NW Vacation: Day 6

Grandpa Terry and Grandma Doogie told us they planted a pine tree in their back yard every time a grandchild was born. (Besides our four, Doogie's son, Luke, has 2 children.) So, we took pictures of the kids next to their trees this morning. They planted 3 Black Hills Spruce trees, and one Colorado Blue Spruce tree for our kids. Here they are with their trees in the WAY back yard--just beyond their fence.


By the way, they do have quite a bit of lively fauna here. That's why they have fenced in their yard. Their cat also appreciates the fence since she was attacked by a coyote a few months ago while she was sitting right outside the fenced area. Amazingly, she attacked the coyote back and got loose. Almost unheard of!

Here's the view of the trees from near their house.

Late last night we heard a pack of coyotes howling. Well, I guess when they're by themselves they howl. I'm not sure how to describe what they sound like when they're in a pack. They kind of howl/bark/talk. I guess you'd have to hear it for yourself. If I hear it again, I'll try to capture it on video.

NW Vacation: Day 5

Today, we went to Grand Coulee Dam, the 2nd largest concrete structure in the world. Until a couple of years ago, this dam was the largest in the world since its completion in 1941. Now, the Three Gorges Dam in China is the largest.For my husband, a bridge builder and concrete expert, this was a fun day! The amount of concrete in this dam could make a sidewalk around the equator--twice! It was built not long after the Hoover Dam. In fact, many of the workers on the Hoover Dam built this structure as well.
We went down into the dam where the huge turbines are located. Here are the kids on the elevator going down.
Okay, more educational info...

The Grand Coulee Dam is a gravity dam, which means that it needs to be a large size and shape so that it will resist overturning. Therefore, it has a VERY large base under water. The Hoover Dam is an arch-gravity dam, which means that it is a combination and directs most of the water weight against the canyon walls and can be thinner than a gravity dam (not as much bulk).

On the way back to Chelan, we stopped at Dry Falls, which (although it is now dry--and has been for thousands of years) is ten times the size of Niagara. Dry Falls is thought to be the greatest known waterfall that ever existed.The geology is very interesting in this part of the country!

Of course, when we returned home around 5:30 PM, the kids got in a few hours of swimming! Jimmer fell asleep on the way home and for the rest of the day...and now is sleeping through the night. Another full day!

NW Vacation: Day 4

Uncle Chris with kids
Grandpa Terry & Grandma Doogie with KathleenEven Uncle Chris's dog, Libby, knows my pain!
After just a few days with our kids having her run around retrieving balls and toys, even SHE ran out of energy part way through the day.

NW Vacation: Day 3

A more mellow day...

Of course the kids had some pool time right after breakfast. Then we toured around town, drove up to Chelan Butte and had a picnic lunch.


We went to a fish hatchery...and learned how they raise different kinds of fish to stock the lake. Do you know how they put the fish into the lake? I didn't know. They drop them into the lake from airplanes.

Just...down....and...in--plop. Yes, Lake Chelan is a big lake and very deep--the third deepest in the States. So, I guess they have to spread them throughout the lake quickly. I just had no idea they'd drop them out of planes!

Statistics ahead...

DEEPEST LAKES IN THE U.S.A.
Crater Lake Oregon, 1,943 ft (592 m)
Lake Tahoe California & Nevada, 1,685 ft (514 m)
Lake Chelan Washington, 1,419 ft (433 m)
Lake Superior, 1,333 ft (406 m)

In the last year and a half, we've seen three of the deepest lakes in the States--Lake Tahoe, Lake Chelan, and Lake Superior. The kids probably won't swim in Lake Chelan since Grandpa has a pool, but they did swim in cold Lake Superior last summer and Lake Tahoe last spring (when it was 48 degrees).

After we returned home in the middle of the afternoon, the kids took a nap. Jimmer was down for the count. He never got up for Mass, dinner...or for the rest of the evening.

He missed a great dinner of REALLY good ribs. They were the best ribs we've ever tasted--in a restaurant OR at home. (I tried to document how to make them, so stay tuned for it one day on my recipe site.)

