Vacation: Part 1

We have had a great time in the first 2 plus days of our vacation to the Pacific Northwest.  The boys have loved seeing new things and Greg and I have had a great time hanging out with each other and our kids.

 We flew into Portland on Sunday morning.  It was really pretty cool to fly right past Mt. Hood and to be able to see the top of the mountain above the clouds from the plane.

 Once we landed, we were below the clouds and it remained mostly cloudy until this afternoon (and somewhat cold and super humid).  After leaving the airport, we headed to a nearby restaurant that was featured on the Food Network's Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives - we had a great brunch - Greg had a some sort of Sicilian hash and I had sweet potato biscuits and gravy (the boys loved their pancakes).  After lunch, we drove to the Oregon coast to Cannon Beach and Escola State Park.  It was a beautiful drive and it is amazing to see the incredibly dense and ancient the forests that are here.

 We hiked down to the beach - which ended up being a bigger hike than we expected - but the boys did great and it was really a beautiful hike through the forest.  It was a about 1 1/2  miles from the car to the beach through the thick forest, steep hills (both up and down), and lots of mud - but it was worth it in the end to let the boys play on the beach.

 We came across this giant tree along the way - the boys thought it was really cool to be able to stand inside the giant tree trunk.

There were several fairly steep drop-offs along the way, but the views were amazing.

All 3 boys, once again, loved being able to throw rocks into the water.

 Part of the reward for the hike down to the beach was to view the tide pools that are in the rocks along the beach.  The boys loved being able to climb all over and around them to get closer to the edge of the ocean.

 It was really cool to see tons of starfish clinging to the side of the rocks and along the beach waiting for the high tide to come back in.

We also saw this little guy - not really sure if he was alive or dead, we didn't get too close to find out if his pinchers worked or not

 Ryan loved to stand on the beach and let the tide come in over his feet.  At first, he did try and outrun the water, but it wasn't much of an effort and he ended up getting his tennis shoes thouroughly soaked - he had to wear his flip flops the next 2 days waiting for his shoes to dry out.  It wasn't much of a fun 1 1/2 mile hike back up to the car in wet shoes for him.

Luke didn't stomp through the water quite as much, but he also got quite wet.  I did have their flip flops with me in my backpack, but they ran into the ocean so quickly that there wasn't much of a point in changing into them.

Ryan also drug his jacket through the ocean water and it was so humid that it was no where near dry enough to wear the next day.  He was pretty cold so he got to wear Greg's jacket - he thought that was pretty cool.

 The next day, we went to the Lewis and Clark National Park and then drove through Washington to Seattle.  The boys took a nice long nap - it had been a very busy 24 hours for them at this point.

 The boys were so excited to swim in the hotel pool when we got to Seattle last night.  We swim at our own pool 3 or 4 times a week, but there is something about a plain hotel pool that seems so much cooler than our pool with a slide and diving board.

One of the great things about swimming last night was the boys being able to swim with their Daddy.  They loved it when Greg launched them into the air over and over agin.

So far we have had a great time.  We spent some time in downtown Seattle today and took the boys to a couple of parks.  We have some fun stuff planned in the next few days - including going to the hotel pool (which is probably the boys' favorite thing so far).

Different Boys

Ryan and Luke are so different - it always amazes us how different 2 kids can be, even if they have had almost an identical upbringing and life experiences - it really shows how big nature can be over nurture.  An example of that was shown to me a few weeks ago when the boys and I flew to Lubbock.  We got them a color by number Angry Birds activity to help keep them busy on the plane.  The way they each approached it and finished it says a ton about their different personalities.  We hadn't really seen this kind of example before because the boys have never liked coloring a coloring book type of picture - they have always preferred to draw and create something on their own - but they love Angry Birds, so they jumped right on this one.

 Here is Luke's picture.  Luke approaches most things in a very quick manner and doesn't spend a ton of time completing a task.  Luke is really very intelligent and creative and he "gets" things very quickly.  However, he rushes through things and rarely puts forth his best effort.  Luke colored his picture in about 3/4 of a one hour plane ride.  He didn't stick with one color at a time - he would color one part of it and then go on to something else and then come back to the first color later on.  Luke colored just enough to his satisfaction, but he wasn't very neat and  he didn't color anything in completely - which is totally fine with him.

