We road tripped out to Chehalis for Thanksgiving this year. It was awesome. We had the best time ever. The drive went very smoothly as well. Hunter is such a great traveler! He read books, played with toys, pointed at things outside his window, and watched some movies. Whoever invented portable dvd players is a genius. Hunter was pretty excited he could watch movies in the car! On the way over the only time he really got to play outside of the car was when we went to Jimmy John's for lunch. (note how long his hair was! It was getting a little outrageous...he got a hair cut over Thanksgiving break)
These 3 little cousins had a lot of fun playing together. Playing, wreaking havoc, you know, the things kids are good at. Taking turns on the slide proved to be a little difficult sometimes.... ;)
The rocking horse is another favorite, as well as the swords! He would carry these around and whack whatever/whoever he could.
TJ got to go hunting a few times in the field and on the river.
He got 5 ducks!
Towing the boat back up to the house
He was also able to go fishing a couple times. One fish they caught was this beautiful 15 lb native steelhead. They put it back in the river since you can't keep the natives, but they had a great time getting that fish! A half hour fight down the bank of the river, which just happened to be a good 15 ft cliff, scrambling up the cliff, passing the rod back and forth, TJ almost falling into the river......I don't think I could do justice to the story of the fish on this blog, so if you want to hear the story, you'll have to ask TJ or his dad ;)
They went back a couple days later to fish at the same spot and got some shots in the daylight of the bank they were on. See all the tree roots that are sticking out? They were hanging on to those while holding on to the fishing rod, trying not to lose the fish, or their balance. It is a beautiful place! This is on the S Touttle River.
This is looking from the bank to the other side of the river.
We were lucky to have great weather while we were in Washington. We went on the tramp, swings, walks, and four wheeler rides.
Swinging with cousin Jane!
On a walk one day there was ONE mud puddle on the whole street. The kids found it and all managed to either splash, fall, or sit in it. Hunter stomped around and decided it looked really great to sit in. Apparently when TJ was little they were in the field one day and they couldn't see TJ and when they found him he was in the only mud puddle in the field with his trike. I guess Hunter's just like his dad :)
Hunter would have ridden on a four wheeler all day if we let him!
Jane walking down to the field
We got out the motorcycles, too :) Kaeli's new bike is really fun and goes pretty darn fast! I had a lot of fun riding it.
What's a trip to Chehalis without some shooting?! I tried skeet shooting again and this time it finally clicked! (I tried once 5 years ago and I was terrible.) It was a fun afternoon.
The boys also spent a morning chopping down one of the trees in the field :)
Sometimes we just stayed inside and played, too. Hunter loved being squished/sucked into this bean bag.
Thanksgiving day Pops (TJ's dad) was on shift at the fire station, so we ate our big dinner on Friday. We went to visit Pops at the station and had a great time! Hunter loved the big trucks, the swift water rescue boats, the ambulance, and wearing Pops' fire hat.
Trying to get a picture of the 3 kiddos with their fire hats on was quite the task.
This is the best picture. Ever.
Shelby turned 2! She was very dainty about eating her cupcakes. Hunter was not.
Post cupcake bath time!
Pops pushed Hunter around the house on this chair for a good 20 minutes. He loved it!
There was a clam dig while we were out there, too! I love this picture of the family clam digging.
Hunter thought it was the greatest thing to be on the beach!
He had a great time. So much that he had sand EVERYWHERE. And was pretty soaked from sitting in puddles. I cleaned off his hands and face and brushed off all the sand I could from the outside, then removed his boots. When I took off his jacket there were clumps of sand shoved up both his sleeves! Sheesh. When this kid plays, he plays hard, haha! He had soaked through all his layers of clothing and somehow managed to get sand to all layers of his clothing AND in his diaper. I stripped him down to his diaper and wrapped him in my hoodie for a little bit to try and warm him up. He got to wear TJ's shirt and a blanket for the car ride home. It was hilarious.
Hunter managed to almost split his head open while we were there, too. He ran straight into the corner of the door jam, ouch!! It's hard to tell from this picture 'cause it was right after it happened, but you can see the Harry-Potter-like mark on his forehead and it swelled up pretty good, too. He's a pretty tough little guy. He screamed for a while and then he was fine.
Elder Sparks from our ward is serving in the Tacoma, WA mission right now (the mission TJ's parents live in) and we popped in to visit him one night!
Talk about an awesome trip! We loved being with family and can't wait to go back!
