Olympic National Park--Part 2

Party 2

Our family is not great when it comes to hiking...so we started small, with low expectations (Mike's may have been a little higher, but we forced him to come down to our level eventually).

Our first hike was Marymere falls, a stroller-friendly 1.5 miler.  It was short, easy and enjoyable.  We had to ditch the stroller for the last little bit, but it was super doable with a 3 year old walking (even though I think I did carry her a little).  The falls were pretty and there was also a little stream where Summer cooled her feet and Tyson captured tiny fish.  

We also went to see the oldest tree:

And this weird tree:

Olympic National Park--Part 1

Part 1 

We took the Edmonds-Kingston ferry over to the peninsula (got separated while on the ferry and almost didn't make it back to the car before we had to drive off--just about had a heart attack trying to find the car--eek)

We stayed in a tiny town called Quilcene.  When I say tiny, I mean tiny.  There was maybe one restaurant (with a nasty waitress and hillbilly customers), one gas station (that looked like it was from the 50s), one grocery store (if you can call it that, it was more like a corner store), and that was it.  

This is a picture from the "grocery store" where we got ice cream.  It was so soft and melted so quick, we were all a mess when we were done--especially Summer, who got chocolate--yikes (and I couldn't even finish mine it was so huge)

The house we stayed at was great (besides the fact that the bathroom door didn't lock...).  We had lots of beds, tvs, games (Mike taught Kya and Tyson how to play backgammon), and it was just a few feet from the ocean.  We had fun exploring the rocks and shells, watching workers dig and collect clams to sell, and swimming in the water.  It was so quiet and calm...and a little smokey.

It was about an hour drive to go anywhere...even to eat.  And the kids (actually me too) got sick of the drive really quick.  One thing we didn't get to do was go to a lavender farm.  Port Angeles is the home to a huge lavender festival in July, but since we were there in August I knew we couldn't see the festival but was hoping to go to the farm.  We stopped at the main one (where the festival is) and there was some reenactment going on so it was super expensive to get in...then we drove to another one and it was closed.  After driving by a couple more farms and seeing that the lavender was mostly done blooming, I gave up.  When I saw we had a lavender bush at the house we were staying at, I had to snap a picture.

The kids really just wanted to stay at the house and hang out at the beach.  But we were determined to get some hiking done!

Olympic Game Farm

We've wanted to do the game farm since we moved to Washington.  Everyone who lives here has done it...except for us...until now!  Let me just say, when we drove up and even when we got started on the drive around the park, I thought I would be disappointed but boy, was I wrong!  It was awesome!  Pictures really don't do it justice.  You unwind your windows and feed the animals bread. They come right up to your car, some even stick their head right in your window!

This one got a little too close to Kya.

They also had bears that came REALLY close to our car!  We even saw a mom and baby bear playing together.  You couldn't fee the bears though.  They also had cages along the path with tigers and lions, but you couldn't get very close to them.

By the end of the drive we were all screaming, Summer was crying, and we had to roll up our windows just to keep the giant bison's from coming into our car and eating our heads off!!  Seriously it got a little crazy.  We have some pretty funny videos....hahaha.  What a neat experience...and strange place.

The petting zoo was much more Summer's speed:)  

Squeezing it in

Summer isn't summer without at least a quick trip to Canada.  This year, we had to go without the girls because they had way too much going on.  So while they were at girls camp, Tyson, Summer and I headed up for a few days of fun.

We went to meet Ginny first, so we got to cross at the Peace Arch border.  This border reminds me so much of when I was a kid living in White Rock and crossing to go to our cabin in Washington.

We met Ginny and her kids at Crescent Beach where we hung out for about 5 hrs!!  We thought we better get out of the sun, so we went back to Gin's for dinner.  Whenever we are together, it's always hard to leave.  We could talk for days...

Vienna was so good with Summer.  I think she played with her the majority of the time we were at the beach and back at Ginny's house.

 We spent a great day at Hayward lake with cousins (despite the crazy amount of smoke from the fires burning in Canada).  I think the little kids could have stayed all day, but for us who didn't get in the icy cold water, it started getting a little hot.  

Staying with my parents is one of the highlights of going to Canada.  After the kids go to bed I get to visit with mom and dad and...this is what I get to wake up to!  I love that Peeta lives with mom and dad so I still get to see him.

Bowls of blueberries everywhere...definitely a scene from summer up in Canada.  Love it!

Ensign Ranch 2017

I have a friend who books a bunch of campsites at Ensign Ranch every summer and invites a bunch of us along.  We went last year and had a bunch of fun, so luckily we could go again this year.  With a slightly different/bigger group of friends, I think our kids had more fun this year.

As soon as we got out of the car, Summer put her foot down and was instantly covered in prickles.  She screamed like she was being murdered for about 10 minutes while we tried to get them out...after getting just one or two, we gave up and put shoes and socks on the rest of the time.  She didn't complain about them again.  Weird.  Summer and slivers...never ending.

 Ukulele seems to be the "in thing" this summer.  

 The boys set up their own tent as part of a scout requirement.  

Some of the kids drove about 20 min. away to go cliff jumping.  They had a great time and the pictures were so beautiful that I think we'll all have to go there next time.

 

Summer wouldn't eat anything at breakfast...except this bag of gummies.

The boys had to get kicked out at about 1 or 2 am--oops.

 

Everyone went horseback riding except Summer.  She got close to the horse and freaked out.

High Adventure 2017

Since we moved into Woodinville ward right at the beginning of the summer, I was a little worried that my girls wouldn't have any youth activities to allow them to bond with the girls in the ward until the fall.  Boy, was I wrong!  Not only did this ward have youth activities every week during the summer, but they also did their very own High Adventure.  What a great opportunity for my girls to go white water rafting, hike Mt St. Helens, and camp with the girls and leaders just in our ward.  They had so much fun!

We thought these next two looked like naked pictures...just life jackets and water shoes:)

Kya's face...hahaha!

 

 See that spec on the top left corner?  That's Jordan after falling out of the boat--eeek!

These girls of mine are so brave!!  I don't think you could have paid me to get on one of those boats.  Grateful that they have leaders willing to go with them on these daring adventures and keeping them safe!!