Memorial Day Weekend

This past Memorial Day weekend we got to spend time with two of our most favorite families, the Layton's and the Christensen's.  The Christensen's we have known since 2005 when we moved to Tacoma, WA for Hyrum's residency.  Kari and Aaron were in our ward and we became really good friends.  I don't know how I could have survived residency without such a good friend.  The Layton's we met while living in Germany.  Miles and Missy are super fun to hang out with.  The Layton's were stationed at Ft. Lewis (in Washington) this last year and will soon be moving to Georgia (boo!).  I decided it was now or never to hang out with them and so I organized a camping trip.  I was able to reserve 3 camp sites near Ocean Shores, WA, all right next to each other so we could hang out for a few days.  It just so happens that Kari Christensen and Miles Layton are 2nd cousins (or something like that) so that was fun for them to catch up and chat about their families.

I just love both of these families so much.  My kids had so much fun (13 kids between the 3 families)!  It was a great weekend and only rained Sunday morning but cleared up enough for us to have a great campfire dinner by Sunday evening.  Lot's of fun at the beach, adults only evening campfire chatting once the kids were in bed, yummy food shared around between all the families, 13 kids packed into our tent trailer to watch movies while it poured rain outside, games of 'capture the flag' and playing kickball on the beach...good memories all around.

Kite flying is awesome on the coast...it's ALWAYS windy:)

The boys playing in the sand dunes.  The kids had so much fun playing 'capture the flag' in the dunes.  Plenty of grass and steep dunes to sneak around on:)

Kick ball on the beach!

Paige Layton found this awesomely huge crab on the beach. 

Townsend and Maggie Christensen on their way back to the campsite.  I have pictures of these two together when they were just 2 years old:)  Man, time flies by so quickly!

It wasn't really that warm so Julian was the only one of my kids that wanted to get in the water.  He found this "puddle" and played in it for hours.  It was actually pretty warm water in this puddle.  "Dad, take my picture while I jump!!!"

Emerson and Max Christensen plotting their next move during 'capture the flag'

Our campsite.  It was a great little place for all the kids to gather and watch a few movies on the iPad during the rain

Townsend and Max Christensen roasting weenies over the campfire

Emerson, Emi Layton and Townsend playing 'apples to apples'

Not the best picture but just to give you an idea, this is only 10 of the 13 kids we had with us.  They were all around the same ages so it was lots of fun for everyone!

Some Pre-Summer Fun

The twins are Webelos now in scouts and they were able to attend an afternoon at one of the camps.  I guess it was "medieval" themed because here is Emerson lugging an enormous 'sword' across a field...

...And this is Townsend (red jacket) 'jousting'

Julian enjoying the first corn on the cob of the season!

One day, a few weeks ago, Emerson woke up and said he didn't feel well.  I'm either the worst parent or the best parent ever because after looking at the weather and realizing it was going to be 75 degrees at the beach I let him (and Townsend) stay home from school...and then I took them to the beach:)

The weather was so warm, all the boys got in the water to play

Emerson worked really hard and dug a giant pit

Townsend showing off his hand stand.  The sunburns were worth it!  It's not every day it's sunny and warm at the beach here in Oregon and you have to take advantage of it when it comes:)

Julian's preschool took a field trip to a local berry farm.  Each of the kids got to plant and bring home their own sunflower

Julian's favorite part of the day was feeding the chickens and goats:)

A Wickedly Fun Night

On April 25th I flew to Boise, Idaho to meet up with my sister and niece to see the musical "Wicked."  I have wanted to see this show for so many years but have never gotten the chance.  When Kristen told me she bought Mara tickets for Christmas I sort of invited myself to join them and they were kind enough to let me tag along:)

Dinner at Cafe Rio...always yummy

For some reason the weenie mobile was parked in front of our hotel, so we had to get a photo.

I was so excited to finally get to see this show!

The show was fantastic, great music, great story...loved it.  We got back to the hotel pretty late and ended up going to bed around 11:30PM.  Around 1:30 AM we were woken up by the hotel fire alarm blasting.  Luckily we were only standing around outside in our pajamas for about 10 minutes.  I mostly felt bad for all the little kids I saw in their bare feet and pj's looking tired and confused.

