What the NorthWest is REALLY like.

After a great day at Mt. St. Helens, the next thing on the list of things to experience in our area was the rain the Columbia River Gorge.   Well, they got both.

We attended church, then changed, loaded up the cars with kids and lunch and headed into the gorge.  Just as the raindrops began to fall.  Welcome to Washington. ;)

But fortunately, as is often the case, the showers came and went and we actually enjoyed a fairly rain free lunch when we arrived at LaTourell falls.





After we ate, we took the short walk down to the Lower Falls.








Next we headed to Oregon's number one tourist attraction: Multnomah Falls.  And wow, were there tourists!  Despite the drizzly, rainy day, it was PACKED!  The whole gorge was full of hikers/campers/observers, but Multnomah was definitely the busiest place.





We walked the 1/4 mile up to the bridge and I took this pic, it's an angle I haven't shot before.



Proof that I carried Rori during part of our walk.  I just won't tell you which part (uphill or down). ;)





After Multnomah, the rain really started to pick up.  We continued driving up the scenic highway and stopped at HorseTail Falls, where we had originally planned on hiking a couple of miles.  The rain wasn't going to let up and we had three young'uns with us so we decided to call it a day.  But before we headed back, some of us took a few minutes to check out HorseTail Falls.



The rest of the day was spent at home.  We played games, mostly the Wii, and had dinner together.  Don't tell the kids, but as soon as they were in bed, Tom, Laura, Ryan and I fired up the BBQ and roasted marshmellows for S'mores! lol  It was silly but fun!  I really can't wait until we finish our backyard and have our firepit. ;)

Early the next morning, the Davis family headed back to Idaho.  It was a great visit, I wish it could have been longer, hopefully they liked it enough to consider coming back for a longer visit next time.  :)

A real live volcano!

Last weekend, our good friends, the Davis's came to visit us!  It was their first time to the area and we were very excited to show them around our "neck of the woods". 

They arrived Friday morning and we mostly "hung out" that day while Ryan was at work.  We took the boys up the hill to the neighborhood park.  They loved the tall trees and everyone had fun on the playground.  That night my cousin agreed to babysit all the kiddos for us so the grown ups could go out to dinner together.  Sweet!  Thankfully, the kids were all well behaved for Sami. :)

One of the things they wanted to see most while here, was Mount St. Helens; the boys were excited to go to a "real volcano"!  It was cute. lol  Unfortunately, the weather wasn't perfect for seeing Mt. St. Helens.  But it wasn't bad, either.  There was a large cloud that had planted itself at the top of the crater.  We could see into the crater, just not the top rim.  It could have been worse, I've been there when you couldn't see the mountain at all.  It was a bit breezier than they expected but we brought a lot of extra sweatshirts for kids to "swim" in, and I think everyone ended up having a really good time!

Here are some pics from Mt. St. Helens:

This was taken at a lookout over the Toutle River.


Bundled up, arriving at Johnston Ridge.


I am always humbled whenever we visit Mt. St. Helens, no matter how many times I go.  These images just move me with the awesomeness of what nature can do.




Inside, Laura shows Ariana (in her arms), Riley, Cadi, Nate, and Timmy the display demonstrating the chain of events that took place when Mt. St. Helens errupted in 1980.


Checking out the seismographs which show all earthquake activity on the mountain - live!


Acadia tries to make her own earthquake. lol


Braving the wind and chilly temps to get a view of the mountain.




The first time I visited Mt. St. Helens, I was struck by the devastation and how vast it was.  Now, each time I return, I see more and more signs of life, the mountain rebuilding herself, and beauty returning.
 

My Gratitude Post

As gratitude posts go, this will be kinda short. I'm just going to focus on what I'm most grateful for at the moment.

•Sweet girls who let me sleep (for the most part) on the couch yesterday afternoon while they watched TV.

•Quick and easy to make Lipton's Chicken Noodle soup, which was our "exciting dinner" last night, as that was the only thing I could stomach at the time.

•Brave and selfless men and women who have/are sacrificing and suffering more than I was yesterday to protect our country and what it stands for. (Listening to McCain's POW experiences were humbling and reminded me that I really don't have it "that bad", even when I do get my stupid migraines.)

•A wonderful, loving, selfless husband, who after a long day of work (12+ hours) stopped by the pharmacy to buy me drugs.

•Waking up this morning with only a small headache which is easily managed.

•Deciding to go to the gym today even when I really didn't feel like it.

•Inspiration and personal revelation as I have been struggling with my RS lesson for this weekend but am finally starting to feel the Lord's influence in where He wants me to take it.

So, to sum up... I'm not writhing in pain on the couch anymore. Yay! But I am needing to work on my RS lesson right now, so my Labor Day Weekend post will still have to wait. Soon though. :)

Foiled

My plan, that is. I was planning to post about our Labor Day weekend this afternoon. Then a migraine hit and I couldn't find my Excedrin. So, please accept a raincheck while I go die on my couch. It would figure that Ryan has to work late tonight. But thankfully (that is so horrible to say but at this moment, I really mean it) Enrichment was cancelled tonight. If by some miracle, I get to a point where I am not wishing I were dead, I'll come back and post. Otherwise, you know where to find me. And if you have any Excedrin, can I please have two?

Rori is 2...ish!

As you may recall, poor Rori was neglected for her real birthday more than a month ago.  Acadia was in Massachusetts and we had just gotten home from North Carolina with Ryan turning around and flying out to Massachusetts the next day.  We did go out to dinner with her and she did get one of her gifts from one of her grandmas early (Thank you Mom - she did watch some Blue's Clues on the plane!) but other than that, you wouldn't have known it was her b-day.  Thankfully, she's too young to know too! lol

So, now that we were back from all our vacations and finally together at home, we had a little party for her.  We invited some friends to come over for dinner and then cake and ice cream.  Here are some pics:







You'll notice that this year, eating her cake was a totally different experience than last time. lol













Playing with her presents:








So, Happy 2nd-ish Birthday Rori!  Hopefully next year we'll have your party closer to your actual birthday. lol

I've got some major catching up to do!

I suppose I will post in order of events that I need to catch up on.  First, I will quickly go back and revisit our camping trip to Ft. Bragg.  I made this montage from some of the pics we took.  I'm sorry the YouTube quality is lame. :S



***Note: Sound was disabled because the song is copyrited. :S

Back to School

I think we're the only school district starting school today and I'm still not sure why it is today, but today it is! 
Acadia was very excited to learn that her 4th grade teacher would be the same teacher that she had and LOVED in 2nd grade!  Mrs. G. was sweet and sent Acadia a little note during the summer saying how excited she was to have Cadi in her class again.  I think this will be a great year. :)

Last night, Acadia had me put her hair in curlers after her shower.  She didn't want it curly, just wavy, thankfully, since I was out of hairspray and that was all she could have had anyway. lol  This morning she woke up early - about 20 minutes before my alarm was set and tried TWICE to wake me up.  Eager much?  She quickly had breakfast, dressed, had me paint her nails, do her hair, double checked all the things she needed to bring today, and took a few pics.  Then Rori and I drove her to school!

I'm excited to hear about her first day.  She's very excited, was curious to see who would be in her class with her, and slightly nervous about the new music teacher since she loved the last one so much (she retired).

Here are some pics we took this morning:






Dropping Cadi off at her classroom:


Acadia and her teacher: