First-our trip. We left on Tuesday. We were out of the house by 9:30, which if you see how full the van is, that's why. We made our first stop just over 2 hours later for lunch at Columbia Park in Kennewick. The boys loved the play area and splash pad. We had a picnic lunch and headed on our way. The boys fought sleep and finally crashed an hour later. After getting lost in Portland, we made the long lllllooooonnnnngggg leg of the journey to our campsite. Luckily, we had a yurt, so it was a matter of unloading the car. Joshua kept asking, "When go camping? Me want go camping!" After a brief trip to the beach, he was pretty happy, although it was a really cold evening (and nearly 8:30 PM) so it was a brief trip.
The next morning, we got up bright and early and after breakfast were ready to go by 8:30 AM. A trip to the beach reminded us that the beach is FREEZING in the morning! We changed clothes and went up to the Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center. This is an awesome center where you can follow Lewis and Clark's trip from beginning to end. Ask the boys what their favorite part was...was it the replica of a real canoe? No. Was it the building blocks section? No. It was seeing a ladybug in the window! They were fascinated by the ladybug! We then saw the sign noting that the Columbia Lighthouse would be open for 2 hours, and this two-hour window comes once a year. We decided it must be fate and took it upon ourselves to hike the 3/4 of a mile to the lighthouse. We agreed it's the only time you can say you walked uphill both ways. That 3/4 of a mile, is the most treacherous hike ever with tree stumps, uneven ground and more hills than you've ever wanted to see before. The lighthouse was gorgeous even if the climb up those windy stairs/ladders was more than a little scary at some points. When you have to say to your 2-year old, "Hang on to my neck so tight that if I have to let go of you to grab the rail, you'll still be hanging on..." that's a bad sign. The highlight of our hike for the boys? Seeing a banana slug. Once back at the Interpretive Center, we ended up purchasing a book labeling many of the bugs and slugs of the great Northwest. The remainder of the trip was spent finding bugs in real-life to match to the book. Joy.
Day 3 we got up early and drove up to Long Beach. It was a gorgeous day and the boys really enjoyed the water and waves for the first time. They flew their first kite, Thomas chased Pelicans, and we all had a blast. After naptime, we spent the remainder of the day at our beach. Thomas realized he could find clam shells and we spent hours looking on the beach for more and more.
Finally time to come home. The 12-hour venture home? Not bad. We stopped at Hood River (a favorite stop of mine). The boys played in the sand and the sun and I even got to sunbath a little bit (gone are the days of sunbathing in a bikini, but instead a t-shirt and shorts). We made it to Tri-Cities with a quick stop and then plugged on home. It was rough, and Joshua is wondering where our "camping house" is, but we're home.
We get home and start unloading and our day gets just a little (aka lot) less enjoyable. Our bathroom (which was suppose to be fixed and retiled by now) looked like this:
However, we are happy to be home. This will be a busy weekend, and then we hope to return to normalcy and a little more potty training. Joshua has pooped on the potty multiple times! HOORAY! More updates soon to come.
1 comment:
It sounds like you had a fun vacation! It's always nice to get away from home for awhile. I would be upset if my bathroom looked like that too when it was supposed to be finish. Ugh! I'm wondering how many times you were pulled over for not being able to see out the back window of your van??! That's A LOT of stuff!
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