Saturday, Jameson and I got creative while Ella was napping. I saw an idea on someone’s blog about using a shower curtain to create a floor map for your kids. So, when I was out shopping a few weeks ago, I picked one up and have had it ready for a day when we needed it. The great idea about a shower curtain is that if it gets ruined, no big deal… it was $2. Plus, Jameson had a car mat and never played with it. So, we busted out the shower curtain on Saturday. We started with a park in the middle, and went from there…

I taped sharpie markers to each side of a box, and used that to make even roads. Jameson decided what buildings we needed, including a race track, police station, and a beach.

He played with it the rest of the afternoon. We made houses for all his friends, and parked the planes at the airport. Another plus, each time we get it out, we can add details. Like the other day when he asked if we had a post office on our map. Oops, forgot that one. No worries, next time we get it out, we will add the post office. Now, I’m on the look out for when shower curtains go on sale. Maybe next time we’ll draw a castle and the kingdom. Who knows… endless possibilities.

(Part 3)

We were told that the tide pools at Botanical Beach in Port Renfrew were worth the drive. I was told it was about a 2 hour drive away, but totally worth it. We had planned to go to some tide pools in Sooke, which was only about 30-45 minutes away. I did some research and found that people said it was just a short hike to the beach if we went to Botanical Beach. If we chose to go to the beach in Sooke, we would have had to park and hike about 40 minutes to the beach. That didn’t sound so fun with the kids. We figured we would take the drive and short hike. I checked the tide, and low tide would be about 10:15 am.

We ended up getting out the door a little late, but by 8:30 am. So, not too bad. The problem was, that after the first hour, Ella was car sick. We stopped at a church and let the kids out for fresh air. The highway ran along the coast, which meant it was pretty windy. When we thought we were in the clear, we got back in the car and started off. We made it 5 minutes down the road, and Ella threw up. Luckily, I packed extra clothes, so we cleaned up and headed on. She finally fell asleep, but for the rest of the trip, we had to stop every few miles to let Jameson out. He did really good, and told us every time he started feeling sick. Needless to say, it took us longer than 2 hours with all the stops we had to make. The short hike down to the beach, actually took us at least 15 minutes. So, by the time we got there, it was almost noon. That meant the tide was halfway back in. *Side note, Jameson got out of the car and threw up. We were so proud of him for making it out of the car first, and not getting anything on himself. Is that sad? We are proud of our child who was car sick for making it all the way and out of the car, before throwing up?*

I’m guessing the more interesting tide pools were already covered by water, but we did get to check out a few. Ella and I sat on the beach for a snack while Kevin and Jameson set out on their explorations.

But, when Ella saw that the boys were out discovering new tide pools, she was not about to stay on the blanket with me. We made our way over the rocks to the boys to check it out.

We decided we would go check out the other tide pools before high tide. We hiked back up the stairs (partially man made partially natural) and down the path. We found an opening where we could get down to more tide pools, but it was a little dangerous to climb around the rocks. We headed back to the trail to find another way, but the trail kept going. After about 2o minutes, we decided we were on the trail that looped back to the cars, and turned back to go to the beach we were originally at. Along the way, Jameson found a great new spot.

Ella was destroyed by this point. So we got down to the beach, laid our blanket down, and Kevin smoothed out a bed for Ella. We laid her down, and she was out within about a minute.

I felt about how Ella looks, so we took a break while the boys went exploring again.

I sat and watched the waves crash over the rocks.

The boys watched the waves for a while, then decided to chase the waves. Jameson loved trying to touch the wave and then run from it.

It was pretty fun, but then the rain came. So, we packed up and headed back to the car. Bad news, it was uphill the entire way. We made it back, and headed out. We stopped at a general store for some Dramamine. Turns out, Canadians don’t know what that is. They gave us whatever they use for motion sickness. Only problem, it came in gel cap form, so dissolving it in the kids juice was not going to be easy. I finally bit the gel cap so we could put a few drops in their juice to help them on the way home. A few minutes later, I realized my lips and tongue were numb. I don’t know what is in that gel cap, but I was numb for an hour. The kids, luckily, fell asleep for the roughest part, only after Ella threw up again.

