First Ever Family Vacation! (That wasn't to visit other family)

Easter Weekend we found out Josh was going to have some unexpected days off so we decided to go and have some time together as a family. So after much internet searching and a little asking around we found a little farm stay in Sequim, Washington. It was just the kind of get away that we needed. The little farm stay was great too. It was a great price and we had a 1300 square foot apartment to ourselves that included a playroom! The farm had a little frog pond and llamas, ponies and goats you could pet and feed. It was a beautiful little farm and the owners ended up being a really sweet LDS couple. 

This was our first official vacation picture out on the ferry that took us and our car across to Kingston and on our way to Sequim. (Which is pretty near Twilight country, 2 hours to be exact to Forks, Wa and we even visited Port Angeles) We didn't ride out side in the freezing wind, Josh just wanted to go out there for a picture. The girls loved it since it was only for a second.

This is a peacock at the Olympic Game Farm in Sequim. The first day after we arrived was a little cold so this was a great activity. You just drive your car through this Farm and see lots of fun animals!

This is Josh trying to feed a Zebra a piece of bread out the window. The animals just run right up to your car for food. It was a little scary. There were signs saying that the Zebras bite and the llamas were really pushy, they must have been extra hungry. 

Here is a picture of one of the many bears there. They weren't so interested in the bread but if you got it close enough to them they would eat it if they didn't have anything better to do. This bear may have even been in a movie according to the pamphlet. I guess this is where a lot of movie makers go if they need wild animals in their films.

This is day two at the beach. Each day got a little warmer than the last while we were there with the exception of Sunday. I can't remember the name of this beach but we did some great exploring and had fun hiking around even though it was a little chilly.

The girls found tons of shells. I hope no one there was hoping for a quiet day at the beach while we were there because every time one of the girls found a shell the yelled "sea shell" at the top of their lungs. 

Ally taking a little break from beach combing to write in the sand. She is our little scientist that asks tons of great and sometimes difficult to answer question about everything. She loved investigating all the plants, rocks and creatures that we came across. 

A really nice lady took our picture for us. She also said "Happy Earth Day" when she took the picture so we would know it was Earth Day. I think this is one of two pictures I was actually in our whole vacation since I was the one usually taking the pictures.

Of course Josh and Ally had to climb up on this big log and get their picture taken. They are both a couple of monkeys everywhere we go.

This is a great picture of Shayla. If you can't tell she is trying to get a glove off of her hand. She is making a great "determined" face. It started to warm up as the day went on and we took the scenic route back to our car after the beach (without knowing it) so we ended up nice and warm during our hike.

Brya got a little tired on our hike so she turned the walking stick we found into a horse to ride part of the way. 

We ended up in this cool little field without any direct way back to the car so we rested a while here and then Josh bushwacked it back to the beach and to our car and drove around to find us. 

You can't see it in the picture but there was a little hill that Shayla had a blast rolling down over and over again. It is funny the non restful things that kids do when you stop to take a break. Even when they say they need one.

Here is a little frog that Josh and the girls caught at the frog pond at Kinder Farms (where we stayed) 

This is the little girl that fell into the frog pond while out with her daddy. She was pretty traumatized at first but after she was cleaned up she thought it was funny and laughed every time she told me about it.

The day before we left we met my cousin and his family at Shine Tidelands to go clamming. It was the nicest day of our trip and the kids loved having other kids to play with. We are excited to live closer to Aaron and his family. We had a great time hanging out with them.

Here is Ally with a new haul of sea shells and our buckets of clams. After we gathered the clams we went to a little park and had a little clam feast. They were a lot better than I expected them to be. I couldn't believe how much the kids ate either. 

Brya gathered quite a few clams and a bunch more shells as well. I can smell the ocean every time I walk in the garage because that is where all the sea shells are. 

This is the Easter Tree Josh made with the girls. It is kind of hard to see in the picture but it turned out really cute.  

We did an Easter scavenger hunt Sunday morning in the rain around the farm. The Easter Bunny hid eggs with clues in them to help us find our Easter Basket. It was actually pretty fun running around the farm in the rain at 6:30 in the morning. I had more pictures but I deleted them from my camera thinking they were on my computer and they weren't all there. Bummer. 

We were all so sad to come home. We could have stayed at that farm forever. Sequim was such a beautiful little town. It was so nice getting away and having a quiet and relaxed time together as a family.  I hope we can go back in the fall when the berries are in season. They were growing wild all over the place. The night we got back Brya came out of her room after we put them in bed to tell me she wanted to go back to the farm. Someday we'll have a little farm of our own!