M Turns NINE!

Somehow, our oldest girl turned NINE years old on Friday! We're not sure how it happened, but that's what she's telling us!

We spent the morning at Woodland Park Zoo with our "old" friends...










and M got to feed a giraffe! It was awesome, and instead of taking so many pictures, I should've just videoed it! Duh. It was all so spur-of-the-moment, and she is still buzzing from the experience. Everyone (who paid $5) got to feed him the leaves from 2branches, but when she told the zookeeper that it was her birthday, she gave her a handful of cut up apples and bananas for her to feed off the palm of her hand!





There's not too many 9 year olds who can say they've ridden on an elephant (last summer) and fed a giraffe! She says her next adventure is to swim with the dolphins. Oh boy.

We got home about the same time as P got home from work, so she got to open her presents then. She is a tough one to buy for, but we did alright, esp E, who got her (another!) new WebKinz, and Gramma and Grandpa J, who got her a pottery wheel (gee, thanks).




We've had such a busy week that we just swung by Safeway for an ice cream pie to cap off our celebration. We are planning a friend party in a few weeks, so stay tuned for a real cake. ;)




She ended the night with a deluxe "spa" bath (bubbles, candlelight, soft music) and a few rounds of Uno with her daddy. She declared it "The Best Birthday Ever." Mission accomplished.

Day Six - Last but Not Least

We packed a lot of fun into our last day of vacation! Our first stop was the Hoh rainforest for a "Hall of Mosses" walk/hike. It was amazing!

Yes, that is moss growing underwater! So clear, so green!


Here we have a classic "nursing log" tree falls down, seedlings grow right on top of it, original trunk rots away, cool "caves" form. Only takes about 500 years...


Another uprooted tree; we had to stand beside it just to add some perspective for ya!


"Hold it just a little bit longer!"


"My mom talks on the phone so long that moss grows!"


Ah, then we drove on to Ruby Beach. What a gorgeous day at a place that reminded me of Cannon Beach OR, but with more "haystacks." My husband was particularly inspired to climb on them and into the caves where the waves crash in, and having been raised on the OR coast and with a healthy respect and fear for the ocean, I just held my breath and said a prayer. A very cool beach with lots of smooth, perfect-for-skipping stones. Could've spent hours there, too!








We drove a little further to check out Kalaloch Beach, which reminded me of the Pacific Ocean beaches I grew up on, and it was (barely) warm enough that the girls wanted to put their suits on and play in the water. I had major childhood flashbacks watching them! The water must've been warmer when I was a kid, though. Man, that was cold!





View from above the beach:


We continued driving NE and went for a little walk along Lake Quinault. The path cleared at various access points; our apologies to all the retired folks snoozing in the sun until our girls showed up! There's a lot to explore there, and we would like to go back (with a boat of some sort)!


Our last stop in the park was at the world's largest spruce tree. It is 1000 yrs old and is 191' tall. In the first pic, you can barely see my family, but they're there!



We climbed in the car and continued on home, stopping in Aberdeen for a DQ dinner, and arriving home about 8:30pm. None of us was really ready to face "real life" again, though it did feel good to sleep in our own beds. The really impressive thing about that Olympic Park is that we could go spend our next vacation there, not go to any of the places we went this time, and still see amazing, beautiful sights. We still have much to explore up there, and feel lucky to have it in our "backyard."

Day Five - Olympic Nat'l Forest

We were thrilled to wake up to blue skies on Friday morning. After a carb-inental breakfast, we headed up into the Olympic Nat'l Forest, specifically to the visitor's center in Port Angeles, and then on up to the VC at Hurricane Ridge. It was a long, windy drive, but it was breathtaking so we didn't mind too much. We were grateful for a clear day; we've heard tales of getting up to the top and then having it all socked in with fog. (Note: if you ask at the Pt Ang VC, they can tell you the conditions at the top, so you know if it's worth the drive or not.)






We reluctantly continued on our way; we could have easily stayed at Hurricane Ridge for several hours. We then went to Marymere Falls. The hike was pretty, but the actual falls were just ok.

Here's our tree hugger:




And pics of the hike and falls:




Next stop: Sol Duc Falls. Now THAT's what I call a worth-it-waterfall! It was also a .8 mile "hike" in; perfect for the kids.

Apparently, the bridge was just built as a suggestion?



All throughout the forest, we saw trees totally uprooted like this, which made us wonder what that must've sounded like, and if no one was there when it happened, did it make any noise?!



