Garrett's 9th Birthday and Linder Farms 2015

Last month we celebrated Garrett's 9th birthday by having grandparents over and then taking our annual trip to Linder Farms.

Garrett and Curtis decorated the cake and Garrett decided since he had blue cake with orange frosting that it better be a BSU cake!

Look at that handsome boy!

Nikki, Jack, and Katie blowing their party blowers at the birthday boy. It looked funny.

Nikki

Jack

Garrett

The tube slide held up on a stack of hay. Curtis is at the top and then the two boys are climbing up on the right side.

All the kids and their cousin Katie on the barrel train ride.

And hey, parents ride free so Curtis couldn't resist! Totally cracked me up!

Seeing some animals at the petting zoo.

Boys and their tractors. And of course Charlotte is along for the ride.

Getting lost in the corn maze. Which way do we go??? Who can follow the map??

Sitting on the hay ride.

This might have been the first time I actually got in the corn box and had some fun with the kids! The only one who didn't like being in there was Charlotte.

On the hayride: Dad, Mom (Laverne), me, Curtis and Charlotte

Here's a shot of our group. It was a fun and hot day on opening weekend.

Pedal tractors!

Our three monsters!

Oregon Coast trip - part 5 (the final chapter)

I don't care how many pictures I post this time, I'm going to finish our Oregon trip so that I can post about other things! So, the last 2 days of our trip consisted of a trip to Tillamook to visit the cheese factory and the nearby lighthouse on Friday. We saw some beautiful scenery on the drive over!  We spent that evening in the pool and then playing more games.

Then on Saturday we crossed the 4 mile bridge from Astoria into Washington state to go visit 2 more lighthouses on Cape Disappointment. Saturday was the only day that it actually rained on us. After visiting the lighthouses we ate dinner in Astoria at the Pig N Pancake restaurant. We also went to a beach that had an old shipwreck. I wasn't able to get any pictures there since kids had to go potty as soon as we walked down the beach to see it and since the bathrooms were closed it forced us to leave. This is where I was also hoping to get some beach sand but that didn't happen. When we returned I had to do some last minute souvenir shopping because I hadn't really bought anything other than a jacket for Nikki and myself and the souvenir pennies for the kids. So I picked up a jacket for Charlotte and matching shark pullover sweatshirts for Curtis and the boys. I also bought some decorative shells, rocks, dolphins, etc.  

That evening we relaxed a bit and then got busy cleaning and packing because it was our last night and we were leaving in the morning. After finishing what we wanted to and getting the kids cleaned up and in bed Curtis and I excused ourselves to go out to collect some beach sand to go along with my new souvenir decor since I wasn't able to get it earlier that day. It was probably around 11:00 at night. There were still groups of people out on the beach and security guards roaming around to keep the peace. But it was a gorgeous clear night and we stood watching the waves roll in and the sparkling stars. After taking that in for a little while we got down to business digging up sand into an empty milk jug. We had to dig down a little bit to get to some clean sand because so many people do campfires on this beach. When we got back to where we could clean our feet off we read a sign about not taking the sand off the beach but it had showed a picture of a truck and man with a shovel. The security guards were standing nearby and we decided that we would feel better if we asked if it was okay rather than try to sneak it into the condo. The guard told us that it wasn't really his call because he didn't work for the city but that he thought the rule was to take no more than 5 gallons of sand. Whew! We only had one gallon so we were safe! Back upstairs we went to wash up and get in bed. Our vacation was officially over!

On our way to Tillamook we saw some breath taking views and had to stop for some pictures!

At the Tillamook Cheese Factory.

Watching the cheese get cut and packaged.

Charlotte wanted down but I wanted a picture with her. 

Enjoying some Tillamook ice cream outside on their picnic tables. We were also able to have some cheese samples inside. So yummy!

She's finishing either mommy's or daddy's cone. I can't remember.

This is the park where the lighthouse near Tillamook is, Cape Meares.

This view is deceiving. Looks like it would be real tall poking out of the trees like that.

And this is how tall is really was, pretty short for a lighthouse.

Looking through the lenses at the top. 

This is on Saturday and this fort was near the first light house on Cape Disappointment in Washington.

Running around inside the fort. I think we found the cell for prisoners.

Exploring the fort.

We had to hike up a ways to the first lighthouse. They had this cool tree on the trail that the kids climbed inside.

