he got out of nursery to potty, which I think made him feel pretty cool, and today he has had no accidents and even stayed dry during his 31/2 hour nap! What a kid! He is trying his darndest because his daddy promised him a train ride when he gets it down. Every time he uses the potty he ask if he can take his ride now. Oops! Hopefully the MAX will be a big enough train to placate him. I am so proud of my big guy. I was putting his 2T clothes in storage yesterday and started to cry a bit at the loss of my baby boy. He is definitley a kid now, no longer a baby.

This is a picture I dreaded finding so soon. Darcy heading up the stairs! Time for the gate that Mason can't get over so I have to heft him over the 50 times he wants to go up or down the stairs in a day. This little girl of mine, who is almost 10 months old(!), is one FAST little body. I turn my back for an instant and she is gone. She doesn't crawl correctly, she uses the soldier crawl where she slithers on her tummy, but she is very efficient at it. Its a ton of fun trying to rush Mason to the potty and keep track of her at the same time. And I think Hoover ought to design a vacuum cleaner after her. She finds things in the carpet that I can't see or vacuum up the few times a day I try to get it done. She is always chewing on something and we are lucky she hasn't decided to swallow some of those things. I spend lots of my time just laughing to get me through the last couple of days. I swear I am asleep before my head even hits the pillow at night.

And here is my Drewsy, reading. She was reading my book over my shoulder the other day! I am so proud of her and her ambition, and I wish I could help her out more with it. She is constantly asking me to spell things for her and it is a constant frustration for me that the English language seems to follow no specific rules from one word to the next. Take for instance "mama." She had me spell it, then she tried to spell "mommy." Sounds the exact same, spelled differently. I find myself telling her she just has to look at the word and memorize how it looks instead of trying to sound some of them out. I guess I wasn't cut out to be a Kindergarten teacher. I really need to get her some sort of series to help her learn to read because she is just so eager to be reading. I have to admit that spelling everything I say get a bit old at times too.

I am usually one to wish my time away, waiting for the kids to get older so I can get some sleep, or carry on a real conversation, or quit wiping dirty baby bottoms, but I really am enjoying the stages my kids are in. It is so fun to watch each of them in their stages, growing and progressing before my very eyes! I am so blessed to have such good kids and I look forward to the adventure each day promises to bring.

Lunchtime conversations

Drew - "Mom, where do these come from? (as she is holding a chicken nugget from McDonalds) Do the chickens poop them out?"
Me - "No, they kill the chickens and then you eat the muscle. Its called meat."

She threw me a horrified look and shouted "YUCK!" I guess not Yuck enough to quit eating the nuggets though. I'm not sure why my expanation was any worse than what she was thinking!

I remember as a Sunbeams teacher years ago I had to teach a lesson on where food came from. I was a bit leery as I was preparing the lesson and thought maybe the kids' parents should be teaching them the info. I watched my little 4 year olds' innocence slipping away as I explained that hamburger is really cow meat and chicken is literally a chicken. The eyes and mouths widened in horror the farther along I got in my lesson. I'm surprised Drew didn't have the lesson last year but maybe her teacher was smart enough to skip it. Or maybe they took the lesson out altogether. I will have to have this conversation again in a year or so as Mason was racked with giggles thinking about the chicken pooping out nuggets. He never even heard the right expanation. The joys of being a mom!

Happy Birthday Drew!

5 years ago today Drew was born! After a relatively "easy" labor and delivery they placed my beautiful little girl on my chest and my first reaction was, "Oh my gosh! I just gave birth to my Father-In-Law!" She was a spitting image of Paul's dad. She even had the whitish-red hair he had, as you can see by this picture. We decided she was a keeper anyway and brought her home! Paul started an internship in Hillsboro a few weeks before Drew was due and I, being the naive new mother, insisted on staying in Corvallis to deliver my baby with the doctors I knew. BIG MISTAKE. I didn't pack the apartment while pregnant because I guess I didn't feel like it and thought once I had the baby I would do it. HA! It was an awful first week, trying to get my bearings as a new mom and also trying to pack and clean an apartment. The stress of the situation did nothing to help my ability to nurse, Drew was a bad nurser too, and it turned out she was lactose intolerant for the first year of her life so the first few weeks when all this was going on was just a really awful time for Drew and I. At one point, while Paul was completing his 12 hour shift, I seriously contemplated throwing Drew out the window and just being done with the whole mother thing. Luckily Paul came home about then, took Drew for an hour drive, and came home with Taco Bell for me. I bawled the entire time they were gone, and I believe that was my turning point. I quit trying to please everyone else by attempting to be the perfect mother, and we put Drew on soy formula. It did wonders for my baby! All of a sudden the screaming and crying stopped and she was a joy to be around! I felt horrible for making my baby suffer for so long but I guess I should be glad we got it figured out and she didn't suffer longer than those 3 weeks.

Everyone called Drew a boy when they saw her. Please tell me how she could be mistaken for a boy when you look at those eyes!

Rocky Mountain National Park. She's always been a great traveler.

Crater Lake National Park. The chubby arms and cheeks just make me smile.

We loved her wispy curls that finally showed up around 2 years of age. She was bald up till then.

Drew has always been a superhero fan. Her third birthday party was a superman/spiderman theme.

Here is my gorgeous at her brother's 1st birthday party.

Swimming in our backyard pool.

Today for her 5th birthday she got a big-girl bike with training wheels! She was working hard to get it to move but I think she was getting the hang of it. This birthday was the first one she really got into. It was fun to watch her get so excited about it. She was bouncing off the walls all day and couldn't wait till dad got home from work so we could have spaghetti and strawberry cake. What a combination.

Some of Drew's favorites as a 5 year old:

color - red

numbers - 6 and 10

food - rice, noodles, oatmeal, strawberries, grapes

movies - Star Wars and Indiana Jones

animal - hippos

ice cream - cookie dough

holidays - Halloween and Christmas

activities - swimming, playing with Darcy

We are so lucky to have been blessed with Drew's sweet dispostion in our family. She is (usually) a joy to be around, a great babysitter, always willing to please, a picky eater, and one smart little girl. We are so blessed to have her for eternity!