Oh, how I love the ocean!

While we were in Washington, we took an over-night trip to Westport and Ocean Shores with Grandma, Aunt Elizabeth, cousins Devon and Brandon, and Uncle Aaron and family. We wanted to go to Forks 'cause they're supposed to have the best shells, but because of that silly vampire series, there was not a hotel to be found. Next time we'll plan ahead and go to Forks, and the rainforest.

One of my favorite parts of visiting Washington is all the water! Todd's mom lives near Silverdale (see map above) and it seems like every park we've visited has water access. It is so different from Utah...

Here is a picture of Brayden, Caleb, my neice Makensie, Dillon, and Todd waiting for the fishing boats to come in at Westport. While we were there we got freshly made salt water taffy (they had every flavor you could imagine from pomegranate to mint oreo), and of course we had seafood for lunch. I had deep-fried breaded salmon. I'll admit that I wasn't too thrilled that so much of the menu was deep-fried, but I have been CRAVING this salmon ever since. I want to drive back to Westport just for another taste. Really. I wonder if Barbara's by the sea will deliver to the middle of nowhere Utah...

The rest of these pictures are out of order, but I'm too lazy to fix them. After Westport, we drove to Ocean Shores where we had a quick dinner at "McDonald's by the sea", played on the shore for an hour, and watched the sunset. We stayed in an inky-dinky motel that had a few "issues" but I thought it was perfect. Food, family, and fun.

Dillon had a great time in "the world's biggest sandbox" and couldn't have cared less that there was water nearby. He played in the sand all day.

"Us older kids" spent our day knee-deep in the ocean searching for unbroken sand dollars. Our goal was to collect 25, but I know we found more. The water was a bit chilly, but once you couldn't feel your feet anymore it was just fine :o)

Here I am, flapping at the seagulls. We "kids" figured out that if we stuck a handful of wheat thins in various locations around one of our sandcastles, and then backed up and waited a minute, we could gather quite a crowd of seagulls. Then we'd count to three and take off chasing them. It was GREAT fun until Grandma discovered where all her wheat thins were going and killed the fun. ;o)

I love memories like this. The whole family sitting around in the inky-dinky motel, enjoying McDonald's by the sea, and letting our true colors shine. I don't remember what Uncle Aaron was saying, but it looks like it was important. (I took a similar picture a minute later, and Grandma had her finger up just like Aaron. I love it.)
Here is the sunset at the beach. There were cars lined along the shore waiting for this, and we got through the drive-thru and back to the beach just in time to enjoy.
Did I mention I love the ocean?

Mt. St. Helens

Brayden has long been a fan of any kind of science, including volcanoes,

so we took him to Mt. St. Helen's on our way to Grandma's house.

(Actually, Grandma drove down and met us there which was lots of fun).

The visitor center was built around this tree. All of the stumps on the mountain have this "shredded" look. None of them burned, because they were buried in ash so quickly that there wasn't enough oxygen to allow them to burn. The trees look like toothpicks all around the mountain.

Gotta have the family photo in front of the mountain to prove we were there. It was a gorgeous day. Not too hot, not too cold, and CLEAR! We went to Mt. St. Helens when Brayden was 9 mos old (with Grandma and Grandpa G.) and it was so foggy we couldn't see the mountain.

This time when the movie ended and the curtains opened up we were staring straight into the crater (instead of clouds)...very cool.

We had Aunt Elizabeth with us, also. It was good to spend some time with her. The boys are wearing their Jr. Ranger badges that they earned. The rangers could tell that our boys were really trying to do their best to learn, and fill out their packets, so they gave them extra stuff with their badges. They each got a certificate, a copy of the seismograph chart from the eruption, and postcards.

Some interesting facts:

Mt. St. Helens was active from 2000-2004 with several small eruptions. The dome in the middle of the crater kept getting bigger, but in 2004 it quieted down.

The 1980 blast was relatively small compared to other volcano eruptions, but the ash circled the entire globe. 56 people died, but 150 others were rescued from the mountain.

Mt. Rainier (which is further north) has been having small earthquakes, just like Mt. St. Helen's had before the 1980 eruption. If it erupts in our lifetime, it will be much worse because of it's location and the large cities that surround it.

Brayden was able to earn a cub scout medallion for visiting the volcano.

And this is my favorite:

The elevation of Mt. St. Helen's is just over 8300 ft.

I laughed out loud when I learned this, because we are over 8000 ft.

every time we drive over the mountain to get to Wal-Mart.

A quick post from Washington...

This little pig went to market...

(kind of sad when you are so excited to go to Goodwill that you take a picture)

And this little pig stayed home...

(luckily he was the only one to get sick)

This little pig loved the ocean...

And this little pig loved the shore...

And this little pig's gonna cry

wii, wii, wii all the way home.

The Graves's do the Grand Canyon

We took our fist vacation of the summer this week,

and visted the Grand Canyon...and grand, it was.

I didn't have to worry too much about the boys

getting too close to the edge, because Dillon

worried enough for all of us. We named him our

personal GPS (Graves positioning system).

If we got too close to the edge, he let us know

...and he wasn't quiet about it.

There were plenty of places to have a picnic and look

over the rim. The boys had a great time jumping off of

rocks, and that was just fine with me.

We took this trail, and saw the foundations of some

Native American homes. It was great for Brayden

since it passed off one of his scout requirements.

The boys became "Junior Rangers" by completing the requirements

in their booklets from the visitor's center. We also attended a class

on the California Condor, and it was actually quite interesting.

My favorite part was "Angel's Window". The video at the end

is the view we had while standing at the edge of this formation.

We stayed at a cabin in Jacob Lake (about an hour from the

Grand Canyon) where my cousin Clarissa is working

for the summer. It was fun to see her. She seems like

she's having a great time...I miss those college days :o)

Until Clarissa started working there, and I looked at a map,

I had no idea we only live about 4 1/2 hours away from the north rim.

The boys named their dad "The 8th wonder of the world",

but made sure that he knew how well known he wasn't.

They grow up so fast...

Dillon took this picture of Todd.

We spent the $80 for the National Parks pass,

so we're hoping to get to Canyonlands, Arches, Zion's,

Bryce Canyon, and possibly Mt. St. Helen's and

Mesa Verde within the next year.

We live within a 3 hour drive of the first four,

and we're only about 5-6 hours from Mesa Verde.

Hopefully we can do Mt. St. Helen's during our

trip to Washington in July.

Now if we could just buy a trailer...