Our Family Vacation!!

So this year we decided to drive down the Oregon and Washington Coasts.  We were able to leave on Sat May 14th and we headed out to see Mount Saint Helens. After looking at some maps we made the decision to head up the back side of the volano on route 25.  About half way up the very curvy and windy road David decided to revisit his lunch all over himself and the back seat of the car.  Needless to say we got to enjoy the forest outside of the car for a little while.  And then the boys got another dose of Dramamine.   As we continued up the road there was a HUGE mud slide that happens just days before.

It had wipped out part of the road so there was a bridge built to drive on.  Made mommy a little nervous.  About 5 mile after the slide the road started to get a little snowy, and then alot snowy.  The snow was at was crazy and there was no way to drive through it.  I thought about taking a picutre after we turned the car around of course so you cant see it but yeah it was nutz.  So we got to drive all the way back to the main highway and we decided to forgo Mount Saint Helens this trip. 

 On the road we found this really cool Tulip Farm in a little town called Mossy Rock.  We had to stop it was to beautiful not too.

We headed towards our first destination.  Astoria Oreogon.   We didnt quite make it there either oun our first day we stayed in Longview whichon the  the washingto orgeon boarder.  David and Sammy were very excited to stay in a hotel again.  They think it is the best thing ever.  Thankfully mommy remebered their swimming suits and shortly after checking in we hit the pool.

David is here exhibting all the ususaly signs of exhausting way to early in the trip!!

We have gotten pretty good at packing up the car and heading out the see the sights.

 We made it to Oregon on Sunday and it was RAINING!! Go figure.

 Our first stop in Astoria was the Mairtime Meusem.  Unfortuanly we coul only take pictures out side but it was totally worth stopping. 

 

We were able to tak the kids on an old Ocean Vessels and this is the stairwell to get inside

                                          The boys were very excited to try out the bunk beds. 

 Just outside on the dock was the huge paddle boat getting ready to depart for a overnight trip up the Columbia river.

 Our next stop was the Astoria Column.  Ok this was fun.  For as out of shape as I am I would totally climb all 162 stairs ( in a circle) to fly another airplane off of this thing.  What a thrill.

 It was so cool to see a 360 degeree view and then to watch the kids fly there airplanes and want to run down and get the plane just to do it again.  Let me tell you that many stairs does good thing for you bum.  And by the time we were done we felt it!

So I am not sure if you can see them very well but the two yellow blobs at the bottom are the kids. 

Ok So this little boat had the best fish and chips I have ever eaten in my entire life.  It was parked in a parking lot and had a huge line, the wait was worth it

 After llunch we moved on down the coast towards Tillamook.  On the way we stopped at cannon beach. For those of you who have seen the movie Goonies this is the beach where the end sceen is filmed where the pirate ship with one eyed willie sets sail.  You can barely see the rocks in the back ground and yes it is raining. 

Day two ends in Tillamook at the Shilo Inn.  Swimming again with the kids and very happy mom and Dad

Selah Days

So apparently they have Selah days every year here in Selah.  It is a big deal!! There is a carnival and most importantly there is a parade!! We made it to the parade and our good friends Melissa and Andreas, Andrew (5) and Hannah (3) met up with us there.  The kids had so much fun!!

 Sammy and Hannah waiting very patiently for the parade to start!!

David started posing with all of the cars that drove by, I was lucky to grab this one on camera!

Sammy was on cloud 9 when it finally started and boy is he a ham, I think he gets it from David.

This was one of my favorites, it was a miniature zoo train with huge stuffed animals.  The kids though it was pretty funny

Yes of course it rained too, we do live in Washington now.  I am getting better at having all the rain gear at the ready anytime we leave the house.  It has been so fun getting to know the new area and the people.  It is starting to really feel like home.

Our First Seattle Zoo Trip

Visiting the Seattle Woodland Park Zoo!! We are so excited...especially when we left home 3 hours ago to drive to the zoo.  We finally arrived and could not get out fast enough.  It was forcasted to rain and we were going rain or shine but it turned into a gorgeous day. 

The "big kitty" was pretty cool to watch...

We love the Elephants!! Espcially after getting to ride Patty the Elephant at the circus

Not sure you can see the BIG Gorilla behind the boys but he was Sammys favorite

Here our or monkeys playing with the monkeys

Enjoying our lunch while watching the birds of prey 

This is Bob the owl we were able to get up close and personal with him.  It was really cool

This is one of my favorites.. the is a averiry that you go into and can feed the birds.

 At first David was very tentative and Sammy just dove in.. by the end of our time David was very into it.

 We spent a lot of time exploring the birds and talking about how they fly and eat.

The boys sat here the longest by far watching th peguins swim.  They started naming them,  i cant remeber the names they came up with but they were really funny.

 
 This huge log was on our way to bug world.  Little did I know what I was getting into

Exploring all new things was so much fun!!
A large nest that the boys could crawl into.

 A large hollow tree that was so much fun for all of us to climb into!!

My climber boy... Check out that hair!!

This is the highlight of Bryans first day of Vacation.  I ran away very quicklyand the boys were close behind!!