Spring Break

The six older kids are out on spring break and I have been trying to keep them busy and out of my hair.

Corey has been working all over the state and he needed to head down south.

I took this as the perfect opportunity to not be left alone with all the kids to have some quality family time, so we tagged along.

I took these five kiddos through the Oregon Caves.

That was super cool and very interesting!

We then drove farther down south, through the Redwood forest which contained some of the biggest trees thatyoueverdidsee.

From there we headed over to the coast, just in time to see the sun setting.

We ate dinner on the beach...a little cold but beautiful.

After dinner, we realized how far away from home we were. Ouch.

We actually didn't make it home until almost 2am. **Yawn**

Planning even a day outing like this requires so much advance prep.

We didn't buy any food at all while we were gone.

Not because I didn't feed them although that would have been easier

Instead, we brought along all our own food.

Turkey sandwiches, strawberries, granolie bars, pumpkin muffins, apples, blond brownies, burritos, dried fruit and nuts.

I cooked a turkey and made sun-dried tomato/mozzarella cheese bread for the sandwiches. I've already shared the granolie bars recipe and at some point, I'll get around to posting the pumpkin muffin recipe. They are delish and healthy. Weird, huh?

I made 150 burritos and froze most. The rest of them we took for dinner.

My teenage boys refer to the blond brownies as "a little slice of heaven". They are that good. Healthy too? I think not.

Who's ready for the next adventure?

Not me!

At least not yet.

I'm still recovering from this one...

Adventures at the Local Farm

The three teenagers stayed at home because they were too cool to tag along but the younger six had a great time!


Horse-drawn wagon ride through the orchard

Balloons for all

Enjoying cobbler and ice cream

That is the stuff that memories are made of!

Family Outing...Crater Lake

Another beautiful day.

In August, at one of our many gorgeous national parks.

I just don't think that it gets any better than this.

Seriously.

Corey and I...still sane or pretending to be for the benefit of those around us.



Picture perfect views!



Nature at it's finest.

I love this crew!

My kids desperately wanted to take this guy home and make him part of the family.

I think not.

This was just one of those days to treasure...soak in the memories.

Perfect.

Life is good.

Family Outing..."Are we there yet?"

See this cute little girl?

Let me assure you...her not screaming, whining, throwing anything she can get her chubby hands on, flinging any food or drink offered to her, taking off her shoes and socks and using them as missiles crying while riding in her carseat?

It's a miracle.

She is a nightmare to travel with and don't let that cute little smile trick you.

For real.

The sign said "Don't feed the animals", but we did anyway.


We stopped on the way to our destination and had everyone stretch their legs and use the bathroom if you can actually call that outhouse **shudder** a bathroom. I seriously felt like I needed to take a shower just being downwind. Not yummy.

We took a short hike why can't it be downhill both ways? up to a beautiful waterfall.

You can get an idea how big it was by comparing it to Timothy, in the bottom right hand corner.

And the view...stunning.

And almost worth the gasping, panting for air, I am so counting that as my cardio for the day hike.

Almost...

Waterfalls

Amidst all the canning and cooking lately, we took a day off, loaded up the kids in the prison van and headed to one of our state parks because we felt guilty for ignoring them so much while canning.

Gorgeous waterfalls...lots!

There were several that we were able to walk behind...amazing!

Total distance hiked...5 miles

Number of tired toddlers...3

Was it worth the hike?...completely!

Number of kids wanting to do the hike again...0

This picture makes me look like the waterfall is coming down directly on my head...nice.

Just getting started on the torture hike...we are all ok, not all of us...grumpy teenager excluded, as usual happy!

Matthew...little trooper!

Joseph...insistent on carrying Lily again not like I argued. After all, who actually wants 25 pounds of chub strapped to one's body. Oh wait, guess I already do.

Scenery...beautiful

Are you getting annoyed with my "..." yet? If not, then I'll keep going.

How many teenagers do you know that would pack their own strangely healthy lunch?...0?

With a plate for his salad????? Who's kid is this anyway?

According to the kids and adults this was the best part of the trip...lunch!

Family Outing

Recently, I had an epiphany I know, I know...shocking.

