Sunday, June 8, 2008

A day with the family

We went down to one of our favorite spots in "The Ohio" again yesterday-Cuyahoga Valley National Park. We went on a hike this time and really had fun. We were worried about the weather, it was supposed to be 90+ degrees and high humidity. We got down there and it was definitely HOT!!! We brought our kid carrier backpack and a small backpack that Grant or Claire could carry. FYI if you ever go on a hike with Claire these are the kinds of things you will find in her pack.(We had no idea what was in there until we got down there.)So here were the items in her pack 1. An empty baby carrot package. 2. One of Grant's "crock" shoes. 3. One of Brigs Sunday shoes.
4. Our mini crocodile Dentist game. 5. 2 bottles of water. She was so happy she had packed it all herself and she wanted to carry it too. So after we emptied her pack of all her unnecessary items (she wouldn't let us take the crocodile Dentist game out.) We headed on our way to the trail. The scenery was amazing it was truly magical. There were very few spots where the sun came through the trees so mostly shade the whole time. EVERYTHING was covered with bright green moss-trees,rocks,everything. It was such a feast for the eyes. We had a map they provide at the head of the trail so we were following it to the "Ice Cave" Luckily we ran into some people and asked them if they had been to the ice cave they said they were just heading there. We were going the exact wrong way!! We hiked a little farther and then turned around to go to the ice cave. We knew we were there because cool air was oozing out of the cave. It was amazing to be by it. I guess it is like 50 degrees all year round at the cave. They had cool rock formations you could hike through. They reminded me of the Narrows in Utah. The kids really had a great time. We will be going back in the near future!!

6 comments:

Alisa said...

I SO want to visit the Ice Cave; that looks just awesome. With the cool air rushing out. What a great summer activity, eh? What we wouldn't give to come visit again and see some of those BEAUTIFUL sights of the great state of Ohio. 7 months pregnant/coming in December wasn't the best planning for visiting national parks, I guess!

Jackie Sanders said...

OH my heck! I don't often get a hearty laugh when reading, but I just about went into pre-term labor, laughing at sweet sweet Clair, and all the great care she obviousally took while packing. I mean had there been a serious emeregency, that empty carrot bag could really have saved a life, and that crock shoe, who knows! Oh my heck! I love her! That is SO adorable!
This looked like some place out of National Geographic! It is BEAUTIFUL!!!!! Good for you guys to getting out and enjoying!
Love you guys!
Miss miss miss you!

Abester said...

Wow... what a hoot! I'm excited for your impending visit! Looks like Brig is gettin' around a good bit! The story of the 5:40 am awakenings is quite funny...those stinkers! And the picture of Cam with the big platter is 100% classic Cam. The sun halo Frisbee thing is a good look for him too. Hehehe...too too fun. Thanks for sharing the photos!

MetroParks said...

Claire's backpack story is hillarious!!! Where is the place you went? Is it close or part of the Metro Parks?

Jessica said...

No pun intended by metroparks leaving a question about he Metro Parks?

If you have directions on how to get to the ice cave, will you post it here in a comment? We could sure use those cool breezes on a hot day. And you don't even have to get wet to cool off!

Anonymous said...

It sounds great I will have to take my family there, thanks for sharing


Cuyahoga Valley Hike

Grant and Claire

Grant and Claire
Grant and Claire at "Ice Box" Cave

How does your garden grow?

How does your garden grow?
The sign next to Brig reads, "Smell This Plant"....maybe later.

3 Amigos

3 Amigos
They look innocent...

Pump It!

Pump It!
Brig was having a ball with the water spout

Water Girl

Water Girl
Claire at the Botanical Garden

Yuck!

Yuck!
This is why 1 year olds aren't allowed in the kitchen. They would make nasty hot dog and peanut butter sandwiches and eat them!

Botanical Gardens

Botanical Gardens
Grant and Claire in Madagascar Biome.

Claire's Birthday

Claire's Birthday
Claire's B-day was May 27th but it was freezing cold. We did it in a park but everyone was bundled b/c the wind was blowing so much. Needless to say it was a short party, and the ice cream didn't melt.

Princess Claire

Princess Claire
A dress up she got for her birthday.

Mommy Claire

Mommy Claire
Claire has a great imagination. She will make anything into play stuff. shel loves to be the mom. In this pic. she pulled up her stroller and was reading her baby a book. The different color rings on the stroller are boy and girl rings. The ones on the left are girls and the ones on the left are boys. Claire gets really into her books. Cam said yesterday sometimes he can't tell if she is just reading/pretending or if she is really crying! She is her own person for sure.

After the Egg Hunt

After the Egg Hunt
Enjoying the spoils after the Easter egg hunt. Brig will shake and egg and if there is something in it he will give it to us to open. He's a smart cookie with a sweet tooth!

Lawnmowing in March

Lawnmowing in March
We were pulling out our kids table from the shed outside for Easter dinner with our friends and Claire saw the mowers and had to pull them out!

