I need a vacation from my vacation!

Yes we're back I swear the entire valley grumbled as we came rolling into Salt Lake! We were dirty and tired and cranky and just so glad to be home. What a great vacation- a little bit of camping, the beach, educational fun, relaxing, and lots of family- what could be better? Almost two weeks ago we headed through Oregon, stopping in Portland for a few days and then ended up in Port Townsend Washington for the Allen family Hoo-Haw. I seems like years ago since we packed so much into those 10 days.

Suckers were the only thing at this point to keep Owen happy. When we got to our first stop he was a sticky mess.

The first night we stayed in Ontario- right on the snake river. The boys loved it. The next day we traveled to Portland and made a few stops on they way- one memorable stop was a park where all the wind surfers hung out at - mostly really old (and I mean over 55) wind surfers and a young kid among those old guys smoking weed just out in the open like it was a cigarette (luckily the boys didn't notice) We arrived in Portland late and had dinner, played at the park and then headed for bed. The next day - the Tillamook Cheese factory.


The kids loved it. They were so entertained by watching the cheese be made and packaged. Of course we couldn't leave without having some tillamook icecream and sampling all the cheese. YUM! We then headed up to rockaway beach.





The kids had a blast. They were able fly their kites and wade in the ocean and make sand castles. It was even sunny and warm- a great day at the beach. We also did some shopping at the local shops where Ben bought a skim board- much to Ethan and Jakes delight and for the rest of us we picked out about 100 different flavors of taffy. We continued up the coast and stopped at Mcd's for dinner and then headed back to the trailer- exhausted! The next day we went to the mc escher exhibit at the Portland Art Museum.

Jocelyn and Riley outside the Portland art museum- waiting for dad - he had to go buy a t-shirt.

Thank goodness for the native american exhibit and the discovery room for the kids. We left Ben to investigate each m.c escher print. The kids couldn't stand how long Ben stared at each print-funny- I couldn't spend that much time either. So I roamed with the kids and as we left I'm almost positive I heard a collective sigh from all the museum security and a hooray from all the other visitors. It was like a herd of elephants in a library- a library that echos and the elephants know it so they keep stomping and trumpheting just to hear themselves make noise. That was our attempt of a little culture for our kids- we will probably wait another 4 years to try that again! Anyways since we so much resembled a herd of elephants we headed of to see some at the portland zoo.


As luck would have it it was 2 dollar tuesday and it was packed- yeah for saving money -bleah for the crowds. The kids didn't seem to mind and enjoyed themselves. Off to Dennys for dinner in the scary part of portland-why can't the GPS tell you -turn right, you have arrived at your destination in the scariest part of the city-recalculating now! Again we scored and it was kids eat free night -seriously we weren't trying to be cheap and I only mention this because Ben and I thought it was pretty funny. The next day we met up in Ocean Shores with Ben's brother, Sam and his wife Stephanie and their cute little Courtney who we haven't seen since she was a baby. We had an amazing view and listened to the ocean crash on the beach all night.




It was pretty cold so the kids didn't swim but somehow found the way to always get wet. They collected a ton of shells and had fun with crabs and even saw a starfish. It was a beautiful beach, just too cold to really enjoy. The next day we headed back to Port Angeles to stay at Sam and Stephanies. Of course we had to stop in Forks- yup Forks.

I really didn't care to go but Ben found a way to get us there and I'm glad he did. We did all the touristy things from twilight, stopped and ate pizza and shopped at the outfitters. We spent that night at Sams and the next day did sight seeing in port angeles for a bit-picutres of bella italia and more twilight shopping. Friday we met up in Port Townsend with Bens family at Fort Wardon for the Allen family reunion. What a good time! it was a blast to see all of Ben's family again.

The Allen fam lining up to pick sides for the kickball game.

A game of kickball started it off and the weekend just kept going. Trips to the beach, the batteries, farmers market, sightseeing, sea glass hunting, wiffle ball game, hot rod store, stupid hichew lady, black berry picking, an amazing talent show, a great game of balderdash and apples to apples, kite flying, and just good ol' hanging out. A ton of fun!

The kids running in and out of the batteries and cousin David on the top of the battery- I wouldn't let the kids do this!-Too scary for me!

Jocelyn and her cousin Gunnar- each kid had a flashlight and had a blast exploring the tunnels. Gunnar kept saying I done now. I think Uncle Dan coming along and scaring them ended it for Riley- he cried he was so scared. Thanks Dan!

Jocelyn and Griffin kite flying on top of the battery - she kept walking backwards which we kept yelling at her to stop since there was a 15 ft drop not too far behind her. So scary!

Who knew Owen loved to fly kites? He got a hold of Rileys McQueen kite and had a fit if anyone tried to take it from him!

The family talent show- what a blast! Sam doing the family math.

Uncle Dan juggling while Jake played guitar hero.

Ethan performing his escape from a sleeping bag. Pretty funny!

Our last day in Port Townsend. Kids found a jelly fish and a starfish.

Do I look ready to go home?!!!

One last moment of fun at the batteries

One of the last things we wanted to do was the ferry ride of course the kids loved it. We ran into some of our fam crazy since we had seperated hours before! A good ending to our vacation.

