The Beach At Cresent City, CA

7.31.09
Our hotel was right across the street from the beach. Because we have such a large group, we decided to drive to the beach to play! I was the only paranoid parent to follow their child into the freezing cold water. I have had multiple dreams about Trey and Tian being carried out to sea, never to be seen again. Therefore, I was a bit nervous having Trey play in the water without me being right by his side.

Tacy

Katie
Our Family! Thanks to Grandpa Larry for snapping this beautiful shot!
Our Big Happy Family
Jacob and Trey





Trey and Katie


Sweet baby Tian, almost always smiling



Justin and Tian

I don't know WHERE Trey came up with this idea to pull up his shorts. I guess he thought the water was deeper then it really was!



Nora

Jared

Jacob


Trey-Man

Seafood Dinner with Megan

7.31.09
After arriving in Crescent City, California and unloading one piece of our luggage for our one night stay, we walked across the street to a Seafood Restaurant that boasts: Fresh Seafood.

When we sat down and asked what they recommended, we quickly learned that their seafood wasn't actually FRESH! It was from another city and then shipped to their restaurant. So disappointing. The food was fine and the service was very prompt and friendly.

Aunt Megan had already eaten at a Mexican place but wanted to eat dessert with us! Trey enjoyed sitting next to Megan and chatting with her!

Trees of Mystery

7.31.09
This was one of the most interesting INTERACTIVE parks I have ever seen. We arrived at the Trees of Mystery an hour before it closed, and had the greatest time "speaking" with Paul Bunyan. It reminded me of the "talking tree" at the Boise Festival of Trees, where a mystery person is hiding somewhere, and is speaking for the tree. In this case, it was a giant Paul Bunyan! Trey was terrified but Tian loved it! Paul would talk to people as they entered the park, he would wave, answered anyone's questions, and would sometimes even sing a little jingle.



Tian sitting on Paul Bunyan's boot with AND without the squishy face!
This is about as close as Trey ever got to Paul. He would shout at Paul, asking him questions, and miraculously, Paul could hear Trey's questions!
His right hand would wave at people as they walked by.
Tacy and Katie



Paul Bunyan



Some interesting facts:
*Paul is 49 ft. tall, has a 24 ft. long ax, and 10 ft. high boots

Just to get an idea of how tall Paul really is, you can see me standing at the base of Paul, putting Tian on his boot!

Tour Tree

7.31.09
As we were making our way to our hotel in Crescent City, Ca, we drove along a beautiful highway that was lined with Redwoods in Klamath, Ca. We were expecting HUGE, GIGANTIC redwoods and was pretty unimpressed with the trees we were seeing. As we got closer to our hotel, Tina, the one with nearly perfect vision thanks to Lasik a few years ago, saw a huge sign up in the hills saying, "Drive Thru Tree." Now THIS is what we were looking for!

We quickly turned off the highway and up into the hills to find the drive thru tree.

Can you tell the temperature dropped? Thankfully, I am used to the cold summer evenings of Central Oregon and packed a change of warmer clothes. We took great advantage of Trey and Tian's hoodies! Trey has been calling them Coodies, a combination of Coat and Hoodie!

Some facts about the Tour-Thru Tree:
*The Tree is privately owned and is still living
*The Tour-Thru Tree is approximately 735 years old and at sometime in the distant past, was scarred by fire.
*Because of it giant size, the tree was spared whe nthe area was logged in 1967
*The tunnel through the tree was completed in May, 1976 and opened to the public the following month.
*The tree is 15 feet in diameter at eye level.
*It is about 90 feet tall
*Side branches give an overall hieght of 164 feet

***On a side note, if you are into Emus, you can enjoys these flightless Australian birds, at no extra charge, across the street from the Tour-thru Tree toll station!!!

