Long Beach, Washington

After the tour of Mt. St. Helens, we drove through Oregon, across the 4 mile bridge at Astoria and up to the Long Beach Peninsula in southern Washington on the Pacific Ocean. It was a little but chilly this afternoon, we we weren't really sure if we wanted to go to the beach or not today. But we decided we would go check it out. Here is one of the signs on the way to the beach.

There was also this big sign letting you know that you were heading to the world's longest beach.

I don't know if the claim of world's longest beach is the truth or not, but there certainly was a lot of sand there.

The beach seemed to go on forever, and we were there at high tide.

Jaxon was super excited to play in the sand. It was like one giant sandbox for him. He had his shovel and pail to dig with. The air temperature wasn't that warm, but the sand was really nice and warm.

Jaxon standing in front of the ocean

Jaxon venturing out into the ocean.

Tim following Jaxon out into the ocean. The water was really quite chilly, but it wasn't deep at all. You could venture out 100m and the water would still only be waist deep.

A shot of all of us standing in the Pacific Ocean. Jaxon wasn't too keen on the ocean water. I think it was a little too cold for him.

Tim and Jaxon running down the beach. Jaxon liked having the wide open space to run around as much as he wanted. We liked it too.

Amanda grinning in front of the ocean.

Tim and Jaxon's footprints in the sand. I think this was a really great picture.

Jaxon helping his daddy build a sand castle. Tim would fill up the bucket with sand, pack it down and tip it over.

And then Jaxon would proceed to tear down the castle as soon as it was up.

As we were getting ready to leave, Tim decided to see how far he could go out into the ocean. He made it out pretty far, but the waves were getting too big for his liking.
It was a really fun day at the beach. After the beach we went back to the hotel to change and found a really nice restaurant for dinner that overlooks the beach. Tomorrow we're planning on driving up to Everett to see Brian and Britni.

Mt St Helens

Today we went to see the sights of Mt. St. Helens. It's pretty exciting so see the awesome wonders that nature has to offer. I was only a toddler when MT. St. Helens erupted back in 1980 and Amanda wasn't even born yet, but it's still an awesome sight to see even after 28 years have passed. A lot of the devastation can still be seen. Anyway, we started off the day by doing a bit of shopping at Wal-mart, but since that's not really exciting, we didn't take any pictures. We then drove a few miles to the Mt. St. Helens visitor center. It was a pretty neat little place. We watched a video about the eruption where we both learned some pretty interesting things.
After the visitor center, we decieded to take a drive up to get a closer look at the mountain. The US government has designated the Mount as a national historic monument, so you can't drive on it, but you can drive to the peak right to the north of it (where the majority of the force of the eruption blew) and see the big crater that resulted from the eruption. Here is a shot from one of the many lookout points on the drive up.
The amazing thing was how little certain things seemed to have changed after so many years. This picture is a look into the valley where the majority of the mud and ash flowed after the eruption. It's pretty hard to see (there was a lot of dust / smoke in the air all around the area) but you can see where the rivers have cut new paths into the layers of dirt and debris and ash
We finally made it to the top, and Jaxon was really excited to get out of the car. He was even more excited when we changed his diaper.

Here is a view across from Mt. St. Helens. This area would have been right in the path of the eruption. All along the side of road on the drive up, you could see the stumps of what used to be massive trees that were blown over by the force of the eruption.

Jaxon and his dad posing in front of the big crater.

The whole Pisko clan posing in front of the Mountain.

After we visited Mt. St. Helens, we drove out to the Washington coast to see the beach, but I'll write more about that in another post.

The Drive to Kelso

After leaving Cranbrook this morning at about 6 am, we started out on our long journey to get to Kelso, Washington. Kelso is located on the I-5 about an hour north of the Oregon border. We're stopping here for the night and then our plan is to go see Mt. St. Helens tomorrow. Along the drive, we stopped in Yakima for a picnic lunch. You can see from the picture below that Jaxon was really happy to be out of the car after 6 hours.
We had packed up a picnic lunch of sandwiches to eat and found a nice park in Yakima with picnic tables and a playground for Jaxon to play at. We made sure to pack some cheese for Jaxon to snack on. He loves cheese.
After a bite to eat, we took Jaxon to the park to let him play around and expend some energy in the hopes that he would tire himself out for the 3 hour drive that was ahead. He had a good time on the swings pretending to kick daddy int the face.
He also liked the slide. There was another metal slide at the part that Jaxon wanted to go down, but the temperature was over 30 degrees Celsius and Jax's flesh probably would have melted to the slide, so we didn't let him go down that one.
After a grueling 10 hour drive (including all the stops along the way) we finally made it to Kelso. The hotel has a pool that we took Jaxon to tonight. Except the pool temperature was freezing cold, and Jax didn't want to stay long. But he did enjoy drying off in his monkey towel.

