Shoop family

Monday, November 28, 2011

2002 Calendar

Our Calendar for 2002

The middle picture is one of my all time favorites of my kids,

with Keagan all decked out!

Check out that cell phone!

Monday, November 14, 2011

We had a fantastic week! We got to drive to Discovery Bay (near Sequim WA) in the middle of the week for an overnight stay with Aurora- my niece, & my Mom & Thom in their Trend west timeshare. It was a beautiful drive! All of the fall leaves were gorgeous and driving along the Hood Canal - the little towns & waterfront was such a treat. My grandparents lived in Brinnon (a little tiny town on the Hood Canal) all my growing up years, so it reminded me of going to Grandma's house, too.

When we used to go to Grandma's house we used to "measure" how far it was by the 2 "big" curves. One was the little town of Lilliwaup, it's a little over a mile long & is a curve the whole way through the town.

Some of the pretty scenery on the waterfront!

One of the state parks was closed because of the elk in it!

Here is our condo. It was 3 stories, one the main living area, upstairs had a loft area bathroom& bedroom, the landing had a laundry room, & downstairs was a huge master bedroom with a huge Jacuzzi tub. It sleeps 8! We brought the wii along & played lots of games. They also have an indoor pool & hot tub that we visited!

Keagan & Grandpa playing wii & card game of war.

There was a seagull out on our deck in the morning wanting something to eat.

Our view from the deck & it just happened to be a gorgeous day out!

The only bad thing about the trip was that we only got to stay 1 night & Melissa wasn't with us! After a pancake breakfast we drove to Sequium and went to the Wildlife refuge. We've been one other time, but then the animals weren't out very much. This time was Wonderful! The animals were out everywhere & we had my niece Aurora with us who loves animals! She was so excited to feed the animals! At the entrance there are peacocks & chickens roaming around. (And seagulls)

We all got into the van to drive through the park. Now they have a petting zoo area (I think in the summer time you can go into the fenced area.. not sure). They had goats, Llamas!, a deer!(that was Aurora's favorite.. she was soooo excited, I've never petted a deer before, she said!), and a horse.

When we started driving through the park several Llamas came up to the van & followed us, running right beside the van. It was pretty funny! Aurora sat up on Gmas lap to see better.

The bears were sooo much fun, too. We spent a few minutes watching this bear. There were several different bears, but they were laying down & not doing much. There were 2 fences in between us, but the bear was soo close. We watched him eat and play in the mud!

Here is the brown bear going to the water & mud. I love hearing Aurora how excited she was! It cracks me up, too how we're all talking for the bear. The 2nd one of the brown bear is when it is shaking the mud off & moving around more.

Next was the black bear. He would sit up when we would call out to him. He ate the bread that we threw out to him. (At the beginning you can buy a loaf of bread to feed the animals).

Here he is eating the bread.

We got to see Lion & tigers, (and bears.. Oh my!) , wolves, and watched cubs play together.

The next part of the park has several deer, elk, & buffalo type animals. You drive through and don't stop or they can and will rock your vehicle and possibly damage it! The buffalo got a little close... it scared Aurora.. even Gpa a little (he was driving and didn't even slow down around them).