13/52 - Spring Break

When Spring Break arrived at Anders's preschool, we took some time off to make it a break for the whole family.

Our first Spring Break activity was a hike on Mt Adams. We worked the morning (from home) and then took the afternoon off to enjoy spring's first spell of warm weather. We picked an easy route with only a small elevation change, from the Mt Adams Horse Camp to the Big Tree (which we have visited before), only a couple of miles roundtrip.

We didn't see a lot of wildlife, but there were signs everywhere.

Something lived here

While the snow had melted at our place, there were still significant patches in the woods at this higher elevation. In fact, we had to start our hike at a slightly different spot because the access road still had a downed tree across the road.

Anders has entered the "joke" phase, with joke intentionally in quotes. However, on this hike he made up a fairly decent (for a 5 year old) joke:

A: Knock knock
B: Who's there?
A: Moss
B: Moss who?
A: Hey, wait for moss! (wait for us)

At least it makes sense, so that's progress.

Hooray for spring (and summer) in the Gorge!

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The more significant part of our Spring break celebration was a long weekend trip to McMinnville, OR. We rented a small house downtown with some friends; with two 5-year olds, one 2-year old, and three adults on the trip, there was never a dull - or quiet - moment in the house.

Our two planned destinations on this trip were the Enchanted Forest and the Evergreen Aviation and Space Museum. Since the warm and clear weather did not follow us to McMinnville, we chose the day forecast to be less rainy for our visit to the Enchanted Forest.

The kids had a great time exploring the rides and exhibits.

The weather held out for us all day! But not everything went so smoothly.

When we passed the Haunted House, Anders decided that he really wanted to go in. We tried to convince him that it was pretty scary, but he was undeterred. Yes, this is the same kid that only recently made it all the way through his first movie. We didn't want to be too protective, so we made a deal with him. In another part of the park, there was a small, dark (admittedly creepy) Alice in Wonderland rabbit hole that went through a tree stump, down into the ground, under the walkway, and out the other side. When we first passed it Anders wouldn't go in. If he wanted to go into the Haunted House, he would first have to go down the rabbit hole.

"Okay, no problem!"

We walked back to the rabbit hole, and Anders went straight into the rabbit hole and out the other side. His friend Bridger, who also wanted to go into the Haunted House (though less enthusiastically), still wanted no part of the rabbit hole, so he was eliminated. But Anders had passed the test and was ready. Or so he thought.

Before...

Anders and I walked slowly through the house. When we were about halfway through, Anders turned to me and said "I know that this isn't real." But his bravery only lasted for another minute or so until a louder-than-average sound from down a dark hallway pushed him over the edge. We walked more briskly to the exit.

...and After.

When Corinne praised him for being so brave he burst into tears and responded: "No, I was only brave for half of it." Still, we are pretty proud of how he handled himself.

Overall, a successful day of fun!

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Our other destination has been on our "to visit" list for quite some time: Evergreen Aviation and Space Museum. We picked the right day to be indoors; the sky dumped rain all day. We had two giant buildings to explore!

The big draw for most people is the Spruce Goose, which is enormous and impressive. It's so large that the museum building in which it is housed was designed and built around that plane.

Here's the model...

...and now the real thing, or at least as much as we could fit in the lens at one time.

If you look closely, you can see the two kids at the bottom center.

For us, perhaps the most exciting aspect was seeing one our our own creations on display in the museum: the Insight (aka ScanEagle) Unmanned Aircraft. Here Anders and Bridger, both children of former Insitu employees, do their best impression of a ScanEagle in front of the real thing.

We skipped the Evergreen Water Park. If we wanted to get wet, we could have stood outside for a minute. I did get to ride in one of the vehicles before we left. (Needs more horsepower.)

Fun vacation!

- Mike, Corinne and Anders