Drive to the Redwoods

7.31.09
After a few days at Shasta Lake, 15 of us traveled many hours (the amount of hours in the car is still up for debate. I swear it was 9, but Justin and James argue with me.) to the Redwoods National Park. Cousin Nora, that sweet thing, sat between Trey and Tian's car seats. Before the long drive, I asked if she got car sick. She said, "Nope!" I get terribly car sick, and these roads were AWFULLY windy. In fact, as we pulled over on the highway next to a nice patch of dirt while James and Tina's baby Tyson puked, I felt like puking right beside him. After a few hours of windy roads and a few bouts of screaming from Tian, Nora began getting sick herself. Turns out, she doesn't do well with screaming kids. And I will have you know, that was just about the ONLY time Tian screamed the whole entire trip. And, really, it wasn't even a scream!!!

We stopped after a car change on Nora's part, and a few stops for Trey to go potty (poor guy didn't go #2 for the whole family reunion and decided to wait until we got on the road. Poor little man!!!) at a rest stop. Of course me, the people watcher, HAD to get a picture of a family that pulled up next to me. To this day, I still can't figure out who is a child and who is a grandchild, anyhow, I HAD to take a picture of them. If anything, it should give my mom and I a good laugh! I posed Nora and Trey right in front of them scarfing down their lunches. My sister-in-law Christina saw me taking a picture of Trey and Nora in front of the carni-like family, and began to laugh. Knowing EXACTLY what I was up too, we both giggled for a bit. SORRY, if this family is related to anyone. I am terribly sorry.




Thank you Nora for helping us with our little guys! I really apprecaited the time you spent with us!

Shasta Lake Dam

7.30.09
Justin took Trey, along with a large group from the Ricks Family Reunion on a tour of the Shasta Lake Dam. Justin said he wanted to go on the tour JUST so he could say he "went on that DAM tour." An excuse to sort of cuss I guess!

They learned that this is the largest dam in the nation, due to its water load which is pumped through it daily. (You can correct me if you want; this is only what the family tells me!)

I stayed behind with a sleeping Tian. After Tian woke up, we swam in the pool.

Trey and Aunt Christina
Trey and cousin Nora. Thanks to Grandpa Larry, Trey had some shade from the sun!! (Justin thought Grandpa Larry really DID look like a Grandpa with his 25-year-old Trucker hat. See, even back then Grandpa Larry was hip!)

Grandfather Ricks in the blue shirt and Uncle James in the white shirt behind Trey.

Grandfather Ricks The Dam workers showed the Echo through the Dam tunnels. Trey has been trying to make Echoes any way he can since this tour.

Cards and Musical Chairs

7.29.09
Trey enjoyed spending time with his cousins. He learned a card game from Great Uncle Don, and played Musical Chairs while Uncle Don played Yankee Doodle on his recorder! Trey said he always lost at Musical Chairs because the cousins are bigger then he was. I think he just wasn't paying too much attention to the music and was having much more fun running after his cousins.
I also think he enjoyed playing games so much because Aunt Christina gave them all lemon heads.




At night, it was the adults turn to play cards! We learned a really fun card game that I can't wait to teach someone. Any volunteers?!!!

Family Photo

7.29.09
At each Ricks Family Reunion, a family photo is taken. Prior to this years photo, Grandpa Larry staked out the perfect location, and as he did so, the little great grandchildren gathered around Grandmother Ricks. Aunt Billie said, "Wont that be a priceless picture in years to come!"

I think this picture of Trey is hilarious! There were baby frogs jumping throughout all of the grass we were standing in and Trey was screaming at me to come look at one of them. I was amazed the kids were able to see these baby frogs. They were the size of a teenie pebble. Trey is standing next to his very cute girl cousin Jaide! He really enjoyed playing with her. Isn't she tall? They are very close in age.

Pool Time at Corum Ranch

The Coram Ranch had the greatest swimming pool! Due to the high temperatures and lack of air conditioning in our homes, everyone took advantage of the pool. We were grateful to have a place where we could cool off.