Kevin did spot this street sign on the way.

We made it back, gave Ella a bath, and went out for some dinner. We ended up at the Old Spaghetti Factory. While we waited for a table, the old ladies next to us adored Ella. That night, Ella went straight to bed, and Jameson did after a little coaxing.

(Part 1)

For Kevin’s birthday coming up, I had booked a stay for the weekend in Seaside, Oregon. At least, that’s what I thought I did. The day before we were going to leave, I pulled out the reservation information, only to find it was for a different resort in Redmond, Oregon. Crap! Not sure what happened there. So, we started discussing what we wanted to do. All other resorts on the coast between Oregon and Washington were booked. Kevin mentioned staying home, and exploring areas around us. That’s sounds great, except, I needed out. I don’t want to see the floor I need to vacuum, the bathrooms I need to clean, the fridge that needs to be filled and cleaned… you get it. I may have had a break down, and we decided to go to Victoria, Canada instead. They had openings there for the weekend, and we have all documentation needed to travel to Canada, so we quickly changed our reservations. Thursday morning, we got going and headed out to catch the ferry to Bainbridge.

It was freezing out and we left the coats in the car, so we didn’t last long outside. Once across the water, we headed out to the next ferry. It was a little less than 2 hours to Port Angeles, where we took the ferry to Victoria. We grabbed some lunch first, and then got in line. Traveling takes much longer when you have to wait on ferries.

Weird thing. They didn’t even check for paperwork until after we got off the ferry in Victoria. Once you’re in the country, what would they do if you didn’t have correct papers? Not quite sure, and glad we don’t have an answer to that. It was about a 90 minute ferry ride, which means that Kevin had to take Dramamine. He was out pretty much the entire ride, along with Ella. We finally got there around 3:30 pm.

The condo we were staying in was a quick drive from the port. If I had a better camera, we could probably see it in the picture above. We headed straight over and checked-in with no problems (always a bonus). Once we got settled, we looked for something to do, and ended up at the Bug Museum.

Things started out small, but then we got to some of the largest insects in the world. Just gross. Jameson loved looking at them. He touched a few, but wasn’t about to hold any. Kevin loved every minute of it, and held all of them. Ella got close but I’m not sure she touched any. I held one. That was enough.

They had the largest ant display in the world? maybe, or at least the country. It was incredible. The queen was not to be seen, but the workers were sure busy. Did you know when an ant dies, another ant has to take it to the graveyard, but then is not allowed to return? Because the ants know that it could now be contaminated with whatever killed the other ant. Great way to take one for the team.

I can not do cockroaches, especially ones that hiss!

So this is the heaviest insect in the world, or something like that. I actually did hold this one, but that picture is on Kevin’s phone.

Like I said, I think Kevin loved it the most.

I know I have you all squirming right now. I guess the larger the scorpion the less poisonous they are. They have bigger pincers to get their food, so they don’t have to be as poisonous as the smaller ones. Either way, I was not getting close.

After the bug museum, we walked around down town a little. This Presbyterian church was around the corner.

Kevin didn’t know how fond of architecture I was. I loved looking at the building here. I could have walked around lots more except, the kids were tired, and I was getting sore. We did find a toy store… sorry Jameson looks terrible.

After the toy store, we stopped for some fudge. I thought it was funny that they placed figurines on the gelato. We didn’t try any, but it looked like frozen jelly.

After a long day, bedtime could not come fast enough. The best part? The kids had their own room.

Saturday was beautiful. So we headed to a small zoo nearby. We thought it was a bit overpriced for what they had, but the kids loved it. We even got a AAA discount. We bought some apples they had to  feed the animals, which was the highlight.

