Camping in California

Ali had auditions for this year's dance team, so we had to leave a little later than originally planned. The drive wasn't too bad, and we made it to our campsite by midnight.

The first day was spent exploring Crescent City and checking it out; seeing what was around there. {Turns out: not much.}

The next day we drove to the Trees of Mystery. We put Lucy on her leash {dogs are allowed!} and walked through the park looking at all of the strange - and huge! - trees. We took a gondola ride up to the top, but it was very foggy up there... we couldn't see much. The girls loved the ride, though, and kept asking to go on it again.

 Nice face, Mer.

Night time was for campfires and s'mores.

Another day we went to the Jedediah Smith Redwoods Park to play in the river. It was beautiful! The girls couldn't wait to get into the river... and once they got used to the *cold*, they had a ball. :)

And, of course, we needed to find a giant Redwood that we could drive through...

This was such a great trip. I love camping with my family! Trav is already planning our trips for next summer...

Seaside

What: A girls trip to beach
When: July 2013
Who: Trav & Mike came with us on Monday for a game of golf, then they went home. Casey and her girls came on Tuesday afternoon.

Ali's favorite thing was going to the arcade, digging at the beach, and swimming. Mer agrees with this! :) The bike ride was fun too, but much harder than we were expecting! Whew! It was a lot of work...

Going to the Arcade

Digging (& playing) at the Beach

Swimming

The Bike Ride

Trav came back down Friday night and Saturday we took him back to the arcade and the tilt-a-whirl!

Believe it or not, these photos only show a portion of what we did... there were trips to the ice cream store & book store, plays, Letterboxing, feeding the seals... It was such a fun - and full - week! 

Mt. Hood Railroad

While the Brisons were still in town, we drove out to Hood River to ride the Mt. Hood Railroad to Parkdale. It is such a beautiful ride!

All of the kids loved it... they had so much fun! We had great seats up on top of the train, but the girls got Gramma to take them exploring around the train.

The train stopped in Parkdale for an hour. We had packed a picnic lunch, and after lunch we walked to the little market for treats. :)

We drove through rain to get to the train station, but it was beautiful up at the mountain... sunny and clear. 

July 4th

It has become a tradition for us to go to the Happy Valley Family Parade. This year the girls wanted to participate by riding their bikes... however, when they got to where I was watching, they wanted to stop. {Ali wanted to watch Natalie walk by, Merilyn was just done.}

Mer said the bike was "just awful" to ride. The wheels were giving her trouble. {Can you tell she was having a blast??} Trav was with her the whole time... practically doing all the work! :)

After the parade we went back to Gramma's house for the annual slip-n-slide! 

Trav got in on the action as well... giving super pushes and even doing some sliding of his own!

Later there was a delicious BBQ and{as tradition dictates} the fireworks came out! There were a few *extra special* fireworks this year. We could really tell the difference between these, and the Oregon fireworks!

While we were waiting for the Happy Valley firework show, they built a campfire and roasted s'mores. There's always so much food! It was another great year celebrating our country's freedom with family and friends! We love that the Brisons have continued the tradition of coming down to join us.

Independence Day 2013!