Memorial Day Weekend - McDonald Forest Hike and Opal Creek Hike

Memorial Day Weekend was a good one for us this weekend. Saturday we did some housekeeping, ran some errands, and visited some friends. I wanted to get some hiking in for our family too, so on Sunday we went to the McDonald Forest and then grabbed pizza for dinner from our favorite place. It was a perfect day.

On Monday we went to Opal Creek and it was such a beautiful place! I am working up to a goal of a long day hike on the PCT this summer (with Mike of course) so I felt like the more hiking I do the better I can be for this goal. I had a backpack full of sandwiches, veggies, and chips that we strapped onto a packboard (like for hunting) with a "Crazy Creek" chair. We brought this set up for Sawyer because we anticipated that he would get tired at some point, and he did so I'm so glad we brought it. We didn't tell him that it was for him until he said he was tired because otherwise he would have been on it the whole time! ha!

Mike is a total champ, he carried Blair in the Kelty on his back and then at our turn around point (where Sawyer bacame tired {which he totally did, he was a champion hiker for a 5 year old, we didnt see any other kids his age hiking this}) I took over Blair on my back (ow) and Mike had Sawyer on his back and the backpack on his front. Mike is the best. 

Sawyer held onto the map to make sure we didn't get lost ;)

snack attack

 

We found this little area and it was full of newts (Sawyer's favorite, he even got to hold one). We also saw some frogs, one was giving another frog a piggy back ride ;)

 

 

Corvallis Adventure and the Last Day of Preschool

A couple weekends ago I was feeling sort of stir crazy so I suggested to Mike that we go to Corvallis (our college town) to walk around and get some dinner. First we made a stop at the campus bookstore and Sawyer picked out a shirt he couldn't live without! After that we let them run around the area outside the stadium. Dinner was a little insane but I'm glad we went and it was fun to get out of the house for the afternoon/evening.

The next day I planned to take the kids for a hike so Mike could work on our landscaping project but Sawyer claimed he couldn't go because he "broke his leg." (aka scraped his knee). I felt the need for some exercise so I took Blair on on my own. I took a trail that I had never been on before and I was almost regretting it because I didn't know where it came out, but we did it and it felt good!

I can't believe Sawyer's first year of school, preschool, has come and gone. His last day was the 22nd and it feels like just yesterday when I dropped him off for the first time. The school had rented some bouncy houses for the kids and asked for parent volunteers so I was happy to take a few hours off of work to join in on the fun.

Later that afternoon Blair was jealous of Sawyer's backpack so I brought this one out for her. We also had fun doing some puzzles that had been put away for a few months (almost like getting new toys ;) )

Also, Blair had some crazy hair that day (love it)