Ella loved talking to the different parrots. They were making lots of noises and talking back.

Then we got to an open area where the birds had their wings clipped. One of the trainers was standing there, so she started holding them, and talking with them. They were playing peek-a-boo, and the kids were laughing.

The only animals that really ate from your hand were the Alpacas. Jameson didn’t hesitate to put his hand out, while the little girls around him were scared. Even Ella stuck her hand out with apple slices for them with no fear.

It was a nice little zoo, that didn’t take too long to walk through. We had lots of fun, and the weather couldn’t have been better for February here.

We’ve been having some beautiful sunny days. So what have we been up to? Kevin and Jameson took Mater in to get the brake lights fixed.

Friday, the kids and I walked over to the park. They loved being outside. After too much time on the swings, I told them to play somewhere else. I was tired of pushing them.

Ella discovered the slides finally. I am much better with this than the swings. She could climb up, go down, and repeat all by herself. She loved it. We spent about an hour at the park, and then walked back home. The kids loved being out side.

Last Saturday, January 28th, we decided to take a family hike. We emailed a few friends, and 3 other families joined us. We hiked a small trail on Cougar Mountain that was about 1.5 miles in. I think it was anyway. The trail head started in the cul-de-sac of a neighborhood. We unloaded our kids and started out. We had 2 babies in packs, 2 jogging strollers, and lots of kids walking.

Dad told Jameson that people in the back are the first to get eaten, so he was sure to stay in the front. Wish Dad wouldn’t have told him that. He wouldn’t stop talking about it the entire hike.

Near the turn around point, the boys found this cave? Rocks? Not sure what to call it. They loved this rock, though.

We kind of missed the waterfalls we were originally hiking for. Oops. Oh well. It was a pretty good hike. Jameson walked with me on the way back, which was nice. We had some fun talks. Jameson loved this log near the trail end. Covered in moss and mushrooms.

As we exited the trail, the family that lived in the house we were parked by came out. They said we were the best group to ever come off the trail. They were laughing saying they lost track of how many kids we had with us. We laughed and told them we had 10 kids, 7 adults, and one was a pregnant lady. They loved it. We’re up for more hikes, but next time, maybe not as far. It was ok, but not sure I will be able to do that long much longer. Especially with the fact that I’m no hiker.

Saturday, Dad finally had time to play in the snow with the kids. The only problem was that it rained Thursday and Friday, so a lot of the snow had melted. The decided to build a snow cave in the back yard.

Ella woke up from her nap, and wanted to play, too.

She preferred to jump on the tramp while the boys built the fort.

The finished fort. The loved climbing on it way more than climbing in it.

For our Young Women activity this week, we did scripture cakes. This was a combined activity with only the girls, but could be done as a joint activity with the boys. In fact, I got the idea from my mom, and they did it as a joint, and said it was great. So, for this activity, each leader brought a cake. We ended up with 4 cakes, doesn’t matter the flavor. We told the girls to divide up into groups and then pick a cake.

Next, they had to decide which scripture story their cake was going to depict. It could be anything in the scriptures, but we did ask them to stay away from the murder/war stories. For things to use to decorate they had:

Teddy Grahams, Skittles, chocolate chips, pull and peel licorice, pretzels, marshmallows, triscuts, cheese whiz, mini nilla whafers, oreos, and maybe some others.

The groups picked their cakes, were given a can of white frosting, and given an hour.They also had food coloring to choose from.

The cakes were made into 2-d and 3-d stories. Only 1 group actually cut their cake up to build it into something. The results were

:Samuel the Lamanite on the wall. They used the triscuts to represent the stone squares of the wall. The pretzels were the arrows being thrown. Very creative.

Noah on the Ark.

The fish were jumping out of the waves. She even made giraffes and elephants to be in the boat (made of pretzels.) The elephants were my favorite!

The First Vision

Joseph was surrounded by a mist of licorice, and Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ were surrounded by a light (of marshmallows) brighter than the sun.