The plan for tomorrow is to drive and see the sights of Mt. St Helens. It should be exciting.

Weekend in Cranbrook

We're in Cranbrook for the weekend visiting with Amanda's grandparents. Tomorrow we'll be taking off for a long drive to Washington State for a vacation. One of Tim's old University roommates, Eric, is getting married next Saturday, so we're going take the long drive down to see him. We're leaving a but early to take a but of a family vacation on the way. The plan is to visit Mt. St. Helens and then take a trip to the coast before we head up to Seattle to see Brian and Britni Hansen. The wedding is in Portland, and then the reception the next day is in Seattle again. It will be a lot of driving. Hopefully Jaxon will behave in the car

Here are some pictures from this weekend in Cranbrook. Jaxon made a new best friend in the Seguin's dog Sadie. He loves following the dog around and petting it.
Jaxon just chilling on the couch. Beside him is the Thomas the Tank Engine book that we got from Charlene. That thing entertained Jaxon almost the whole way down from Calgary to Cranbrook. Hopefully it comes in handy tomorrow during th 10 hour drive to Kelso, Washington.
Jaxon found a recumbent exercise bike in the basement of the house and liked to sit on it with his stuffed monkey named Trevor.
Jaxon also learned how to help with the dishes. He would act as the middle man passing the dished from Amanda who was washing to Tim (or Shelva) who was drying.
Jaxon having fun with Sadie. He would throw the ball and she would go catch it.

Hmm... What's for dinner?

Jaxon likes to explore everything! He especially likes to explore whenever there is food involved. Here he in continuing his investigation of Grandma Nelson's fridge that he began last year...

Here is Jaxon in September 2007 beginning his exploration of Grandma Nelson's fridge during his visit to Ottawa last year. We love this picture so much we framed it and and hung it in our kitchen.

Poolside in Ottawa

The weather in Ottawa wasn't all that hot like it normally is during the summertime there, so we didn't get to spend too much time in the pool like we would have like to. Jaxon had a real blast just being around the pool though.


Here's Jaxon pretending to be the pool boy. He was watching Grandpa vacuum all the dirt off the bottom of the pool and wanted to help out. The best thing he could find was a pool noodle to help out.

After a hard day of cleaning the pool, Jax wanted to relax on the deck with the pool chair next to Grandma.

In Ottawa & Too cute!

Man Do I love my Little Guy! Looking so cool. Thanks for the cute outfit Auntie Rachy! (Im surprised I could get him to sit still long enough to get this shot!)

Family Pic! (and yes I did cut all my hair off)

In Ottawa @ the Park

Last week we were in Ottawa for one last visit before my parents move to Edmonton. There was a little park down the street that I think we took Jax to everyday. He loved the sand but his favorite thing to do was to push his little stroller around.

Yes even mommy joined in the fun!

I'm a Big Kid Now!

So a while ago Jaxon suddenly developed this intense fear of this crib. You couldnt even walk into the room without him freaking out... made sleeping a real chore... so we decided to convert the crib into a toddler bed... all we did was take off one of the rails and now he is thrilled. I guess my guy just loves his independance. I was hoping to keep him caged up as long as possible... but he would not have that. He loves climbing in and out on his own.. and he has even figured out the joy of jumping on the bed!

More Canada Day

Jaxon's Favorite animals are dogs! He gets so excited at the sight of them. Lucky for him there were a few puppies around to play with.

This is Jaxon's Little girl Friend Bailey. Jaxon just loves those Miller kids!

OH CANADA

Look at our Patriotic little Man! Thanks Grandma Pisko for the sweet outfit!

We went to a Canada BBQ at the church and they had a petting zoo. Jaxon LOVES animals.. so he spent most of his time in there.. but there were too many animals for him. He didnt get scared but he would go to pet one and then another one would catch his eye and he has to chase it and pet it. Mommy doesnt like animals... so I let daddy take him in.

Splish Splash

There is a Water Park near our house.. so one hot day this summer (there hasnt been many lately) some of us moms took our little ones to play... Jaxon wasnt too impressed with the water at first. But now he loves it!

This is Jax with his little buddy Charles

And or course Jax has to do his own thing... while all the kids play in the water his favorite thing to do is swing!

Asleep at the Plate

Some nights, Jaxon just gets too tired to eat. It used to be very rare that Jaxon would sleep anywhere without being held or cuddled to sleep, but he's fallen asleep in his high chair probably half a dozen times in the last few months. One time he was still chewing while he was sleeping.

He made sure to guard his Tator Tots so no one would steal them.