Oregon: Alsea Falls & the Covered Bridge

Jayden's first ride in Grandma's Jeep.  He was soooo excited for it.

We drove out to Alsea Falls for a mini hike.  Aren't these trees cool?  Creepy and mossy, I love it.  

Alsea Falls 

Giant clover.

 

Mom and I walked to the covered bridge one day.  We used to ride our bikes there all the time when I was younger.  It was so fun to be able to show my kids where I grew up.  It was Sidney's first trip to Oregon and Jayden was a baby the last time we went.  It is so weird to me that a place that was my home is so foreign to my kids.  Sidney got her first ride in the Jeep.  She loved it too.

Jayden and Sidney walked backwards a lot.

They thought sitting backwards was the way to go.  It was a backwards day.

We went down to the little creek and the kids threw rocks for about an hour.  It was a gorgeous day.  We lucked out on the weather while we were there.  We only got 2 days of rain and then it was actually pretty hot.

Oregon: Enchanted Forest

My mom and I had so much fun at Enchanted Forest last year we took all the kids this year.  It's such a fun little place, and they all loved it. 

We started with Storybook Lane.  All the girls loved the castle.

 Even Jayden thought it was cool.

In Storybook Lane you get to walk through all kinds of fairy tales, such as Alice in Wonderland, Little Miss Muffett, Humpty Dumpty, and many more.  It is really cute and the kids had so much fun exploring everything.

 Hansel and Gretel

 Sidney loved Snow White's little house.

 Going into the Seven Dwarf's Mine.

 The evil witch.  She is frightening.

 The crooked house is disorienting.

Storybook Lane ends with a gigantic slide out of a shoe.  Everyone went down it a million times and had so much fun we went back for more later. 



Next was the Western Town.  More slides, an Indian village, and caves to explore.

We liked this sign. 

We learned how to lasso a cow. 



We rode a bunch of little rides, the highlight of the day for the kids.

Sidney loved the pink tickets.  She held on to them for dear life. 

 This is a ferris wheel.

 The cutest little train.

This Frog Hopper was so fun to do with my kids.  It takes you high up then drops you a bunch of times.  They were laughing uncontrollably and said their tummies were feeling funny.  So fun! 

I met Abe Lincoln.

We scared ourselves silly in the Haunted House. 

Laughed really hard in Geppetto's Workshop and Pinocchio's Playhouse. 

Last year my mom and I laughed so hard at the comedy theater.  This year did not disappoint.  It was Little Red Riding Hood.  We're hoping to make this a tradition every year we visit.  It's worth it for the play.

It's also tradition to get my picture with the actors.  Nothing will compare to last year's, but this one was cute too.

Oregon: Family

If you have been reading my blog long enough you know that when I take a trip I write about it in much detail.  Maybe too much, but I love reading back and remembering all the fun we had.  So bear with me as I bombard you with posts for the next few days.  We stayed really busy.  We got home yesterday, and between the loads of laundry, trying to get myself back on the treadmill, and cringing at the sight of any treats in my pantry, I'm sitting down to get this on here before the freshness wears off and before I hit my after vacation sadness. 

I took 2,159 pictures.  So I'm not kidding when I say I'm going to bombard you with vacation overload.  I even deleted a bunch while there so I wouldn't fill up my card too soon.  I was only about 100 away from filling it, so next time I can take even more.  And if you think I'm posting too many pictures, just remember it could be worse.

Josh came with us for the first week.  He wasn't going to come but then his work schedule changed and he was available for the first week.  I can't tell you how excited we were.  Where to begin?  We went because all of my siblings were able to be there at the same time.  This hasn't happened since my little sister got married 5 years ago.  It was so fun to be together again.  We crammed into my mom's house, stayed up way too late, ate way too much food, played games, gossiped....you know, all that fun family stuff.

The whole family.

 All the kids, oldest to youngest.  I like that we make a V shape in our height.

Miriam, Jessica, Me, Kathryn, Clayton

 All the kids with mom.

 All the grandkids.  I like that the grandkids look like my family.  4 girls and 1 boy, only this time the boy is the middle in age, not the youngest.

Sierra, Makenna, Alena, Jayden, Sidney