This lighthouse is still in operation and was not open to go inside.

Inside the next light house that was not too far from the other. For some reason I did not get an outside picture of this one.

We had to pay to go up inside this one and you had to be at least 7 or 8 yrs old.

Looking at the view.

Can you tell she's tired?

Going down. All finished.

Well, that's all of the pictures I'm going to share from this trip. It was the best trip ever and we're so glad we went. Thank you Dad and Mom for the fun and memories! 

Oregon Coast trip - part 4

Thursday morning we went North to visit Fort Clatsop in the Lewis and Clark National Historical Park near Astoria. We were even privileged to witness a ceremony for a group of people who became citizens of the United States of America. I have never seen an induction ceremony so it was neat to be there to witness people from all parts of the world becoming official citizens of our country, even Iraq.

This is the same type of dog that Lewis and Clark had traveled with when they made their expedition. This particular dog was very calm and friendly.

Here is Fort Clatsop where Lewis and Clark had stayed for part of their journey.

And finally the day had come to go visit Astoria and some of the "Goonies" sites and to get some fish and chips from the Bowpicker which we had heard so much about.  Unfortunately though, the line was very long and we all decided to eat at other places instead. A group of us ate at a good restaurant called "Baked Alaska". The food there was very good and we had a nice view of the river/ocean.

The kids were playing across the street from the Bowpicker at the museum while waiting to see if we'd get food.

Ah, Nikki's stuck in the anchor! 

This is where we ate lunch instead, at Baked Alaska. It was good!

After lunch we hopped aboard the Trolley in front of the museum and enjoyed a nice ride where we saw different parts of Astoria.

Finally, the Goonies' driveway! They even had signs.

Here it is, the "Goonies" house. Someone lives there so we could only get a picture from outside. We also had to park and walk a few blocks away over by the school because there were signs that said that's where we had to go.

We walked down to a dock where we saw and heard sea lions hanging out on their own private dock. They were making lots of noise.

And here's the school from the movie "Kindergarten Cop".

And back to "Goonies" again. The jeep that the criminals drove and got shot at in a police chase at the beginning of the movie. They're pointing to the bullet holes.

This is the jailhouse that the brother broke out of in the beginning of the movie. I borrowed this picture from Laverne.

Oregon Coast trip - Part 3

Wednesday morning all of us headed south to Cannon Beach to see the famous Haystack Rock from the movie "Goonies" where we saw some more sea life on the rocks and in the tide pools. Then the kids played in the sand and some, including my brothers Derek and Stillman did some boogie boarding. We didn't get to see them though because our little family was tired and ready to eat some lunch.  So we headed back toward the condo and stopped to get some food at Subway.  We brought Katie with us and the kids went swimming in the pools after we returned, except for Charlotte who took a nap.

Haystack Rock

Some rocks were just covered in muscles just like the ones we saw at Indian Beach on Monday.

See the pretty starfish? Three purples and two orange. So cool!

Garrett wading in the water.

The kids always love playing in the sand!

My brother Derek in the background getting ready to hit the waves with his boogie board. Dad, Mom, Grandma and Grandpa were camped out in their beach chairs watching all the fun.

Little Charlotte all tuckered out.  Gotta squeeze nap time in between all the fun activities!

Our next adventure for the day was walking down the sidewalk right on the beach to visit the Seaside Aquarium. Only half of the group went but we saw some other cool sea life we didn't get to see on the beaches.

Here's one of the sand creations we saw on the way to the aquarium. If you look close the back part says "SEASIDE" in smaller letters and the one in front says "OREGON". This one is just behind our condo.

Seals at the aquarium.

We had the opportunity to feed the seals also.  A couple of the seals finally learned that if they stood up and splashed one of their fins down several times that someone would keep throwing them fish.  And they were not trained to do that either. It was so fun to watch!

They had some sea creatures that you could touch and pick up. The girls loved it!

Charlotte pointing to all of the things she thought were neat. Not sure what she's pointing to in this shot.

It's getting to the point where I can't remember what we did unless I took a picture of it.  Some nights we played games, some nights we swam, and some nights we watched movies or whatever was on TV. This particular night I think was the night that we went over to Stillman and Colby's condo to watch "Goonies" in preparation for visiting Astoria the next day. Astoria is where that movie was filmed as well as "Kindergarten Cop". But that's another story :)

To Be Continued......