Summer Vacation

So I guess it is time to blog about our summer outings. We have been gone quite a bit and it has been fun to have some family vacation time together. And I have really enjoyed being with my kids while vacationing which is amazing because I have really not liked traveling with them up to this point. But they have been fantastic.

A couple of weeks after we went to Oregon for Terry's triathalon, we went back up to Washington and stayed at Ensign Ranch for 4 nights. We went to this ranch a couple of years ago which is owned by the church and had a good time. So we decided to go back and enjoy a longer stay. We stayed in this family cabin which is pretty bare bones, but it has beds with mattresses (not too comfortable, but better than the floor) and a refrigerator and microwave and little counters and picnic like tables inside.

There are a lot of things to do and so we stayed busy each day. We took all of our bikes and I thought that was the funnest part--just riding around all their roads as a family.

The first day we got set up and then went into Cle Elum for some dinner (we were really roughing it).




The next day was Sunday and so we went to church and heard some really good talks by the missionaries serving at the ranch and they talked about American Independence. We went home and ate a roast dinner (because there was electricity in the cabin and so I cooked roast and potatoes and carrots in the crock pot all day long). We took it easy the rest of the day and just went for a little family bike ride. I think that night we had a fire and roasted marshmallows.


Ellie and Abby before church


All of the kids right before church

The next day we took the kids over to ride horses. They loved it a lot and I was surprised that Isaac even enjoyed himself. It was the cutest thing to see his litle chubby body up there on that big horse.



Later that evening Terry took the girls over to the slip and slide. It was only open during odd hours because there were girls camps that had priority. So I think we just hung around our cabin and rested and threw rocks in a creek that was about 100 feet away from our cabin. The girls loved this area.






That night we had a fire and roasted marshamallows again.

The next day we went to the lake and put our whole family into a canoe and paddled around the lake. We have never tried it with everyone, but all the kids did fine and we had a good time.




This is the outhouse that was our second home. I don't know why we have a picture of it.

After the canoeing we went over to the slip and slide and played for a couple of hours. We got everyone on three tubes and went down together. My kids really think I am a party pooper most of the time and so they were so delighted that I was participating in all these activities. But I have to say to defend myself that usually we have had a small baby or I have been pregnant. So . . .


I forgot to mention they had this swing that swung out over a lake. I had to show Terry how daring I could be so we went over there and I swung right into the lake.



During most of these mornings, Terry and I took turns running in the mornings and it was so nice to run around the ranch through all the trees and around the lakes. We both enjoyed it.

The last night we went back in to Cle Elum and ate pizza. We packed up the next morning and got ready to head over to Oak Harbor Washington for Terry's family reunion. But when we went to start the car, it wouldn't turn over. I guess the battery died. So we got someone to jump our car and then once it was running we discovered another problem. It kept quitting whenever it idled. So we said a prayer and drove off towards Seattle where we were going to pick up Terry's sister Cheryl. We made it okay, but Terry had to do some fancy footwork to keep the car running. We decided to cross (or I should say Terry decided) over to Oak Harbor on the ferry. I thought we shouldn't risk stalling where all those cars would be stuck behind us. But would he listen to me? Anyway, when we drove on to the ferry the ferry worker was waving us up one side to a second floor and our car stalled. So he said, never mind. Just drive straight ahead so that it would be easier to push us out. Anyway, we made it to Oak Harbor and got the car in a shop and it was fixed with a little cleaning of the fuel pump or something like that.

We stayed the next two nights and had a good time with Terry's family. The first night everyone just gathered together and visited. We stayed in this nice hotel with a pool and all the cousins had fun swimming together. The next day we had lunch at Terry's sister, Carol Ann's and then we headed over to the church where she had booked a DJ for a family dance. Ellie, Abby and their cousin Kayla thought it was the greatest thing in the world to stand up on the stage in front of everyone and sing the songs and dance for us all(I am sure they were pretending they were Hannah Montana). Sam was busting some pretty mean moves too. I wish I had a video of it because he is so uninhibited and totally throws his whole body into it.




After the dance we went back to the house and ate dinner and celebrated Ellie's, Kaylas, and Liberty's birthdays with cake, presents and a pinata. And the pinata was filled with some good candy. I had to fill up a back for Isaac (wink wink).






Anyway, the next morning we loaded up again and took off by 7 AM because we had to drive all the way back home so that Terry could get up and be to work by 6 AM the next morning.

So that was a summary of this vacation.