Sun Mountain Lodge Adventures

 

One of the goals that Chris and I have for our family this year is to do 12 weekend or overnight trips to places that we wouldn't normally go. Above, Chris and Jamisen had their first overnight camp out on the deck at the lake. It's something that will be a regular thing so those fun overnights don't count towards our goal of doing something out of the ordinary once a month with the kids. 

Driving five hours over the mountain certainly does though! We went to Sun Mountain Lodge, a special place for Chris and I because it's where we spent our engagement weekend.

We went on hikes while we were there, had delicious ice cream and stopped by the side of the road when the kids saw a patch of snow beneath a giant mountain of gravel.

There was even enough snow to do a small snowball fight!

In the lobby of Sun Mountain Lodge, they have a giant stuffed bison - the kids were pretty interested in it and were especially fascinated by how large it was. 

We were lucky the weather held the entire weekend because it allowed for lots of outdoor time and tons of exploring. It did NOT tucker the children out though. We were in one hotel room (not a suite) and the kids slept on the floor and they were up sooooo late despite our best efforts to get them to go to sleep in a timely manner! =) 

Lily loves her new bike from Grandma and Grandpa but isn't quite big enough to use it every time she rides so we're still transitioning between the tricycle and the bike. We hauled both of their bikes over the mountain pass.

We stopped at play grounds along the way there and back to make the long car ride more bearable but overall the kids were really good about the long car ride. They didn't sleep either. Not once. Neither of our kids is a big sleeper unfortunately. 

The kids are planting seeds for a 'butterfly garden' in the above photo. So far, the seeds haven't sprouted so we're not sure if we did something wrong or if they were drowned in the water deluge we got in subsequent weeks. It is Washington state after all!

Lily got caught in the act of going for the sugar cubes. Do note that she is fully standing precariously and not safely on the top of her little standy thing. And man, she knows she is busted! It sure is hard to discipline her when she's so cute and makes us laugh so much =)