Really, Really Big Trees

Our first real stop was an afternoon
in the Redwood Forest
with trees the size of China.
We were in awe.
So amazing.

Up a tree . . .

One comes down . . .

One keeps going up . . .

One gets stuck . . .

Daddy to the rescue . . .

On the Road

We have had a theme song for the trip down to AZ.
It goes like this.
To the tune of Mary Had a Little Lamb.

"I don't really like the car
like the car, like the car,
I don't really like the car
when I must drive far.

Every hour we make a stop,
make a stop, make a stop.
Every hour we make a stop
because someone's bladder is about to pop."

Doesn't that sum up over 28 hours in a car?
Granted,
we split it up over a few days
but I don't know how I'm going
to make myself get back in that car for the drive back.

More coming soon about our adventures . . .

SAM and MOF and GUM

Sandwiched between
two days of me and E at girls camp
and our big summer roadtrip
was a few days in downtown Seattle
at Pike Place Market
down by the water
and at a few museums.
The Seattle Art Museum . . .

Giving Kyler the camera was the only way we could keep him with us.

We didn't have a chance with Kacin.

He ran wild and begged for a time out so he could sit down somewhere.

My dad finally obliged and they went to a "timeout" and skipped half of the museum.

But thanks to Ky

I practically have the whole museum on my camera now.

Here are just a few:

The Museum of Flight . . .

 Touring the Concord and Air Force One . . .

The Pike Place Gum Wall again . . .

Goat Lake

On our hike to Goat Lake
we had to pull out all the tricks in the bag
to get a 7 and 6 year old through a 10 mile hike.
They are strong, tough boys
but there were times when they needed a little extra motivation.
We have been on lots of hikes with the boys
and have learned quite a few ways to keep our kids going
Such as,
*make up stories or retell fairy tales.
*choose a landmark, like a tree up ahead, and focus on getting there.
*challenge ourselves to walk the next mile in a certain time
and then celebrate with a something like a mint or a short rest if we reach our goal.
*It helped a lot when we bought them their own camelpack backpacks to carry,
however after the first mile or so it is usually me who takes the packs.
*short piggy back rides, on rare occasions.
*play monster or can't get me
*make believe we're in the jungle studying monkeys
and we have to fight off and escape from ferocious animals.
*point out interesting things along the trail.
*just talk, with Kyler about Star Wars
*be silent for a certain amount time to see how far we can get
(I love my gps--it is so great to have to do stuff like this)
*search for good hiking sticks along the trail
*eat snacks

We did almost all of those things on this hike,
but it was great fun
and we enjoyed the lake at the top.

yeah, that is Kyler's jacket. a little too small i would say.