Halloweentown 2011

Time

This morning Grayson came running down the stairs demanding to know where the camera was, and then dragged me out to the porch to see the sunrise. What a wonderful treat to stop and enjoy a moment with that boy. The past two weeks since school started have felt overwhelmingly rushed and busy. It seems like there is always something to do and somewhere to be. I'm so thankful to Grayson for making me stop for a minute and take time to enjoy the beauty of a sunrise.

First Day

Fuller- freshman
Grayson- 5th grade
Rowan- 3rd grade

Labor Day- The Last Hurrah!

Instead of sitting around the house grumpily waiting for summer to end we decided to head to Astoria for the day on Monday. We did this last year too, and have discovered that it's just what we need to finish the summer right. Plus, most people who have spent the holiday weekend at the beach are heading home then, so it's not even very crowded. Our first stop in Astoria was the Astoria Column, to get in a workout, take in the view and fly some planes.

Rowan was excited about the plane, but in the end his fear of heights won out and he didn't climb to the top of the tower to fly it. He tried to go up twice, but panicked and had to come back down.

There was a really dense mist when we got there, so visibility from the top of the tower was not too good any way.

By the time we were getting ready to go the clouds were burning off so we got to enjoy the view for a few minutes.

After working up an appetite climbing the column we headed to our favorite fish and chips place, but were sadly greeted with a sign that said- sorry we're closed- ran out of fish! We did find a really good substitute place though, and then it was off to the beach.

We love Shipwreck beach! It seems like every year there is a little less ship, and this year there seemed to be a lot less ship. Fuller commented that when he brings his kids there they will wonder why it's called Shipwreck Beach, since by then the ship will be all gone.

It was kind of a misty and windy day, but the kids never let the cold stop them.

They have to run right out in that freezing cold water no matter what.

We also had a special treat on this trip to the beach and were able to meet up with my friend Stacey and her kids.

It was a great way to end the summer, and we will go back and do it again next Labor Day!

Run Fuller Run

Fuller has spent this summer training with the high school cross country team. They started running 3 days a week at the start of June and haven't stopped. For middle school graduation we got him a Nike sport band to calculate and keep track of his miles. Last week Fuller passed the 200 mile mark. Fuller had thought he was in pretty good shape at the end of track season, but is amazed at how much better he has gotten over the summer. I have been so impressed by him. There have been mornings when he was tired, sore, injured and just not in the mood, but he persevered and went to practice any way. This summer he ran the the longest run of his life (so far)- 11.5 miles and felt great afterward. Next Friday is the first cross country meet of his high school career. I can't wait to watch him run!

Cub Scout Carnival- Pie Eating Contest

Ape Caves/ Trail of Two Forests

Last Saturday Paul and I took the boys up to the Mt St Helens area for some fun and adventure. We had been talking about going to Ape Caves for some time, and were finally able to get up there. Rowan had been super excited about going and insistent that we go up until Friday night. Then he decided he might actually be too scared to go in the caves.

When we got there he was very reluctant to enter the caves. We reassured him that we had lots of flashlights and would hold his hand the whole time, and convinced him to give it a try. Within about 5 minutes of being in the cave he was LOVING it, and we had to remind him to stick with us and not get too far ahead. Then he started saying he didn't need to be with us because he's a "man of adventure"! What a nut!

We decided to start with the lower cave, which is the easier of the two caves. Most of that cave is about as big as a subway tunnel, although the ground is rocky and you have to do a bit of climbing over large rocks in portions of it. It is really amazingly cool in there.

We saw the "meatball", and also the 3 meatballs that are lined up together.

Grayson and Rowan were great explorers, and enjoyed looking for neat formations in the cave. They also had fun trying to sneak a little ahead of us, hide, and then act like grumpy cave trolls when we "found" them.

We had planned to just do the lower cave, but even though it was a chilly 42 degrees in there they were chomping at the bit to do some more exploring. We explored part of the more challenging upper cave, but it was clear that we weren't quite prepared enough for that, and at that point we had already been down in the caves for about an hour and half and were getting tired and hungry.

The upper cave is definitely going to require headlamps instead of flashlights since there will be a lot more climbing over rocks which will require both hands.

We will definitely be going back!

We also made a trip to see the trail of Two Forests while we were there.

This is a nice easy trail that shows some of the cool effects of the lava flow.

There are a bunch of neat tree casts, where the lava encased the large tree trunks and formed impressions of the trees.

There is an optional section of the trail called "the crawl" where you can crawl through an underground tunnel that was formed when the lava encased and then burned out a large fallen tree. Paul and I opted not to go through it, since it did require actual crawling.

Rowan was initially scared about going through it since Paul and I weren't going, but after he saw Grayson and Fuller make it through in one piece he went through.

He ended up liking it so much he ended up going through it about 5 more times before we finally had to go.

It was a great family day, and we saw some places we are excited to go back and explore some more. I think our next adventures in the area may be Lake Cave or Lava Canyon.