Cape Disappointment and Willapa

 The boys had Friday off of school and the weather forecast was decent, so I took my friend up on her idea for us to head down to Cape Disappointment.

The boys were not thrilled.  In fact, they kept telling me they were disappointed.  Get it?

Yeah, my kids can be smart alecks some times.

They were looking forward to sleeping in.  Hahahaha!  Not on my watch!

We arrived to cloudy skies and beautiful views.

Then they found then pre-WWI bunkers and all of a sudden they were not disappointed at all.  We actually had to extract them almost forcibly to check out the rest of the sights.

This sign kills me.  "Often seen here"  No kidding.

Our first short hike took us to Dead Man's Cove.  Gorgeous.  Not the best history (this where bodies would end up whenever someone fell off the cliffs in the area), but the kids had a great time.  The trail down was described to us by the kids as "an obstacle course", so Isaac, my friend, and I stayed up top.  

 Our next stop was lunch.  With seven hungry children, it was pretty much a necessity.  While we were chowing down, the park volunteers gave us the heads up on a trail with a lot of frogs along it.  Can't say no to frogs!

The trail also had a marvelous view.

Our "disappointed" group.

The next short hike took us to a pretty lighthouse.

Our final stop in the park was Waikiki beach.  Also beautiful, but it took quite a bit of climbing over driftwood and rocks to reach it.  Again, the adults and Isaac appreciated the view from afar.

Leaving the park we headed back home by way of Willapa National Wildlife Refuge.  We thought we could do a little hike and that it would be like Nisqually Wildlife Refuge.

We thought that because, at first, it looked like Nisqually.

Except with art.

And then we found the 2/3 mile loop trail and went straight up for about 4 miles.  Or, at least, that's how it felt!  The kids were pretty ticked because I had promised them a "walk" instead of a "hike" for their tired legs.

But it was a lovely hike for all of that.

I am so glad that we could get another Washington State adventure in even though school has started.  We'll try to do a few more before the weather completely deteriorates.

Toothless

 Here is our toothless toddler!  We had some dental excitement on Wednesday: Isaac fought the pavement and the pavement won.  Oh boy, did the pavement win.  He cracked his front tooth from top to bottom.  At which point, with him screaming in the background, I made a quick call to the dentist and let them know that we were coming.

The dentist office was fabulous.  Got us in quickly.  Took a look at his tooth quickly.  And announced quickly that it was going to have to come out.

You know what is really, really fun?  Well, toddler tooth extraction is no where on that list.

The process was not at all fun.  They put gel on his gums to numb them (not too bad).  They gave him happy gas (not great).  They stuck a needle in his mouth 6-7 times (horrible). Then they removed the tooth (also pretty bad).  The dentist assured Jason and I that Isaac would not feel pain, only pressure, when she removed the tooth.  He was screaming pretty badly during the procedure, so I was questioning how she could know that.  However, once the tooth was out and he was released, he jumped right off of my lap and started playing with the toys.  I was so relieved.

Then we went home and Jason stayed with Isaac while I shopped for soft foods for Isaac and a couple of pints (of Ben and Jerry's) for Jason and I.

And thus ended one of the more exciting parenting experiences we've had recently.

First Week of School

School has started for the big boys, but that doesn't mean that Isaac and I stopped having fun.  

First day of school snuggles:

We did our toes:

Point Defiance hike:

Tumwater Falls hike:

Priest Point Park hike:

We're living it up while the sun still shines!

First Day of School

And they are off!  All the open houses have been attended, medical paperwork filled out, backpacks packed, lunches made, and toddler left behind.

Some changes this year: Ben got into the HiCap program in our district, so he now attends a different elementary school.  And he rides the bus...for an hour on the way to school (we'll see how long this lasts, I may cave and drive him).  Big changes for our kid who is not a fan of changes.  But, I am confident that he will do really well in this new program and make friends quickly.

This means that we now have three kids attending three different schools leaving at three different times.  Hooray!

Leave time: 6:53am
Home time: 2:45pm

Leave time: 8:05am
Home time: 3:05pm

Leave time: 8:15am
Home time: 4:30pm

Sadly, I then spent the day with a pounding headache, postnasal drip, and chest congestion.  Oh, and watching Lego Ninjago and Dora.  Oh, and Project Runway.  I had dreams of being productive, but this cold killed them.

Happy 2017-2018 school year!

Last Week

A few more hours...that's all the time we've got...a few more hours...

A mournful song that I am sure my kids can relate to these days.  A couple of times a day, I hear one of them bemoan their impending fate.  

And I feel their pain.  Really, I do.  I felt it about 10 weeks ago.  

Enough of that.  On to our last full week of summer vacation.  I am running out of steam, but I tried to make it a fun one.  

Monday was part of the 4-day weekend Jason took, so we went to Westhaven State Park for some beach time.  

In THE SUN for once.  Though, we discovered quickly that sun = hot sand and we were wishing for a little cloud cover about midday.  In the meantime, we set up our sun tent next to a wooden teepee for extra shade. 

The beach has an incredibly long pier made up of huge, granite boulders.  It didn't look that long from the beach, so I decided to tackle it and Ben came along.  When we got up on it, all of a sudden it became clear what we were in for.  Ben was thrilled.  We discovered a few things: Ben is part mountain goat; I am part scaredy-cat.  Also, Ben has something when clambering on rocks that I don't have: confidence.  And I have something that he doesn't have: 37-year-old ankles.  Regardless, no one broke anything or got trapped between the boulders, so I count it all as a success!

And then Jason had to go back to work.

Wednesday found us headed north to the zoo.  Isaac and I have been several times, but the older boys haven't been since last year.

Friday morning and we were headed out on a hike.  A hike with a waterfall. A hike with a waterfall and NINE children.  Mine plus two more plus my friend and her three = nine.

It turns out that it is difficult to get pictures of all the children I brought all at the same time.  The older five:

And Mr. Difficult-but-awfully-cute:

My friend brought her nice camera and did manage to get a picture of me and the NINE children.

 After the hike, we found a nice access to the river and let the kids play in the water.  Ben, of course, managed to get his feet wet, then his butt wet, then fell in completely and soaked his jeans.  Something about Ben and the water: they are drawn to each other.  And somehow, Ben never seems to be appropriately dressed for these encounters.

Sigh.

The kids had a great time and I had three towels in the back of the car, so we all ended up happy (dry car = happy mom).

And the countdown begins: FIVE DAYS