The Man, The Myth, The Booger.

Our vacation week wraps up at Enchanted Forest

Today we decided to wrap up our vacation week by heading up to Enchanted Forest. I called up Poppa and Grandma Jo to see if they would want to come along and they decided to meet up with us there, along with my brother. We got there a little before them and decided to get in and get started on our exploring. The kids were really excited and really enjoyed walking through and looking at all the displays, pointing out some of the rhymes and reciting them. My family caught up with us as we were coming out of the Dwarf's Mine. I was distracted long enough that when I turned around, Cagney had snuck up and surprised me! I have missed her so much while she has been up in Washington working over the summer. Now I get to see her again hopefully for awhile! The kids were really excited to see their Aunt too!! We all continued on past the 3 Bears house and through the crooked house ending at the Shoe Slide. The Shoe Slide in one of the favorite stops in the park every time. After sliding for a little bit we continued up into Western Town and onto another slide! My kids REALLY love slides! After sliding some more, they moved onto climbing around in the Caves and then they decided it was time for the rides! Dylan, Grandma Jo, and I got in line for the Log Ride while Daddy took Ally to do some kiddie rides, hopefully next year she will be tall enough to go on the Log Ride! The Log Ride is probably my favorite ride ever, mainly cause I am a scaredy cat and it is pretty tame! Dylan loves it too, but insists on closing his when we go down the last big slope, "so I don't get water in my eyes!" After the Log Ride we headed down to the kiddie rides to find Daddy and Ally. Ally was cruising around in the train. Dylan decided to go on the train then followed it up with the kiddie bumper boats with Ally. We then had enough tickets left to go on the Ice Mountain Bobsleds. Dylan rode with Grandma Jo, Uncle Eric and Aunt Cagney went together and Ally rode with me. It was so much fun! My kids are bringing more of my adventuresome side back out. After the rides were done we wandered around looking at more displays and then headed down to watch the water show and have some "dinner." After a nice break and getting to sit down for a little while, we let the kids decide what they wanted to go back and do again. We ended up walking backwards back down the path and stopped at The Crooked House, the Witch Slide, and the Rabbit Hole. We then went and got some ice cream to enjoy and closed down the park at The Shoe Slide. Even Daddy decided to slide down at the very end! It was a great amazing fun exhausting day!

How Ally does Dress-Up....

Layers, lots and lots of layers.

Silver Falls: Owies, Hiking, and Splashing

Today we headed up to Silver Falls to hike and splash around in the creek. We arrived at the falls at lunchtime and all enjoyed a yummy filling lunch that we had picked up at Safeway. We started cleaning up and made one last pit stop before we decided to hike down to the falls. On the way back to the car Ally caught the toe of my shoe and skinned her knee up pretty bad. Luckily, the over prepared mother that I am, I had a travel first aid kit and we got her cleaned up and bandaged. She did manage to finagle lots of special attention from Daddy and only had to walk on the way down to the falls. The rest of the time she sat happily on Daddy's shoulders.

We walked down and behind the falls

stopping for a little bit to enjoy a little snack.

We made it all the way down and admired the falls a little longer before heading back up, up, up, the path.

Dylan announced that his legs hurt and I told him that mine did a little too. Then Ally pipes up from Daddy's shoulders that her legs hurt too....we all got a laugh out of that one! We made it all the way back up and the kids decided that they wanted to wade around in the creek for a little bit, so we got them changed and headed over to relax by the water for a little bit.

After splashing around and cooling off a bit we relaxed and had another snack. Then the kids were ready to go play on the playground so Daddy headed over with them while I put our stuff back in the car. The kids played for quite awhile making some new friends and having a great time! Eventually the bees got the best of me and I went over to the car to get all our stuff organized. The kids and Daddy came over and we decided to walk across the bridge and around a little longer. While Ally and I went and got the van, Daddy and Dylan went down and looked at the waterfall one more time. It was a great day, minus the skinned knee.

Relaxing at the Beach

Today we headed over to Newport to South Beach State Park, our "usual beach." It was a bright sunny day, with the exception being right over the water. There was a HUGE fog cloud sitting right over the ocean. It was a bit windy but as the day went on the sun made the wind a little less of a nuisance. After eating lunch the kids played in the sand, tried to fly the kite, and relaxed.

After a little while we decided to walk down to the jetty and set off.

On the way to the jetty we were walking into the wind and so it was a little hard, but the kids were troopers and marched on,

although Ally did manage to finagle a ride from Daddy for the last stretch.

Once down there the kids decided to walk down the jetty with Daddy while I explored the rocks.

Imagine my surprise and joy as I peeked in between the rocks and was greeted with the sight of a half a dozen little crabs! They were so very cool! I took a million more pictures of them than any one person needs of crabs. The kids came back down and introduced them to the crabs, they were pretty excited about them like I was! On the way back down the beach we split up, the boys took the high road and we took the low road.

We met back up at our staked place on the dune and the kids played, played, and played some more. Then they met a new friend and spent some time running up and down the dune completely wearing each other out.

Now...the real question is: Will they sleep in tomorrow??