Camping and Daddy's birthday!

This weekend we headed to the other side of Mt. Hood for a family reunion on Saturday. Would you believe I don't have any pictures of that? Terrible, I know! Ed's birthday was Sunday, and he wanted to camp this weekend while we were over there.

After the reunion we headed into the National Forest where he has gone hunting before. We drove on a forest service road and turned off onto a dusty road, and drove back to a big open space. Then, we camped! Right there. No campsite, no hookups. We had plenty of shade and room to run around. Emma and Zoe LOVED this!

Zoe especially. After the first hour she caught herself one of those miniature chipmunks. Here she is after catching it and bringing it over towards us. Does she look ashamed, embarrassed, or proud?! Let's just say the forest has one less critter in it now.


Emma found a stick in the perfect shape of a slingshot! She got a rubberband from the truck, and then used it to shoot arrows at a bark target! This kid really loves the outdoors :)

Emma was so anxious to help Daddy unwrap his birthday presents. Of course, she picked out something mutually beneficial!! They play Legos together just about every day.

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Pretty sights!

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We missed the first couple of days of Olympic events, but the glow sticks stood out to me!

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Daddy and Emma swinging in the trees!

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Here comes bat-dog!!

Emma only fell out of the hammock once...

Emma pretended she was in a cocoon. Here comes the butterfly!

So snuggly! View from down below.

Driving home. I took a ton of Mt. Hood pictures. You'd think I've never seen it before! It was just such an incredible day out though :)

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Tired, tired girls.

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Science

Today we went to OMSI to check out this summer's exhibit called "Nature Unleashed: Inside Natural Disasters." It was about tornadoes, hurricanes, volcanoes and earthquakes. I got a coupon at the gas station for buy one ticket, get two free! That was a very good deal as admission is costly. This was an exhibit that we had wanted to check out anyway!

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There were plenty of things there to look at, touch, videos to watch, and even items recovered from recent tornadoes and hurricanes. They didn't allow any pictures in the exhibit, so here's the rest of the museum!

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First up was the Life Hall. Emma tried jump-roping electronically with the lights, and balancing as long as she could on the balance circle:

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Then push-ups, then she got tired!

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She liked the bearded lizard and toads.

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Daddy and Emma created Nanomaterials on this air-hockey like table:

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Weathergirl! Rain again?!

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We haven't been in OMSI for a couple of years, but I remember Emma really liked this ball room then too! The tubes blow air and move balls through them, and you can connect all sorts of hoses. She probably could have spent all day in there!

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This is a tool-a-balloon-a-phone! It's a big exercise ball, covered with a net and wrenches fastened to it. Believe it or not it's very musical!

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Sailboat tub, where you put together a boat and then race it with the current. Sometimes they sink or crash!

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Next was the chemistry lab. This is fun for everyone! Making some starch slime:

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Mixing colors:

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Finally blasting a bottle as high as it can go with pressure!.

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Fire station tour

This morning we got to tour our local fire station again, just like we did last summer, with a group of church friends. Only last year, all of the firefighters had to leave, and we didn't get to complete the tour! Today we were lucky and got to stay all the way through to the end where the kids get to climb in/on the fire trucks. That's the most exciting part!!

Firefighter Chad tries on the full uniform to show the kids what they look like, so they won't be scared if they see them during an emergency.


Firefighter Brian goes through all the equipment that this truck carries. He quizzed the kids, they knew the answers!

We had two questions for the firefighters:

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1. What if a train is crossing the tracks right by the station? They take the over-pass the other way if it's a long train!

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2. Do they carry snacks? What if they were in the middle of cooking/eating and are hungry while en route? No, they don't carry any snacks - just water!

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The crew:

On the Heavy Rescue truck:

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Hey I got in on a photo too!

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Beach day

Yesterday Emma, Zoe and I headed to Cannon Beach, just for the day. We saw a lot of family and friends that were there, so we got to visit and have fun while doing it. A great day!