Storm of '08

Storm of '08
What a snow storm it was! Probably 1.5-2 feet deep in some spots, deeper in others

Variations on Winter

Variations on Winter
We got a suit for Claire at Old Navy and as all girls are, she couldn't wait to get it on. Mind you it's like 25 outside. To make it even better, Grant was headed ouside to play in the mounds of snow we got, I had to get a pic of them together!

Claire's mishap

Claire's mishap
Let's explain why Claire looks so freaky!! O.K. so we were having a fun family night together a few Sundays ago. We were tossing the kids up in the blanket and instead of Claire landing back in the blanket she landed on her head on the floor. We took her to the ER and a few hours later found out she had a hair-line fracture on her skull right above her eye and this is what she looked like the next day. We made sure to tell Grant not to say anything to her about her eye, as to not make her too upset. He said o.k. so a little while later he thought I was out of earshot and he said your eye is so gross, I can't stand to look at it anymore. Then he walked away!! She is our cute Claire now and has healed great!!!.

BeckList


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True Love

True Love
We celebrated 8 great years on February 17th, 2008! To many more!

Big Rig Brig

Big Rig Brig
Dimple Doodle Dandy!

"Sun on Moss" By Audrey Beck circa 2008

"Sun on Moss" By Audrey Beck circa 2008
Cool place in Cuyahoga Valley

You are my sunshine!

You are my sunshine!
This is what happens when you try to give a man a fun birthday present. It turns into a prop!

Hog Wild

Hog Wild
Grant and Brig...In our dirt pile full of mud! They loved it!

Goo!

Goo!
Brig has a Goose fetish. He calls them Goo's and loves seeing them!!

Cuyahoga Valley National Park

Cuyahoga Valley National Park
At the Ledges

Brig at the Case Farm

Brig at the Case Farm

White Earth Nation

White Earth Nation
Cam in Minnesota on the White Earth Reservation.

Fries with that?

Fries with that?
Zorbaz Fiesta Platter in Detroit Lakes MN, need we say more?

New Zealand

New Zealand
We got a scavenger hunt map from granny and grandpa and had fun finding different places on the map they collected their shells and rocks from.

Grant

Grant
Grant takes after his dad in so many ways.....

Fence

Fence
This is a fence in a really cool place in Ohio called Cuyahoga Valley National Park. We really like to visit there, and I have a weird addiction to taking pics of fences!

Blast From the Past

Blast From the Past
Cam Grant and Claire in the kitchen making cookies!

Our Awesome House

Our Awesome House
I love our house so much, and will miss it a ton when we leave Cleveland

Bubble Girl

Bubble Girl

Claire and Brig at the park

Claire and Brig at the park

camping in the backyard

camping in the backyard
Tyler, Grant and Claire are roasting marshmallows over thier fire

Claire and Mom

Claire and Mom

My Magnolia Tree

My Magnolia Tree
One of the things I will really miss about Cleveland and our great house is the Mangolia tree outside one of our front room windows. It is a huge beautiful tree with delicate blossoms that only last a short time. I love it!

Going Camping

Going Camping
Claire and her friend Halle today decided they were going to go "camping" like their brothers Grant and Tyler. I wonder who will last in the wilderness the longest. Grant and Tyler with a backpack full of food, bandaids, matches ect. or Claire and Halle with a backpack full of fluffy shoes and stuffed animals!

The Chair

The Chair
Here is a pic of the chairs that I have,sorry I can't figure out how to rotate it on the blog!

As if Brig wasn't big enough...

As if Brig wasn't big enough...
Brig decided to see how the bike pump tasted. Grant went over and gave him some air! Brig would laugh and laugh-he really had a good time.

Easter Dinner

Easter Dinner

This is Your Brain on Tube

This is Your Brain on Tube
Claire was watching a show the other day and had put her shirt over her head and we thought it was pretty funny! TV may not be as safe as we previously thought.

Hi!

Hi!
Brig discovering the phone. He loves to say hi and play on the phone any chance he gets. In this picture he is saying hi to Nan and Grandpa.

Easter Morning

Easter Morning
Claire was really excited to find the goodies left by the Easter bunny and started devouring the contents of the eggs she found.

St. Patrick's Day

St. Patrick's Day
Here are the kids in their green with our neighbors Spence and Matthew

Food Man

Food Man
Brig could eat all day if we let him. He really loves food, maybe we need to stop feeding him so his belly won't be so big so he can walk!! He knows when the fridge is open and makes a crawl for it as fast as he can. He will reach for our candy cupboard too. The little stinker!

Dentists in training

Dentists in training
This past wash day the kids and I were sorting out all the dirty clothes in Brig's room (man were there a lot of them) Anyway, I had gone downstaris to put a load of wash in and when I started to come back up I could hear Grant and Claire laughing. I stood on the steps to listen for a minute but couldn't figure out what they were doing. I went up and they were dressed up in Cam's scrubs! They were having a ball being dental students together so I had to get a pic!