I flew back to Portland on Saturday afternoon.  It was a very quick but a very fun trip.  Thanks Kristen and Mara Porter for letting me hang out;)

Happy Easter

Easter has come and gone but I feel like I should do a quick post about our activities.  The best part about Easter is watching my boys collect eggs on the Easter egg hunt.  Julian was especially excited and would get so happy whenever he found another egg.  We had fun as a family and fun hanging out with friends. 

Decorating our Easter tree with hanging eggs.  I love how colorful it looks when we are done

Another shot of our Easter tree

I'm not a big holiday decorator but I do like my litter Easter bunny family I bought in Germany:)

I also set up a bunny with some German Easter eggs in our window.

On the Saturday before Easter a local mineral museum hosted a Easter egg hunt.  You had to find 4 different colored eggs in and around the museum and then you could trade the eggs in for a "Thunder Egg"  This is Julian showing off his Thunder egg.  It looks like a plain rock on the outside but once you cut it open it has crystals inside.

The museum employee cutting open one of our Thunder eggs.

Emerson making a silly face but you can see the inside of the rock how crystals have formed to make a pretty design.

We hosted the Easter egg hunt this year in our backyard.  Katrina Doxey and her family have been doing Easter egg hunts with these same families for the last 17 years.  This was the group shot for this year.  There were at least 200 eggs hidden around our yard, I think they all had fun finding them.

Emerson gathering eggs

Townsend and Julian comparing their loot

Each of the kids got to find 1 golden egg.  After the hunt was over we made them stand in a circle and all open their golden eggs at the same time.  They were filled with money, from $1 to $20 and you didn't know what you were going to get.  They loved this!!

On Easter Sunday we invited our friends the Holt's over for dinner.  Hannah made this super cute lamb cake:)

Spring Break 2014

On Monday, March 24th I drove up to Washington with my boys to visit my parents.  The boys were off of school because of Spring Break and my parents leave in only 6 more weeks to move back to Ohio so I'm determined to spend as much time with them as I can.  We drove to Point Defiance State Park and met my parents there for a picnic lunch.  It was really beautiful weather and the boys were ready to get out of the car and run around a bit.

Townsend dipping his toes in the water at Point Defiance.

Julian eating a cookie.  He was the only one brave enough to want to go into the cold water.  It didn't last long, I think he wanted to get dressed after about 5 minutes in the water:)

After we left Point Defiance we drove the other 30 minutes to my parents apartment.  My boys were bummed the swimming pool was closed for repairs.  We hung out with my parents and watched the movie "Frozen" and then went to bed. 

The next day, Tuesday, we drove over to Bainbridge Island to an indoor rock climbing gym.  My twins had so much!  Unfortunately Julian was too small to climb.  We were going to head over to the awesome Bainbridge swimming pool but we struck out again because it was not "open" swim time.  So we took my parents to "The Lego Movie" which was lots of fun.

Emerson on the rock wall

Townsend climbing up the wall

My two little monkeys!  They really loved this activity, I'm going to have to see if there is a rock gym closer to home we can go to.

Wednesday we all took the ferry over to Seattle.  My parents have been on this mission for nearly 2 years and this was the first ferry ride they had been on!  Once in Seattle we ate lunch at Ivars, fed the seagulls, rode on the giant Seattle ferris wheel and walked along the waterfront.  My Mom and Dad took Julian back on the ferry but Townsend, Emerson and I stayed in Seattle because we had tickets to see "The Lion King" musical that night.  Hyrum took the train up from Portland and met us at the Paramount Theater with only about 5 minutes to spare before the show started (his train was running very late from Portland).  The show was amazing, especially the costumes.  After the show we walked to our hotel and stayed the night in Seattle.  It was fun to just hang out with our "big" boys for one evening.

Riding on the ferry from Bremerton to Seattle

I like this picture of Emerson watching the water from the ferry window.

The boys on the ferris wheel.  I have to admit, I'm not great with heights and I really don't ever want to go on this again!

The marquee for our show. 

