Mt. St. Helens

Last weekend we decided to make the trek to Mt. St. Helens. We took the roads to the eastern lookout which was a beautiful drive and the roads wound back and forth a lot. Luckily none of us gets car sick, but by the end I was ready to be done with those roads. As we were driving up the road to the lookout we noticed the devastation from the blast, there were lots of old trees lying on the ground and they all pointed in the same direction. There are lots of shrubs and flowers growing back and the tallest trees were maybe 15 feet tall, but it was nothing like the forests we saw on the drive up. They were THICK. So I can imagine how devastating the blast was to the area. We got to the lookout that was accurately named Windy Ridge. It was very windy. Then to get a better view you climb up these man made stairs. Logan had to be carried, otherwise we would have been climbing all day long-there were a lot of stairs. It's amazing to see the crater the blast left.

As you look out onto the lake near the bottom of the volcano, you see this pile of dead trees at the far end of the lake:

As I was staring at the volcano I noticed there was a white spot that looked whiter than the snow on the volcano and realized it was smoke coming out. I didn't realize it would still smoke. Luckily we brought our bigger lens for the camera and I got a good picture of the smoke rising from the volcano:

As we were leaving Logan and I had a cute conversation in the parking lot. He has seen volcanoes on Little Einsteins and those volcanoes have hot lava spewing from them. So we are walking to the car and he says in an upset voice:

"I want to see the volcano."

"It's right there." I say pointing to it.

"But I want to see it." he says.

"It's right here." I say pointing again.

"But I want to see it." he says again, this time getting more agitated that I don't understand.

So I stop and say."Do you see the mountain with the snow on it? That is the volcano, but it isn't erupting now. If there was lava, it wouldn't be safe for us to be this close."

"Oh." was his reply.

It was so cute. He thought we were going to see a volcano spewing lava like in his shows. He was terribly disappointed.

It was a very fun activity to spend the day doing and the kids enjoyed getting out and seeing something new. Next time I think we will go the opposite way to the visitors center and see what it is like.

Trip to Utah

Soon after Logan's birthday we flew to Utah for a few days to visit family. While Ty was golfing, the kids, grandma Rule and I went shopping for birthday presents at Build A Bear. Logan picked out a green dragon, which was no surprise, he is fascinated with dragons and dinosaurs right now. I asked him what the dragon's name was and he said "dragon." I said "How about Firebreath?" (the dragon has fake flames coming out of it's mouth). He said, "No, Swimmin Breath." (because the dragon had on swimming trunks!). So Swimmin Breath it is. Alex's pick was no surprise either since her favorite color is pink. She picked out a pink bear. I had to convince her to pick out something for the bear to wear that wasn't pink too.

Here are the finsihed products:

After that we went to Chuck E Cheese where we had a blast playing with Aunts and a cousin. Logan especially liked riding on the monster truck. Alex had fun playing the games.

After a little rest at Grandma's house we went to Thanksgiving Point's Farm Country to see the animals and have a horse ride. There were all sorts of animals to feed and see. Logan wouldn't get his fingers too close to the goats, he ended up throwing the food at them. But he did surprise me and actually got on a horse for a ride. Alex got to ride a horse too and she had a great time. She also got to milk the cow which was pretty cool.

The rest of the trip was lots of fun too, we spent time with Ty's family playing games and catching up. Ty's brother had just bought a house and it was neat to see their new place. The trip ended with a huge surprise. The day we were to fly out, we woke up to SNOW, in late May! It wasn't just a dusting of snow, it ended up being around 3" of snow. Luckily we weren't flying out until the afternoon and it warmed up and all melted by that time. The kids went out and made a small snowman with with Grandma and caught snowflakes on their tongues.

Logan's Birthday

This past Sunday was Logan's 3rd birthday. It's hard to believe that 3 years ago I had a newborn and was living in New Mexico. That seems like a lifetime ago, but I remember it like it was yesterday. I remember being amazed at how small he was and how much he looked like Tyson. He's still a little guy, but is full of life and wit.

We started out the day by letting Logan pick out a box of cereal for breakfast and he chose Cookie Crisp. We then got all packed up and went fishing to a small lake about an hour from our house. It was stocked with trout and had nice beaches to sit on so it was great for fishing with kids. For a long time we didn't catch anything, then someone told us what he was using and we switched and we started catching fish. It also started to get cloudy and rain and that helped bring the fish into the shallower water too. We let the kids help us reel in the fish and they were excited every time the poles started wiggling. All together we caught six fish. Alex didn't want to hold on to the stringer because the fish were still wiggling, but we got her too.

The kids and I had just made cupcakes a couple of weeks before Logan's birthday, so I wanted to do something different for his birthday "cake." I decided to make him a big birthday cookie instead. He loved it!! Logan got a Geo Trax train from us, KNEX from his aunt and uncle and some balls from one of his Grandmas. He loved the train and played with it all night.

Catching up

It's been two months since my last post and a lot has happened. We've been busy with yard work, playdates and everything inbetween. It was raining on Easter so the kids had a mini egg hunt in our living room. They got some easter candy and a small toy in their baskets. Logan got a dinosaur flashlight that roars and lights when you pull a trigger. Alex got a Ken doll to go with her Barbies.

Then came the magical time of our tulips. Last fall we planted around 75 bulbs around our yard. Most of them were tulips and all but a couple came up. We bought a 50 pack of these red and yellow ones that came up and had huge heads on them and on some of them the petals fell out so it looked like a lions mane. We also planted some that looked like peonies and they were pretty too.

The kids and I went to the Tulip Festival at the Wooden Shoe Tulip Farm. They plant over 40 acres of tulips and daffodils and it is quite a sight to see them all in bloom. Some of the fields were planted the same color, but most of them were all mixed up to create an amazing array of color. They had a childrens area where the kids could play and a cow train that took them on a little ride.

SNOW!!

A couple of days ago we woke up to snow on the ground. Alex was so excited! She has been wanting it to snow all winter so she could go out and play in it. Since it doesn't get very cold here, I don't have heavy coats or winter boots for the kids, but they were fine to go out in what we had and play. She had to go out right away, so at 7:45 in the morning they were out playing in the snow. I was still in my pajamas. It was fun to sit at the dining room table and watch them play in the snow on the deck. It was Logan's first time in the snow and he was having fun pushing the snow off the rails. Alex did some snow angels and tried to make a snow ball. The snow didn't last and was all gone in a couple of hours, but at least they got to play in the snow for a little while.

My New Watch

When Debi was here visiting, she had this really neat watch and I guess they are all the rage in Utah. They are hand made beaded watches and Debi had made hers. They are a basic watch face and then you can make different bands out of beads so your watch can always match your outfit-how cool! So I decided to try it out and make me a watch. It's a little drab, but that's because the colored rock/beads I bought wouldn't fit on my string. I'm learning and it was fun, so I'll probably be making me some different bands soon...

Logan and Cereal

If you don't know by now, Logan is a VERY picky eater. By just looking at an item, he knows whether he will like it or not. One thing he will always eat is cereal. He rarely has only one kind of cereal in his bowl, he loves to mix them together. Here are a few of his recent concoctions:

This is Cheerios, Cookie Crisp and CocoaPuffs

This is Frosted Flakes and Trix.

This is Cheerios and Apple Jacks.