Jocelyn and cousin Hannah- Jocelyn didn't want to leave, she had so much fun with her cousin and she has a way of charming her uncles as well.

The kids wanted me to take a picutre of the gps while we were on the ferry.

The kids didn't want to leave but man I needed to do laundry and school started -today! Not much choice uneducated and unclothed is not an option for this fam. And man oh man Ben and I need some sleep! We're already looking forward to the next vacation and I am so glad we drove up the coast -what a beautiful drive. Everything was so lush and green and we had great weather-it was even sunny in forks- so no I didn't see any vampires! What great memories! Definitely one to remember!

So far behind!

So we're headed on vacation soon and I thought I better get caught up on blogs before I get too far behind and overwhelmed. Since I kinda use this as my journal I really wanted to keep up as much as possible which in the summer is almost turning into an IMPOSSIBLE feat- oh well. Here are pictures from our pioneer day activities. Last year we started the tradition(can it be called a tradition after just one year?) of going to see the float on display -for free, in air conditioned bliss at the Sandy convention center. The kids loved it last year -they get to vote for their favorite float and get up close to see all the little details of each float. They also have face painting and balloon animals for free(tips welcome-you know what that means-not so good for a guilt driven person!)



Anyways this year they didn't have floats as good as last years but nonetheless the kids enjoyed it and were thrilled to watch the parade the next day -from our air conditioned home and see them all over again this time in the parade route. The best way to watch a parade, no crowds, it's cool, and you can leave for a few minutes when the bands start comin. On pioneer day we met up with my parents in Provo and participated in a bunch of pioneer activities. The kids panned for gold,played games, watched a blacksmith try to make a spoon,and walked thru the pioneer village. There was a lot more going on -too much to mention-the kids had fun and I think they learned a lot.





That evening we went to a Provo trailer park and tried out everything in our new trailer. The boys fought over who was going to use the toilet first- Ben won! Oh I'm so proud of my man! Actually he did great with all the hooking up and unhooking and now we feel pretty comfortable about our vacation and we're ready to go. It was a full week for us but well worth all the work!

Crankiness

So last week was a hard one for me. Don't know why but I was just cranky. Maybe it was that I had no quiet time, not even when in the bathroom. I do not do well if I miss out on my few minutes of alone time and usually that involves something crafty. So last week when I was having a bad day- Took the kids to the kids swimming and had missed quiet time again-Ben and I had a little chat that went something to this effect.
Ben- What's wrong?'
Me - nothing
Ben- Are you o.k.?
Me - No! I need just a few minutes by myself-alone- no one talking, or whining, or crying at me. I just need to do something crafty. CAN YOU TELL I HAVEN"T DONE ANYTHING CRAFTY LATELY! It makes me really cranky when I can't be creative!
The last thing I made was at the beginning of summer and that was just the job charts!
Ben- yes I can tell you haven't done anything crafty.
The conversation continued and it was actually pretty comical. So in the works are a few crafts and Ben has been pretty supportive and hasn't rolled his eyes too much at me wanting to change the kids' bedrooms. I know, big undertaking but the to younger boys need better nap time. So soon I will be painting and such-yea I can't wait.
As for now here is my last project - the job charts. I think they turned out pretty cute and since they're so cute I make sure the kids use them-everyday!

What could possibly be more American?

So each year my side of the family all get together and go camping throughout the summer. This year was no exception although we cut it down to one-2 night camping trip. This year was so busy for many of us that the only free time we had was the 4th of July weekend and even then KristyAnn was unable to make it-yea I know you're reading this and yes we missed you! It's always such a lot of work and is exhausting and yet each year we have such a good time. This year our family and Lauras family had purchased camping trailers and were breaking them in. Good thing we did, there are a few things we learned which will help on our 2 week trip to Washington next month. I was a little worried when we got up American Fork canyon and it rained for the first two hours! (definitely a blessing to have the trailer!) but after that we had great weather. The kids had fun exploring, hiking, swinging in the hammock, roasting marshmallows and eating smores. The annual treasure hunt was fun-Laura and I had a blast mapping it out and were informed upon return by some cranky husbands and kids that we had been gone for an hour and a half! I guess we were just having too much fun without the kids!!! Anyways grandma did some over the top spoiling (great job mom) and the kids were on there way to the best sugar rush of the year -may even top halloween. They loved the treasure hunt but oh man those kids all needed naps! After the treasure hunt we headed to silver lake and the kids did some swimming and Ben/Payton caught a fish- pretty funny that Ben left Payton with the fishing pole and Payton put it down and left, when Ben came back there was a fish tugging. No one knows who to credit who but Ben was pretty excited- more than Payton was. How's that for a big kid. Later that night it was fried and eaten by almost everyone. What a great camping trip-Amylyn and Andy were able to come and Scott made appearances a few times -once with a girl!!! We were able to do our dutch oven cooking in there and no one went hungry. Although the kids were hoping for dutch oven popcorn- we may have to do this in the backyard sometime this summer. So saturday the 4th we headed home and cleaned up and to celebrate a little more we had Kentucky Fried Chicken and the kids did poppers on the back patio. Not our typical 4th- usually we go to the stadium of fire- but camping was exhausting enough and I was headed to work. Thank goodness pioneer day is just around the corner and I promised our kids real fireworks then. I think they were so exhausted they didn't even complain!