Oregon Coast Part 1- The Zoo

Oregon Coast Trip 2010 started off with a trip to the Oregon Zoo.

We purchased our tickets at the hotel and showed up to the zoo early- definitely worth it!

Right off the bat, we saw two large mountain goats roaming

their little mountain just inside the zoo entrance.

The bears were amazing. I was shocked at how close we were to them. As you know, Rowen's imaginary friend is the Big Hungry Bear so this was pretty cool for him to see real Big Hungry Bears within feet of him!

This photo shows how much Rowen liked watching one of the bears try to get food of that container hanging from the tree. He was giggling so sweetly.

We had worked our way about 1/2 way through the zoo when we came upon another portion of the zoo- Dinosaurs At The Zoo. Rowen was very drawn to it- he could hear the dinos roaring and see some bits and pieces of the dinosaurs from the entrance. He started walking into the exhibit without us in a state of amazement. We had to run after him and bring him back so that we could pay before going in. Throughout the dinosaur portion Rowen was truly in awe...

Uh-oh! Spitting Ahead?
A few of the dinosaurs spit water at us. At first Rowen wasn't sure what to think of it but he warmed up to it eventually.

WOW! Dinosaurs!

I think Rowen thought the dinos were real. He never seemed scared at all, he was just truly amazed by their size, how they actually moved and he obviously listened very carefully to the noises they made because he has been imitating their roars ever since!

Once we made it through the dinosaurs we made our way through the rest of the zoo.

The elephants were amazing. We listened to an interesting talk given by one of the elephant care givers. He told us about the history of the elephants.

We continued throughout the zoo, it took several hours but it was worth it. We saw so many amazing animals from hippos to penguins to eagles and so on. It was an amazing experience for all of us.

We had to end our day at the zoo with a little play time.

More to come in part 2...

time with Uncle TJ and Aunt Erin

playing on the beach

exploring the Aquarium

Oregon Coast Trip post to come :)

A few more days and a favorite blog of mine

I am going to wait a few more days to make our blog private so you still have time to comment or email me at mustardliza@yahoo.com to let me know if you want/need and invite to our "private" blog. I don't have time today to figure it out :).


I have been meaning to add a favorite blog of mine to my blog roll on the side of the page but just haven't gotten around to it. I love reading this blog each day (if I get a chance). This woman is such an amazing writer. I think that her posts and words mean so much to me because she is a mama of little ones right now just like me and I can relate. But the most amazing thing about her words is that she says exactly how I feel about Rowen, about being a mommy, about life in general that I can't seem to put into words. I don't have that creative writing ability- I barely have a writing ability at all. So, if you feel like it check it out at ...
http://www.kellehampton.com/
When I first started reading her blog I came across this post- beware, you WILL cry!
http://www.kellehampton.com/2010/01/nella-cordelia-birth-story.html
She is quite inspiring. I am amazed at how honest she is about everything- the good and the bad. Of course I don't KNOW her, so she may not be these things at all; however, when I read her posts I always finish feeling a bit renewed, ready to be a better mommy, friend, wife, person in general. I think that says a great deal about her as a writer.

Busy times and going private

Hello everyone! As you can see below, I have been on a blogging marathon today! Please catch up on all of our summer fun so far by reading the many posts below.

After thinking about it for quite some time, we have decided to go "private". Please leave a comment for me on the blog or email me if you want me to send you an invitation to our blog. It is really easy so don't think it will be difficult to view our blog once we are "private". If we know you at all or even if you know someone we know, we would be happy to send you an invitation to view our blog. We are not concerned about ANYONE who reads our blog (well- except for maybe Tim ;)), at this point we are just trying to be cautious and smart. I LOVE looking at random people's blogs (I know it is a bit weird) but when you have a child, I think it is probably best to be on the cautious side.

We will go private a week from today. Thanks for understanding!

Our family day in the park

On our way home from the lake cabin we decided to make the last day of our "vacation" a fun day and not hang around home and work on stuff. Our destination was an easy choice- Riverfront Park. It is funny how you can live somewhere all of your life and even enjoy places as a kid and then forget how amazing they are until you have your own kids. We had a blast playing in the park all morning with Rowen. Here are a few of the highlights...