NW Vacation: Day 2

Apparently, the kids didn’t think they had enough time in the pool when we first arrived at my dad’s in Chelan, so they first jumped in the pool around 8:30 AM and didn’t get out (besides for a snack and lunch) until 4:30 PM. They put in a full day!

Things got a bit interesting for a while when Mary Kate discovered a bat hanging inside the just-opened sun umbrella. She was so excited to watch this bat. I hesitantly took a couple of pictures. The bat ended up flying all around the back yard and ran right into Mary Kate, who exclaimed, "Cool!" as the rest of us shreaked, "Ewwww!" (I actually captured the collision on video.) It didn't want to leave and ended up in another closed umbrella...where it latered came out and finally flew away. Turns out that not many people like to get close to bats!

When Uncle Chris arrived with his dog Libby, it just got the kids all riled up even more. They threw a ball to her in the pool for hours…until THEY got tired of it!


Kathleen even jumped with Libby.
Then Kathleen spotted Grandpa’s golf cart in one of the garages and quietly asked me if you need a driver’s license to drive a golf cart. I told Dad, and he ended up giving them rides and letting them drive. Well, he got through only three of the kids…when…something...happened. He was gone with Jimmer for quite a bit longer than with Kathleen and Mary Kate.

Well, about 10 minutes after I took this picture with Jimmer and my dad—ready to go on their ride—they rolled the golf cart. Yep, Jimmer was driving on the golf course trail--and from what my dad said was doing a fine job—but one of the wheels went off the trail at just the wrong time (at a turn and a hill) and whooooooa, rolled over in slow motion.

Here’s an “after picture” which may not look very bad unless you look. The whole steel side support is complete broken, the double windshield was shattered, the whole sun shade in pushed down and back, and seat is broken.
Jimmer had a few minor and very superficial scrapes, my dad’s shoulder is a little sore, and it was a bit scary for both of them. After we finished thanking our lucky stars that neither of them was hurt, we considered it another crazy adventure.

Here’s Jimmer’s accident report: “Some golfers saw us and came over to help. The cart was smoking a little bit and was leaking gas, and it wouldn’t start at first. The men were talking to me and asking me questions like, ‘What’s your name?’ Then they gave me some ice to put on my arm where the cart landed on me.”

Our crazy little boy is also quite sensitive and was both a little shocked by the incident and horrified knowing that he ruined Grandpa’s golf cart. After all, Grandpa lives on Bogey Boulevard! Jimmer was pretty quiet for the rest of the day. Not a day he'll soon forget...especially having three siblings who will always remind him about it!

So, that was our first full day on our vacation. And I’d say it was FULL!

NW Vacation: Day 1

We left at the crack of dawn and flew away…

Our kids felt so big as they handled their own gear—each has a rolling duffle bag and a back pack. Jimmer even wanted to do more than his fair share by taking my bag as well as his. Such chivalry!We arrived in Spokane and drove a few more hours in our rental van to our first destination, Chelan. Chelan is a growing resort town across the Cascade Mountains from Seattle--about midway between Seattle and Spokane. Since I forgot my dad’s careful directions to get to his house (and since I somehow forgot to pack the map we put in a very *special* place so we’d remember to pack it), we followed the Google directions from Joe’s Blackberry. Google must not have known that we were driving a minivan (as oppposed to a 4 x 4) and sent us on this road in the middle of two crops.
The road “pavement” consisted of about 6 inches of soft dust. We were very lucky to not get stuck. Just when we were laughing about this road (which is referred to on our new *real* map as an “unimproved foot path”), we saw this coming at us...on our single-lane "roadway".SQUEEZE!

The “road” eventually turned into rocks, deep grooves and a bunch of switchbacks. It spit us out somewhere closer to our destination…where we still made pretty good time getting to Chelan! Here's our view! Lots of apple orchards here as you can see by the neat lines of greenery (if you click on it for a closer look).

Once we arrived, the kids jumped in the pool and were not heard from for a long time.Our adventure begins!

This is what our bedroom looked like yesterday afternoon

Any guesses what's going on here?


Sadly, this is only about half of what was really scattered throughout the entire room!

No, we're not moving!