Children's Museum

Today we went with friends to the Portland children's museum. We had never been before, so it was all a new adventure. The girls loved playing in the water! Grace had a great time splashing around. It's a good thing they provide aprons for the kids, or else they would have been soaked. Even I couldn't escape that area without getting a little wet.

After the water we were off to play with clay, drive a bus, explore a house, a boat, and a grocery store. I think the shopping was a highlight for Grace. She could have spent a really long time filling up her cart over and over again. By the end, she seemed to be trying to see how much she could stuff into one small cart. It's hard to say what Claire enjoyed the most. She just liked going from one area to the next and seeing new things to explore.

After what seemed like a really long day, we finally found our way back to the max station to head home. It's only 4pm, but I am about ready for bed. All that walking can really take it out of you. Overall, I think it was a successful trip. The kids had a great time!

Little Campers

The weather lately has been beautiful. Chris had been wanting to get out for a little camping for quite some time, so with a weekend of sun in the forecast, he took the girls on a one night trip. Yep, it was just dad and his girls. I was lucky enough to stay home and sleep in my own bed. I might have considered going with them, except I did have to work in the morning...

They drove up to Stub Stewart State Park and spent Friday night setting up camp, playing on the playground, going on a hike, roasting hot dogs and marshmallows. They all slept together to stay warm, and woke up to have hot chocolate and eggs for breakfast. It was another sunny day, so after packing up camp they spent more time playing outside in the woods. The girls had a great time! I think Chris would even do it again...

Cleaning helper

Last night I went out for some yummy food with friends. I didn't get home very late, but by the time I actually made it up the stairs towards my bed it was around 10:30pm. As I climbed the stairs, I knew that something was amiss....Sure enough, the girls' bathroom light was on. Chris had been home the whole time, but hadn't heard a thing. I was hoping it was because Claire had needed to use the bathroom. Unfortunately, that wasn't what was happening. There on her hands and knees was Grace. She was scrubbing EVERYTHING in the bathroom with baby wipes. On the floor next to her were "used" wipes in a giant pile. It looked like hundreds and hundreds of wipes, but since there are only 100 in a package, it must have been around 50. There were suds everywhere. The toilet seat had water and bubbles all over it. She was using shampoo to clean with. I'm not sure what I was the most surprised about, the fact that she was making a giant mess or that she didn't seem tired at all. I couldn't help but laugh after I sternly sent her back to bed. She has always been my little cleaning helper. She loves to wipe down the table after we eat and vacuum alongside me. Next time hopefully, it will be supervised cleaning! :)

A whole new world....

As many of you have already heard, we are expecting a baby boy this summer! I am still in shock. I have never been able to imagine myself as a mom of a little boy. It's funny how my mind started racing ahead several years. I was all of a sudden concerned about scouts, pinewood derby, mission, daughter-in-law, etc... Chris brought me back down to earth when he said, "how about we just worry about getting some blue PJ's." It's true, though, we are gonna need to purge our baby stuff of the frilly and pink. I guess that will be our project over the next few months.

My mom and mother-in-law were very sweet. They each bought me a newborn outfit to start my new baby wardrobe. After seeing the cute shirts, I began to feel better about it all. I can do this...

The sun will come out...tomorrow

So, literally the day after our rainy day at the beach, we had bright blue skies and sunshine! If only the weatherman knew how to predict such days. Oh well. The kids had fun riding bikes. Grace finally mastered the scooter. I love days like this!

True Oregonians...

To celebrate my sister's 18th birthday, we took a trip to Cannon Beach. It was a typical winter day at the coast...meaning lots of rain. But did that stop us? I don't think so! We are true Oregonians. The kids had been looking forward to swimming in the ocean so much that nothing was about to stop them. I'm personally not a fan of the freezing Pacific, but I had a hard time getting them to stop playing in the water.
Here they are, still in dry clothes...

That did NOT last very long...

Yes, I know that I am probably a terrible mother for letting my little girls put shorts on in the rain, in February, at the beach, and go into the Pacific....but they were soooo happy!

Finally, all dry and exploring the town of Cannon Beach. It had actually stopped raining at this point. Afterwards we topped it off with ice cream at the Tillamook Cheese Factory. It's hard to go to the beach without stopping there!

