End of Summer Fun

We had a busy August. I could feel our summer slipping away and I just wanted to do so many things and soak up all this time with my girls. This summer went by WAY too fast, but we did so many things and made so many wonderful memories.

The beginning of August, we went on a hike that has been on my bucket list for awhile. We met up with Adam and Chelsea and their family and first had lunch at a nearby park in Eatonville.

McCall thought holding onto the monkey bars was the best thing ever.

Then went to hike Little Mashel Falls. I really wanted to go with Adam and Chelsea because they knew of a shortcut and it was just fun to hike with them. The hike was beautiful! We went to the middle and lower falls and I loved it. I would definitely do this hike again!

I loved being able to walk behind this waterfall (the middle falls).

Gorgeous views with my gorgeous girls!

This was the lower falls and if it was a warmer day, we could have gone swimming in the pools of water. There were so many little areas to explore, rocks to climb on, and a beautiful waterfall to look at.

The shortcut to and from takes you on an old railroad and over a sketchy bridge. We went back to Adam and Chelsea's house for dinner and more visiting. It was such a fun day spent with friends!

Another afternoon we met up with Paige's friend, Emily, to go swimming at the lake. I didn't get any pictures of Paige because she was always off swimming with friends, but she had so much fun and was brave enough to jump off the dock into the water. I loved just sitting and watching Baylor and McCall. They had so much fun digging in the sand. Baylor dug a big hole and McCall totally took it over and loved her own little pool and would sit back and relax in it. They were so cute!

We got to one story time at the park put on by the library and had some fun at the playground.

We got to go to a Mariners game with the youth from our ward. It was so fun and a beautiful evening. The girls did great and they even won!

I got to watch a couple of kids one Friday. I don't usually babysit since I'm not really a fan of babysitting. I love being a mom, but my kids are used to me and my expectations so sometimes I don't do as well with other kids, but it turned out to be a fun day. I took them to the park for the free lunch. Baylor especially loved it and loved having a playmate all day. We also went on a little nature scavenger hunt in the forest across the street from our house.

Then on a Saturday, we went to Kid Fest for the City of Covington. Nate was working at the event so we got to see him and do all the fun things. It was really nice this year that I could stand in line and wait and then Paige and Baylor went off to do fun things together and not have to wait so long. We went to the petting area, the girls did the blow up obstacle courses a few times, they went in a fire truck, they collected all sort of fun free things while I waited in line, and they both got their faces painted. It was a really fun day!

For my birthday, we went to Moses Lake to go through the Moses Lake Temple Open House. It was a very hot day and quite a bit of driving for one day, but it was so worth it. I loved being able to go inside the temple and see the beauty within with my sweet girls. They loved the chandeliers and all the gorgeous details.

We stopped at Aaron and Rachel's house on our way back home and stayed there until after dinner. Anna and Scott's family also happened to go to the the open house that day just a few hours after us so they stopped at Aaron's too. It was fun to have a big family dinner and Anna even created a birthday cake out of ding dongs for me. It was a wonderful day spent with family. The next day I opened up presents and I love the sweet, thoughtful gifts I received especially from Paige and Baylor. They are the best gift givers! And I got myself a Costco chocolate cake to enjoy and we had Dale, Margaret, and Bill over for a little cerebration in the evening. 

This girl is BUSY! She has really gotten into climbing lately and wants to climb up whatever she can. I have to watch her a little closer now since I never know what she is going to try and climb in or on and doesn't always know how to get down. 

Cuties!!!

Pops drove from California all the way up to Alaska in a big van and he made a stop at their house and McCall got to try it out. She's a cute little driver. :)

Our last Saturday of summer break, Nate had to work all day so we went with Nona on a a few adventures and it was such a fun day. We went to Carnation and we were going to go to a park by the river for lunch, but there was an event going on and that park was closed and we happened to see that the Tolt Museum was open and so we stopped by to see it. It is an old historical house and has some history from that area and we enjoyed walking around it for a little bit.

Then we went to Valley Memorial Park to eat our lunch and the girls played on the playground for a little bit.

Then we went to Camlann Medieval Village which represents a village from the 1300's in Europe. They make everything like they would back in that day. They have medieval festivals once a month or so, but May through September on the weekend they have Village Days which is what we did where you can just walk around to see everything and they had a blacksmith, a carpenter, and a weaver there doing their work. We also went in the kitchen where you can have a meal if you want to. It was pretty fascinating to see and we all loved the weaver the most. She was working on a small loom and she was telling us how they make their own thread, dye the fabric, and how it is all made. It was incredible to watch!

Then that evening Nate joined us and we went to Mary Olsen Farm where the city of Auburn sponsored with this company and put on this free light show/experience. It was different artists that created the interactive light pieces that we walked around and went to. It was a unique and fun experience

Then one Sunday, Nate spoke in sacrament meeting and Baylor drew this picture of him. :) I love the bun on the side of his head. 

