Black Butte Part 1

I feel like I'm always saying that things are our favorite. It may be true that we have too many favorites, but Black Butte Ranch is one of those favorites. Every year on the week of Alex's birthday we travel out near Sisters, OR, to play with cousins and family and just relax for a week in one of the most beautiful places I know.

The kids helped me prep for the trip by wrapping Alex's birthday presents. O wrote the words and Carter drew a picture of him and Alex jumping on the trampoline on each one :).

I love these pictures of the kids each time we travel. Some days are earlier and tired-er looking than others, but this was one they could get behind. We didn't wake them up early, and they knew they would be swimming before dinner, so there was nothing to be grumpy about.

Thanks to one missed turne and a reroute from Google Maps, we spent a couple miles on this almost-road north of Pullman. We almost turned around a few times when actual plants were growing in the middle of the road, but we were rewarded with beautiful scenery on the first few miles of our drive ;)

The kids insist on using their pillows on long drives. Doesn't this look comfortable?

After 6ish hours and some more gravel roads (technically a 'shortcut' in Oregon from one highway to the next...thanks Google!) we arrived at Black Butte. The kids were immediately ready for the pool, so I was glad for all the help in getting unloaded and into swimsuits!

Most of my pictures of Olivia are just of her feet or bum as she dives underwater. She has always been a little fish, and this year her skill level has finally caught up to her confidence, so she was a lot of fun to watch in the pool all the time.

We didn't stay up too late on Saturday, but in the morning we got to swim early then go meet baby Mila! My little baby-hog got right in on the action, of course :)

After getting back, Alex took the big kids back to the pool for a while, and Makenzie opted for a walk with Hunter, Ashley, Grandma and me. By the end she had found most of the items on her walk bingo, but was beyond tired :) She barely made it back before crashing in bed

On Monday we took Hunter in to Sisters for a little shopping and exploring, and left the older kids with everyone else to play. Alex and I had this picture of bringing a baby on a date and having some us time, but Hunter is less of a baby and more a toddler these days, so he was a handful all by himself. We did go to breakfast and browse a little in the shops before heading back mid-morning.

When we got back it was clear that Makenzie at least had had fun! She crashed before lunchtime, which is unheard of for her.

A little afternoon Pie Face :). I was so surprised at the willingness of all the grownups to play, I never do. Olivia was super excited to see who would get hit in the face :)

I really should take more pictures of the beauty that surrounds us during our week at the Ranch. We have deer (probably 20+ a day) all the time, including many moms with babies, which is a big hit for the kids. We also see fish, lizards, squirrels, horses, cows, birds, and I'm probably forgetting many others. The kids are able to explore and dig and walk through streams, and we spend hours upon hours at the pool. Here are some 'reindeers' that joined us for breakfast one morning

Playing at the park!

After the park we hit up the tennis courts. Alex won for dad of the year when he played while holding Hunter, who just wanted to be with his dad :)

Haha...if he thought playing with Hunter was hard, it was nothing compared to Makenzie, who is 10+ pounds heavier and likes to play with your hair and mouth and sunglasses while you run around :). Superdad!!

Tennis was frustrating for O, but she would discover her sport of choice a couple days later...pickleball!

The fact that I'm already to Wednesday tells me two things: 1. I should take more pictures at Black Butte and 2. I steal a lot of my sisters' pictures from all of our other vacations :)

On Wednesday we took a tour of the firehouse, which is always a kid favorite, and I enjoy it as well. The firefighters put on a good presentation all about the fires and fire danger in the area, as well as how they make good use of a fairly small fire station to protect the ranch and respond to other problems in the surrounding areas.

Next they have one of the interns put on all the gear and time it. I love this for my kids' sake, so they know what a firefighter looks like in case they are ever in a bad situation. It's also interesting to hear about how much all the gear weighs and how warm it gets in the gear even when they're not in a fire. I love our heroes!!

High fives from the ladder truck!

Dads with their 'babies'. This whole week I just couldn't get over how huge Hunter is. He used to be that tiny size, but it's hard to believe that now! Mila was so sweet and I could have held her the whole week, except for the four munchkins I had pulling on my arms the entire time :)

And what we all came for...the fire hose!

We spent that afternoon at the Lodge pool and lake. Here was our view as we sat having snacks before going out in the canoe/kayak/paddleboard. Man it takes a lot of boats to carry all of us!

O went with Andy in the kayak, and had a blast being in the front and in charge :) She was pretty good at steering and figured out the paddling thing really fast.

Alex and I took the 2 middle kids in the Canoe. Makenzie was rocking grandpa's hat, which looked totally Amelia Bedilia-y on her... :)

We never managed to get a group shot of everyone from the shore because as soon as Hunter saw me (he was with Grandma and Grandpa) he started screaming and didn't stop until he was in my arms. Silly kid had a blast without us, as long as he couldn't see us.

The playground at the lodge had a sand pit, and they had some fun local live music that evening, so we stopped and played a little before heading to bed.

Somebody likes the sand :)

These pictures are a little out of order because they come from another camera and I'm too lazy to fix them...

Family swim picture!

Here's the group shot sans Ashley and Ashley on paddleboards. Next year we will get everyone...assuming we figure out how to get Hunter in a boat...2 canoes maybe??

