On the road again

After staying in the Redwoods for a couple of days we were on the road again, Seattle here we come.   The Northern Coast of CA was absolutely beautiful.  

Do any of you Goonies fans recognize this?

We drove through Oregon and played at a wonderful park and also found out that it is against the law to pump your own gas.  As soon as you pull up to the pump an attendant is waiting- great service!  We finally made it to Seattle after 13 glorious hours in the car, just in time to make the last part of Josh’s b-day party. 

We spend one morning in Seattle. We ate lunch at Ivars and fed the waiting seagulls our leftover french fries.  Apparently Carter was still hungry after our french fries were gone so he went to the table next to us begging for food and a nice lady shared her french fries with him (just a little embarrassing).

 

We went to the Puget Sound aquarium and saw some great marine life. Anni was watching the seals swim and mentioned that she would Love to have one of those for a pet. 

They had an awesome touching pool, and a great octopus.

 

Look at all those suckers! (meaning the octopus, not the Smith’s)

The otters were so playful and fun to watch.

We have decided that Seattle has the BEST parks ever.  The kids could have played here forever, and did I mention the weather was absolutely beautiful. 

We asked the kids what their favorite part of the vacation was and they replied “playing with cousins”.

The Redwoods

 

On our way to the Redwoods we thought we would quickly see the Golden Gate Bridge.  Unfortunately, we didn’t plan on it being the  gay pride parade day.  WOW, is all I can say.  An hour later, and after seeing many interesting and crazy (and naked) people, and a nice talk about the Family Proclamation we finally made it to the bridge.   That will be the most memorable trip to the Golden Gate Bridge I think I will ever have.  

 

We stayed at an awesome little cabin that was literally in the  middle of the Redwoods.  We could walk down the road 1/2 mile to a trail head and be in the middle of these giant trees.    We enjoyed days of playing badminton, relaxing on the hammock, picking fresh herbs from the garden out our back door and evenings in the hot tub.  Basically we just loved being outside.    

This tree trunk was amazing.   We all held hands around the tree and only got about 1/3 of the way around. 

These are such cute pic’s of Jacob I just had to include them (Jeanna I will send you the rest soon).

First stop- Gilroy, CA

Kirk and I recently decided that we want to visit all Continental 48 states with our children before they "grow up" so this summer we crossed off CA, OR, WA, ID, UT. Our first stop on our trek across the Northwestern states was Gilroy, CA to see Jeanna, Jason, and Jacob. We had a great time, as usual. We really miss these guys and wish we could see them more.

This awesome ranch (Gizdich) had hundreds of rows of stawberries, blackberries, boysenberries, and raspberries which we all enjoyed picking. My kids could have picked berries for hours.

Carter and Emma especially loved the "all you can eat" buffet.


I was very happy to find out that all the strawberry and bosenberry juices came out of their clothes without a problem -Whew!!!

You can't go to California and not visit the beach (even if it was freezing and I had to wear Kirk's jacket the whole time)

Usually Katelyn doesn't like to get dirty so I asked her if she liked burrying herself in the sand and she said "no, but it makes me warmer"