Ryan approached his picture very differently.  It took him 2 plane rides and then another hour the day after we got home to complete his picture.  Ryan is a smart kid, but he works very slow.  Greg and I have been a little concerned about Ryan's slow processing speed - but he does always get it done and he does a great job of what he does, it just takes him much longer to do it than average.  Ryan's approach was to start with all of the #1 areas, and then he moved on to #2 and so on.  If Luke had the marker for #3 and that was Ryan's next one, he would wait for Luke to finish, rather than skip and start on #4.  Ryan is very meticulous with what he does and he takes great pride in his work.  Ryan cares very deeply about things and he gets easily frustrated when he has a difficult time explaining what he wants or how he feels about things.  He is so different from his brother in so many ways - including how he colors a picture.

I love both of my sweet boys.  They can drive me and each other crazy at times, but they are such great kids.  I love Luke's creativity and unique approach to the world.  I love Ryan's sense of humor and his deep sense of feeling in all things.  They teach me new things everyday about how to look at the world and how each boy has their own unique needs that Greg and I have to continue to foster.  We hope to tend to each of them in their own special way to help them develop their own sense of who they are and what their place in the world will be.

Wild Basin Hike

 On Saturday, we headed back up to RMNP to attempt the same hike we had tried a few weeks ago.  This time the weather cooperated long enough for our hike, although it did start to rain on our way back to the car.  The boys love throwing rocks into any body of water - so they were thrilled at the prospect of throwing rocks into a waterfall.

 

 

It was a beautiful day with beautiful scenery.  It sure beat staying in Denver where it was 100 that day - it was 63 in the parking lot on our way out of the park.

Ryan was lucky to not be too close to the edge of this boulder when he threw in his rock - even if he had, Greg was less than a foot behind him to catch him just in case.

 The park rangers told us that there at been 2 bear sightings in the previous hour of our hike - so the boys were pretty nervous about going out - especially Ryan.  We had to assure him that it would be ok and that the bears had already gone on.  We didn't see any bears, just a deer and lots of chipmunks.

 

We had a great time and I'm glad that we are able to take advantage of the weekends in the summer to go up to the mountains together.  The boys love to take a picnic, and if there is water involved, then they really have a blast.

Our Short Trip to Lubbock

 The boys and I went to Lubbock for a few days.  We opted to fly because I get too sleepy while I drive long distances - the boys hadn't been on an plane since our trip to California a couple of years ago.  They did great and Ryan did a good job of taking care of me during take-off and landing (I'm a nervous flier).  We had a very busy trip that was jam-packed with activities the whole time.  We were also able to take dinner over to G-Nanny and Mr. G's our first evening - the kids did great by playing outside in their backyard allowing for a nice adult conversation and dinner.  It was so nice to see Nanny and spend some time catching up.

 

 

 The kids took a glass-fusing class one afternoon.

Luke has taken an intense interest in the Army and asked Grandad to interview him about what he did in the Army.   According to Luke, his friend Henry wants to be in the Army and he wants to be able to tell him all about it.  Some of Luke's questions "did you fight in a jungle, did you fight in a rainforest, did you fight anywhere with meat eaters, like carnivores?"  Grandad and all 4 kids had a great time.

 Dad started the show and tell by going over the quilt that mom made for him when he retired that covers his whole military career.  Luke, Olivia and Ryan attempted to take notes.

All of the kids got to try on his uniforms.

 Luke was very interested in the picture of the tank platoon that dad once commanded.

 Olivia took extensive notes of everything needed to be in the army.  Ryan's notes included what you needed to be in terms of qualities and supplies (black boots and hard-work).  Luke tried to start his notes with "#1 Be a cadet."  but his pencil wouldn't work and he got behind so he took notes later.

On Friday we headed up to Canyon to see the musical "Texas" in Palo Duro Canyon.  I remember seeing it when I was about the boys' age - so I was very excited to take them.  They loved it - especially the horses and the fireworks at the end.

 Before the musical, we went to the Panhandle and Plains Museum - the kids loved it and Olivia really enjoyed playing the teacher.

 On Saturday, we went to Jane and Charlie's for my most favorite dinner ever - Jane's homemade Chicken Fried Steak.  We had a great time and the kids played out in the backyard again - it was wonderful to catch up with 2 of my most favorite people in the world.

The boys have become very interested in death and dying lately.  They have asked a lot of questions about what happens when you die - including cemeteries and being buried.  On Sunday we went to the Lubbock Cemetery so the boys could see where my grandmother was buried, as well as some other relatives.

 Dad and I liked being able to tell them a little bit about my Mee Maw - they really enjoyed looking at all of the headstones.  They also both made it clear that they do not want to be cremated.

And of course, no trip to Lubbock would be complete with Ryan being able to smother every small dog around.  He loves Lucy, but he was so very excited to see Olivia's dog, Macaroni.

We had a great trip and Ryan cried all the way home from the airport and probably asked me a 2 dozen times when we would be going back.