The second half of the week included more playing with cousins, walks through the stream, and Alex's birthday! Coming up eventually (currently our floors are being redone and I'm still waiting for kids to go back to school so my time is just about as short as my patience :)

July: Week 1

We spent over half of July on trips with family, but the first week was at home, busily prepping for two different 8-day trips with only 4 days in between. We also squeezed Independence Day in there, and had our first Pullman festival, which was a lot of fun. Here are the pictures from our busy week!

This was one of those days when I questioned if it's OK to go to the bathroom, ever. 'I was getting a snack!' She told me happily after I took the knife away. This independent, happy two-year-old just might be the end of me.

Independence Day is one of my favorites. Full of festivity, fun, and heroes. We usually try to find a parade and some fireworks, but have spent in a new area every year lately, so it's also a great time to explore some of the local fairs. This year was no different. We started with some flag toast and red sprinkle eggs (Olivia insisted that the eggs needed to be festive too, and she didn't want salsa, so we improvised).

This year was a digging effort to find fun red, white and blue outfits for everyone, but they turned out great, and made me question the need for forethought when it comes to holiday outfits. Here are the girls who were super excited to have sister pictures and matching hair for the day.

I can't take credit for the hair, it is an adaptation of a 'Cute Girl Hairstyles idea. Many thanks to more creative moms who can come up with things for me to copy!

Sibling pictures weren't perfect, and brother pictures were a no go, but that is how things go with 4 under 7. We just get what we can and have fun doing it.

Poppers and sparklers in the driveway were our level of fireworks this year, but we had plans for a big show in the evening, so it worked out as a pre-parade activity. None of the kids were big sparkler fans except Olivia, who loved the idea of burning her name into a piece of plywood (thanks Dad for the idea...). I'm a little afraid for her as she gets older :)

An early lunch of flag veggie tray and flag fruit salad before heading to the parade. I'm aware that I may have overdone it in the flag food department, but I love doing it, so I will probably continue to add something every year.

7 miles north of Pullman is a tiny town (with no cell reception) called Albion, which hosts the only parade in the area. I love small town parades (anything with as many school buses and log trucks as other entries reminds me of home) so we drove out and were thrilled that we could park literally on the parade route, which was one of 2 roads going through town.

The kids were hopeful in each bringing their own candy bags, but they totally needed them...LOTS of candy came their way.

It was a complete parade, with firetrucks, farm animals, loud soupped-up cars, princesses on horses, and pooper scoopers. We got a quick family picture at the end which is one of my favorite from the summer, I love their little pink cheeks and excitement over the candy they are about to eat :).

After naptime we were just hanging out until the evening, but I set a no-home-project rule for the day, so we had some free time and decided to make the pinecone bird feeders I have been promising the kids for a month or so. They did their part and gathered 200ish pinecones (picking them up off the patio, so win-win) and I picked up the birdseed. I'm just hoping that all of the seeds are human safe because Hunter wasn't willing to share with the birds if it was hung in his reach :).

 Right around dinner time we walked down the hill and rode our first city bus to the Pullman Firework Spectacular at the city park. The kids were super excited about the bus, and I had heard it was a good solution to the parking troubles, so we gave it a try. Unfortunately, in the craziness of unloading 4 kids, 2 strollers, 3 bags, and a huge umbrella, the diaper bag (with my wallet) and the big shade umbrella that we use for all of our sporting events got left on the bus. After we walked the 1/2 mile from the bus stop to the park and started getting ready for dinner, I sent Alex back to see if they were recoverable. Thank goodness for a small town and good people who set it aside until we got back to it :) crisis averted!

Hot dogs, hamburgers, and huge slices of watermelon were a perfect dinner on this 90+ degree day, and the kids didn't know what to do with watermelon slices (I usually cut cubes) so Alex and I had a show to go with our dinner :).

I love this picture, which Alex took about 15 minutes before fireworks. Carter is asleep, Hunter (not pictured) is asleep, and Olivia definitely should be, she has reached zombie mode :).

Fireworks were great, and the kids had a blast dancing to the local band that played all evening, so afterwords (at about 11) we walked the half mile (in the wrong direction) to the bus stop for pickup. The City of Pullman was pretty unprepared for the crowd of people all wanting to get on a bus at the same time (no one was really sure of the routes or stops and there was a total of 3 buses), so after discussing it with a few people in charge, Alex and I decided the walk home (about 2 miles) would take less time than waiting for the bus. We were extra glad for our setup of 2 double strollers as we made the trek back. All of the kids fell asleep one by one, and O was the last to hold on, lasting until the last push uphill. It was kind of fun to have the 45 minute walk (up and down major hills the entire way) to just chat with Alex, but we will do the whole parking thing different next year :).

After we got all the kids in their beds and bags unloaded, Alex and I crashed at 12:30 and got ready for the next day. When we woke up I realized that baths had to happen first thing...Hunter was not the dirties of the kids ,and this was his legs...all of the kids (and all of their sheets) went into the wash :).

The rest of the week is a blur of packing and loading for one trip (Black Butte) while gathering for a second big trip (Twin Lakes) that was just a few days after we got back. The kids and I had a fun break when I took them to a free movie for kids one morning. Most would probably say that 4 kids at the movie (2 of which have a hard time sitting for a movie) isn't a great idea for one parent, but I am just grateful for patient people around us who chat with Hunter as he makes his rounds, and an older daughter who loves when I put her 'in charge' halfway through the movie to go change diapers.