This weekend was the Ward camp-out at Lake Grapevine. Since Carter was starting to get sick it turned into a father-daughter outing. They had so much fun together.

Raine and Kaiden climbing around the cave in the rock cliff.

Saturday we rode the bus downtown and visited Pike Place Fish Market. Here is Odessa, Ada, and Raine sitting on the bronze pig.

Ada and Raine holding hands.

After some of Seattle’s best clam chowder, we rode the mono-rail to the space needle and let the kids run around. Ada was very attentive to Carter.

Then we walked over to the fountain at the Seattle Center. Daddy ran under the water spouts with the kids. However, when he attempted it with Carter the water pattern changed as soon as they got under it and they got soaked! Too bad I didn’t have the camera out for that one.

That evening we went to the Ward Halloween party. Raine was a “dancin’ kid” and Carter was a dalmatian.

Monday morning we drove around West Seattle and then took a ferry to Vashon Island. Carter was asleep in the car so Daddy stayed down below with him while Raine and I explored the upper decks with Aunt Tara and Ada. (For clarification, Tara is not Raine and Carter’s aunt, she is their first-cousin-once-removed. So for obvious reasons we just refer to her as Aunt Tara.)

We wandered around the shops in town and came across a little bookstore. The owner had a dog in the store and Raine was in heaven as she sat there feeding and petting it. The owner asked if we had seen the bike in a tree, she gave us directions so we set off to find it. The directions were typical small-town directions, “Go down to the second stop sign and it will be right there behind the building.” But with a little help from Google we found it. Nobody knows exactly how it got there but it has obviously been there for a very long time.

That evening we drove to Magnolia for trick-or-treating in the village. They closed the road and each of the shops handed out candy — it was so much more efficient than going door-to-door!

Here are the girls and Carter in their costumes.

Odessa, Ada, Carter, Aunt Tara, Franklin, and Raine.

The next morning we packed up and headed back to the airport. We had a miserable flight home with Carter throwing a sleep-deprived fit most of the way — yep, we were those people.

This was such a fun vacation for us. The kids loved playing with their cousins and we were able to see some great sites along the way. I think we will have to do this again soon!

After spending the night in Seattle, we crossed the border into Canada and made our way up to Vancouver. Our first stop was Grouse Mountain, on the north side of town. We took a gondola to the top of the mountain and the clouds lifted just long enough to give us a spectacular view of the city (in real-life it was spectacular, in this photo it is not).

We hiked around the resort — in the SNOW!!! — admiring the impressive views and wood carvings.

Then we wandered over to the bear enclosure. We didn’t know if we’d be able to see them or if they would be holed up somewhere for the winter . . . so imagine our delight when we saw them out wrestling in the snow. It was awesome to watch.

The bears were so close and so active. This guy was holding his feet up to see how long he could balance on his backside, just like a little kid. He lost his balance and rolled onto his back, with his hinder-end in the air — it was just like something DJ would do.

We checked into our hotel and found that we had a great view. We could see Grouse Mountain where we had just been, Stanley Park where we were going the next day, and a near-constant stream of seaplanes taking-off and landing in the water. The kids loved watching the planes — in fact, Carter even started saying “ah-pah” each time one would go by.

The next morning it was raining. We bundled up and drove into Stanley Park, to the aquarium. We saw the standard assortment of fish tanks . . .

. . . and play areas.

But we also saw some really fun, new things too. Like a two-toed sloth in the rain-forest area, butterflies emerging from their cocoons, trainers feeding the seals and sea lions, . . .

. . . and a tank full of beluga whales.

But the best part of our visit was the dolphin show. I don’t have any photos because it was raining, but those dolphins were jumping, racing, waving, and standing up out of the water just like you’d see in any dolphin show. This photo of Carter watching the dolphins — from below, where it was dry — was taken earlier in the day. It was a great aquarium!

After leaving the aquarium we drove around Stanley Park to see the totem poles and other sites.

We made a quick stop at Tim Horton’s — Daddy’s favorite doughnut shop when he was working in Ottawa — then we were on our way back to Seattle.

We left Harrisburg Wednesday morning, heading for Seattle, and stopped at Silver Falls State Park. It is a temperate rain forest nestled in the Cascade Mountains. We hiked part of the Trail of Ten Falls and saw some very impressive waterfalls. The first one is South Falls and was 177 feet tall.

The trail wound behind the falls so we could see it from all angles.

This is the real reason that Boy Scouts are forced to hike with fifty-pound packs on their backs . . . preparation for fatherhood!

