Post for the Boys

I know quite a few boys that love trains (and other big vehicles) and on our hike yesterday we got to experience something really fun! There is a bridge that you cross to get into the park, it's a short but very tall bridge that goes up and over the TRAIN TRACKS! Just as we were heading into the park we heard the whistle of the train, we waited and WOW! what an exciting thing to feel and hear. We hiked, headed back out and luckily, got to see/feel/hear another train. I wish that you could feel what we did while watching the videos, guess you'll just have to visit the train bridge with us next time.

Cathlapotle Plankhouse Project

As you begin your hike on the Oaks to Wetland trail you come to a Plankhouse. It is a replica of a plankhouse that was found about 1.5 miles from this sight. They built it to resemble the houses described by Lewis and Clark when they visited the Cathlapotle village over 200 years ago. This one is about 45 feet long, the original was about 90 feet long. The original housed upwards of 70 families, makes me think I should stop complaining about my small house.

Entrance to the plankhouse, the volunteer/ranger stopped us before entering and told us how to properly enter the house. You enter backwards, to show respect to the members of the house and to indicate that you do not have any hostility (weapons) towards them.

Drying grass reeds and carving at the far end of the house.
These particular reeds were mainly used to make sleeping mats.

The house is made from cedar, a very rot resistant wood. The sun was sneaking in through the vents in the roof, the smoke from the fire pits naturally drafted up and out b/c of the cracks in the house. They purposely did not seal up the houses for this reason.

Trying to get some perspective on the inside, Oliver can't stand still.

Just playing with angles.

The boys spent a lot of time at this bench talking to the volunteers. They learned a lot about what everything was used for. We spent a lot of time in the Plankhouse letting them ask questions.

Ridgefiled National Wildlife Complex

Ridgefield WA was our destination yesterday, there is a Wildlife Refuge up there that we've never been to. Silly really since we live all of 20 minutes away. A huge beautiful complex right in our backyard and it took us how many years to check it out? We hiked the Oaks to Wetlands trail then drove the River 'S' Unit after (pictures and more on that in an upcoming post). Anyway, it was a beautiful, partly cloudy day so off we went to explore and hike.

The oak trees were massive. I know oak trees get old, large and gnarly but with all of the development going on around here you just don't see these giants much anymore. Out of sight, out of mind...it was nice to see them again.

Boot Lake, you can only get to this lake during certain times of the year. With the rains starting back up, you won't be able to get here much longer.

Oliver found a stick, then decided to stab and collect leaves along the trails.

Wetlands

See beautiful blue skies with a few clouds here and there, for our hike.

Coolest oak tree. It was huge. Noah was planning out his tree house.

The boys climbing on the above tree. I caught the rare moment when Noah offered his little brother a helping hand.

I just want to live here. Think they'd let me?

This is a replica of a plank house that they built at the beginning of the hiking trail. I saved those pictures for another post.

Another Lego Enthusiast

Noah is a HUGE Lego fan and collector, I'm sure all of you already knew that. Turns out that Noah has been influencing his little brother too. Both of the boys can amaze me with some of the stuff that they come up with. Oliver was especially proud of this creation, please pardon the mess in the background. =)

Fort Vancouver

Grandma Ricki is in town, when her sister, Tammy, heard about it and realized that she would be in the Portland area too, they decided to get together. Not sure how it all came about the plan was to meet at Fort Vancouver this morning and I'm glad that's where they decided to meet. Joel has lived in the Vancouver area a lot longer than I have and he had actually never been there. I have been down and around that area, always on the outside though, never on the inside. I'm glad we decided to go, it's actually a pretty fun and educational place to visit. You can visit the Fort Vancouver website and plan a trip of your own. Give us a call and we'll even meet you down there. I posted some pictures to my facebook account already so I tried not to duplicate here on the blog. I, shocking I know, took a ton of pictures but kicked myself later for not taking more of the family. Tammy, Thomas and Richard were all there and I got a few pictures of my boys (all three) and just a couple of Tammy and her family. Sheesh, hand me a camera and my brain goes all haywire.

So the fort is actually all replicated from pictures and archeology digs that have been done. They aren't even sure if this is the exact site of the fort. However, they did an incredible job building it back up to look like it would have back then.

Blacksmith swinging his hammer.
They have volunteers who work on the weekends. They dress in period clothing and do the jobs from that time. Got the feeling, though, that it was whatever volunteers showed up that day that would dictate what you got to see.

The Blacksmith Shop

Chief Factor's Residence

Bastion

Carpenter at work.
This wood shop was incredible.

The volunteer carpenter let Oliver help run the treadle.

Joel was drooling!

I really liked these light fixtures in the Counting House.

I also fell in love with this pitcher and bowl, actually the entire set-up was beautiful.

Pitchers, decanters and glasses, again in the Counting House.

The Fur Warehouse

The Jail
The people put in jail were shackled to the wall and given a small wool blanket to sleep on the floor with. The room was dark with little to no light coming in.

Tammy and Ricki standing in front of an heirloom rose bush. Those roses smelled amazing.

Joel relaxing his weary head on the cannon.

Shutters on the gorgeous porch of the Chief Factor's Residence. Glass of lemonade, a rocking chair and some good company and you'd never get me off of this porch.
The inside of the house was incredible too but my batteries were dying and I didn't get many pictures.

3 YEAR OLD STANDS STILL!

That's right, you read correctly, my 3 year old master wiggler, mover and shaker stood still! Just how did this happen? You spend a mere $1 on a little cup of juice at the zoo, tell him to hold it like an ice cream cone and throw him to the birds. Best $1 ever spent!


He even stood still when the bird landed in Grandma Ricki's hair and started pulling on her hair and band/barrette. He thought that was hilarious!

Grandma Ricki and my boy on the train.

Side note: If you haven't been to the zoo lately, it's time to make a trip. The new "Predators of the Serengeti" is open now and it is awesome! The big cats are amazing to see.

Infestation

My science driven Noah discovered these fascinating little robots. Hexbugs have infiltrated the house. We now have four of them scurrying about the house. Some are light and sound activated, some are remotely controlled and some just shoot around the room at a frantic pace until they hit something, turn and race off in another direction. I have to say, of all the toys that my children "need" these are one of my favorites.

Inchworm

Ant

Visitor - the four legged kind

I had to clarify because we actually have two visitors but I'll blog about the other visitor later. Haven't captured her on film yet! Tori got to go to Disneyland for her birthday and she took her family along. They have a few dogs and we got to keep one for the week.

He likes to smell things...

He also likes to run around with my boys...

His name is Woodrow and I think he's kinda cute. He's a 9 month old yellow lab.

This is the standoff...Oliver is coming to get the ball.

(laughing) I love the look on Woodrow's face.
"Go ahead punk, make my day!"

They occasionally butt heads...

But it always works out in the end.

Goin' to the Chapel

and we're goin' to get married...

We went to Lebanon OR Friday to Joel's cousin Sasha get married. Anthony and Sasha found a great place called The Ranch on Beaver Creek, it was a beautiful setting. I shared the pictures on my facebook account but thought their might be a few of you, not on facebook yet, that would like to see them too.

Click here to see the pictures.

I got it!!

This picture may not be off the charts in beauty or composition but I was at the right place at the right time and got a super fun amazing picture! The two hippos were awake (not normal), they were very active (not the norm), they were playing with their ball (never seen that before) and I just happened to walk up with my camera and capture this....