NW TREK

On the 3rd day of our trip, we left the beach and headed in-land. We checked into a hotel in Tumwater, Washington. Our goal was to get closer to our destination for the next day, the Northwest Trek. The hotel we choose had a major requirement which was an indoor pool. We all went swimming shortly after arrival. Cooper and Payton went swimming a second time that evening. Cooper and Payton had a blast.

The next morning, after eating a quick breakfast courtesy of the hotel, we headed to NW Trek to meet up with Nana, Papa and Kendall. The drive from the hotel was about and hour and a half.

Northwest Trek is a 723-acre wildlife park featuring a 435-acre free-roaming area tram tour. Pacific Northwest native species are exhibited in a natural setting. It has a little bit of everything: lakes, trails, meadows and plenty of animals. Northwest Trek is home to more than 200 North American animals.
Northwest Trek has dozens of natural habitats in its walkable core area filled with mesmerizing animals like grizzlies, cougars and otters. From the tram bighorn sheep, deer, Roosevelt elk, woodland caribou, mountain goats, bison and more can be seen.

It was pretty chilly and cloudy, but we had a great time. We all rode the tram together, but Nana, Delaney and I stayed behind while everyone else went on the walking tour. Pete was our photographer for the day and got some great pictures, except while on the tram as our driver had a bit of a lead foot. This was a worthwhile trip and we had lots of fun.

Starting the tram tour.

All the animals were starting to loose their winter coats.

This is a nest with swan eggs.

Vacation Day #2.... Beach, Site-Seeing & SMORES

The second day of our beach trip landed us on the beach litterly... In Washington you can drive on the beach. So I got my first beach driving trip. It really was fun and I was a bit gitty. You would have thought I was one of the kids. I took a ton of pictures with us driving on the beach, parked on the beach and playing on the beach. It really was chilly when we went the first time so we decided to site-see.

We headed to see a light house. We came upon a really old small town called "Oysterville". It was established in 1854. There were still a dozen or more original houses still standing. They were amazing and were right on the bay so they had even better views. On the way back to the beach, we ran into a black bear that decided to cross the road right in front of the car before us. It was really neat!

We then tried our luck for warmer weather at the beach again... no such luck, but the kids were dying to play in the sand. So we parked and got out chairs and sand toys. Of course they had to go in the water. Cooper tripped and got all wet. It didn't phase him a bit. Payton and Cooper loved digging in the sand just as much as playing in the water. Delaney and I tried to catch a few rays and Dad just enjoyed watching us all have fun.

After, playing on the beach, we headed to the little town of Long Beach for lunch. We ate shrimp cocktails, clam chowder in a sour dough bread bowl and fish and chips. Totally Yummy! This town had a ton of souvenir shops so we got the kids "Long Beach, WA" sweat shirt. Then, we rode the merry-go-round and got ice cream cones.

We ended the night with SMORES! There are two things I love about the out-doors... a "camp fire & SMORES!" We had a great second day & an even better night.

How many trantrums can a 3 year old really have?

The other day I took Cooper and his friend Tyce (that I was babysitting) to the Zoo. Savannah, my date-night baby sitter, came along for the fun and of course Delaney was with us. We had a great time until Cooper threw a huge tantrum. He had taken off running. Lucky for me Savannah was there to catch him. He ran right past the bat exhibit. When I finally caught up with them he wanted to go back to the bats, but since they were long gone we kept going. This is what spurred the tantrum. He was hysterical with screaming, yelling, hitting, etc. Because of this I told him he could not ride the train which ensued an even larger fit. I had to take him aside and try to get him to calm down. Passer-by were just staring and probably thought I was beating him. He ended up settling down and we were able to finish seeing a few animals, but no train. On the way, home he asked for his favorite snack "Chickie-fries" which are chicken nuggets and french fries. Since he was behaving well I agreed.

After, we dropped off Savannah; we stopped by Office Max to get printer ink before "Chickie-fries". While in the store he started misbehaving by grabbing things off shelves and putting them in the cart. Then he would throw things out. I managed to make it to the check out line only to have him throw out items from my purse. I was completely embarrassed. I told him that because of his bad behavior that we would not be getting "Chickie-fries". As you can imaging another tantrum ensued. All the way home he cried, screamed and yelled. When we finally got home he said "Mom, I'm sorry for yelling at you and sorry for being a bad boy!" I was so frustrated, but he really knew what he did was wrong. How could I be mad? I love him so much, but this "terrible 3" phase is going to be the death of me yet!