This one really wore Ro out- climbing up the ladder then sliding down the giant slide over and over again! This was probably his favorite thing to do there.

Bumper Boats- I know that it doesn't really look
like it from this photo but he did really enjoy it :).

One of the best parts of the day was that it was in the middle of the week and everyone else was at work. Rowen never had to wait in line to do anything. Here he was the only kid on the train so he got to be the conductor and ring the bell over and over again!

I was surprised how comfortable he was riding all of the rides all by himself. He loved the plane ride which is the one that scared me the most. I was sure he was going to fall out.

We rode the Carrousel MANY times. Rowen would pick out his horse while we waited in line and like I mentioned before, there were so few people there that he always got his first pick.

Ro would say, "Giddy Up!" as we rode around and around.

And of course we ended the day with the wettest part- the water fountain! Rowen didn't get too wet but he loved sitting on this rock and sticking his hands in the water to make a good splash all around him.

We also REALLY enjoyed the IMAX movie, Animalopolis! If you have little kids I would highly recommend going to see it. I was of course skeptical since we have never taken Rowen to a movie in a theater before but it was truly the PERFECT movie for him. Short, very entertaining, and educational too! He has talked about the facts he learned from the movie ever since :).

It was the perfect family day. We all had fun, Rowen was an angel and he was so worn out by the time we got back to the car that he fell asleep within seconds of taking off for home! We will definitely be going back for another fun day in the park very soon.

Volk Family Cabin Fun 2010

We spent a few days with Grandpa, Nana, Uncle Shon, and Cara at Priest Lake. We rented a cabin with an amazing view, perfect little beach, and a nice big dock. We hope to go back again!

Grandpa, Nana, mommy, daddy and Rowen went out on Grandpa's boat one afternoon, hoping to put Rowen to sleep this way. However, a wind storm quickly encouraged us to turn around and go back home. When the wind settled down a bit, Rowen and Grandpa fished off of the dock and Rowen caught a fish! He wasn't too keen on touching it and when Grandpa asked if he wanted to eat it or let it go back into the lake, Rowen said without hesitation, "Let it go!". We all waved goodbye to the fish as it swam away :). The next morning, Ro woke up very early as usual. Daddy was kind enough to get Rowen out of our room so that I could sleep a bit more, feed him breakfast and take him fishing along with Grandpa while the water was still calm. Good thing they did because within an hour or so the water became so choppy from the wind again that they had to come back and take refuge in the cabin. It didn't phase Rowen on bit though. He still had a great time!

Ro had a great time playing in the water with everyone but it was especially fun with Uncle Shon. Uncle Shon played some football with Rowen on the dock. Rowen also got to see his daddy and Uncle Shon throw the football to each other as they jumped off the dock to catch it. Rowen thought that this was pretty entertaining and quickly became quite brave about jumping off the dock himself. We were surprised at this sudden comfort with lake water but we were very pleased to see him feel so safe and have so much fun.

The weather was really crummy- VERY, VERY windy to point we just couldn't be outside. The water was so rough that it actually sounded and almost looked like we were at the ocean. So, we spent lots of time doing other things like coloring, playing with cars, watching a few movies, playing the few games I brought for Rowen, and of course eating! We ended up coming home early because it was just too hard for Ro to be cooped up in a house that isn't ours- those of you with toddlers know what I mean :).

This is what memories are made of- the good and the not so good. We would defiantly do it again if given the chance. It really is the perfect vacation for a kid if the weather is cooperating :).

My summer boy

We haven't had very many true summer days, but the few that we have had, we have taken full advantage of...

Ro washing his car
(hope no one is offended by the lack of clothing- he insists on it!)

Playing in the backyard

Warming up in mommy's lap after running through the sprinkler together


And Rowen attended his first parade. We met up with Uncle Chris, Aunt Nina and Olivia. It was the perfect day for a parade- not too hot, and the perfect length- maybe 45 minutes. Ro is sure he saw "Doc Hudson" in the parade! He yelled, "Mommy, there is Doc Hudson! Look! Where is he going?". Those darn cars go by too fast at 5 mph :). He was pretty thrilled about most of the parade except for the clowns- definitely not a fan!

Rowen always says, "I like to be outside! Let's go play!" whenever we are inside.
What joy this boy brings to all days and all seasons!