Minnesota Christmas

Christmas 2009 was an adventure! We loaded up the van, set up the portable DVD player, and prepared ourselves for a very long road trip to Northern Minnesota. It was 1800 miles one way and took about 30 hours out on the road. On the way there we stopped overnight in Coer D'Alene, ID and then for a second night in Dickinson, ND. The kids loved staying in hotels. They were really excited to "go see the beds". The hotel in ND actually had a swimming pool with a water slide that twisted outside of the building. It was crazy going swimming while it was 4 degrees outside! Although the kids aren't really fans of deep water, they loved just splashing around after a long day of driving.

We were lucky enough to have mostly clear roads for the duration of the trip, and we arrived in MN on a Saturday afternoon. Although there was some snow on the ground, we got most of the snow over the next several days. For the first week, temperatures were nice at about 20-23 degrees. We played outside a lot! Sledding was a huge hit with the kids. There was a perfect sledding hill just across the street from my grandparent's house. The first few times there wasn't enough snow to use the snowmobile, so Chris had to pull Grace up the hill every time. That was quite a workout I'm sure.

Another fun activity was taking walks on the frozen stream. I was a little nervous about it at first, and so was my sister Bree. There were about 6-8 inches of ice, so it was safe to even drive the snowmobile on. We walked up the stream until we reached a beaver dam where the ice started to thin. I never thought I would ever walk on frozen water. I am a big chicken, but I did it. We even used the ice to play broom ball, which is a version of hockey with brooms and a ball. They shoveled the snow off of the ice to make it good and slippery. Everyone had a really great time!

We also had ice fishing on our list of things to do. The day that we went was really cold and a bit windy. We all bundled up really well and drove over to the nearest lake. My dad used the ice auger to drill out small holes for fishing. I was more nervous to be out on the middle of the lake. The stream was so much smaller, and much more shallow. It too had plenty of ice, and we were just fine. Unfortunately, we didn't have much luck with the fish. David, Bree's fiance was the only one to catch anything, and all he caught were small tiny carp. Oh, well. At least we can say we've gone ice fishing once in our lives. In one of the pictures you may see some shacks out on the lake that look like outhouses. Those are fish houses, complete with a stove usually to keep warm while fishing. It's too bad we didn't have one of those!

On Christmas Eve night the boys lit a giant bonfire with brush that had been collected from the summer. It was pretty huge. Grace was super excited to "go see fire". Chris also always enjoys a good fire. We brought out hot dogs and marshmallows for roasting. The kids loved cooking over the fire and eating their "creations". Claire even mentioned that the fire was a good idea so that Santa would be able to find us easier. True, true.

Christmas morning was fun. We woke up to find tons of presents under the tree. We exchanged gifts with each other and then we trailer folk (us, my parents, Kee, Bree, and David) all walked up to the house to exchange more gifts with my grandparents and my Aunt & Uncle and their kids. It snowed most of the day, and we all just relaxed and enjoyed each others company. Dinner was yummy. We had ham, turkey, wild rice, yams, stuffing, irish stuffing, rolls, salad, ginger ale, mashed taters, gravy, and I'm sure I'm forgetting something. It was all good though.

After Christmas it started getting really cold! It was about 5-13 degrees during the day. We still played outside, but it was harder to stay out for very long. It's amazing how different 10 degrees feels from 20. We went to see 2 movies: Avatar and Sherlock Holmes. Both were really good, although I liked Avatar more. We took rides on the snowmobiles and on the four wheeler. The kids loved going for rides. They cried when we made them go back inside the house, even while their little cheeks were turning purple. We also had enough snow so that when we went sledding, the snowmobile could take people back up the hill. That was a really nice change for Chris!

The drive home was done in 2 days. We stayed in Billings, MT overnight, and then made it home the next night. We were very lucky to again have great traveling weather and clear roads. It could have been miserable, but it all turned out really well. The girls did great in the car. We really can't complain. They handled it all extremely well. The night before we left we all went to a Pizza Hut for dinner. Grace had an accident that made it impossible for her to continue wearing her pants. I had also left the diaper bag at the house along with my purse, where I always stash one extra diaper. Luckily we were able to find one freezing cold diaper hiding in the van. Poor child had to ride home pantless in 9 degree weather!

Overall, we had a really great trip! We all had a blast playing in the snow and arctic cold temperatures. It was nice to see my grandparents again and spend time with them over Christmas. I'm sure they were exhausted from taking care of all 17 of us that were there. They did so much to make sure that we all had everything that we needed. Thanks Grandma and Grandpa for a great Christmas!