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.

First few days of fun in California

Ruth lost ANOTHER tooth

Today we went to the Mad River Beach and played by ourselves for 2 hours. Everyone and their dogs started showing up, so we left.

Central Washington Vacation

We left home on Friday morning and drove the scenic route to Leavenworth, which is a Bavarian village in the mountains. It was beautiful. The best part was the Nutcracker shop we found that had REAL nutcrackers from Germany...they actually crack nuts and are super expensive. 

We camped out that night at Tumwater near the Wenatchee River, which was an amazing sight. The next day we popped over to Wenatchee to see the Pybus Market and the Ohme Gardens.

Afterwards we made the short drive to Chelan to eat lunch. My HANDSOME guys!

Then we drove further north to find Chief Joseph's ACTUAL burial site...Joseph, Oregon isn't where he's buried. The reservation there is very beautiful and we really enjoyed the long drive there through the trees and rolling hills.

We continued the beautiful drive to the Grand Coulee Dam. This was truly awe-inspiring. It is MASSIVE and really interesting to read about how they built it and how they get all the power from the river to people all over the Pacific Northwest.

We missed the dam tour by a couple minutes (that one is for you Asa)!

That night we slept on an island called Steamboat Rock Park. Another geologic feature created by the great Missoula Floods. Sunday we woke up, packed up, and drove a short way to visit Dry Falls.

And we hiked to where some disappointing caves were and at the Ginkgo Petrified "Forest."

Washington Loop Summer 2014 | My new trip on Roadtrippers.com!

Will's 4th Birthday

We had a pretty normal day for Will's birthday filled with our usual activities and fun. Once Brad got home we unveiled the birthday cake...which was a total flop. He had no idea what it was until someone told him. Needless to say I was a bit disappointed. But it tasted yummy: strawberry poke cake with a layer of strawberry ice cream in between.

Prior to the actual cake eating we had his requested dinner of chicken cordon blue and tater tots.

After dinner and cake we turned on Star Wars 4, which everybody loved. Then we had a big camp out in the living room. Will fell asleep before the movie was even over! The next day we left for our Central Washington Trip.

Special Things About Will: His current favorite toys are super heroes, especially Iron Man and Hulk. Will has gotten really strong, mostly thanks to his gymnastics class and all the playgrounds we visit. He is still a really sweet guy who is sensitive and very thoughtful of others. He is still a little wary of trying new things and is cautious about dangerous situations, but is much more brave than he used to be. He also still loves strong flavors like vinegar dressings and feta. Whenever we go to a restaurant he loves to order salad. And of course his love for sugar is unabated, this kid will do almost anything to get a piece of candy in his mouth.

Stuff We Do Before Moving