Catching up!

Okay, so I need to catch up on things.

A couple weeks ago we decided to take a trip to the olympic penninsula. We left around 8:00 in the morning, grabbed some breakfast and made it in time for the 9:00 ferry. The ferries are a fun ride for our family. The kids love to go to the upper deck and look around. It's fun because you can have a better view of some of the islands that are around. Sometimes seabirds will come and fly level with the ferry. So we went up to the upper deck. There is an area where you can stand outside. That's the favorite part. It was actually pretty warm that morning. But it was windy on the upper deck. Jaxen wasn't so sure about the wind. He's not a fan of the wind to begin with. So I took him to an area where you could still be outside but were covered by some glass windows. Kaeryn stayed out though. She was all over she was so excited. The ferry docked at Kingston and we made our way to Port Angeles to get some lunch. We stopped at this park to eat and let the kids run around before we got back into the car. We still had a ways to go.

We made our way to Rialto Beach. It was so beautiful! I love the ocean! I love the smell and the sound. The waves had a strong under current so we couldn't swim or play in the water. We did stick our feet in the water. You can't go to the ocean and not stick your feet in the water. We did play in sand and collected 3 bucketfuls of rocks. I know my husband loves me because he carried all 3 buckets to the car for me.

We had to leave after awhile. It was windy and Jaxen was tired and hungry and not liking the wind at all. Also, Tristan had soaked his clothes and didn't bring extras. I could have sworn that as I was packing a bag for Jaxen I said to ron and the kids to get extra clothes. I hope that next time they will remember when mommy says go get extra clothes, they will get extra clothes. So we made our way to the nearest town to get Tristan some sweat pants. We put his shirt and jacket on the heater and defrost vents and made our way to the hot springs in the olympic national forest. That was cool. They've made them like swimming pools. We didn't go swimming though. It was rainy and I just didn't want to swim in the rain. Even though it was warm. Ron also started to be bothered by the sulpher smell. After seeing the hot springs we drove further into the rainforset up to a place called Hurricane Ridge. It was beautiful but we really couldn't see much because we were in a cloud. That was fun! It was cold!! There were still patches of snow on the mountain. The kids were excited to see that. Kaeryn thought it was so cool that we were in a cloud. We went for a little hike and ended up taking Kati back to the car. Poor Kati. We brought her along so she could have fun with the family, and she did at the beach until she tried to jump over me and my chair when another dog came along. She wanted to play but the other dog wasn't so sure. I had to tie her up after that. And then we thought we could take her along on the trail but there was a no dogs sign up. I thought it strange that they would have a no dogs sign for a mountain trail. So we took Kati back to the van. She wasn't happy about that at all. She barked until she could no longer see us. Even though it was very cold on the ridge, it was so peaceful. We sang some camp songs and our voices echoed off the ridge. We litteraly felt like the only ones on earth at that point. It was cool. We did have to leave rather quickly however. I was worried about the cold, we weren't prepared for winter cold. And it was getting late and we still had a long drive home ahead of us. So we headed back down the mountain. Luckily we stopped for dinner before we went up the mountain.

We made our way down the mountain and through Port Angeles and finally reached kingston. We made it in time for the last ferry of the day. The 12:20 am. ferry. We had a little bit of waiting time before the ferry arrived so we all got out to go for a walk. We walked down the pier and looked at the water. There were some jellyfish and other fish and some sea birds. I stayed at the top at first. I was so exhausted that I wasn't sure about walking all the way down the pier. But then Ron and the kids came running up and told me they had seen a seal. So naturally I went down with them to see if I could get a look. It was cool. I got to see a sillouette of the seal. Ron said that it swam right underneath them when they first saw it. It was really exciting for us because we have never seen a seal in the wild before. Hopefully we will have another opportunity and it will be lighter in the day.

We boared the ferry and of course the kids wanted to go to the upper deck. I was very tired and didn't want to go. I'm not a fan of being on the upper deck at night anyway. It's a little unsettling for me because you can't see the water because its dark. So you look down into nothing. it's a little freaky for me. So I stayed in the car and Ron took all 3 kids up. It was nice to have a few minutes to myself of quiet. It didn't last long because the ferry hit a few big waves or something because we started rocking. There wasn't that many cars aboard so the ferry really rocked. I just sat there tense and trying to think wether I should panic or not. Ron knew that my anxiety would get the best of me so he and the kids came back to the car. He said that on the upper decks you could walk from side to side. But for me being down on the bottom and up front it was scary to see one side of the ferry go up and down and the other side go up and down. kind of like the Tidal Wave ride. Yes my mind started playing tricks on me. But I felt alot better once Ron and the kids were back. I must say that was the longest ferry ride so far for me( and i don't mean in legnth). Finally we docked and I was okay and we made our way back home. We made it back home around 2:00 in the morning. It was a fun trip! We were amazed to think that in one day we rode on two ferries, stood at the edge of the contient, saw the ocean, drove through a rain forest and stood in a cloud and saw hot springs and a wild seal! We love this beautiful world we live and can't wait for our next adventure.