family vacation part ?

Traveling along the coast of California and Oregon was so wonderful! But we had to get on with our vacation. We drove to Portland, OR where we stopped and visited the Temple. This is where Bret and I were married 18 years ago, and 4 kids ago. I feel it really made an impression on Amber. Which is always a good thing. We had a nice man take our picture, but I wish we would've been a little more dressed up. But one can't be picky when your on vacation. Bret and I were able to do a session the next morning at 7. It was just Bret and I and about 5 other people. Smallest session I'd ever been in. We got to be the witness couple. I thought that was very appropriate.

Next it was on to visit family and friends. Bret had an old High school friend that lived in Kennewick, and she invited us over for lunch. It was on our way so we stopped and the kids had a great time playing with their kids. I must say that the landscape was a lot different in southern washington than what we've been seeing and the drive to Kennewick and to Ephrata was extremely dull, and seemed to take forever! We spent a few hours with Jannie and her family which was nice just to be out of the car. Then on to Ephrata, where we stayed for about 4 days playing with all the cousins and Aunts and Uncles, and Grandpa and Grandma! It was so fun watching all the little cousins play together. They divided into teams and played a game called Astronauts and Aliens. It was so fun to watch. Everyone got along so well and played so much together. I wish we lived closer to everyone just for more moments like these.

Last stop was Spokane to visit Grandma and Grandpa Heileson. Most of that trip was spent at the lake. Which we all love. John and Marilyn surprised us with a brand new trailer at the lake! it was so nice! I wish we could've spent the night there. Maybe next time. Everyone had a good time water skiing and riding the tube, and playing on the beach. Ben and Sam for the first time rode on the tube! It was a big moment for all of us. Bret did the water skiing thing and loved it. He's fun to watch too :)

This is Sam and Bryce watching the big boys Sam and Ben on the tube!

It was sad to see out vacation end. Sad to say goodbye to the rental car that had been our set of wheels for so long, that was now full of memories. Also sand, crushed pine cones and seashells, and the crumbs from many many meals and snacks eaten in the car. We headed to check in our bags, and go through security, they had to stop and check the boys backpacks because they had big sea rocks in them and they weren't sure what those were on the X-ray machine. They kept saying "More rocks." We got on the plane and flew to Minnesota to change planes. We were about an hour and half late taking off because the flight attendant that was supposed to be on our flight didn't show up for work! So we got into Omaha around 1 am and home a little after 2am. We just dumped our stuff at the bottom of the stairs and hit the sack! The next day was Saturday, and thank goodness because we all slept in till 11:00! But I have to say that this was the best vacation we've had so far. It is so much nicer, easier, and so, SO, more fun to go on these kind of vacations with older kids, than with a baby or toddlers! Well done everyone!!!

More vacation photos. We just all loved the beach! It was so refreshing and it smelled so good, and it was so hard to leave. But we had to continue on to Washington for the family reunion.

So on to Portland, OR. and Washington for the next leg of our trip.

family vacation, part 3

The Ocean is one of my favorite places, I wonder why I live in the Midwest. This was a beach we saw right off the highway, it was just open sand no rocks and the waves were crashing against the sand. I love that sound! We almost lost Keaton though when a big wave hit him knocking him over. We got him pulled up before the current took him out to sea. Kind of a scary moment.

As we leave the City we get on the highway that drives you up the coast of California. We are so excited to see the ocean, and look for shells! We found a state beach, that was very beautiful, it was also very foggy! So we couldn't see very far out, but it made for some beautiful scenery.

We saw all kids of sea life on these rocks, and in the water. Lots of start fish, and anemones or however you spell that, and shell fish. It was a bit chilly as well, that damp cool sea air. I loved it. We could here he fog horns going off on the boats out at sea, and hear the ships bells. I could've stayed there for days. We had such a nice time, and the boys loved looking for things in the sand and watching the waves hit the sand. The boys got wet and covered in sand, and we all loved it.

Family vacation. Part 2 Yosemite, and San Fran!

This was in Yosemite National Park. It was a beautiful day, a little on the warm side, but we loved the scenery and all the trails to hike on. Bret and I had our Iowa shirts on for the day :) The kids had a great time climbing all over the rocks at this water fall. Don't remember the name of it. Sorry.

We had to take a picture of the kids running down the trails it was good to get out of the car and stretch our legs.

Then it was off to San Francisco! It was so exciting to get close to the city, and drive through all the hilly streets to find our hotel. We stayed at the Beresford Arms. Quite the cute hotel. It was a few blocks from Union Square, and it was one of the older hotels, so it had all the woodwork and design, and charm of those classic structures. I loved it! Bret couldn't have picked a better place to stay. After we settled in to our room, it was around 9 pm and we hadn't had dinner yet. We inquired of a family place to eat, and we were told there was a Cheese Cake Factory at the top of the Macy's building. So off we walked to Union Square and headed to Macy's. Wish I could've done some shopping. We had a wait so we went out on the roof and had a great view of the square.

It wasn't soon after we had our food that Sam got a little tired. He had finished his pizza, and went to sleep. It had been a long, fun and exciting day! I had the best meal! It was a pecan crusted cat fish, with this amazing sauce, and garlic mashed potatoes with this corn salad salsa stuff. Soooooo yummy! And we couldn't go with out having some cheese cake! The city was so alive! It didn't feel like it as almost 11:00, so many people were still out! We walked back to our hotel, I had to carry Keaton, and Bret carried Sam, they had both fell asleep at dinner, I must say it was a good thing I'm in such good shape, because Keaton isn't exactly lite, and it was mostly up hill. I was very proud of myself and it didn't hurt to burn off a few calories because I'm sure my dinner was way over the top!

So after falling asleep to all the city noises, we woke up and had breakfast then walked to the square again to catch the trolley car to the wharf. It took us a while to get one that wasn't' full of people. It cost 5$ per person for one way. It was fun hanging off the side going up and down the streets of San Francisco. The wharf was a lot of fun! They had this big old ship, like the ones from the 1800's that we could go on and walk all through, it was amazing. Ahh to be a sailor out to sea on one of those. I would've loved it!! We took so many pictures and I just wish I could put them all on here, you'll have to check out my face book page for more. After getting some fun things at the souvenir shops we headed back on the trolley car to our hotel to check out. It was off on another road trip up the coast of California.

We HAD to go over the golden gate bridge! How could you not go to this city and not go over it! It was very exciting and was over way to soon. But it was just amazing!