If I wanted my kids to develop a love and appreciation of the great outdoors, I would have to make sure they experienced it more. I know...deep thinking hurts my brain.

There is a time and a place for the man made...for giving into the materialism and commercialism that makes up our society. But, I don't want that to be the norm.

Just to clarify, in a completely honest way, I love being outside. I love the great outdoors. Really. Sometimes, I kid around and complain about getting dirty and yadda yadda yadda, but I really love being out in nature. I find it quite refreshing.

It's just that taking nine kids into the great outdoors and having them get all dirty is just plain work.

But, even though there was going to be work involved, we took a day trip up to the local state park. And, as much as I hate to admit it, I really enjoyed myself. So, looks like we'll be doing it again and I plan on rewarding myself with new shoes for being such a good sport.

I sure love my family!

The Wildlife Refuge

Last Friday, I took the kids to local wildlife refuge. and no, I'm not referring to my backyard.

Corey was gone working, so I stupidly bravely loaded up all nine kids in the prison van big van and off we went. This was, of course, after sitting in the garage for 20 minutes, sending various kids back inside to use the bathroom and gearing myself up to leave which included deep breathing techniques and continuous chanting of "it's for the kids" over and over.

First, because I wanted to minimize the whining because I thought the kids would enjoy picking out their own snacks (within reason, of course) we stopped by the local grocery store and all went inside.

I don't often take all the kids anywhere out in public with me so it was quite a treat actually, I was taking paranoid headcounts the entire time while totally rocking the pied piper look.

After picking out ice cream, cookies, cake and gummy bears which put me in the position of having to tell them to get real, we decided on bananas, fish crackers, trail mix and apple juice boxes.

After we all wedged into one of the checkout lanes with our goodies, I paid and then we all filed out. Me, the mother duck, with all my cute little ducklings following behind. I was hoping that we could call that our "adventure" for the day but the kids actually still wanted to go to the refuge. Ahhh...well, a girl can dream, right?

Thankfully the drive was short because I forgot my "earplugs", er, Ipod and a DVD for the TV's because my natives became restless very quickly and Lily screamed the entire time she is in her car seat. And, I promise you, there is no volume of music that will tune her out I've tried, believe me Good times...good times...

Upon arrival if I heard "Are we almost there yet" one more time, I swear that I was going to pull the van over and... we all piled out and I started assigning buddies. No child left behind is my motto too. We have first hand experience...ahem...

Joseph decided that he wanted a workout and offered to carry Lily in the Bjorn, or as he referred to her "the weight vest".

Michael, who had been texting on his phone the entire trip up, was standing next to the van attached to his cell phone. sigh...

We put a cute little bear backpack on Levi with a leash attached because we are not stupid and assigned Joshua as his buddy.

Timothy walked with Matthew and Liz was with Hannah. All nice and tidy whitey, right?

Everything was good except there was a whiner amongst us. We were going too fast...Her feet hurt...She was tired...Why can't everyone wait up for her...

It was annoying.

Don't judge me, I'm totally out of shape...If you had birthed all those kids you'd be whining too...

ahem...

I discovered ok, some of it was reaffirmation some things about myself while I was out powering through enjoying the outdoors, at one with nature.

1. I don't like dirt. It's dirty.

2. I don't like bugs. And yes, I am capable of screaming loudly at the sight of a shadow of a teeny tiny bug a huge bug who is dive bombing my hair. Stupid bug.

3. I feel large amounts of anxiety when thinking about my kids getting poison oak. It's commonly referred to as kidsgettingposionoakobia. For real. It's in the medical dictionary next to uglyshoeobia. Go check it out if you don't believe me.

4. I don't like dirt. It makes my kids dirty. my list, my rules, I can use that reason twice if I want to, thankyouverymuch

5. I enjoyed spending the time with my kids so much that I am willing to overlook #1-4 except maybe #2...

What I really need to find is a place that I can take the kids for a nature hike in a bugless, dirt free environment where you can look at shoes.

Anyone know of such a place?

Anyone?...



Oh, and by the way...just in case you were wondering, we actually didn't forget anyone...this time...