Our Saturday Adventure

We did it, we went somewhere Saturday and it was the perfect ending to spring break. We were undecided even as late as Friday night on where to go. A friend that has only lived here for 18 months has seen more of this state than I have and I've lived here 2/3 of my life! Anyway, they went to Palouse Falls on Thursday and so this day trip came highly recommended. Thanks Tara! This is such a long post, feel free to skip ahead. I'm just so proud of our trip, it had to be on here, photos and all.

It is not in my nature to just jump in the car for a day trip, unless of course it involves many stores to shop in, ha. I have way too big of home body tendencies but I'm so glad we went. And I have a greater resolve to do more of them. The kids had a blast and actually so did Milo and I.

~Not too sure about my Joan Jett hair. I'm blaming it on the wind.~

I had talked to Shaila earlier in the week and she suggested making the drive to their house. But it was too far to go and get back for a baptism by 6 pm. That's when we decided to head to Palouse Falls because it was closer. Milo called Shaila in the morning, inviting them to make it a day with us. We're so glad they did! It's almost exactly half way for both of us and made for a perfect drive with the kids, even Reed.

I had to show this photo too even though it's almost the same. See the cliff off to the left there? That's the edge the crazy people below were on!! I could not stop staring at them, wondering why in the world they would choose to hike out that far. I am not a risk taker or thrill seeker so it just plain freaked me out!

Sure they are all over confident college students but still! I would....never! And then they climbed down to the other side of the falls and actually went in the water above the falls! I know it was hard to see how close they actually were since we were so far on the other side but to me they were definitely TOO close for comfort. Oh to feel so invincible.

It was SO hot! We haven't seen sun like that yet this year. Everyone but me had worn long sleeves and they were dying of heat. I'm actually glad they ended up in those shirts because everyone came home with sunburned faces and I was the only one that had pink on my arms. Poor Kat and her snow white skin, she is still really red. Off to buy the summer's supply of SPF products.

Reed slept in the stroller almost the whole time we were hiking around, the reason he's missing above. We could not have asked for him to be better, he was so good.

As we were hiking to the top, these were the signs they had posted all along the trail. The fence was almost right on the edge so to me this was pretty self explanatory. But for those that thought it was safe to be on the other side of the fence, I'm sure glad they made this clear, ha!

We watched a car parked on the top of that ledge to the right with 3 people walking and climbing all over it. With more, dare I say dumb college kids. And one was scaling down the side for photos. I love photography but never in my life would I scale a cliff like that!

At the top of the observation deck looking at the runoff of the falls. The moss and grass were so green. It was absolutely gorgeous.

There was a covered part at the top of the hill we hiked up and the kids were happy to have a place to sit and be in the shade. They had so much fun together. With so many cousins so close in age, it could be a recipe for a disaster but it isn't. I'm so glad they get along. I love my cousins (even though they teased me relentlessly for years, you know who you are) and I want that for my kids too.

Mike and Marion ended up making the drive as well and it was great to see them walking down the hill. I wont say I was 'surprised' because all of us thought they might end up coming but we weren't too sure. They had tried to call but there was no cell service. Shaila tried setting her camera up on a table to get a picture of all of us but it wasn't working out very well. So I asked the closest lady to us if she would mind snapping one. This was the best we got, not very good but better than nothing. After she takes them, she says to me, I don't have my glasses on so I'm sure they wont be that good. Well, thanks.

The day we choose for an outing, so do at least 100 biker's and their chicks (or more)! When we were setting up the picnic to every 15-20 minutes a new group of 5 or so 'hogs' would drive in revving their engines. Quinn loved it. Matt has a bike and Quinn loves the sound of a bike. He knew when more were coming in and would whip his head around to watch them driving down the hill.

There was this rock that when you went behind it you couldn't see the fence (there was one, I promise), only the falls. So we took these pictures of the kids 'climbing' up the cliff. I think Nate might be giving it away with both hands coming off.

Kat, not looking like she's climbing much either. But we love that toothless smile anyway.

Dane did the best job convincing us that he was actually climbing up that hard cliff.

Milo did get a 'bit' goofy near this rock. He was trying to swan dive (see Shaila's post) and pose with muscles. You know, manly stuff. If you click on this to make it bigger, you can see a man hiking along that ridge. There is a big trail all along that edge. NO way was I going up there. And being the over protective, worry wart of a mom that I am, I said the kids couldn't go up there unless Milo took them one at a time. He opted to not make that hike 3 times so we left it at that. Maybe when they're older. Or better yet, a trip to the falls without mom might be in order. I just get so nervous (go ahead, make fun of me Kyle)!

This was the temp as we were leaving our great day behind. Almost 80 degrees, definitely better than the 50 degree weather of last week! We had so much fun. Thanks for grilling lunch Matt, it was so much better that the peanut butter and jam sandwiches we packed! I think we need to make a Saturday trip once a month. Who's planning the next one?