By far, the best part of this past week was that Hyrum had the whole week off work. This was his first "time off" since starting his job last July and I sure loved every minute of being together as a whole family.
When I look back at Spring Break 2012 and see that I traveled to France, Belgium and the Netherlands, not to mention quick stops at castles in Germany along the way, this years Spring Break is downright dull. But, I'm grateful we got out and did something together and that is really all that matters, right?
Friday, March 22nd we packed up and left Hillsboro and headed toward our first campsite along the Oregon Coast sand dunes. We camped in Umpqua Lighthouse State Park.
Our home away from home. We bought this tent trailer in February and were excited to finally get the chance to try it out. The heater sure made sleeping during the cold nights much more comfortable than a tent and it was nice to have some space to spread out a bit and not feel like you are walking all over sleeping bags and piles of clothes all the time.
It was such a good decision to try and squeeze the boys bikes into our car at the last minute. They rode them around campgrounds all week and had a great time.
The Umpqua River light house on the Oregon Coast. We could walk to this from our campsite.
Saturday, March 23rd. We headed out to explore the famous Oregon Coast sand dunes. We wanted to just hire a driver and have him take us around the dunes for an hour as a family but when the boys saw there were ATV's just their size we changed our plans and rented them each their own ATV. Hyrum, Julian and I were in a little 4 seater dune buggy. It was a lot of fun but the boys weren't dressed warm enough so their hands got pretty cold after a while and we ended up calling it quits before our allotted hour time limit was met. This was an expensive excursion but one I think the boys will likely remember for a long time.
Emerson and Townsend all ready to go!
The whole family on the sand dunes. Julian wanted me to sit in the back seat with him because he was a little scared.
Townsend looking tough on the sand dunes. The boys got stuck once or twice but they did a really great job overall considering it was their first time ever driving an ATV.
After our adventure on the dunes the boys wanted to go see the ocean so we headed over to the beach. It was a pretty cold day but I think everyone had fun digging in the sand for a bit and looking for sea shells.
Julian and mommy walking through the sand dunes with the ocean behind us.
We took a tour of the Umpqua River lighthouse. The boys liked all the winding stairs.
The glass in the lighthouse tower. This light house is unique in that it has both white and red glass.
Emerson eating a hot dog by the campfire. Campfire food is something that I don't really love but I'm glad my boys are usually pretty good about eating hot dogs and chili from a can:)
We had to go back that night to see the lighthouse lit up. It was a spectacular sight. As the glass would turn in the light house there would be red and white squares reflected in the surrounding trees. It looked like a magic carousel was spinning through the trees.
Sunday, March 24th. We packed up camp and drove along the coast to the Redwood National Forest in California. We camped in Jedidiah Smith Redwood State Park.
On our drive down the coast we stopped for a bit of lunch and the boys played at the beach. This was probably the best sunny day we had at the beach and they all loved chasing waves and running in the wet sand. It was warm enough that they didn't really need their coats...
...or even any clothes at all as my little naked Julian discovered:)
Our campsite was right in the redwoods which was just beautiful and peaceful. Here we are playing a game of Battleship at our campsite.
The campground was right next to this river. I don't know what it is with boys and throwing rocks in rivers but all three of my boys were pretty happy about this campground.
Julian throwing rocks.
They found this big rock out in the water that they could climb on. I was a little nervous at first but then I thought, if they fall at least they just fall into the water. Luckily no one fell:)
Monday, March 25th. Of course we went for a hike through the Redwood National Forest. We hiked the "Boy Scout Tree Trail." This trail is known for it's beauty and also for it's seclusion. There weren't many people but it was also set back into the forest so you didn't get any noise from traffic or see any buildings the whole time. The boys were amazed by the enormous trees and by the forest in general. It was a 6 mile round trip hike so we were all pretty tired by the end but I'm so glad we got the chance to show the boys this piece of American beauty.
Even our big van looks tiny in these trees!
You feel so very small while hiking in the Redwood Forest!
Strong Emerson
The trail turns around at this cute little water fall. We stopped and had a bit of lunch and the boys enjoyed exploring around the water fall.
Tuesday, March 26th. We packed up our camp in the Redwoods and started our drive back North toward home.
Hyrum woke up early before packing up that morning and got this beautiful picture of the river near our campsite. It really was a beautiful place.
After leaving camp we headed up to the Oregon Caves National Monument. You can't reserve tickets ahead of time so when you get there you have to just get whatever tour is available. We got there at 1:00 in the afternoon but our tour wouldn't be until 2:30. Luckily they had lots of games and puzzles and things for kids to play with while they wait. Here we are playing bingo.
Townsend and Emerson heading into the cave. Unfortunately Julian was 2 inches too short to be allowed on the tour so Hyrum took the boys while I waited at the lodge with Julian. I had a great book to read and Julian watched "Wreck it Ralph" on the iPad so it all turned out OK in the end.
The boys inside the cave. They both really enjoyed it although I think the tour was a bit long for Emerson and Hyrum said he was getting kind of restless by the end.
Tuesday night we stayed in a random park just because it was close to the freeway and close to the Wildlife Safari we wanted to go to the next morning.
Wednesday, March 27th. On our very last night of camping it rained all night. We were pretty grateful that the rest of the nights we hadn't gotten rained on because it's always such a hassle to pack up camp when everything is wet but we figured we were still pretty lucky to only have one night of rain. Also, we knew we would be home later that day and could dry everything out so it wasn't too bad packing up wet. We drove from our campground to the Wildlife Safari that is located in Winston Oregon, right on our way home.
You basically pay an entrance fee and then get to drive your car through a park full of animals that are roaming free...except the tigers, lions and bears, they kept those guys behind fences but you could still get pretty close to them.
My favorites were the brown bears, so cute and cuddly looking. You can totally see why whoever invented a child's snuggle toy thought to use the bear for its symbol.
At one point we had to wait while a bunch of llama crossed the road. We finally got tired of waiting and drove around them, they were so close you could reach out and touch them.
The boys being silly in "Safari Village"
Who doesn't like feeding goats?
At first Townsend told me he was too old to feed the goats but he just couldn't resist their hungry little mouths:)
The perfect way to end a vacation? Cotton candy:)
After the Safari it was a 3 hour drive home. Man it was good to be back home. Of course there was about 2 hours of cleanup with the car and trailer that needed to be done but I was so happy to be back and know that I could sleep in my comfortable bed that night:)
We had a lot of fun and hopefully created some fun memories for our boys on this trip. Mostly I just loved being all together and can't wait for the next chance to spend time with my whole family.
