mountains, caves and blueberries

eight am sat. morning Cedes and i packed up the kids and hit the road!

we had destinations but no time frames and were ready for whatever the day,

(mainly the kids)

would throw at us.

our first stop was a bathroom, of course,

potty and snack break then back on the road.

once off the freeway we began climbing the mountains,

it was beginning to feel like we were a world away

 i found myself feeling so thankful for...

everything.

we went to the Forest Learning Center 

we learned all about the eruption of Mt. St. Helens

+ what they are doing to bring the forest back.

the before and after picture, crazy huh?

down the mountains and back on the freeway.

up the mountains and calm serenity.

it's now been 7 hours and we are all still in good moods!

that was until we showed them where we were going...

a BIG, DARK cave.

the Ape Caves to be exact.

Katie took one look at that big dark hole and said

"no way am i going in that thing"

well i didn't drive all this way for nothing, so i forced her to go...

of all the kids, Katie i think had the best time.

she is still talking about it...

Katie and Cedes Bailee pretended to be explorers.

it was sooooo dark and rather cold, but amazing!

it didn't take long for Cedes and i to decide that

it was a damn could thing we had gone together and left the dads at home!

Noah and my Bailey had to be carried all the way through the cave,

and we so did it!

i was so proud of us!

it was exhausting but we did it without getting angry and still enjoyed the experience.

Noah would get down to look at all the holes in the walls,

he was looking for dragons!

phew!  seriously thought i would have lost at least a pound after that work out!

the change in temperature from the cave to the outdoors was nuts,

my glasses and camera were instantly fogged up,

not easy when you're trying to climb out of a cave.

after the caves we found a nice park and had a picnic dinner.

we took the kids potty and changed them into jammies.

we were tired, the kids were tired,

it took a little while but eventually they all fell and asleep.

two hours of silence for Cedes and i to talk,

it was a pretty awesome day.

Sun. morning and we are up and off again...

Black River Blueberry Farm was our destination,

10 free lbs of blueberries was our goal.

my sis joined us today,

it was a beautiful day!

 everyone had a really good time...

i only got 4 lbs of berries,

i was having too much fun taking pictures.

tomorrow we leave for the redwoods...