Timothy Lake

At some point this summer, I think it was in August, we went camping.  It was just a one nighter, but we had a great time.  We started out by camping at Summit Lake . . . or what we thought was Summit Lake.  Apparently, and we didn't know this until later, there are actually two Summit Lakes in Oregon.  We saw the pictures online of the other Summit Lake and thought it would be a great place to go canoeing.  Imagine our confusion when we showed up at this Summit Lake and it looked more like a pond.

This Summit Lake that we went to is close to Timothy Lake.  It has a pretty rough campground and the sites are mostly walk ins.  I didn't particularly enjoy hauling all our camping gear from the car, through the forest, to our site.  I suppose it wasn't too far, but still.  I'm spoiled I guess.

One of my favorite things is lying in the tent looking  up at the trees and sky.  I can never resist getting a picture of that.

I don't actually have any pictures of the Summit Lake we went to.  Not sure why I didn't get any.  In the morning we decided that it might actually be more fun to canoe around Timothy Lake, which was pretty close.  We ended up being pretty happy with that decision.  Timothy Lake was a great place to canoe and play in the water.  We all had a blast.

None of the kids had been canoeing before.  They thought it was so great.  They all loved it.

This girl loved floating in the lake with her life jacket on.  It was pretty cute.

The kids got a chance to paddle the canoe around without Dad's help.  They sure loved that!

It was such a great day at the lake.  It was hot, but not too hot - just right where I was, sitting in the shade.  It was a Saturday, so there were quite a lot of people there, but as you can see, not too many to  keep us from having a great time.  We definitely need to go back and canoe again.

Grist Mill and Ape Cave

This summer we had a chance to run up to Washington to visit the Ape Cave near Mount St. Helens.  Ethan found this nice little grist mill for us to visit on the way there.  It was fun to explore and see the working mill.  

Close to the Ape Cave is this quick little hike called the Trail of Two Forests that shows what happens when lava flows through a forest.  

Here we have a lava cast that formed when the lava flowed around the trees.  The kids had great fun crawling through these lava casts.  The had to do it again and again.

Here they are with their Aunt Kimberly who was visiting at the time.

After this short hike, we went to the Ape Cave.  The Ape Cave is a 2.5 mile long lava tube formed around 2,000 years ago.  The eruption that formed this lava tube is special because it was the only known basaltic eruption from this volcano.  Basaltic lava is common in Hawaii but not in the Cascade Range.  I also thought it was interesting that a logger discovered the cave in 1947 but the cave wasn't explored until the early 1950's by a scout troop.  They are the ones that named it the Ape Cave in honor of their sponsor the St. Helens Apes.

I don't have any pictures of our walk through the cave.  There were a lot of people going through that day.  And it was dark.  And, I don't really enjoy being in caves so I wasn't really in the mood to get out my camera.  But the kids had fun.  I'll admit, it was pretty interesting to walk through such a long, huge tube.  But I will also admit I got a little bored.  Cave, cave, cave, all the way to the end, then you have to turn around and walk back out.

I do, however, love seeing all the different things there are to see in this world.  I've been in such a small part of this world, but what I've seen is amazing.  I love that we try as best as we can to explore every inch of where we are. We have done and seen so much in our three years here in the Pacific Northwest, and there is still SO MUCH left for us to explore.

Track Time

I know it's January and a new year, but I'm behind in my blogging so here we have something from July.  This summer the kids had a chance to try some track and field events at a local high school. 

Hudson tried a lot of different events.  It was a fun surprise to find out he is great at shot put!  He's small, but he's strong.  He won first place in shot put both times he competed.

As we knew she would be, Libby was great at running.  One first place and many second places.  

Maria tried hurdles.  It was fun to see her try even though most of the girls she competed against we a lot more experienced than her.  She did a great job!

Hudson did great with the high jump as well.  He's short, but he's a great jumper.

Lincoln actually did pretty well with the shot put for his age.  Here he is doing the long jump.  He had   such a great time and took it very seriously, always trying his best.

They all had a great time and loved getting a chance to try out these different sports that they had never done before.

Hug Point

There are so many different beaches to stop at along the Oregon coast.  You might think that most of them are the same, but so far, I've found that each beach is different, each has it's own unique characteristics.  Hug Point was a beach we often drove past, but hadn't ever stopped at.  This June, after visiting Niagara Falls, we decided to check it out.

There was plenty of space and sand to run around on, great for playing and wading.

 

And there is a small creek that spills over the rocks onto the sand.  We enjoyed climbing around that for a bit.

But my kids love to play in the sand, digging and building, so we found a spot to settle down and rest a while.  The kids played and Ethan and I laid on the beach, listening to the waves and staring into each other's eyes.  Haha, just kidding, our eyes were closed because sand tends to fly when the kids are digging and building. 

You know, I quite often miss having a baby.  The baby stage has definitely been the favorite for me, and well, my baby is 5!  Hardly a baby!  But as the kids played in the sand and Ethan and I just laid on the beach, I had to admit that while I miss having a little one, it certainly is easier doing all these things without one.  I don't have to worry about anyone eating sand, or wandering into the water, or getting too cold, or touching the dead seagull laying on the beach.  I remember being at the beach during that stage of life, with many little ones, constantly counting to be sure I had them all.  Now, we parents just lay on the beach while the kids play. If we fall asleep, it's not a big deal.  They all know to stay close.  And though I do still worry about the youngest a little, he talks so unceasingly that I know where he is at all times, even with my eyes closed.  Yes, I miss it, but I know that part of life is adapting to change.  "To every thing there is a season".  This season is different, but it's good.

Niagara Falls

One thing Ethan and I love to do is going down a road we've never been on before.  The kids aren't much for car rides, but Ethan and I, we will convert them.  There are so many pleasant sites to see and new things to discover.  This summer we discovered Meadow Lake Road - for those of you that are local, this road lays directly west of Carlton and you can take it all the way to the coast.  It's a very lovely drive, and if you have the time, you should turn down a dusty forest road to the Niagra Falls trailhead.  You'll see two falls for the price of one hike, and a fairly short hike at that, only two miles there and back.

 Banana slugs.  You gotta watch out for these any time you go hiking around these parts!  You definitely don't want to step on one of these fat, slimy things.

A view of Niagara Falls from the trail. 

Niagara Falls plunges over the basalt cliff at well over 100 feet tall.

Pheasant Creek Falls is a segmented fall, also over 100 feet tall.

Always keeping an eye out for slugs.  The bigger, the tastier!  Just kidding! 

This slug is doing a high-wire act.

Two trail cuties.  

This was a fun, easy hike. The one thing I didn't like was that, although there was one picnic table near Niagara Falls, there really is no place to hangout and eat lunch . . . especially if there is someone already occupying the picnic table . . . which there was.  Other than that, it was great!  And hey, at this point, you are already pretty close to the coast, why not head to the beach.  We did!

Colors

Life is certainly colorful with Libby around.  So much passion, so much zeal for life.  She's a friend to everyone, this girl.  She's colorful in every way, inside and out.

See the hair elastics around her wrists?  She's always wearing them.  She calls them her "colors".  She can have three, she can have twenty, but they are always there.  And that smile?  That is usually there too.