Mason has been anticipating this day for months! He was so excited to turn five and was equally as excited to celebrate his birthday in Washington with his grandparents and cousins. Because he loves the beach so much, I made him a sandcastle cake. Everything was edible on it except the little seashells.
Even the "rocks" were edible
He was excited to get binoculars
And overjoyed to get a cash register just like the one grandma has
Earlier in the day we met my friend Tristalene and her kids at the Harbor view park in Bremerton. It is right next to the Naval museum by the shipyard and ferries. This park is so interesting, it has 5 submarine tops (the kids like to call them volcanoes) out of which water spouts from the tops and comes raining down like a waterfall. It also has lots of things carved out of rock as well as huge boulders that the kids could climb and play on.
I don't normally keep up on my blog as frequently as I have been, but that's one of the great things about being on vacation, I don't have much cleaning to do : ) One of my kids favorite spots to go in Kingston is the Arness park, which we called the Slough when I was growing up. Hayden's main focus was swimming, but the other kids were content to play in the sand. Hayden caught a crab in a bucket, but was afraid he would get pinched if he held it. Kaitlyn on the other hand is fearless and just picks them up. So after Hayden saw how effortless it was for a 2 year old he "manned up".
Kaitlyn would bring home all sorts of creatures
if her mom would let her
It took awhile, but Hayden finally picked up the crab
Tonight was a rough night for me and some of my children. During the evening Hayden kept getting in trouble for not listening and then was emotional and a bit physical about the consequences. The other boys were doing fine until it was time for bed (not a big surprise). But by the time they were in their pj's and teeth brushed, my patience was gone. (As a side note: Mason thinks it's his job to report any and all misbehavior and he thinks he should be rewarded for reporting to me, rather than be scolded for "tattling".) After I had finally gotten the 3 older boys in their beds and lights off, I went to rest on my bed. A minute later Mason came in and said, "Mom, Hayden is out of bed!" I hesitated because of the irony of the situation, then replied, "Mason, do you need a spank on your bum because you are out of bed"? He quickly replied, "No, it's Hayden who's out of bed!". I gave him a look, the one with the raised eye brows, and then he connected the dots. He quickly ran back into their room and I didn't hear from him again... I almost wrote "and he was never heard from ever again". Ha-ha, if only... I'm just kidding, may be... ugh, I just need to go bed and start fresh again tomorrow!
Yesterday I took Brianna, Tucker, and Mason to Wild Waves. It's a water/amusement park that I went to as a kid and wanted to share the experience with my children. My mom stayed home with Gage, for obvious reasons, and Hayden who decided he didn't want to go. I knew he would have a lot of fun, but I also knew it would be soooo much easier if he didn't, so I didn't try to convince him : ) We met up with my cousin Naomi and her two older kids, Noah and Kaylani. Luckily she had 3 friend passes we could use, so it was great that we didn't have to "break the bank". I wanted to travel as light as possible, so I used my phone to take pictures, which is why they aren't crystal clear. But for a phone camera it isn't too shabby.
There weren't very many people at the park, so a lot of times we would be the only people on a ride and if they kids wanted they just stayed on and rode as many times as they wanted, which made the experience even better! In the last picture of the slide show Mason is riding "Silver Lightening". I thought it would be fun to name our horses on the carousel : )
We spent part of the day at Point no Point beach in Hansville. Mason, Cody and Abigail spent most of their time exploring the beach away from the water. The driftwood was all they needed for their imaginations to run rampant. Gage was not as excited about the beach as I had hoped. He didn't like to get sand in his sandals and he refused to walk in the sand bare foot. He wouldn't even let me put his feet in the sand. From his screeching and wailing you would have thought I was trying to lower him into a vat of boiling oil. So he spent most of the time on my lap and some on Grandma's. Hopefully when we go to the ocean next week he'll be more willing to explore the sand. I'm planning on dressing him in socks and shoes and hopefully that will make a difference.
When we arrived at the beach we found a cool driftwood fort someone else had made.
Mason and Cody log jumping
Gage and Grandma... he really does know how to smile. You can also see
Tristalene Morgensen and her daughter Capri in the background.
Three days ago on Friday, I left for Washington with my five kids. I had originally planned on making the 16 hour trip all in one day, but luckily I wasn't able to get all the packing done and get adequate sleep, so I split it up in two days. Friday evening we stopped in Middleton, which is west of Boise, and stayed with our good friends the Holmsteads. My kids had so much fun that they wanted to stay and have our vacation there. I think it was their huge above ground pool that dazzled them. They also have a large game room upstairs with a ping pong table and soccer table. They even have a secret door in one of the kids closets that leads to a hidden play room that then has another little hidden door that goes into the game room. Mason told Lorena (the mother) that he wanted to keep their house. May be he has a secret shrinking machine I don't know about.
We arrived in Kingston the following day at 4:30 in the afternoon after traveling for over 9 hours. While the driving wasn't too bad, nor the wails from my 2 year old who couldn't find his binki, the Washington drivers did give my patience quite a try. No offense, but the left lane on the freeway is not the "Mosey Lane"!
This morning my dad took my older 3 kids, Brianna, Hayden and Tucker backpacking to Lena Lake for an over night camping trip. They were excited about the prospect of a lake and packed their swim suits. They were told it is very cold and could still have some snow, but it didn't deter them. Hopefully my dad gets some good pictures : ) Meanwhile, Kristi (my sister-in-law) and I decided to take the rest of our kids to "Jump" in Gig Harbor. I was a little skeptical of driving 45 minutes for a blow up slide and bounce house place. We have one near us back home and my kids tire of it after 30 minutes. But this one was well worth the drive. Mason and his two cousins Abi and Cody ran around sliding and jumping for an hour and a half nearly non stop. Gage and his cousin Kaitlyn, who are both two, also had a lot of fun and no one complained of being tired, bored or hungry, which is almost mind boggling if you know my children.
This is a slide show of the pictures I shot, most with the fast motion shutter, so it may look like a choppy video, but it's not.
