Oregon

This past school year, Max came across a story in his spelling book about some playful otters at the High Desert Museum in Bend, OR. When he realized we were going to be in Oregon this summer, he requested we put the museum on our travel agenda. It was one of very few specific requests he made, so we were happy to accommodate him. And, today was the big day! The museum staff told us we were the first people to ever visit on the recommendation of a spelling book. It was a delightful little museum, and we all had a wonderful time.

Shadow puppet theater at HDM

Little eagle in its nest

Watching an otter play

Looking for the otters in the water

Max was enamored with the otters
 and snapped a pic of this one having a snack.

Playing in the pioneer village

From there, we headed over to Silver Falls State Park to hike on a trail we had read meandered through the forest and allowed hikers to pass behind a couple of waterfalls along the way. It was spectacular and was the favorite part of the day for most of us.

Waterfall #1

Behind the waterfall

A throne for the little prince

King of the stump

Waterfall #2

It's sort of magical to walk behind a waterfall!

Finally, we passed through Boring, OR, which is the sister city of Dull, Scotland, a village we visited a couple of years ago. Shortly after that brief stop, we crossed into Washington and checked another state off our list.

Our Boring stop

Another fun day in Denver

We spent another fun day in Denver, which started with a tour of the capitol building. It is a beautiful building, and we enjoyed learning about its history along with some of the history of Colorado. One interesting thing about the building was that they used copious amounts of Colorado rose onyx in the interior construction. Unfortunately, they used all of it, so now they are unable to make repairs to those parts of the building made of the material, without tearing it out and starting over with something else, which would then, of course, mean the complete loss of this beautiful stone.

Rose Onyx in the capitol building

The beautiful dome of the capitol

The senate chamber

The house chamber

View of snow-covered Mt. Evans from the capitol dome observation deck

A mile high on the capitol steps

After a picnic on the capitol lawn, we headed to the former home of "The Unsinkable Molly Brown" of Titanic fame. Interestingly, she was never once called Molly during her life. That moniker was given to her when the Broadway show came out, because it was easier to say than Margaret, and it just stuck. Her home was lovely, and we enjoyed learning about the life of this firecracker of a woman.

Margaret ("Molly") and J.J. Brown's home

The boys were very excited about the polar bear rug

I thought the staircase in the Brown's house was gorgeous

Our final stop of the day was the History Colorado Center, where we only made it to one exhibit, because that one was so fun we didn't want to leave it. It was set up like an old 1920s era town in the Colorado plains. It was very interactive, with a little school, a store, a barn, and a farm house, and we all thoroughly enjoyed it.

Practicing Morse Code

Coming down from the hayloft

Joy riding

Running the store

One of our favorite activities was putting ourselves in the school yearbook

Corn Dogs and Tulips

Because we live in a crazy world where every day is a National Something Day, we found out that today was National Corn Dog Day. To celebrate this most important of holidays, Sonic was selling corndogs for 50¢ apiece. And, since we had an extra 11-year-old boy at our house today, it made sense to take the most economical lunch route possible. So, we celebrate National Corn Dog day like it was a completely normal thing to do.

Happy National Corn Dog Day!

Later, we headed north to Pilot Point, for a visit to Texas Tulips. It wasn't Kuenkenhof, but it was beautiful in its own right and much easier to get to and less expensive than a trip to Holland. We apparently now live in an area of Texas that doesn't have bluebonnets (or at least not yet?), but we were still able to get our fix of lovely spring flowers.

The kids were thrilled to be getting their picture made with the tulips! 

Genuine smiles here!

Pretty in pink

Maroon Out

Frilly purple tulips

A peppermint vibe

More traditional looking tulips

A field of fire

Vibrant Red

Elementary Physics

On a weekday morning, a child at rest will tend to stay at rest indefinitely, unless acted on by an outside parental force multiple times. 

On a weekend morning, a child at rest will tend to spring out of bed with maximum energy and at maximum volume well before an acceptable time of day.

Feel Good Friday: Favorite Things

Nothing puts a smile on my face like spending time with my favorite things!

ANZAC Day

Today is ANZAC Day in Australia, which is similar to the Veteran's Day in the U.S. The parades began at 3:30 am, right outside our hotel, and continued all day long. We did not make it down for the any of the early morning parades, but when we were finally ready to leave the hotel, we came out to street level just as a bagpipe band was making it's way up the street. We spent most of the rest of this gorgeous day at a wonderful playground in Darling Quarter, near Darling Harbor, playing with all the children in the area who were enjoying one last day of school holidays. When we were ready to leave, we stopped by a hilarious art exhibition, depicting real signage from around the world, along with some side-splitting commentary.  We ended up having dinner at a place on Darling Harbor, where we enjoyed sitting outside, taking in the loveliness of the harbor after dark, and eating some truly delicious food, including kangaroo steak. After diner, we slipped over to the Lindt Cafe for a divine salted caramel milkshake.

ANZAC Day Parade

Up and up and up

A tangled web

If you ever want to know where this one is, just look up!

We spent at least half an hour chuckling out loud while reading these
(and many other) signs and the accompanying commentary,
which I realize is probably too small for you to enjoy.
But, trust me, it's comedy gold!

Beautiful Darling Harbor

The Christmas Saran Ball

Let the fun begin!

Having a ball with the Saran ball

In case you aren't familiar with the Saran Ball:
Prizes are wrapped up in layers of Saran Wrap, and one person tries to unwrap
it as quickly as they can, collecting prizes, while the person next to them tries to
roll doubles with dice. When doubles are rolled, it becomes that person's turn to unwrap.
The Saran Wrap is, of course, a challenge to get through, but the game is fun and pretty hilarious.

The part where I fell out of my chair during my turn.
Because I'm awesome like that. 

There were so many fun prizes!

We had our very own Spanish Santa on site, for extra festivity