Upper North Falls, a mere 65 feet tall.

It has been a long time since we’ve seen my sister Sara and her family. They live in Harrisburg, Oregon so it is a little out-of-the-way. They just welcomed a new baby girl into their family, and we have never visited the Pacific Northwest, so we decided to take a family vacation.

My cousin Tara lives in Seattle and we were going to spend the end of our vacation with them, so that is where we flew into and out of. Our flight arrived Saturday afternoon and we immediately hopped into our rental car and headed to Oregon. Well, I shouldn’t say that we “immediately” hopped into our rental car. There is a Seinfeld episode that depicts what our experience with the rental car company was like, you know the one, “See, you know how to
TAKE the reservation, you just don’t know how to HOLD the reservation and
that’s really the most important part of the reservation, the holding.” In our case, they reserved us a “standard” size car but when we got to the garage to pick it up, they only had mid-size and full-size cars to pick from, no standard-size. They upgraded us to a full-size Dodge Charger and we eventually loaded all of our junk and hit the road for Oregon.

Sunday we went to church and then spent a leisurely day with the family.

Uncle Daryn, Carson, Aunt Sara, Raine holding baby Adelynn, and Logan.

Logan teaching Raine all about the chickens. What did Raine think of the chickens? “It’s stinky!”

Carson and Carter playing ball.

Carter riding the scooter.

Monday we went to a farm to find some pumpkins to carve for Halloween. We took a hay-ride into the field where the kids could search for their perfect pumpkin.

It wasn’t easy for the little ones to maneuver the dried vines and pumpkins. But eventually, we found the right one.

While at the farm, the kids had fun feeding the goats and petting the animals.

They also loved running around the hay maze.

That evening we carved our pumpkins while Aunt Sara whipped up some tasty, made-from-scratch caramel to dip our gigantic, fresh-from-the-farm apples in.

Carter was relegated to the floor with a colored pencil while the big-kids were on the stools carving but he sure didn’t seem to mind. He was working hard at that pumpkin.

The finished products . . . minus Carter. Raine insisted that her pumpkin have a “happy face” so that turned into the theme for all the pumpkins.

Tuesday we all piled into Aunt Sara’s Suburban and took a tour of the area.

We ended up at the “beach” where there is an endless supply of rocks to be thrown into the water.

Daddy was the designated rock-thrower. The kids would find the biggest rock they could carry and bring it to him to throw as far as he could into the river — making as big a splash as possible, of course.

We had so much fun visiting the Hicks family. Raine and Logan were like two peas in a pod. Every waking moment they were doing something together — “camping,” hiking, taking care of the chickens, making a “salad” with leftovers in the garden — you would have thought these two were twins separated at birth. I was pleasantly surprised how well Carson and Carter played together as well, given the 14-month age difference. We all enjoyed loving on cute little Addy. And of course, I loved being able to spend time with my sister. We don’t see each other very often these days so it was fun to live her life for a few days.

This week we finally had some beautiful fall weather so we made the most of it by riding trains. On Wednesday, we met up with the Staheli’s and took the TRE commuter train into downtown Fort Worth to visit the Water Gardens.

The kids picked up every acorn they saw . . . it was A LOT of acorns!

Raine, Carter, Elyse, and William.

On Friday, we met up with the Kinzler’s and Lira’s to ride the Forest Park Miniature Railroad.

Carter, Raine, and Ophelia.

I didn’t get many photos on this outing. I guess I was too busy enjoying the scenery — or maybe I was just too busy making sure nobody fell out!

We finally made it on a family camp-out! Granted, we didn’t leave early enough to be able to cook dinner before dark, so we stopped at Dairy Queen in Rhome on our way to the campground. And granted, Daddy sat in the corner of that Dairy Queen talking on the phone to his VP, trying to “save the world.” But we slept in a tent, and that’s what counts!

We camped at Black Creek Reservoir, in the LBJ National Grasslands. It was a beautiful location.

Daddy taught Raine how to fish, while Carter played in the water with sticks and I did my best to spoil all his fun, i.e. keep him from getting wet.

The campground had a playground that the kids made good use of.

“Okay Raine, go and I will catch you.”

These kids are such great friends. They each have a little camp chair of their own, but they wanted to share one as they snacked. Carter looked so uncomfortable, but I couldn’t convince him to sit anywhere else, he wanted to be right next to Raine.

This was Carter’s first camping trip, so we really didn’t know how he would do. So how did he do? TERRIBLE! Sometime between 1:00 and 3:00 a.m. he woke up screaming. Anything I did just made him cry harder. He didn’t want anything to do with anything. I wondered if it was a night terror or something.

