(By Janie)
Well, I guess I'll try to finish writing about how our trip went.

Wednesday, August 5th, we went west- past Portland and down to Tillamook, Oregon. We toured the Tillamook cheese factory, sampled some of their ice cream (& cheese) and then we headed north west to the coast. We stopped at Cannon Beach. I think this was my favorite stop on the trip. The kids had a blast in the sand and in the water - eventhough the water was COLD! After that, we headed north up to Astoria and went to a dock. There are a bunch of sea lions that just sunbathe and hang out there. They were fun to watch (and listen to) as they fought for their places on the dock. After that, we went over the Astoria-Meglar bridge. It crosses the Columbia River at the widest point and it is about 4 miles long. The clearance below the bridge at high tide is 196 feet! It is very impressive - it made some people nervous to cross it. (Obviously - this is not a picture we took - but it shows the bridge better than we could.)

Friday, August 7th, our whole family (Mer came with us!) we went and toured the historic Ft. Vancouver. It was interesting and the kids thought it was a lot of fun. We also stopped on the way back to the hotel to do what became a Williams tradition in Washington and Oregon - we stopped to pick blackberries along the road. They grow wild everywhere along the roads, etc. It was a lot of fun - if you didn't get caught or stuck on the thorns. It was commong to hear Malin yell out, "Berry bushes!" and the kids would reply, "Let's stop and pick some!" One day on the way home from one of the ball games we stopped on a quieter frontage road to pick. It was a good place, out of the way, etc. We didn't stop to think about it being visible from the highway. It wasn't a problem other than every vehicle from Enterprise that was headed back to the hotel from the game saw us and called to see if we were ok or having car trouble. (There were actually about 10 vehicles from Enterprise up there - maybe 5 called.) From then on it kind of became a joke that if the group didn't know where we were, they figured we were off picking blackberries.

Friday was also our final game - we played the host team (Vancouver, Washington). The final score was 0 to 3. In the final inning with 2 outs, we had the bases loaded and the girl at bat had an awesome hit, it looked like it was going to really go. Something went wacky and it hit the pitchers mound or the edge of the infield or something and basically died right at second base where they could tag the girl leaving 2nd. So...we ended the tournament with no wins, but we felt pretty good about our play. We felt like the girls played competitively. It sounds good to say that the Alaskan team that went on to win the tournament was the team that we went into extra innings with. We gave them a run for their money!

Saturday, August 8th, we left Washington and Oregon and headed back to Boise, Idaho for the night. The majority of the group went to a water park that afternoon and night. We went to the Factory Outlet stores. (The kids finally got to spend some of their money.)

Sunday we left for home - it went fairly well until a certain child suddenly & unexpectedly got carsick. It was Very nasty. She shall remain nameless, but after she got sick, she rode home with us. No fun, but she seems to be better now. (Not a real fun/popular thing to do in front of your peers, but she will survive.)
We arrived home safely - the van ran beautifully. The house was still here, the grass and garden looked great and the grandparents were happy to see us and of course we were happy to see them.

Just like that the trip is over! We are trying (NOT) to get back in the swing of things and get to the work of putting things away and getting back to real life. It was a wonderful vacation and I'd better not go too often. I could get hooked on the life of not having to cook meals and clean house! (I didn't get away from laundry - had to do that a few too many times up there.) It was nice to not worry about things back here - couldn't do anything about them anyway. We did get pretty tired of fast food and snack foods, though.

Overall - a very fun time, a nice break and lots of fun (not too many bad) memories.

Ape Cave - FYI

I know you are all dying to know.... why is it named "Ape Cave"? So this post is for you.

(According to the Ape Cave Exploration Guide...)
"Ape Cave...wasn't discovered until 1947 by a logger named Lawrence Johnson. In 1951, a local youth group led by Harry Reese extensively explored the cave...The youth group dubbed themselves the St. Helens Apes, in memory of a 1924 hoax perpetrated by two boy scouts." According the story, these two scouts were throwing rocks into a canyon. They didn't know there was a cabin below them with two miners in it. To the miners, it "looked like there were small ape like figures high up in the canyon, making ape noises and hurling big rocks...the miners reported that apes attacked them. From this legend, Ape Cave received its name."

So...now you know.

Tuesday, August 4, 2009

Tuesday, we took a little adventure to the north. We drove up past Cougar, Washington, to some lava tubes/cave. Ape Cave, to be precise. It was discovered in 1947. Kind of fun. If you ever decide to go, just know that you want to rent one of their lanterns. I can't imagine trying to go through with just flashlights! The darkness just absorbs the light. We walked the lower (easy hike) cave section until we got to the end. To quote one little boy in the group, "We walked all that way for NOTHING?" It was interesting, but I don't think we would go that far again (round trip about one and a half miles. Did I mention that it is cold down there? The temperature stays near 42 degrees year round. We drove up the road just a minute or two from the cave and we were able to look over at Mt. St. Helens. It was another beautiful drive. We took the "scenic" route (you really can't go anywhere up here without it being pretty scenic) home through smaller towns and quiet roads. In fact we went across a "one lane" bridge. You had to yield and only one car was allowed on the bridge (paved road) at a time - You don't see that everyday!

