July 8, 2011

Family Vacation - Part 2

The second day of our vacation was cool but clear, so we decided to spend the day doing outdoorsy things. But being the responsible parents that we are, we decided to skip over the skydiving, paragliding, and white water rafting, and keep things simple.

We first went to a park. And I have no idea what park it was. Not a clue. I guess I wasn't paying attention. But it was a park. I do know that.

It even had a little visitors center, and the kids had so much fun looking around.


"A stee-eey stunk!"



"Ooooohhhh...."


"He made a big mess! Grrrrrr....."


"Pea-a-boo.... Eeww! Yu-ee bug!"


Afterwards, we followed a little trail, not knowing where it led to. The blind leading the blind, so to speak.

In other words, the men didn't stop and ask for directions.


Turns out, it led to a nice overlook of the city!



So while the men talked about, who knows what, manly things I suppose, Savannah talked granny into taking her picture by the flowers, 'cause she thought they were so pretty.

And if I know my daughter, she was probably feeling like a princess and needed her picture taken. Because she has this weird obsession with flowers and picture taking. Apparently they go together.


Meanwhile, the other kids took turns squishing ants,


and I admired my newly painted toenails.

And since I know how much my in-laws love my long toes, I figured I would share my joy with them.


I still say they're just jealous that they can't pick things up with their toes.

Was that random? I kind of felt like that was random. Oh well, I like random.


We decided to take advantage of the moment and snag a few family pictures.

But Jacob, the little one in the orange, didn't like the idea so much.


I keep getting this weird feeling that he was bored.  You?

But we kept trying, and Jacob kept thwarting our plans.


Finally, we were mildly successful.


It was pretty, it was fun. It was pretty fun.


After we got back to the cars, it was decided we would grab some lunch then go exploring.

Have you ever had lunch at Costco before? It's... it's... interesting.

Of course, being the great and responsible parents that we are, we got our kids hot dogs and pizza. What I didn't know, was that the portion sizes came in huge and gigantic. 

So when we responsible adults ordered a healthy and well rounded lunch of hand-dipped ice cream bars, I didn't know we'd be getting a serving the size of the iceberg that sunk the Titanic!

But once the kids had dropped hots dog, pizza and soda all over the floor, we made a run for the exist and off we were again!

My dad seemed to randomly choose a place on the map, but maybe he knew what he was doing. Who knows? All I know is that he didn't ask for directions.

We followed a little trail and landed in this rocky beach. 


We quite literally spent HOURS here doing nothing more than talk and throw rocks into the water. It was perfect and seriously, the kids were perfectly happy and content. Not once did they ask to go. The just kept rock hunting.



View from the beach. 


Now, my sister Becka has told me that she has started to actually read my blog instead of just look at the pictures real fast. She said she really enjoys it, but the one thing she HATES is when I make fun of the way I look.

So for her sake, I will NOT say how much I despise my face in this next picture, because I will NOT mention the 20 pounds of baby fat I'm still hauling around, and how it does NOT make my face look pudgy beyond all belief. 


Now you guys are all going to stare at my face and note that it does indeed look pudgy.

Well just stop it, and just look at Claira. Isn't she adorable?

Moving on....

While we were there, these little guys stopped for a visit.



When we finally packed up, I thought we were headed back to the house.

I was wrong. Apparently, certain children who will remain unnamed had been pestering my parents all day to go to a "real" park. You know, the kind with slides and swings?

So, we did.

I thought for sure that after a long day everyone would be cranky and tired. But to my surprise, everyone was in perfectly happy spirits and just wanted to keep playing.



Oh my, I just love this girl.


Okay, so I have a confession to make. I don't mind taking my kids to the park. It's fun even! But I would never, ever say it was relaxing, for one reason.

Swing enslavement.

Seriously, once you get asked to "push me on the swing" you could be stuck there for hours. HOURS!

Oh so many, many hours. 

It was nice to have the guys serve their time.


Oh yea, go dad! What muscles! What skill!!

And hey, if he can do it, so can Savannah, right?

Oh yea! Get 'em mom! Yahoo!

Claira wasn't sure how she felt about being left out of all excitement, relieved or upset.


Especially since she was missing out on all this slide craziness!




Then came the battle of the swings.

Daddy VS Savannah.

Bum shot!

Daddy VS Mommy


Whoa! Super scary bum shot!

After chasing pirates over the stormy bouncing tires, we finally went home.


To Be Continued...

11 super cool people speak:

CB said...

FIRST!!! Cause I like to act like I am a little kid sometimes!

CB said...

OK so I just read installment 1 and 2 of your vacation and the whole time I was thinking that you looks soooo skinny and so good and you just had a baby!!


Your little crew is so adorable - I think you are so blessed and you and your husband are going to have a bunch of fun for many years with all of your little ones - who will grow to big ones - who will be teenagers - an make life super interesting!!!

And....My husband and his family all have the long toe thing going on and half of my kids have them. They can all pick up things with their toes and eat Dorito's, etc...ha ha.
The kids that did not get the long toes are bitter - and they blame me :-D

Have a SUPER weekend!

Abe n Annie said...

Those first pictures look like Lone Pine State park. I took Abe there once. :) These pictures make me miss being home!!

Garvin Smith said...

It was Lone State Park, and I knew exactly what I was doing every minute!

TisforTonya said...

my kids wanted to have lunch at CostCo today - I knew better than to put up with that so we packed our jumbo sized pancake mix in the car and got out of there...

and I can pick things up with my toes too... it isn't necessary that they be shaped like french fries to do that... my little stubby tater tots do just fine :)

ldsjaneite said...

I don't know, but Claira didn't look all that thrilled to be in the family photo shots, either. :-)

Love the raccoon pictures!

Mama Smith said...

Ha...ha...ha...Laughing at the joke made...about "knowing where he was the entire time..."...Oh...was your dad serious? (smile) SO MUCH FUN...Now...that is definitely a TRUE STATEMENT! (smile)

Susan Anderson said...

These trip posts are nothing short of delightful. I love them!

=)

Cheeseboy said...

Yes, I've eaten Costco lunch all too often. (twice)

Looks like a great time. Your toes aren't THAT long. You should see my wife's!

Valerie said...

Looks like you guys had such a good time together. Awesome!

F e l i c i t y said...

My heavens, girl. You do not look like you have five kids - seriously! I hope I look that good after I've had five little ones. Wow! :)

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