Thursday we had to wake up pretty early (which is no fun when you are staying in a fancy hotel with a yummy breakfast you have to miss).  We needed to catch the ferry back to Bremerton, pick up Julian from my parents and then catch the 2:00 ferry to Vancouver Island in British Columbia, Canada.  This is where we would stay for the remainder of Spring Break.  I had been complaining to Hyrum that I hadn't used my passport since we came back from Europe and I guess he thought "Canada" was exotic enough for me.  I was really down on going to Canada for Spring Break (I really wanted to go to Ireland) but I have to admit I had a fantastic time and would really love to go back.

On the ferry from Port Angeles, WA to Vancouver Island, BC.  We were so lucky to have beautiful weather.  The forecast said "rain" the whole week!

I like this one of Townsend on the ferry.

The view of Victoria as you are coming in on the ferry.

After checking into our hotel we decided to explore the city a bit.  We walked through Beacon Hill park and had lots of fun climbing all over these rocks.

Family photo op

On Friday we took our time getting out of the hotel.  Sometimes it's just nice to relax on your vacation and not rush around.  We decided to walk around the city and hit a few of the museums we thought the boys would enjoy.  

The waterfront and downtown buildings of Victoria.  We lucked out again with the weather:)

The first museum we stopped at was the "Miniature Museum."  There were rooms filled with very detailed dioramas of scenes through history.  This is a scene of a street in Germany during WWII.  I loved walking around looking at all the displays.  The boys asked lots of questions and I think they really enjoyed all the little details.  There was one diorama of an apartment building (complete with naked lady in the shower!)

We walked around the city until we made it to Chinatown.  The boys had fun climbing all over this statue.

I like this picture of Julian.  It looks like this dragon is sitting on his lap:)

After some yummy noodles in Chinatown we headed down to the "Bug Zoo."  I was expecting more than just two rooms filled with different bugs but considering how small it was it was actually really interesting. 

There were two "zookeepers" wandering around the rooms that would get out bugs and let you hold them.  Townsend held a stick bug but none of the other boys wanted to hold anything.  This is one of the zookeepers holding a very large tarantula.  When he asked if anyone wanted to hold it, no one raised their hands...ummmm I wonder why?

Even though this trip wasn't the trip to Europe that I wanted I still managed to find my favorite European treat...gelato:)  We actually found 3 gelato shops in Victoria and of course i had to try them all:)

That evening we walked from our hotel to "Fisherman's Wharf" which has some fun little restaurants right on the docks.  This is where our luck ran out with the rain.  It totally poured down rain.  Luckily we quickly found somewhere to eat that had a place to sit under a covering.  We enjoyed some fish and chips while it rained and then all of a sudden it stopped and there was this beautiful rainbow!

Saturday was actually my birthday and I was determined to see the "goat stampede" that I had read about on the internet as one of the most fun things to do when you visit Victoria.  The boys just wanted to stay in the hotel playing on the iPad but consented to go, because it was my birthday...how nice of them.

The petting zoo where the "goat stampede" takes place is back in Beacon Hill Park.  It was sprinkling a bit but wasn't too bad.

They call it the "goat stampede" because each morning when the petting zoo opens the goats run from their barn, where they stay the night, into the petting enclosure.  It's lots of fun because all the spectators line the path and the goats run right past you and are so excited to get to their pen.  It was lots of fun!  We spent some time petting the goats and brushing them with the little hairbrushes they had available.  Julian really loved all the goats

After the petting zoo we went to the Royal British Columbia museum.  This was a fantastic museum. I wish the boys would have had more stamina for the museum, there were some exhibits we didn't even see.  I guess I have a reason to come back:)

After the museum we walked around some more and I got a bit of a European "fix" when we came upon this Cathedral.  I miss all the big churches in Europe.

The inside of the Cathedral

The boys hanging out in Victoria

When you're in Canada you have to get a picture with a moose:)

Hooray for the sunshine!  I had such a great birthday walking around and enjoying this beautiful city.

Of course, if you ask any of my kids they will say the best part of the trip was swimming in the hotel pool...what's up with that?

We caught the ferry back over to Washington on Sunday morning.  Then drove the full 5 hours all the way back to Portland.  Overall it was a wonderful spring break.  I definitely want to go back up to Victoria, maybe Hyrum and I can sneak a weekend up there without kids:)