in the hills

we had a lovely weekend visiting extended family in washington over the weekend.  the kids got to play with tons of cousins, spent hours in the hotel pool (if you follow me on instagram, then you already know that) and, best of all, introduced five-week-old baby oliver to all of don's washington family.

the drive through the gorge and up through the washington hills is one of my favorite drives.  all the cliffs and waterfalls were cloaked in fog on the way up, which was so pretty, but on the way back it was sixty degrees and beautifully sunny and the hills were so pretty (you know i love wide open space like that and don't get nearly enough of that in portland) that i made don turn around and go back to a quiet cattle-guarded road so we could wander the hills for a while.

it was crazy, we found a sun-bleached horse skeleton.  L and muller were fascinated, studying it with their budding little scientific minds.  muller kept saying that's amazing!  

but besides investigating the bones, the kids were mostly just crabby and tired.  it was obvious that naps in the car were what they really wanted.  otherwise i could have spent all day out there!  

L looks cold and unhappy in all of these and i thought she was just being dramatic, but when we got home she had a temp of 104.  poor thing, too bad she looks so sad in this beautiful spot!  she is still feverish now, and all day today she just listlessly and half-heartedly watched cartoons.

don took the last one here, and i absolutely love it.