weekend wonders

Yesterday we went canoeing in the bay and saw lots of seals, as well as crabs, pelicans, and what looked like white winter-coated egrets.

This evening we went to the end of the bay where it opens into the ocean and walked along the jetty. We saw starfish, barnacles, Brown pelicans...and dolphins! I couldn't believe it, but there were two dolphins swimming all around in front of us. It was remarkable.

Saturday outing

 We started the day by sleeping in, which is always nice, especially since we were up so late watching fireworks. Then we watched some soccer and headed out to Houda Point.

It was low tide so we were able to explore in lots of tide pools. We found sea stars, sea anemone, barnacles, sea snails and crabs. It was really fun to see it all in the wild and not in an aquarium.

Later we went to the farmers market on the plaza in Arcata, followed by sushi... amazing sushi. We came home and watched more soccer. It was a good day.

Fair, Discovery Museum, Gardens

On the Ferris Wheel

Vacation

Brad drove home from a conference in Washington, and we met him at Crater Lake. That night we stayed in a Yurt at Lake Selma. 

The next day we went to Cave Junction, Oregon and saw some amazing big cats and the Oregon caves. 

Ruth and Will became Junior Rangers.

We were going to camp here, but it was raining and muddy. We drove to Crescent City and stayed there for the night.

 In the morning we visited Ocean World, which was such a fun aquarium experience. 

Next we stopped at the Trees of Mystery where the kids got to talk to Paul Bunyan. This was also really neat. They really do have lots of amazing trees in this bit of forest, and the gondola ride was fun...ok it was really scary.

We ate a picnic lunch, after asking Paul where the picnic tables were, and then stopped at the beach before heading home. It was a wonderful time (except for the part where I had to drive by myself all the way to Crater Lake with 3 carsick kids.) and so nice to be out together enjoying the fun things all around our new home.

GMConference through Crater Lake June 2014 | My new trip on Roadtrippers.com!

My girls

Ruth is currently missing 4 teeth

Claire's favorite things to say are, huney! (Funny) punchoo! (Punch you) and, dun liiikit (don't like it)

Welcome to California

Digging holes at the beach

After a long day of beach play and moving, Will could barely stay awake for dinner

Father's Day picture

Fun in the Redwoods

We also found a great Charter School for Ruth to attend. It allows me to homeschool and choose which on-site classes she wants to participate in. It is the perfect balance for our family...and I got to choose all the curriculum/non-curriculum for Ruth. The budget even pays for extra-curricular activities like gymnastics. We're so excited to be here!

Before Leaving Washington

Before leaving Washington the kids and I made a last visit with Tia. It was so fun, and we ended on a high note...except for Claire who was stung by a bee.

As soon as we got back to town we got down to cleaning our house. It was so awesome to have helpers who actually helped!

We had amazing friends who randomly came over and helped us pack up on Tuesday night, so instead of breaking the trip from Washington to California by stopping in central Oregon, we went to whole way on Wednesday. And holy cow, the kids were awesome. We stopped for lunch in Portland with my parents. Claire napped half of the trip and Ruth and Will watched shows in the big moving truck.