Summer Staycation

Our trip to Cincinnati was in the very beginning of the summer, and we were definitely feeling the need for a mini vacation. Rather than travel far, we decided to stay close by and enjoy some of the natural beauty of Oregon. Day 1 of our staycation was a trip to Mt. Hood Ski Bowl adventure park.

The day was overcast and threatening to rain nearly constantly, so the park was nearly empty - we enjoyed no lines all day long! The first thing we did was to ride the alpine slide - over and over! Since Torin was with us, only 1 parent went up at a time, 

 

but that meant that Kate and Liam had time at the base jumping on the bungee tarmpolines and climbing the rock wall. Kate made it a long way up the wall!

 

The kids had a fun time going fast down the track. Kate especially wanted to go super fast, giggling louder and louder as we went faster down the track.

The other side of the park was filled with fun! The kids took countless runs on the tubing hill. Even Torin took a few rides!

Liam was a little creative in how he got the tube up the hill.

On the other end of the park, there was a little go kart that Liam and Kate got to drive. We quickly learned that neither one of our 4-year-old twins are very good drivers! Liam got some close instructions

and then proceeded to drive into a tree on the first turn! He came back over and over and eventually got the hang of it!

Kate's turn around the track was even worse than Liam's! After making the first turn (barely missing the red go kart), she drove off the side, then into the center median and over one of the rocks, then, rather than make the 180 degree turn, he didn't even try to turn and drove straight into the corner! The operator pulled her back again, and walked next to her to make sure she made it back to the start line - helping her avoid one more crash into the center median!

We were all so entertained watching Kate and Liam driving their cars.

Torin got to play, too. Dani sat in disgust imagining all of the germs all over the balls in the ball pit.

There were all sorts of other activities - a hamster wheel on water, a pony ride, a Jacob's ladder (which Claire successfully climbed), 

and a put putt course through the woods.

Day 2 of our staycation took us to Seaside, Oregon. Torin discovered that he loves shovels and sand and buckets and the ocean!

We didn't end up building a very large sand castle, in part because Torin loved participating in the creation of and destruction of everything that was being built,

but the kids did spend a lot of their time running into and out of the ocean.

Later in the day, we took a ride in a family-size bike. It was so big and heavy, but there was room for everyone

and Torin got to ride in the front and he was loving it!

We rode all around Seaside with plenty of effort, and we kept having to stop because Jacob was losing his sandals, but we enjoyed it. We rented the bike for an hour and we made it about 45 minutes before we were ready to return it!

It was a super fun vacation!