Lehi’s Dream

They built the great and spacious building, the rod following the river, and the tree of Life. They even dyed their marshmallows green for leaves.

Turned out to be a great activity. As each group presented their cake, they read the scriptures describing their story.

This December got a little busy and we did not make it to Snowflake Lane until Friday night (December 30th). Never again will we go that late in the month. It was crazy. Trying to make it down the sidewalk was beyond ridiculous. We finally made it to an open space just in time for the music to start.

Snowflake Lane is a sidewalk celebration in downtown Bellevue. The drummers play along with the music while people dressed up in costumes walk the sidewalk passing out peppermint suckers. At the end, they have a “snowfall” of bubbles and paper mache’.

The drummers came out, and got on their posts. The kids enjoyed it. Both wanted to be on Kevin’s shoulders at one point or another.

The drummers even come down the sidewalk. At one point, both kids wanted to be with Kevin. Worked out well for me to not have to hold a kid.

After the drum line left, and the show was over, Jameson had his own fun on the stand.

We needed to wait for the crowds to disperse before trying to get back to our car. So we headed into a store to get one more quick present for myself. By the time we got out, we had less foot traffic to get through. We made it home, and put the kids to bed. Glad we went, but next year it will be much earlier in the month.

After an eventful Thanksgiving day, we took it easy Friday. I think the boys went to the range, and then that night we had leftovers.We prepped the kids after dinner for Saturday’s events by watching The Polar Express. Saturday, we headed to North Bend to catch the train to see Santa. We had a few families with us who had never been before. We went last year, and Jameson absolutely loved it. We got there way early, so the kids got to run around and check out the tracks.

When we boarded the train, we ended up in an old Army car. At least that’s what we were told, because it had wood benches rather than seats. Later, we found out the car was from 1912. They decorate all the cars, and the conductor got on the mic and sang songs and read “The Night Before Christmas.”  Wonder what their safety regulations were. Ella was so excited, and watched everything out the window.

Jameson was so excited again this year, especially since he had friends. Hi beanie is from last winter and is still big. It doesn’t help that he pulls it down so he can’t see.

Probably my favorite picture of the day…

Ella found a ticket on the ground and insisted on holding it the entire time.

While we waited in line, there was a coloring and activity table. Ella thoroughly enjoyed it while Jameson looked at other things.

We got to Santa’s lap and Jameson was ready to tell him everything. It took a minute before he thought it was ok to sit there, but Ella was in no way having it. Santa asked Jameson what he wanted, and a list of items came out that included a large 4Runner, an 11Runner (that’s what they call his friend’s van), a transform gun, and who know what else. I gave up. Even Santa didn’t know what to say. Kevin tried to take some pictures, but they didn’t turn out so well. He tried, though.

On the way out, we got stopped by the authorities. Just kidding. But he did have a complete costume. Kev asked where he got it, and he said Goodwill or something, but in the 70s. I guess that’s how long he’s been working the train.

After seeing Santa, it was only appropriate to get some hot chocolate and cookies. Oh, and Santa gave out tops this year. Last year it was more pieces to a wooden train, but this year it was tops. They were nice tops, to his credit. Once we got our hot chocolate and cookies, the kids got to run around ,and play on some of the trains.

The hot chocolate was not very good. Last year, it was delicious, so I don’t know what happened this year. My cookies were burned, but the other kind was just fine. I just picked the wrong batch. They had an engine that the kids could play in.

We tried to take a family picture for our Christmas card. The kids were not cooperating.

See what I mean? Not cooperating.

They had a few more minutes to play, and then it was time to board the train for the 3 mile/ 20 minute ride back.

As the train was getting ready to leave, Santa came on board and gave all the kids a candy cane. He didn’t do that last year, so I’m wondering if it was because we were the last train of the day.

Isn’t he a cool Santa. I think he does a great job. We had so much fun, and can’t wait to do it again next year. It just gets better as the kids get a little older.