Truly Paradise

Trying to catch-up a bit. Two weekends ago, we went to Mt. Rainier for the day. It was absolutely gorgeous! We picked a perfect day it seemed. I hadn't been since I was a young girl and Eric hadn't gone since before we got married. We live so close, but just never seem to get there, so this year we made a point of going. It's been on my list of family activities since we moved back to WA 4 years ago and we finally got to go on a picture perfect day. The only unfortnate part was the long drive because of traffic and everyone else wanting to go that day as well. We sat in a 30min. line just to get into the entrance of the park. It was absolutely beautiful though--truly paradise, so it was all worth it. It was so fun to take our girls up there and be on it and see it so close instead of always seeing it from afar when we are in the car driving somewhere. God's creation is amazing!

We are almost there...


The drive took longer than we thought, so we were all starving to eat our picnic lunch. Unfortunately, the Paradise (where we wanted to spend most of our time) parking lot was full so we had to picnic at Longmire. It all worked out though, b/c by the time we were done eating and 6 people took potty breaks, Paradise was clearing out a bit.


Katelyn and Mom on the new suspension bridge that was built after the horrible rainstorms of 2006 that destroyed a vast amount of the park.


A stop at one of the waterfalls on the way up to Paradise.




The newly renovated Paradise Lodge--its beautiful!


The family (Audrey is hiding).:>)


Our 4 daughters...


Audrey (left) Alyssa (right)



One of my new favorites of our big girls together.

Family Friends Wedding Day

I am a little behind, but the weekend before last, we went to Gig Harbor for a long time family friends wedding with my parents. Its hard to believe, Rania, the bride, is old enough to be married! I used to babysit her and her younger sister, Kayla when they were about 3 and 5! Wow, how time flies. I feel so old!:>) The wedding was outside on her parents beautiful piece of property complete with its on pond and even a horse arena. It was a gorgeous day, but extremely hot!

Rania and Greg


I wish I had a picture of the two of us as kids for comparison.:>) Actually, I do, but it wasn't digital in those days.


Madison


Katelyn


Time for a silly photo.


I love this picture! My girls (minus the twins--they were at their Nana and Papas) with Grandpa Ron and Grandma Sue.


Time for wedding cake--one of the best cakes I think I have had! Before cake we had a wonderful, fully catered dinner. Yummy!


Katelyn really wanted to dance at the wedding. Nobody else really wanted to go out there with her, so good ol' Grandpa did. Thanks Dad! Once Katelyn got out there, she wasn't too sure what to think.


The girls feeding Jack LOTS of apples. This is the horse Katelyn got to ride a few weeks prior.

Katelyn's Last Day of Swim Class

On Thursday, Katelyn had her last day of swim class with coach Kathy. We wish she could've gotten in for the month of September, but we started too late in the summer so there wasn't enough room. She came SO far it amazes me. As Kathy put it, "she made lots of grunt/groan noises when she needed to get her face wet, and now she does it without complaint." Also, she would dive to the side of the pool rather than straight out because of fear. Now, she loves it and tries to see how many times she can go before Kathy blows the whistle. We are SO proud of her. She even got to swim without a floaty on Thursday!

Cannon Beach

Day 3 was spent at Cannon Beach with our good friends My-Linh and Joel and their 2 kids. Our girls were born 2 weeks apart, they were in a playgroup together and then they bought their home (where they still live) 2 doors down from our old house in Hillsboro. We miss them, but are glad we don't live too far away and can visit each other. Its fun to see our girls still play together like nothing ever changed.

Ashley and Madison--friends since birth! Wow, how they grow up! (Their other friend since birth, Amber, is pictured on the left of the second picture but unfortunately she couldn't make it to the beach that day. At least we got to see Amber and her family the next day).

Alyssa (left) and Audrey loving the sand.


Katelyn loved flying her kite


It was Audrey's turn to see if she could fly a kite.


Love you Ashley!


