Weekend Adventure: Silver Falls

We spent the most glorious, amazing, wonderfully sunny weekend camping at Silver Falls!  (Can you tell I really enjoyed the weekend and really don't want to go to work in the morning?)
It was the first time we've taken our trailer out and it hasn't rained and poured.
We had an awesome time.
We enjoyed a campfire.
Saw lots of native wild flowers/plants.  Lots of trillium, native bleeding hearts, and salmon berry blossoms.
Used our new mini charcoal BBQ twice!

Walked/rode bikes around the campground.
Hiked to a few waterfalls.

Really enjoyed playing in the sun!
(Levi discovered his monster trucks could fly off the picnic table with a little help from some parachutes.)

And I have to share this photo because it shows the stubborn kid who shows up every once in a while.  He refused to smile for the camera!  And really didn't want to hike.  But after the hike under South Falls decided it was really cool after all.

We sure are looking forward to some more beautifully sunny weekends for camping adventures.
Who's ready for summer?

So No To Palm Oil

I was "reminded" by a friend, and loyal reader (thanks Mike), that I never did a post on Earth Day.
Honestly, I didn't totally forget.  I just haven't been feeling very inspired lately.
We did some much needed yard work last weekend.  Pulled out invasive English Ivy and wild blackberries.  That counts as a good deed for the Earth right?
I know...pretty lame!

So, it hit me this afternoon!  (As I used pretzel sticks to consume large amounts of delicious Nutella.)  Palm oil.
It's the second ingredient in my wonderful Nutella snack.
Here's the problem.
The world consumes lots of palm oil.  It's in food, it's in cosmetics, it's in detergents.  And most of that palm oil is not grown and harvested sustainably.  Unfortunately, the world's obsession with this vegetable oil costs the Earth, and more specifically...the orangutan.

Because we care about the Earth, and the orangutan, we are going to be much more careful to avoid palm oil.  (and find out who's doing a responsible job by growing and harvesting it sustainably)
Guess the first step is no more Nutella on our next Costco run!

Educate yourself about palm oil and what you consume!  Here are some resources to check out!

Weekend Adventure: Belly Acres

We took off early Saturday morning to meet Grandpa Tom and Grammy Joey down at their property for a beach camp-out this weekend.  It was a great test of how our little trailer does in the midst of some serious April showers.  The weather was pretty typical of spring at the Oregon Coast, but the company was great!

We couldn't do much in the way of playing at the beach or digging in the sand.  Too cold and windy.
But we did get some time to hunt for agates between (and in the middle of) some rain storms.

Levi is getting a lesson from the master rock hunter.

Our time at camp was spent huddled around the very important camp fire.  Our coats still smell like camp fire smoke, even though they were the first thing I washed when we got home!

Thanks for always being such wonderful hosts, Grandpa Tom and Grammy Joey!  We can't wait to come back in the summer for more rock hunting and some crawdaddy catching.

(And Levi had a very special guest from school who got to join us on our adventure this weekend too!)

Spring Break: Kentucky Adventures

This was the first stop on our grand Kentucky tour.
Since most of the cave tours are fairly long and strenuous, we signed up (with hesitation) for one that was rated moderate.  We were very hopeful that Levi would be up for the 500+ steps in, around and out of the cave.  It was pretty awesome.

Sawyer and I already agreed that when he's old enough, we're doing the 6 hour spelunking trip.

We spent most of our time in Kentucky in Lexington.

We rented a house right downtown with the hope that we could walk to parks and restaurants.  The not-so-spring like weather we had sure put a damper on that plan.

The snow didn't keep Gabe and Ryan from doing what they wanted most while in Kentucky.  Bourbon country to be exact.  One day we all went to these two distilleries.  The kids got to have a sample at one...root beer.  Levi's loved it!  Then the following day, the big boys hit up a bunch more.  They should be getting their t-shirt to commemorate their journey, and bourbon tasting, in 4-6 weeks.  This is what Levi though about the yeasty smell of bourbon being made.

"It's stinky!"

I was hoping Heather and I could take the kids here while the boys were off sipping bourbon.  After all, Kentucky is knowing for it's love of the race horse.  But the snow did keep us from that.  Instead, we found an indoor gym so the kids could play and have some fun!

On our way back to Nashville...we had to make a few stops.
I insisted we visit Abraham Lincoln's birthplace.

Inside this commemorative building, is a replica of the cabin the 16th President was born in.

Pretty neat to this nerdy history teacher.  I was thankful everyone else was willing to tag along!

We also made a stop Kentucky Down Under for the kids.
The highlights were probably:
-Getting attacked by hungry lorikeets

-Getting to pet a kangaroo

We had a great time!
And of course I'm ready to plan our next great adventure.  Levi has his heart set on Disney's Cars Land this summer.  Not sure we'll be ready for another road trip in June...

Spring Break: Nashville Adventures

There are many highlights from our spring break this year.
It's always bitter sweet to go see the Morrison family.  We love them, and have a great time with them, but I always leave wishing Levi had his only cousins closer.  That's why it's so important that we make sure we try and see them as often as we can!
When we arrived, Savannah and Sawyer had a pretty big list of activities for us to do during our stay.

We did start it off with rollerskating and swimming.

Levi's not really sold on the whole rollerskating thing.  But honestly, for being 3&1/2 and his first time, I thought he did a really great job!  He's almost cracking a smile in the picture right?

We made a trip to the Nashville Zoo.

But our favorite times were spent just playing together.  Savannah and Levi made an obstacle course in the back yard for us to play in.  The kids put on a magic show.  And the grown ups played lots of games and had lots of laughs after the kids were in bed each night!

This is Levi making Sawyer "disappear".

It was great to watch the cousins playing and having fun together.

Levi sure does wish he could be just like his cousin Sawyer!  Sawyer even taught Levi how to "arm pit" fart. (Or at least Levi thinks he can do it just like his cousin.)

Love these three crazy fun kids.  (When they aren't arguing in the car on our drive to and from Kentucky...which I'll be back to share about.)

I'm hoping these three will be back together again really soon!