Softball

(By Janie)
I'm sure I'm not doing this blog in a very good format, etc. So...just to confuse and keep you on your toes, I have added to some of the past posts, so don't just assume you have read or seen it all.... :)

Well I figured I'd tell a little about Mer and how the softball is going. (Since that's really why we are here.)
Monday, August 3rd was Enterprise's first game. We played against Alaska. Our girls played really well defensively and there were many awesome plays. (Mer threw a ball from center field to the 2nd baseman for an out!) We had some good hits too. We were tied at 4 at the end of 6 innings, so we went into the 7th inning. It was SO close, but Alaska was able to score with their last ups and the game ended with Alaska 5 and Utah 4.
Tuesday, August 4th, we played Oregon. They scored quite quickly on us and were leading 9 to 1 at the bottom of the 6th inning. Their pitcher(s) were not pitching strikes and so we were able to walk/hit in 6 runs. Not quite enough though as once again, we came out on the bottom. It was a nail biter - I had to stand up and pace. The final score was: Oregon 9 and Utah 6.
Thursday, August 6th we played Northern California. I guess we need 7 or 8 innings in a ball game. It seems we settle down and wear them out in the last innings. Once again, they scored quite quickly, and then we were able to hold them pretty well. We gradually were able to score 4 runs, but it never caught their 6. Mer had an awesome play again from center field. She threw it from center to the pitcher who then threw it to home in time to tag a girl who thought she would make it! fun. fun. Anyway, the final score was Northern Cal 9/Utah 6. We are competing well, but it just isn't coming all together. Just a few too many errors.

Saturday, August 1 & Sunday August 2nd

(By Janie)
Saturday, Mette celebrated her 9th birthday. The highlight of her day was probably swimming in the pool. We had it to ourselves for an hour and a half (or so.) We also went to eat out at a restaurant for dinner - Shari's. It's on the order of a Denny's. They treated us very well and handled a family of 11 very well (Mer wasn't with us.) I think over all she had a very good birthday.




Sunday, we attended sacrament meeting close by and then we did a little sight seeing. We went to a Rose Garden in downtown Portland (lots and lots of roses - I guess a test garden?) Then we headed for the Portland temple. Have you ever tried to keep a caravan of two 15 passenger vans, two pick-up trucks and a mini-van together in down town Portland? We didn't make it together, but eventually we all made it to the temple grounds. Unfortunately they were closed. We could look in through the fence and gates, but couldn't go in. (They are doing some remodeling, etc. on the inside and on the grounds too. Even though we couldn't get right up to the temple, it is a very peaceful, quiet, beautiful place.From the temple, we headed East of Portland, back up the Columbia Gorge a bit. We ate at Char Burger right by the Bridge of the Gods. It was very good food, but wow! was it hot in there! They must have been having AC problems or something. The gift shop and bathrooms were cool enough, but other than that it was cooler outside!We made a quick stop to the fish hatchery at Bonneville Dam. There were some sturgeon fish at the hatchery that were fun to see. They are huge! We also made a quick/rushed stop at Multnomah Falls. It was very pretty. (Tourist Tip to self: Do not visit Multnomah Falls on Sunday! It was CRAZY! People everywhere! Too crowded - couldn't really enjoy the beauty - there was no peace and quiet there!)

Friday, July 31st

(BY JANIE)
- After staying in Boise for the night, Malin put more oil and an additive in the rear axle (I hope I'm getting this right.) and we bravely headed for Vancouver, Washington. The van seemed to do just fine and we have not had any problems since. Of course we have yet to see how the old van does on the pull up the big hills at Pendleton on the way home....Hopefully we'll continue to be safe on a wing and many prayers.
Malin says to add, "Grandma, if you read this, relax! It's going to be alright."

We arrived in Vancouver late afternoon. After checking into our hotel (very nice - adjoining rooms), we went to a picnic for the players, coaches, families, etc. After that we were able to come back to the hotel and the kids FINALLY were able to swim. Talk about pandemonium! There were 11 softball girls, 9 from our family, 4 Hess , 2 Reber and 2 Robinson kids in that pool and probably some others. (It's not a very big pool either... ) You couldn't hear and there was water everywhere!

Thursday, July 30th

(BY JANIE)
We left Enterprise bright and early in our 1995 monster white van (360,000+ miles). We traveled through Nevada (Panaca, Wells...) and then up to Twin Falls, Idaho where we stopped at Shoshone Falls - very pretty.
From Twin Falls, it was on to Boise. While there, we visited the ever popular Schucks Auto store (Checker Auto Parts) and bought a new starter for a souvenir. Malin put it on in the parking lot while the kids and I ate at a Iceberg Drive In. Once again, we enjoyed providing entertainment to the many staring eyes around us as we ate our food.
When Malin googled auto part stores - he found a Checker auto parts across town. It wasn't until we got there and saw that it was a Schucks auto store that we realized we had one that was less than a mile away!
Thursday night was kind of depressing because we thought maybe we would spend the whole trip hanging out at auto stores. The rear differential was hot and leaking oil....didn't know if that was going to go out on us too.

eeek! A Blog?

(BY JANIE)
okay - I swore I would never have a blog, but here I am. (Malinda tells me this is a cliche opening, but oh well...- so nice to have helpful children.)

I figured maybe it would be fun to share/document some of our adventures on our first (maybe last?) grand adventure as a family. Jodi helped me get it going. I suppose I will do the majority of the writing, but if not, we will start them out with who is writing them in parenthesis.