Everything is Awesome!

[Can you see the mini-figures cleaning out Washington’s ear with a Q-tip?]

Our first full day in San Diego was a Big Adventure.  We got to take cousin Esther (age 17) with us on our first foray to Lego Land.  Not only is Esther a wonderful niece and has the enthusiastic loyalty of her 3 young cousins, she also made our party an even number—a happy benefit on a ride-centric day.

Legoland is a fantastic place to play!  The kids loved the drive-your-own car and pull-your-parents-up-with-a-rope attractions.

There were more to do than just our rides, and we tried to do it all. 

Somebody (ahem, Esther) has a horrible tradition of leaving the soak-you-to-your underwear rides until the very end.  Sure, the lines are almost non-existent, but so are the warm temperatures.  It’s almost like 99.9% of the park’s attendance are smarter than us.  I have to exclude Dwayne though, partly because he doesn’t follow tradition on anyone’s say-so, and partly he went back to the Horrible Ride to wait to have his brand-new phone fished out from the itty-bitty pond it had drowned in 3 hours earlier.  Sigh, another story for a less sober time. 

[Right before Dwayne’s phone took it’s final gasp on a suicidal jump for The Joust. Dwayne’s face is priceless in retrospect.]

Despite The Most Expensive Ride Ever, we had a wonderful Family Adventure Day!

Piper’s 1/2 Birthday

We were traveling on her true half-birthday, so we found a morning that Daddy could take Piper out for breakfast and took Grandpa along, too!

Nine and a half years, Baby!  We haven’t missed a half-birthday yet.

San Diego Arrival

And the kids went in right away for the hugs…and then the sand and sea.

Hi, Grandpa and Uncle Dan!

Kyla can’t even get near a puddle without soaking her shorts, so she had no chance against the Pacific!

And then off to the house to meet with the female side of the caravan!

Shasta Caverns

We left Sun River Sunday morning to begin our road trip down to San Diego.  We gave ourselves 3 days to go 15 hours with the idea we could drive 5 hours a day and fit in an adventure as well. 

Which is how we found ourselves on a boat headed to a bus, headed to the Shasta Caverns.

Piper has taken it to heart that Mama is rarely in photos, so she’s taken upon herself to be 2nd in Command Family Photographer!

Shasta is a beautiful, beautiful area.  My  first loyalty is to my Western Washington, but almost 2 weeks of driving around California makes my allegiance waver a bit.

My phone camera can’t keep up with dark caves, but we had fun exploring in our group.

Luckily, the bear wanted to be photographed in regular light. 

 

High Desert Museum, Take…4??

I really like the HDM, and drag the fam there each time we are in Sun River. 

[Just play along with Mama, kids.  She likes this place.]

As always, we spent time in the living history farmstead, where Wesley and I worked on perfecting our circle tossing…

…and Kyla washed and hung someone’s unmentionables...

…while Piper took pictures of <chickenbutts>.

I had to add my own picture of <daddybutt>.

Tee hee!

The best part was having cousins Parker and Cecily there, too!

Surrey With the Fringe on Top

We dragged my parents down to Bend for a bit of sight-seeing and play, though until I spied these bikes, I didn’t know what form that would take. 

Why am I so charmed by these 1-speed bike limos?  It’s probably because I was enchanted preemptively by Old Mill area, with all it’s parks and the Deschutes running through it.  We chugged our way over bridges and through tunnels and over Wesley’s whining.  And Mom/Grandma sprang for ice cream afterward.

Does Wesley look like a boy who’d whine?  Yes. Yes, he does.