August Adventures, Part II

We went camping again this year at Teancum Timbers as a church activity. We got to the site and set up our tent just as the potluck dinner was starting. I brought an experimental recipe I found on Allrecipes.com: rice, cool whip, and canned mixed fruit. Everyone ate it-- and Cora loved it-- but I still think it was a flop.

Ally and Cora had fun dancing and playing with the other children while Chris and I sat around, chatted with other adults, and enjoyed watching our offspring be silly. Here's Ally doing the Macarena and shaking her hips.

After marshmallows and s'mores, the kids jump-roped until their respective parents forced them to bed. Our girls didn't have much of a problem falling asleep, but Cora was awake by 5:00 am. I tried my best to keep her quiet and occupied until we could feasibly venture outside without waking up the entire camp. Cora and I spent 2+ hours brushing teeth, taking pictures inside the tent, and practicing the art of whispering. Ally slept like a log until after 8:30 am when breakfast was already being devoured.


After breakfast, the children returned to playing in the field and jumping rope while the adults cleaned and packed up. In two days time Ally made quite a bit of progress, although she does need to work on jumping straight up to stay in place. No one could've guessed that jump rope would be the weekend's hottest commodity. Even Cora gave it a try when she wasn't busy scarfing down Red Vines.


The following weekend we escaped to Idaho for a visit to our closest amusement park, Silverwood. The girls and I went on the carousel a few times while Daddy stashed our stuff in the waterpark. Cora was petrified of the Garfield and Odie costumed characters that were stationed right outside the ride's entrance. Even as we turned around and around and around, she kept a watchful eye on the big dog to make sure he wasn't coming for her. "That doggy leave Cora alone. That doggy not get Cora."
Next we took a lame, hour-long train ride on which we were "robbed". We didn't remember it being so cheesy and bad a few years ago. After that ordeal, we made our way over to the kiddie rides. Ally says here favorite were the helicopters; she also enjoyed the airplanes and the mini-ferris wheel, as did Cora. They are good riding buddies. Ally almost rode the Tiny Toot, a kid's roller coaster, but changed her mind at the last moment. (She made it to sitting in the seat, so that's an accomplishment for her.) Contrast that with Cora, who rode next to me with her hands and arms held high in the air as the train made its way up and down the track. Afterward Ally would ask Cora if she was a "tiny little toot."

Ally and Daddy drove the antique cars and then conquered the Thunder Canyon rapids while Cora took a nap in the shade. Once the rapids completely soaked their clothes, we changed into swimsuits and splashed around the Boulder Beach waterpark for a little bit. We ended our amusement the way it began, with a few more spins around on the carousel. (And Cora was still on the lookout for that terrifying dog and the fat cat.)

Instead of driving home, we spent the night at my Aunt Kathy's house in Spokane. (We arrived after disappointingly not being able to eat dinner at a Jimmy Johns that wasn't quite open for business.) My cousin Christina and her daughter Delaney were visiting from Virginia, so we hung out with them on Saturday before heading off to the Grand Coulee-- which I already blogged a few posts back.

I threw in a picture of Ally with my cousin Rob's son Ethan here; it was taken on a different trip, but they are so cute together and I can't resist.