He woke up everyone in the campground. Including this little monkey, who decided that she needed to go on a nature walk before she could go back to sleep — good thing there was a full moon.

But what is camping without a little sleep deprivation anyway!?!!

First of all, Raine and Carter each had a well-baby checkup today so here are their stats:

Raine
Age: 36 mos
Weight: 37 lb 1 oz, 90-95th %ile
Height: 41 in, way above the 97th %ile (For comparison, this is the 75th %ile for a four-year-old. If she continues on this curve, the charts say she will be 5’10” as an adult — the perfect height if I say so myself!

Carter
Age: 15 mos
Weight: 23 lb 7 oz, 25-50th %ile
Height: 32.75 in, 90-95th %ile

Now for the “this-and-that.” These are random tidbits that I wanted to record, but that weren’t sufficient for their own post.

Money management
Several weeks ago, I decided it was time to start teaching Raine about money. I wanted her to appreciate the money she spends and experience how it is earned. When we go to the zoo — three or four times a month — she usually wants to either feed the birds, ride the train, or ride the carousel. Each of these activities costs one dollar. This seemed like the perfect situation to teach her the value of money. I decided to give her a dime for every chore she does. Then when we go to the zoo, she can exchange her dimes for a dollar to use as she wishes. She needs eleven dimes to receive a dollar — one for tithing and ten for the dollar — and if she doesn’t have that many then she doesn’t get to do anything at the zoo. If she has enough for two dollars then she can either do two activities or save one for later. It has been a real fun experience so far and has taught her several good life lessons. As a side note, I also make her keep her dollar in her pocket and purchase her ticket or bird-feed by herself. She is developing a lot of self-confidence from the experience.

Scaredy cat
Carter has so much personality these days. His facial expressions are priceless — especially when he does his scrunchy-nose face — and his mannerisms always make us laugh. There is one thing, however, that I shouldn’t laugh at but do and that is how big of a chicken he is. He really is a scaredy cat. He is terrified of the garage when the light isn’t on. He is terrified of the gorillas at the zoo. In fact, he is terrified of ANY animal at the zoo if it moves too much. He turns around and runs screaming in the opposite direction. It is comical to watch and I can’t help but laugh. Hopefully he outgrows it soon!

Other notes about Carter
Carter has developed a love of books. His favorite is “Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?” He loves to completely empty the bookshelf onto the floor before selecting a book, then he will carry it over to me and back his little self up to my lap (or at least close to it) before plopping down. When he wants to read he expects me to drop everything and read to him . . . if I don’t do it he yells at me until I do!

Another thing about Carter is that he is ALWAYS making noise. He is either singing to himself, babbling, humming, or whining. It reminds me of my Grandpa McKay who was always humming — not a tune, but more of a rhythm of life.

My cousin Shannan and her daughter Alexa drove up from Houston Sunday night to spend Columbus Day with us. We went to the Dallas Arboretum to see all the pumpkins. It was so much fun to spend the day with them!

Raine and Alexa had fun exploring the pumpkin houses.

Carter had fun sitting on the pumpkins. Just look how proud he is of himself!

I had to smile this morning when Raine walked out to the car after getting herself ready. She had on her tutu, hot-pink “racing goggles,” bracelets, purse, cell phone, and princess shoes. We convinced her to leave everything except the tutu in the car. Sometimes I forget just how much of a girly-girl she is! Ironically, this girl went from prissily dancing in her tutu on top of a pile of hay bales to telling me that she wanted to pee behind a bush instead of finding a restroom — never a dull moment.

The kids loved all the little houses in “Texas Town.” Carter found this chair in one of the huts and sat there playing peek-a-boo with a little girl who was passing through. She liked him so much that she gave him a few hugs before she left — she couldn’t have been older than four, it was too cute.

Here we are heading west in our covered wagon.

Raine spinning circles on the huge, green lawn.

Carter sitting on another pumpkin.

Everyone was worn out by the time we left. Carter fell asleep in the backpack while the girls shared the stroller. Raine’s eyes say it all!

We have been trying to take a camping trip FOREVER but life keeps getting in the way. This weekend was another one of those failed attempts. However, Raine’s little heart was set on going camping and she was not to be disappointed. So DJ set up the tent in the backyard and took her “camping.” It was great! We laid on our backs watching the stars, Raine got eaten alive by some voracious bug, and then she fell asleep and DJ carried her into the house and put her in bed. All of the fun, none of the dirt or lack of sleep!