She's the girl that tells you to "Scoooooop!" when she wants you to scoot over so she can sit by you.
She's the girl who says "Sank you, mommy," and "No sanks." She's the girl who points out every truck and airplane within hearing range. She is the best. Everyone needs more Annie in their life.
For her birthday we went on a little hike in the Illahee Preserve and let her choose which direction to go at all the forks in the trail.
I also made her a delicious birthday cake.
Strawberry cake with strawberry jam between the layers and buttercream frosting. Look how beautiful the pieces looked on the plates!
Here's what everyone loved about Annie:
Vivien: She plays with me and sits by me when we watched Daniel Tiger
Rafe (under threat of losing cake privileges if he didn't participate): I like how she eats
Dad: I like how she loves to laugh and play, especially with Merrick
Me: She says I love you and gives good hugs.
Merrick didn't say anything, but I love how she says his name: "May-yuck"
Grandma Paula sent her this snuggly outfit which she has only gotten to wear once because Vivien keeps stealing it (her reason is because it's very hard for her to have her birthday "after" everyone else's). And so it begins . . .
Drew was on duty for her actual birth date, on which we did a lot of visiting teaching, but the next day we drove down to Tacoma to go to the aquarium/zoo. Annie LOVED it and tried climbing into their big Puget Sound tank several times (she really did almost fall in two different times before I could get over to her. Also, when I ask Rafe to repeat something now, he says, "I already told you several times."). Vivien and Rafe have been watching The Octonauts obsessively, so they were well primed for the aquarium and even found the posted animal information interesting! This jawfish was my favorite creature there:
There was an exhibit at the zoo this time called "Washed Ashore: Art to Save the Sea" featuring gigantic sea creatures sculpted from plastic ocean trash like flip-flops and bottle caps and beach toys.
They were really cool.
We ate lunch in a grassy field in the middle of them so we could admire them for longer.
I made the mistake of making ham and cheese wraps, which my kids refuse to eat. Cheese, yes. Ham, yes. Tortillas, yes. Together, no.
One more sculpture.
Other favorite animal this time were the walruses. They have 3 of them and it was diverting to watch them make lazy circles around their enclosure. They have a polar bear at the zoo too. He was kind of boring, but this life-size wall mural made my stomach turn. I hope I never have occasion to be this close to an angry adult male polar bear in real life.
There is a kids area at the zoo. The playground is ringed with little animal exhibits like reptile terrariums and a meerkat village. There were supposed to be lemurs as well, but maybe they were inside sleeping because we didn't see them. We took pictures with their props instead.
Here's Annie and Rafe fighting, "like they always keep on doing." We played at the playground until it was time for the animal show in the nifty outdoor theater. The theme was "I choose to reuse!" and they gave the kids all kinds of ideas for how to reduce garbage output. I was really glad I have gotten into the habit of using my reusable shopping bags for groceries so I didn't have to feel completely terrible. The show was awesome; favorites were the aardvark (they are huge!) and this long legged lynx:
Big news for Vivien! She has lost her first tooth.
I walked by her room after she had gone to bed and heard suspicious spitting noises, so I went in to investigate and found her drooling blood into an overturned plastic youchien stilt. I said, "Let's just pull out that tooth now." It came out very satisfactorily. She was pleased. So pleased, in fact, that the very idea of the tooth fairy coming and taking away her prize filled her with horror. I told her I'd get in touch with the tooth fairy and tell her not to come. She said, "Is that real?" I said, "What do you think?" She thinks not.
As I was tucking her in, she said, "I guess it is kind of fun to lose a tooth!" She had been worrying about it all week; we probably should've named her Wemberly. I'm still uncertain how those adult teeth are supposed to fit in her little mouth . . .
She also wrote her first story. She drew the pictures and told me the words to type, then I printed them and she cut and pasted them herself. Read now for you by the author:
Rafe's been waking up in the night with growing pains recently, poor lamb. I go in thinking his legs have fallen asleep, but the pain never eases up and then he'll be crying again 30 minutes later. They are long nights. But his days are full of play. The other day I overheard, "I'm pretending the Captain has to be taller than all the mateys." Also, have I mentioned that he calls contrails from airplanes "sky ropes"? Here's Rafe doing his compulsive lip licking while picking blackberries by the park. ("Lip licking blackberries" is a good tongue twister)
Merrick would dearly love to eat blackberries. He would dearly love to eat everything he can see, but he is still terrible at swallowing without choking, so he just has to sit at the table and watch us longingly.
