Mossyrock State Park

Monday, July 22

We hung around the house a little in the morning and then headed out to Mossyrock State Park for the afternoon.  We weren't quite sure what to expect because none of us had been there before, but it was an awesome place to take the kids!  And it ended up being free too.  They have a lake area where you can use non-motorized boats or floatation devices and swim.  They had some sand for the kids to play in as well as a playground.  They also had a small general store and cafe, volleyball nets, picnic tables and lots of open grass areas.  Aunt V had brought some inner tubes and two small inflatable row boats and we borrowed a couple more inner tubes from the rental home.  The weather was nice and sunny and not too hot and the kids all had a blast!  We were hoping to make it back there again later in the week but ended up not having enough time.  Here are a bunch of pictures from our excursion:

DH swam from the shore to the logs marking the boundary of the swimming area.

Uncle S didn't want to deflate the row boats in case we wanted to come back to the lake so they tied them down to the top of their minivan using belts.  Our job was to drive behind and make sure they didn't fly off although it was funny watching Aunt V keep popping her head out the passenger side window to make sure they were still there!

Sunday with family

Sunday, July 21

On Sunday we headed up to Mossyrock after attending church together in the morning.  Here are some group pictures we took right after church:

All the grandkids - good looking bunch!

I think it was a little sunny - everybody seems to be squinting!

Waaaay behind!!

So I know that I am way behind in updating my blog!  Please bear with me!  I have not given it up, just been super busy with life once again!  We'll see how many posts I can get done before the end of the year!

Cousins!!

Saturday, July 20

DH's brothers' families arrived on Saturday and the kids spent some time watching a movie together and eating outside on the deck!

MJ is 3!!

Friday, July 19

One problem with summer birthdays is that there is a good chance that we will be out of town for them...  This year we left for Washington right after Blondie's birthday which meant that we would be gone for MJ's birthday.  We just had a small family party for her at DH's parents' house.  She got some little My Little Pony figures which she absolutely loved (and still plays with them all the time) and she got a Pinkie Pie shirt which she also loved.  I'm not sure why we don't have any pictures of her opening her gifts, but apparently we don't...  Here are a few pictures of her with her cake and throughout the day.  (I can't believe my baby is 3!!)

MJ talk

MJ is quite the chatterbox lately. When she is in a good mood she will just talk and talk and talk - and about just about anything!

My favorite though is when she starts out a sentence with, "When I was a little girl...." or "When I was younger..."

Trip to Washington - Part 1

Wednesday, July 17 - Thursday, July 18

We took a drive up to Washington to visit DH's parents & family.  We stayed a couple of days with his parents and then met up with his siblings & their families for a couple of days in Mossyrock, WA where we had a reunion a couple of years ago.  So here is a brief overview of our trip:

Wednesday we made the all-day drive and arrived around dinner time.

Thursday we decided to drive back to the waterfall that we missed out on last year - the Upper Latourell Falls.  We drove to the starting point of the trail where the lower falls are and then hiked up to the upper falls.  It was a beautiful day with perfect weather!  Afterwards we drove to one of the other falls to eat a picnic lunch.  We then let the kids play for a little in the water at Horsetail Falls.

This is a picture of the Lower Latourell Falls.  The parking lot is down at the lower falls and then you have to hike a little over a mile up to get to the upper falls (it is about a 2 1/2 mile loop).

One of the only pictures with DH in it from this day...  We tried a couple of family shots but the sun always seemed to be in the wrong position and so we didn't end up keeping any of them.

MJ looking at a slug - it was huge...

I loved these huge leaves!  I took a picture with my hand in it for perspective.

The Upper Latourell Falls - the water falls down one direction, hits a rock and then falls down the rest of the way.  It was very pretty and peaceful up there - definitely one of the paths less traveled.

The lower half of the upper falls.

There was a little bit of a hill we could climb up to get closer to the falls.  Unfortunately it was very wet and quite slippery and by the time we got everyone up here MJ and Kay were both in tears because they had fallen and hurt themselves...

Playing in the water at Horsetail Falls.

Rock hopping

MJ was soaked by the time we headed back to the car so I ended up taking off her skirt before I put her in her car seat and she just rode back to the house in her diaper.

Then later that evening after dinner we walked to a park in the neighborhood and let the kids play for a little while there.  Even Grandma N got in on the fun!