Our Vacation, Thy Creations, and Our Relations- Part 8

Road Trip!

Goodbye, mist.

Goodbye, covered bridge.

Goodbye, slug. It apparently wanted to come with us but we moved it before we left. 

We drove along the Southern part of the Oregon Coast from California. We also wanted to drive along the Northern part of the Oregon Coast to Washington. So that's what we did. We drove to Yaquina Head Outstanding Natural Area. We got a kick out of the signs that all called it that. It's not just a natural area, it's an outstanding natural area. I'll be honest. It was outstanding. We spent so much time there looking at birds and seals... and the lighthouse. We didn't even make it down to the tidepools. 

We were able to use Lucky's National Parks Pass to get in the area. I loved it. We got see different kinds of cormorants and we even got to see an oystercatcher- lifer for Jeremy, Nichole, Lucky, and I.

At one point we were watching nesting cormorants (and the nearby seals) and realize that some of the cormorants had eggs and some even had babies in their nests. So awesome.

I love how much the common murres look like penguins, even waddling around... until they take off flying. Not so much like penguins in the air. Tee Hee.

We found out about Yaquina Head Lighthouse because Jr. went there with his cousin and grandparents on his Oregon trip. My parents showed us pictures of the birds they were able to see and get pictures of with just their cell phones. We definitely wanted to go because of that and were not disappointed.

We got to celebrate International Kissing Day and Play Outside Day, July 6.

We drove by the Tillamook Cheese Factory. Wow, that place is busy. Glad we got our cheese curds at Face Rock Creamery. I remember going to the Tillamook Cheese Factory once when I was a kid and it was not like it is now. Huge line of people waiting to go in, overflow parking, crazy busy.

 

We were hoping to stop at Haystack Rock since a few days before we left we introduced a couple of our children to Goonies. Unfortunately, Cannon Beach and even Ecola State Park were so full we didn't stop and only got glimpses of Haystack Rock as we drove by. Oh well. 

We continued up through Astoria, once again pointing out the setting from the movie. We crossed a looooooooong bridge into Washington and took a huge break at the rest area on the other side of the Columbia River before continuing on.

Welcome to Washington.

I told you the doll head made its way around on our trip.

We made it to our final destination of Jeremy's parents' house.

They had a bubble machine to entertain Jet when we got there and root beer floats (one of Jeremy's favorites).

I'll share more of our wonderful vacation later.

More Summer Reading Activities

You know we love doing Summer Reading Program activities with both Orem Library and Provo Library. Some other things we've done lately are these:

The kids and I went to watch a movie at Orem Library. They were playing the 1973 cartoon, Robin Hood. Such a cute movie. 

Another day at another Summer barbecue, they were handing out bubbles so we had a bubble party! They also had sidewalk chalk. Fun.

After that barbecue we went out in nature to do some birding before we went home.

Lucky participated in a tween activity with the Orem Library. It was a Percy Jackson inspired "Camp Half-Blood" where he was able to participate in different activities/events such as archery, capture the flag, a lightning bolt scavenger hunt, even some Percy Jackson trivia. Doing different activities earned him different beads to add to a necklace. Way to go, Lucky.

Summer Reading activities are awesome.

What Have We Been Up To?

What have we been up to?
The kids finished up school for the year.  We went to their end of the year dance festival.  They all did great.

 Lucky got into it as well.

These pictures are before and after school on the last day of school.  There are pictures of the older kids on the first day of school on my post from August 24, 2016.  A picture of Jr. Jr. on his first day of school is on my post from September 6, 2016.

We celebrated my birthday.  Jeremy even sent me out for some alone time on my birthday while he worked on dinner.  I went to a park, sat down to read a book and eat my lunch and got to talk to my mom on the phone.  It was relaxing to have quiet time in the shade while listening to the birds around.

 

Happy Birthday to You! or Me!

Since school's been out, we've had family time at home.

We've had family time out.

Yesterday, we went up to Big Springs to have a BBQ.  We all had a good time.

The kids found a caterpillar.

At one point, the caterpillar moved off to somewhere else.  This is what I heard from the kids:
Nichole:  Jr., your caterpillar has flown the coop.
Jr.:  It's not my caterpillar.  It's nature's.

Well, we enjoyed our nature time.  We tried out something a friend suggested for camping.  S'mores in a waffle cone.  You take chocolate chips and mini marshmallows, stuff them in a wafflecone, wrap it in foil, and put it on the fire or on the grill or whatever.  Some of us had peanuts/peanut butter in ours.  Yumm.  Warms it up nicely.

The kids enjoyed getting to play with outside activities as well.  We got a new frisbee.  It can light up so we'll have to go out sometime while it's getting dark to try out that function.

When we got to Big Springs it was a little windy so that made playing with bubbles fun.  The kids didn't have to blow them.  They just had to pull the wand out of the container and the wind took care of the rest.

And of course there were plenty of birds to listen to.  Gorgeous.  And sometimes they even let us see them and get pictures.

 
The robins certainly let us take pictures.

Before we left home, Jr. Jr. brought me a present he forgot to give me on Mother's Day.  A necklace he made at school.  What a sweetheart.

Wow.  We've been busy.
So now you know why I'm too exhausted to blog so often.  We're too busy doing.