He's so close to being able to do all these things he wants to do (sit up, crawl, eat food), it's made him very frustrated and fitful.
His cry is inhumanly squeaky. I swear he's got the same high range as a piccolo. Listen for it right as I walk close to him:
I hear from 10:10-10:20 in my head when he cries like that:
I think he'll have the desires of his heart soon if he keeps spending the afternoon rolling around the family room.
And I think we'll have a big safety issue soon if we can't get Annie to fall asleep without her binky and move out of the crib. She did finally take a nap for the first time without her binky . . . but she pooped before she fell asleep so I had to wake her up and change her. Grrrrr.
One of my young women in my Sunday School class is off to BYU. I am going to miss her; she is all a young woman should be! For her last Sunday here we sang an awesome arrangement of Jesus, Savior, Pilot Me by the one and only Karlie Ady in sacrament meeting together. When we arrived at the church to practice with the accompanist on Saturday morning we were totally matchy. Don't I look short next to her?
Also, I signed onto my online nursing education account this week to do some larnin' and was filled with joy to see whose inspirational quote was displayed on my dashboard.
Drew was out to sea the weekend before Annie's birthday, but they got home 3 days early AND they gave him a 4 day weekend that week, so we used the time to take Merrick for his maiden family camping adventure in the Olympics. We wanted to leave Thursday afternoon as soon as Drew was off work, but it always takes much longer to get packed than it should, so we headed out after a hasty (and delicious! http://www.superhealthykids.com/tangy-one-pot-pasta-chicken-dinner-recipe/) dinner. By the time we got to our desired campsite it was full, and by the time we got to our second option it was full too. Also, it was dark. So we kept driving down the road through the night and, to the accompaniment of Annie and Merrick's cries, prayed we'd be able to find something. We pulled in to Klahowya Campground and snagged campsite 49/55, feeling very fortunate. Here it is in the day:
But to get the full effect you have to look up. (The trees don't really curve like that; it's just hard to take a steady panorama while holding a squirmy worm baby)
We set up camp as quickly as one can while comforting all the tired children. I had forgotten that our air mattress was struggling (last time it was used it turned my brother into a Rex Taco by morning), so it was a bit of a rough night for me, Drew, and Annie. The ground is cold, even through a tarp, tent bottom, and two layers of a deflated blowup mattress. At least I had brought the Successful Families Crossword blanket so we weren't freezing! Merrick was happy in his bouncy seat, and Vivi and Rafe were cozy in these cool bunk bed cots we borrowed from Drew's boss.
In the morning we sat around . . .
. . . while Drew cooked up a tasty traditional American breakfast.
He insisted on holding the baby while eating. It's always awkward to hold a baby while eating, but especially so when your tablemates won't budge up for you.
After breakfast we went for a walk around the campground.
There was an interpretive trail with information about the pioneers who settled the area.
My favorite thing we learned was that the trees in the area were in especially high demand during WWI (to make planes)and the loggers would use a technique called "high-stumping" so the trees were easier to cut down. They would put a plank in the tree then balance on it while they sawed away. Once we knew what to look for, we started seeing the notches for the planks all over the forest.
Merrick skipped out on the learning and took his morning nap.
The trees in Olympic National Park are unreal. Everything is covered in green, from leaves to roots.
After our little hike at the campground, we drove out to La Push to explore Second Beach. It was about a 20 minute walk to the beach through trees that reminded me of the scary forest with grabbing hands in Snow White.
Our walk was far more peaceful than hers, however.
Once clear of the forest we got to pick our way across a barricade of enormous driftwood logs.
And then, to the ocean!
Unless you are Merrick. Then you have to wait until someone will take you out of your pack.
And if you are lucky enough to get out of your pack, you still can't be trusted on the beach, because you eat everything in your path, and sand is not good for eating. So we hold you.
And we love it.
The beach was misty and cool,
but the sand was nice.
There was wave chasing . . .
and sand drawing, . . .
treasure collecting . . .
seaweed games . . .