And this last Sunday, I had the youth at my house in the evening for a fireside. We talked about all of their summer experiences of trek and camps. I first put together a Kahoots and then I just asked them some questions and we had a really good discussion. Then we ended with some gourmet smores.  

It was such a fun and busy summer. I loved it all and we did SO many fun things together as a family. I love lazy summer mornings and we can do whatever we want. I love the warm weather and going on outdoor adventures. I will have two girls going to two different schools and they will be gone most of the day. I'm so excited for them and their growth and the things they are going to learn this school year, but I'm also going to miss them so much. I'm so grateful that I still have McCall to keep me company! 

What an amazing summer and now onto new adventures and a new school year!

Ocean Shores

On our way home from Idaho we were going to do it in two days, but when we stopped at the hotel, there were no rooms available that had more than 1 bed and it was super expensive and so we ended up driving the whole 12 hours in one day. We promised Paige that the money we saved not getting a hotel, that we would go to the ocean and stay overnight before summer break ended. Last week I looked at some Airbnb's and found a pretty inexpensive one and decided to go with one that was available for two nights instead of just one and I'm so glad we did that so we had a full day just to explore and be there without traveling.

We left Sunday after lunch and our first stop was near Aberdeen to the International Mermaid Museum. I had read about it online and looked into and saw the it was pretty cheap to go to and thought it would be a unique little stop and fun for the girls. It was so much more than I expected in such a good way. The museum is connected with a winery and RV resort and the property is such a cool place to explore and see. I'm so glad we made this stop! (I realized when we got here that I had forgotten the camera. Thank goodness phones have cameras these days and Paige also brought her camera so we told her to be our photographer for the trip.)

The museum was small, but really unique and they had little scavenger hunts for the girls.

We were originally just going to the museum, but then we saw how cool the property was that was connected with it and we probably spent another hour just walking around and seeing everything.

We made it to Ocean Shores and made a quick dinner. Our Airbnb was okay. It was pretty dirty especially the floors, but we made the most of it and we were very grateful to have a place to stay that had comfortable beds, a hot shower, and a roof over our heads. After dinner, we went to the first beach access that we saw and it was a beautiful evening walking on the sandy beach. We didn't get a sunset since it was cloudy, but it was wonderful.

My girls were in beach heaven! Baylor and Paige had so much fun running away from the waves and McCall loved crawling around in the sand.

We all slept pretty good. McCall only woke up once which was good since she was sharing a room with us and Paige and Baylor shared a king size bed. We had some breakfast before going to check out the North Jetty.

This beach was our favorite! We first walked on top of the jetty first. It was huge rocks and Baylor loved doing "rock climbing". Paige and Baylor did so good at working together and finding the best route across.

Then we headed down off the rocks once we spotted a few starfish and wanted to go see the tidepools. The tide was pretty low and when we got down we had the best surprise with getting to se SO MANY starfish!

I was in starfish heaven and loved it SO, SO much!

Once we got our fill of seeing starfish, poking sea anemone, and watching hermit crabs scamper around, we enjoyed the sandy beach. Paige and Baylor loved the waves and kept having to scoot their shorts up higher and higher since their legs were getting wet. It ended up getting pretty warm and the sun came out which was unexpected so I decided to strip McCall down to her diaper since she wanted to be in the water so bad just like her sisters. She was so cute to watch. She was so busy and didn't want to hold still. She loved the water and was covered in sand. The first time the water touched her belly, it shocked her a little but, after that she was happy to be in the water.

We went to Dollar General and got a few snacks and some frozen pizza for lunch. We got back to our house and McCall slept for a little bit while we waited for 30 minutes for the oven to preheat which it never did so we ended up going to McDonalds. Then it was back to the same beach we went to the night before. It was an absolutely gorgeous day! It was so sunny and was the perfect weather on the ocean. We brought our sand toys and Paige and Baylor wore their swimsuits. It was the best afternoon on the ocean!

We went back to the house and made dinner and then went to Sharky's which is a fun little souvenir store before going back to the North Jetty beach to enjoy a sunset on the beach.

We got a pretty small sunset because of the clouds but still gorgeous.

I love time with my sweet family, especially at the beach!

The next day was another beautiful day! We got so lucky with the weather. We got all checked out and then went to the beach one more time before heading home. We went to Ocean Shores for some beach time, and that is exactly what we did. It was so wonderful!

With the tide out, there were these warm pools of water and McCall was crawling all over in them and loved it.

The funny thing is we went back to the North Jetty again and there was not nearly as many starfish as the day before. We got to hold one this day though!

It was such an amazing little getaway. The beach is so soul soothing and I love seeing how happy the ocean and fun on the beach makes my family. Until next time!