Checking Off the Summer List

We have checked off quite a few things from Littlebit and Lovey's summer to do list. We have been to the beach, we went camping twice, and Lovey went fishing with Grandpa. On Sunday we took a mini vacation and checked off three more items on the list: stay in a hotel, go swimming, and go to the zoo.

We decided to take a little vacation to Portland, Oregon. On the way there we went to Mount St. Helens. The clouds cooperated by moving, so we could see part of the volcano. Lovey was fascinated by the volcano and the movie he watched about it. He kept asking when it was going to erupt, not out of fear, but out of fascination and I think he wanted to see it erupt.

When we finally arrived at the hotel, we decided to go swimming. Littlebit was a little daredevil in the pool. She would walk away from you and jump in, so that you had to quickly swim over and pull her up because she doesn't know how to hold her breath. Scary. Lovey practiced the things he learned at swim lessons, like floating on his back. A year ago, floating on his back or getting his face wet would have resulted in him yelling.

The next day we went to the Portland Children's Museum. This is a fabulous children's museum and although there were a lot of kids there, it doesn't feel crowded like the one here. The kids had a great time on the stage, playing with the trains, and in the dig pit. Lovey and I even played a giant game of checkers and Littlebit played with blocks that looked like wood, but were soft.

On our last day, we went to the zoo for $2 Tuesday. Yikes! Who's idea was that. It was nice to only pay $6 to get in instead of $30, but it took over an hour just to get in the gates of the zoo. We had to park in a church parking lot and ride the shuttle to the zoo. The kids loved the shuttle because it was a school bus and both kids have a fascination with buses. We didn't see all of the animals at the zoo, but we did see bears, elephants, and tigers. We went to see a cougar that Grandpa had helped rescue, but it wasn't out due to having its area cleaned. Bummer, that's why we wanted to go. The kids loved the elephants and still talk about the size of the poop and the size of one male elephant's privates. Nice. Next topic. We also took the train around the zoo which Littlebit had been asking for the entire day. We left just as it was starting to rain. Our timing was perfect so that we only were rained on in the car.

The hotel we stayed in was nice. I might post a review about it later.

In three days, we checked three things off of the summer to do list. Now to try to finish the list before Lovey goes to school in a month.