. . . and general enjoyment.
We got there at high tide and by the time we were getting ready to go the ocean had gone out far enough that I thought I might be able to reach the tide pools without getting too wet.
I walked out in my bare feet over the barnacle-encrusted rocks holding Merrick, hoping to see a starfish but mostly seeing a lot of beautiful green anemones. At one point I almost fell, and as I stood up to catch my balance, I saw a SEA OTTER! It was probably 15 feet away from me. It popped its head out of the water for a second, then swam up over a cresting wave and out to sea. Very exciting!
Vivien had tried to follow me out but had stopped paying attention to where she was going and stepped right into a deep pool, so she got to wear Daddy's clothes the rest of the time.
By afternoon it had started to rain lightly . . .
so we washed off feet . . .
bid goodbye to the beach . . .
. . . and made our way back into the forest.
Vivien found a horse tree. Or maybe a dragon tree. We couldn't decide.
Being here always makes me want to read Twilight again.
After our beach adventure we went to the Sol Duc (said "sole duck") Hot Springs for a quick soak. There were three hot pools (99, 101, and 104 degrees) and a big pool for playing in (72 degrees). It smelled rather sulfurous. We walked in and Vivien said, "It smells so . . ." and I was fully expecting her to say awful, but she said, "good! Like eggs and sausage!" Eggs are pretty tasty. But not as tasty as our dinner! That night we had grilled pizza and pineapples. It was yum. (I have a friend here who says that and has made it impossible for me to say yummy. Curse her! But I love her.)
Merrick cried . . .
. . . until we let him try some.
Vivien cried because she didn't get the color cup she wanted (I hate these dishes).
But everyone was feeling better by s'more time.
The kids burned sticks in the fire while we waited for some nice roasting coals. Annie doesn't understand fire yet and kept choosing the shortest little twigs, then crying when we tried to keep her from getting burned.
In the morning we broke camp and drove to the Sol Duc Falls trailhead for a little hike.
Annie took a leisurely ride.
Rafe is my yo-yo boy. He goes from debilitating grumpiness . . .
. . . to manic excitement. It is extremely difficult to coax him out of either state. So maybe a yo-yo is the wrong metaphor. I'm sitting here trying to think of a better one, but I think he defies the laws of nature.
The falls were gorgeous.
I think the crashing sound and the cooling mist gave the kids a burst of energy, which made me think that it was a shame to call it a day and go home. So we decided to make the hike a loop and go along Lovers Lane.
There were exciting bridges to cross.
Or you could cross on a log, if you had to go out in the river to get a picture of your kids on the bridge.
The trail followed the Sol Duc river through an old growth forest. Sometimes we'd be walking along a rocky ridge with the river far below, then we'd be surrounded by mossy giants springing from nurse logs. At one point we walked through a clearing filled with giant ferns that seemed like an amazing place to play hide and seek.
I forgot to get a picture of one of the fallen trees. When you're hiking along you forget how yuge they are because you're watching the trail so you don't see past the top of your peripheral vision, but when you walk along a trunk that's almost as wide as you are tall and it keeps going and going and going, you can't ignore it! Vivien found a good hiding spot in one of the Fallen.
More bridges over little streams and ponds.
The hike was a little too much for Annie.
Actually it was a little too much for everyone. It ended up being another 3 miles past the falls to get back to the Sol Duc Resort parking lot, which was still 2 miles away from our car. I left Drew with the kids and tried my thumb at hitch hiking. I figured it's the best place for me to do so: 2 mile road in a national park that dead ends at my destination with the only turn off being the campground. It took me about 7 cars before I started waving people down instead of politely sticking out my thumb. I felt a little bit like Donald Duck inside when people who were alone wouldn't pick me up.
Finally a nice woman stopped and we swapped stories about kids as she took me up to the falls. The parking lot was really full as we pulled up and she said, "I hope I can find a spot." I said, "You absolutely can, because I'm about to move my car!" She did end up finding one, so I had to just give her verbal thanks instead of a return service. But rest assured, they were profuse. When I got back to the kids we loaded up and drove down the road a little ways to the Salmon Cascade for a picnic lunch. And then we went home! Did you like camping Merrick? Rafe calls this Merrick's "greedy face"
No comments:
Post a Comment