Spur of the moment vacation

This past weekend we made a spur of the moment decision for a mini family vacation. Cam got Saturday and Sunday off, which never happens, and we decided to take advantage of it. We spent the weekend in Pine Mt. in a cute little cabin in the woods.

The main attraction:

Our main purpose in wanting to go here was to bring the kids to the Wild Animal Safari. Cam and I went here on our honeymoon and had a great time and thought it would be fun to share it with our children almost 5 years later. Wow it doesn't seem that we have been married for 5 years this August! The kids LOVED the safari and getting to feed all the animals. It is basically a forest, pasture type place where you rent one of their vans (or take your own car which I would NOT recommend) and the animals run free and come up to your windows for you to feed them.

Cam and the kids with some kind of cow

Inside of something big and drooly's mouth. I even think he was kind enough to burp on us.

The giraffe that followed us a little ways.

Alivia was a little intimidated by the bulls and buffalo at first but quickly warmed up to them. It probably didn't help that her introduction to a buffalo was when she turned around feeding a baby deer mesmerized by "aww it so cute look at the baby deer mommy" and then turned around to a buffalo head in her window basically sucking her ear. That girl flew over her seat faster than I ever thought a three year old could move. It was hilarious although she didn't think so. My little sweet talker even got to kiss the zebra.Dylan was the feeding champ and carried the drool to prove it. He was not afraid of any of the animals and had this nasty thick drool stringing in between his fingers and dripping down his elbows. He really got into his work if you know what I mean. He did have a near tragic moment when I wasn't paying attention and he was trying to feed an ostrich. They are some mean birds. We got his hand back in just as it was coming in for the peck. We did lay some food on the window sill for him to eat but I would not recommend feeding them by hand.Good thing dad went beyond reasonable when purchasing food. They recommend buying 2 cups per person but he bought us a 50 lbs bag! We only had one cupful left when we finished the safari and carried it to the walk through section of the zoo.

At the cabin: After the safari we went back to the cabin to check things out and do some fishing. Each of the cabins are decorated with antiques in different themes. This time we got a 2 bedroom cabin called the General Store. It was super nice and Alivia didn't want to come home on Sunday.
The fishing at the cabin wasn't too shabby either. We caught a lot of huge brim and a catfish in the hour and a half we were there. The kids were busy playing with the ducks and a turtle we caught. I think they were surprised that ducks actually fly since neither of ours do. But that's just because we keep them so well fed that they look like butterball ducks compared to the wild ones.

As it got dark we thought it would be fun to start a camp fire and make some s'mores for a bed time snack. Diggy thought it was great but Liv decided she liked the marshmallows better uncooked. Roasting marshmallows didn't last to long because of course Livi didn't want hers roasted and Mr. Independent was a little dangerous slinging flaming marshmallows around. We called it an early night and the kids actually got to bed at their bed time. Cam and I stayed out and enjoyed our fire and the jacuzzi. Oh yeah I can't forget to mention the famous plug in fireplace... it's a sure hit!

Sunday:

Sunday morning we started our trip home. It was hard to talk Alivia into leaving her beautiful room with stars on the pillow as she described it. We had to promise her that we would come back to the wood house again. We were also a little sad to have to leave so soon and have decided that we will try to take a trip back here once a year.

On the ride home we stopped at FDR's Little White house in Warm Springs. Cam had never been there and it had been a few years since I had been so we stopped to check it out. It was nice and they have built a really nice museum since I had been there. Livi seemed to enjoy it and liked the little teacups they had on display in the 1930's kitchen. Dylan being the shy one that he is surprised us by going up to one of the park security guards and starting up a conversation. The guard, Charles, kindly took the kids by the hand and pointed out all the cool little things that little kids might be interested in. We even got a picture. Up the road from the Little White house was the Warm Springs National Fish Hatchery. They had an aquarium but we didn't go in. We just went to the ponds to see all the fish they were growing and the kids got to feed some fish also. It was interesting and they even had an alligator sitting out there. Cam wanted to get his fishing pole and I had to promptly remind him of all the "government property no fishing" signs posted everywhere.

We finally made it home after picking up miss Daisy and stopping by Josh's house to pick up some plants he had. We were exhausted but did get everything unpacked and ready for Monday morning to start our cycle over again. The kids enjoyed sleeping in the same room so much in the cabin that they wanted to sleep together in Alivia's room that night. This was the first time they actually slept together and I thought it was cute so I took a picture. They actually made it through the night together on the floor!

Alivia's Monday morning Dr. appt:

This morning we had to wake up bright and early to bring Alivia to her dermatology appointment. It started out bad because Alivia would not wake up and Dylan was in some kind of a foul mood. After wrestling them to get clothes on eat their breakfast brush their teeth and get out the door we arrived 5 minutes late. We get to the counter and the receptionist promptly informs us we were to be there 35 mins. ago to fill out paper work since Alivia hadn't been there since 2006. All I could do was sigh and remind myself that it was just a Monday morning.

Alivia's appt. went fine and she got a diagnosis for her spreading mole problem she has developed here recently. I guess a virus triggered the spread of the moles so they are contagious if she happens to bust one open. This is just great. So now I have to give them baths separately and make sure they are not sharing towels or wrestling to rough. Just one more thing to worry about.

They prescribed her some retinal a to use for 6 weeks and then we have to go back in for another consultation and to schedule laser removal for the rest of them. She has about 18 right now but I'm hoping this cream will get rid of most of them. They will have to put her under for the laser removal so that is a little scary but I'm sure she will be fine. Could you imagine the doctor bill for having 18 moles removed? Ugh... I hope this cream that no pharmacy seems to carry and cost an arm and two legs helps when we get it. My poor baby girl has had a rough time with odd medical procedures in her lifetime.