This light house Kyle and the 3 oldest girls went and hiked up to it. I stayed in the van with slumbering Lydia. I read while they played. It was a short hike up to the light house. Gabby and Miley walked up to the top of the light house with Kyle. While Belle stayed and helped watched the store. She was too little to climb up there. It was a beautiful sight. Gabby took quite a few of these pictures. After I saw the pictures I wish I would of went with them.
We spent the morning at the Ft Stevens Bunkers. The girls had a great time exploring and I was able to get some pictures of the girls in the same places we took some about 3 years ago. So every year we go back I hope to take the same pictures.
We also found this strange looking beetle and the girls were fascinated with it so they all took turns holding it and looking at it. Kyle liked it so well that he brought it home to animate it. It was dead already when we found it.
It was fun just exploring and being together as a family.
The next day a couple more families joined us for the rest of the Trip. So we all went down to the Getty. Had a wonderful walk along the beach and down to the water.
We then went down to the side where the Columbia meets the Pacific Ocean. It was really warm there and the kids decided to go in and to play in the warm sand. It was really fun.
After the Ape caves we made our way down to Corvallis Oregon.My cousin who is 4 years older than me has a wonderful place down in Corvallis. Not to mention two wonderful children that happen to Miley and Belle's ages. The kids were so anxious to get there to see them. We try and get together at least one to two times a year. So we made plans to visit and we had so much fun.
The other wonderful part about visiting Harmony and Dan is Harmony is a horse trainer. They have a fabulous barn with 50 stales and many horses to ride. Along with a lot of other girls there just taking care of their own horses. My girls love it. They all rode this year even Lydia. I was even able to go for a trail ride on their 40 acres with my Dad's baby sister Erin. It was fantastic.
The kids swam in their pool. Played hide and seek in the tall grass in the dark. Rode on a golf cart, which my 1st cousin once removed Tanner drove all over the property with my girls. They will always remember that. It was working pretty slow so don't worry. They watched movies, played dress up, rode bikes, picked berries and just had fun. When the kids picked the berries we thought we would all share the berries by making shakes with them. The kids were so mad that we had used the berries they said those were for us and they were plotting to get revenge. In the end Kyle went with them and picked more berries. They all had the shakes they were SO wanting. It was pretty funny!
When we were there it was also my Cousin Amber's 15th Birthday. We all went out to Panda's Express her favorite place to eat. Then we came back and had Cake and Ice Cream and the kids made her some pretty cute cards. Amber we had so much fun.
I also learned how to play this really fun Board game called Ticket to Ride. It was so much fun. I also learned how to play a game called James Bond. It was all really fun and I loved it. Since Kyle doesn't like board games that much it was nice to have someone to play with.
In the end we had a great time with my Cousins and Aunt. We love to visit with our family. We are looking forward to next time we can all get together. We sure love you all.
We left the Horse camp early and made our way up the mountain to the Ape Caves. These Caves were made by a lava flow that was flowing so fast that the out side cooled and formed the cave. This is our second visit to the caves. Last time we went Kyle took us to one spot were it was flat and very dark. This time Kyle decided to take us on a part that was more difficult. It was pitch black and all we had was a lantern some flashlight and head lamps. At first it wasn't to bad then there was this huge mound of rocks and boulders. We finished that one and there was another one. All the while Kyle carried the lantern had Lydia on his back and was helping Belle swing from one rock to another. There were spots were we had to take Lydia off his back and he had to pass her to me. It was pretty tight. I banged my head a few times. The girls were troopers they just kept going and none of them complained. About three quarters of the way through there was an 8ft lava fall. We had to climb lucky for us there was some other people who helped us get the kids and my self up the lava fall. After that we reached a point where there was a sky light. The kids thought that was great. We soon reached the end we had to climb up a small ladder and squeeze on out having to take Lydia off Kyle's back again. We then had to walk back the 1.5 miles back to the van. It was really fun. I suggest if you have little kids to go for the easy route. For all you adventurers the hard way was a lot more fun.
Starting the 1st of August we left on our Family Vacation to the Oregon Coast with stop in Corvallis to see some cousins. On our way down we decided to stay our first night near Mt. Saint Helens. We kind of left a little late so we ended up camping near the bottom of the mountain at a horse camp. There was horses camped all around us. I was a little worried about the horses being to loud. I think it ended up our kids being the loud ones. 
Kyle and girls at our Campsite
We went on a small hike at the horse camp and we found this water fall.
At the end of July the Disney Channel had a Special Hannah Montana 3-D Concert. We picked up the 3-d glasses at Walmart. I asked my Neighbor if they would let us watch the concert on their projector. She said Yes, and it was a go. We decided to make popcorn and have soda. The girls were so excited to see Miley so big. The concert was good and the Jonas Brothers performed too. My neighbors boys liked it for a while and then were bored. By going all out for this concert I am hoping to avoid having to actually take them to her real concert. The girls had a great time!