Nap time on the beach (at least for Alyssa)


The four munckins (left to right--Ashley, Katelyn, Madison, Cole)

Audrey (left) and Alyssa (right). Can you tell who really liked the sand!?


Daddy and Alyssa bug

Best Friends Forever
Left Picture: Katelyn (age 6) and Madison (almost 8)
Right Picture: Madison (age 3) and Katelyn (14 months)

Hillsboro Arrival--Evening of Day 2

Lack of sleep had definitely set in with all of the girls and it was a good thing the drive was pretty short from the Great Wolf to Oregon. We arrived late that night and took the girls to get ice cream at Dairy Queen before we went to our hotel.

For those of you that don't know, DQ is my favorite place to go and get ice cream. Maybe its because I worked there in high school at the drive thru. It's fun to take my girls there and tell them about what I did when I worked there and how I would come home with ice cream splattered all over my shirt. Madison and Katelyn got to try a blizzard for the first time--they picked Butterfinger. Eric and I shared a Peanut Buster Parfait--just like old times!:>) And...Alyssa and Audrey got their very own ice cream cones. You know, I would've never given Madison and Katelyn their very own ice cream cone at age 2, but its amazing what you will do with #3 and 4--especially when there is lots of screamin' cryin' involved and you just want them to be happy. So, here they are...happy indeed!

Audrey says..."I want cochege" (which is chocolate)

Alyssa enjoying her cone--what a fun mess!

Going to the Lodge--Day 2

Okay...so it was day two. Alyssa and Audrey slept horrible the night before so they weren't as into it as they were on Friday. Daddy, Madison and I went on the howlin' tornado slide that morning while my good friend Tram watched A.&A. and Katelyn. We then all hung out in the wave pool with the girls. Lunch time came, and the day of water fun came to a close for Daddy and the twins. He was pretty tired from the prior night, so he took a nap with the twins in our friends room after lunch and I played in the water with all the girls.

Here is a video you can watch from the Great Wolfs site on on the tornado slide.
http://www.greatwolf.com/locations/grandmound/waterparks/howlintornado.aspx#

Mommy and Daddy--are you coming? We're getting tired...


Here we come out of the howlin' tornado. It was a blast although I couldn't convince Madison to go with me again.:>(


My good friend Tram watching the twins for us. She was a lifesaver! Thanks Tram for all of your help!


The 3 girls having fun in the fountains.


Trying to keep warm...


Best friends forever


The girls being silly in our friends room after lunch.

Going to the Lodge!

Last Friday we all ventured out for a 4-day vacation to the new Great Wolf Lodge in Grand Mound WA with our good friends and then to Hillsboro OR (where we bought our first home and Madison and Katelyn were born) and Cannon Beach on the Oregon coast to spend time with some other good friends.

Day 1: Great Wolf Lodge--Huge Indoor Water Park

This place was amazing! We all had a great time and definitely want to visit there again. There was plenty to do for everyone of any age. There was even lots of water fun for A.&A.

This is the large water area where the kids played the majority of the time. That huge bucket on the top holds 1,000 gallons of water and dumps everywhere once it fills (every few mins.). The girls loved waiting for it to fill and watching everyone scream. There is a warning sign by it that asks parents not to hold small children under it due to the weight! Can you imagine?!

Here is what each of my girls said they loved best about the Great Wolf.

• Madison-"playing in the wave pool with my friend Haley!"
  
• Katelyn-"all the waterslides!"
• Audrey-the kid pool area
• Alyssa-the purple slide

Audrey (back) and Alyssa (front)


Katelyn loving the waterslides


Audrey on one of their favorite activities--purple slide


Alyssa sitting on the starfish. You spin it around and it squirts out water. We found out later we weren't supposed to put her on it. Oh well, it was fun while it lasted!

Madison and Haley crossing the lily pads and hoping not to fall in--they made it.


Izzy, Audrey and Katelyn (when you pull on the red thing with the rope in it water squirts up)


Daddy and his youngest sweeties!


The family on the beaver!


Shower time--not really, but it looks like it.