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Zoe watched Emma playing frisbee. From a dog's perspective:

The best part - running from the waves!

Some of the ladies:

Can't go to Cannon Beach without getting pictures of Haystack Rock!

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Four generations! I absolutely love these pictures. Funny thing is we mostly look the same each time, except Emma changes drastically!

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The girls were soooo tired and slept good on the way home.

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Jeep trip

Last week we went on a super fun trail jamboree up in the Washington Cascades. Zoe spent the week at Papa John's farm and had a great time playing with the fam! We arrived in Naches on Wednesday afternoon. We needed several stops (and lots of gas) towing the Jeep on the car trailer. It only took us, oh, around six hours total! Emma loved the “windmills” along the Columbia River gorge.

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Papa and Grammy let us stay with them a few miles from the park where the event was held. We were in a lodge with comfy beds and a shower that didn’t require quarters! It was great. Emma’s favorite part was the mama bird sitting on her nest – right outside the front door! We never saw/heard baby birds hatching, but this is what she looked like.

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Thursday morning, our first day on the trails. This is in the staging area, and we were lined up to go out with my cousin Matt and Papa, Grammy, Miranda and her friend Sarah that joined us! Emma soon found that climbing on roll bars is a lot of fun!

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On the road. I really loved the line-up of Jeeps cruising down the highway! The excitement mounts! There was beautiful scenery everywhere we went.

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We did part of the Naches Trail on Thursday. Historic!

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I have many pictures of other Jeeps, but thankfully Grammy took a few of us coming up hills!

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Our first stop. Nice view!

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Matt and Papa driving up and down, up and down…

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We discovered that even with bouncing around, a very tired kid can find a way to nap!

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Friday, day two. We went up to Bald Mountain and Manastash Ridge. Beautiful mountains in the distance!

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The coolest hill we came across was Funny Rocks. First up was Papa and Grammy:

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Then it was our turn. View from the bottom:

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One wheel off the ground – wooooo!!!

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Next up was Matt, and Miranda and Sarah were riding with him!

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Top o’ the world!

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Lunch was at a beautiful viewpoint overlooking Manastash Lake.

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There were a number of dogs that were jeeping. We know Zoe would not have enjoyed herself, but some of these pups did! Emma pet as many of them as she could. This was her friend Riley!

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Soon after lunch we discovered that Papa’s Jeep had broken a couple of parts. There’s something so cool about all the other jeepers that are willing to lend a hand, a tool, or just support! They leave nobody behind.

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Emma seized the opportunity to… nap again!

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She was soooooo dirty when we returned. These trails can be very hot and dusty! The picture doesn’t do her filth justice, but as you can see, she’s still very happy no matter what! She played some high five with Uncle Jay.

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The Junior Jeepers organization had some games and prizes for kids at camp. Fun!!

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Saturday, day three on the trails. This was up on the Clover Springs and Mud Springs trails. One of the first hills we came to was a very steep downhill. Hard to get perspective in a photo going down the hill until you look back up it!

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We finally had some water and mud to run through, the most of any day.

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Oh what do we have here – another nap! Hee hee :)

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Papa was riding with Norman today. We found a few big hills of snow!

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Emma was so thrilled to make snowballs! She also used some leftover lunch utensils to dig the snow up.

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Beautiful backdrop! Emma and her cool guys.

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Some cool obstacles to go under, not just over!

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(Funny tire cover!)

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Back at camp Saturday night. This was the last night of festivities. Did I mention they fed us every night? We had VERY good food and dessert! There was a stage with a funny announcer and even some music. The community area was right along the river. It was flowing pretty fast, so we stayed back and just admired it.

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They had a scavenger hunt for kids. Emma was reluctant to participate/ask people at first, but once people started helping her she got excited to finish her list! She got a bag full of prizes for it!

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Finally, a group shot of our whole gang! It was an awesome jamboree!

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The boys also came and had a GREAT time!h

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