We drove on to Forks, where if I had wanted to buy any "Twilight" merchandise, I would have been all set. Instead, we checked into our awesome place (Olympic Suites...seriously, it was like an apartment and we could've lived there comfortably for awhile) and went to dinner. M was diligent about trying to eat w/chopsticks and had some success. Since we were in Forks, P & I used our regular utensils. ;)


We thought about heading to the beach, but it was getting windy so instead we hunkered down in our new "home;" the girls watched a movie, P read, and I took a hot bath to compensate for the fact that we didn't go to swimming Sol Duc hotsprings. (It was pricy for us and when we looked at it, it looked like an average swimming pool and two crowded hot tubs.) There was a stream of hot, steamy, egg-y smelling water running along the property that we let the girls put their hands, so they got the gist, and I said, "Now you also know what parts of Yellowstone Park smell like!" 2-for-1 experience!

And thus ended another fabulous vacation day!

Farewell, Galiano, Hello, Victoria, Good Bye, Victoria, Hello, Port Angeles!

Day Four was jam packed with exciting stuff. The only downer was that our time on Galiano with my aunt and uncle was over. We cheered the girls up with ice cream cones while we waited for the ferry. (Note: my aunt bought these "Galiano Naturalist" tshirts for the girls to wear as nightgowns or swimming suit cover ups. E was so enchanted by hers that she wore it over her clothes all day long, except for at the Butterfly Garden, where I convinced her to wear her original butterfly shirt. Quite a fashion statement!)


Here comes the ferry!


After a lovely ferry ride (but darn it, still no whales) to Victoria, we went to the Butterfly Garden, which is just before you get to Buchart Gardens and our girls were a whole lot more impressed with it than they would've been with the BG!

There IS a large butterfly in this picture - can you see it? It really blends in with E's hair. I am mostly including this pic, though, b/c it makes me laugh - P standing behind that leaf reminds me of "Wilson" on "Home Improvement!" How come he didn't stand in front of it?! ;)


Ah, flamingos and koi




And E's favorite fuzzy pink plants! Fancy Nancy would approve!


We'd never heard of these Atlas butterflies...they are the world's largest, are in their cocoon for 5 years and then live for only 3-5 days, during which time they don't eat. Natural selection hasn't quite got that straightened out yet...



Then it was on to downtown Victoria, where we parked the car in the ferry lot, then walked around and saw awesome stuff like the Parliament Building, the Empress, horse drawn carriages, and lots of old cool looking buildings. It reminded us of a cleaner, safer, friendlier Seattle. (Sorry, no offense, Seattle)





THEN we had to be back at the car to wait for "at least 90 minutes before departure" that wound up being over 2 hours. We passed the time by being moderately harrassed by the US Border Patrol Inspector, and by my reading aloud of "Nim at Sea." It also got more interesting when M vomited all over the floor of the bathroom. Yep, that was awesome. It was pretty cool, though, when this HUGE Mother-of-All-Ferries pulled up and we realized that "We get to GO on THAT!"
(M says, "This is my bored face." As opposed to her puke face, I suppose.)
(Yep, we were THAT bored.)


We were one of the first cars on the ferry, so we had a long time to hand out on deck and enjoy the view before we left. It was breathtakingly beautiful to watch the sunset and sail along...until we got out of the protection of the harbor, and then it was freezing and take-your-breath-away windy! We were irked to hear the announcement, after we'd already set sail, that "No one is allowed in the cargo area during sailing." We'd never had that rule before and were quite accustomed to just retrieving whatever we wanted out of the car during our voyage. Things you coulda told us sooner! So, we were a little bored, but we finished "Nim at Sea," (which was a great read-aloud for this trip!) and the girls entertained themselves trying to walk around while the ferry (surprisingly) swayed.








The other perk of being the first on the ferry in Victoria, BC is that you're one of the first off in Port Angeles, WA! My aunt & uncle had given us that pointer, and we were so glad, because they stop every single car and check everybody's paperwork all over again! Bonus: the agent checking us recognized P from working here in Seattle...she's switched agencies, obviously, but sometimes it's handy to have friends in high places! ;)

We found our motel (Aircrest, for those of you who are wondering) at 10pm and crashed. It was definitely a budget joint, but all we needed was a place to sleep...and to keep our socks on 'cause man, that carpet had some nasty stains! One funny side note: we hadn't been there more than 30 seconds and M had already pocketed the little soaps and shampoo. I said, "Why are you doing that?!" she said, "People in books always do it." Yes, but in the first minute they're in a room?!