Barbies for All

This guy could not be convinced that he was just a wee bit too big to be trying to drive the Barbie RV.

Look at his little hand trying to steer the wheel.

That is one happy boy! He didn't seem to mind one bit that he couldn't actually get his vehicle to move.

Zoo Hair

One might think that the best part of the zoo was seeing the bears wrestle.

Or maybe it was watching the elephants fling dirt everywhere.

Or even introducing Henry to his ancestors.

Nope. The best part of the zoo was definitely seeing those shiny golden locks. Looks like we'll be gearing up for haircut in 2016.

A Hiking We Will Go...

Natural disasters fascinate us. I once bought a four pack of natural disasters movies from Wal-Mart for $5. By far the best purchase I have ever made. With Mt. St. Helens being only a two hour drive away, we had to take advantage of this spectacular creation.

We caught the very end of the wildflowers.

Please picture Jake crouching down with Henry on his back and his two trekking poles squeezed in between his knees while he snapped this beauty.

 We've been on a lot of hikes. This one was one of the most beautiful. See that big old backpack? Somehow we deemed it necessary to bring 15 pounds of food for an eight mile hike.

We call this "set the baby down and run away while trying to make him laugh." The baby does not seem one bit amused by my antics.

His smile had absolutely nothing to do with me.

A toddler with a trekking pole is a bit terrifying. 

View from the top of Harry's Ridge..Spirit Lake, St. Helens and Mt. Hood are in the background.

19 months

Nineteen months and thriving...and totally uninterested in even sitting down for the pictures this month.

It's a little terrifying to think his sweet feet will be this big one day!

This little boy continues to be an all-star traveler and we all are enjoying our Portland summer. It didn't take him long to learn the word "cookie" and now he will often wake up in the morning and request one first thing. I suppose that's what you get when you are living with a grandma who is a world-class cookie baker.

Did someone say cookie?

A wild 4th.

If us Denbrooks are known for just one thing, I'm pretty sure that it is being "wild." We are uncontrollable party animals. Which is why the fourth of July found us watching New York's 4th of July fireworks via la television on mute. And our child sleeping while covering his ears because his parents are just too darn rowdy.

And, yes, we were in the company of two dear friends and their cherub who somehow missed getting photographed. Thanks for the great visit, K and A (didn't want to include full names in case you are somehow embarrassed of what we have become...)

Hey, at least we are wearing festive colors.

Santa Barbara

To celebrate our six year anniversary and take advantage of some great babysitters, we headed to Santa Barbara to revisit our favorite honeymoon stop. We enjoyed four wonderful kid-free days while Mimi and Papa looked after a teething Henry who cut four molars while we were away! We might owe them a little more than the seven pieces of salt water taffy we brought back for them.

We rented a great little one bedroom cottage through VRBO. This would be me putting away the last of our beverage selections. Our eyes were definitely bigger than our livers, but somehow we managed to get the job done.

Up until this point most of our vacations involved copious amounts of hiking and walking and sweating and food that you only ate so that you could keep walking. Jake promised me a different vacation this time.

Wine tasting at Firestone. Apparently some guy on the Bachelor in the early 2000's used to own this place?

When you drive at Rav4 at home and get a free upgrade to a Dodge Challenger while on vacation, you feel pretty cool---even if it did take ten minutes to figure out how to start the stupid thing.

I really hate birds. Really hate them. They freak me out almost as much as those dang industrial wind mills. That being said, we spent 4 hours trapped on the island to the left with no less than 50,000 western gulls. FOUR HOURS WITH SEAGULLS! And that number is not an exaggeration. 

We were blessed to see thousands of dolphins on our ride out to the freaky bird island. 

And even a few humpback whales. 

Why of course we are matching...and looking more and more related each day. Eek!

A vacation full of  coffee drinking, beach relaxing (the whiteness of our skin in swim suit is just too severe to post) beer tasting, and food indulging was exactly what we wanted and needed, but we were both ready to come home to that cute little man of ours.

Observation Point

After Henry handled our first hike in Zion like a champ, we decided to push him a little further and attempt Observation Point. It was mere 8 mile round trip hike with 2500 feet of elevation gain and a few drop offs that made the one weary of heights (aka the man carrying our precious child) a bit nervous. In short, a perfectly "easy" hike to do with your 18 month old. It was also possibly 102 degrees that delightful day which is hot to just about anyone, but especially hot to those who were previously living in the never ending winter state of Wyoming.

Whew, we made it to the top! And yes, the bald child is the only one without a hat on...

I'd say if you're in Zion, skip the crowded Angels Landing Hike (unless you want to do the end scary part) and go on this hike instead. It's way less of a "Disneyland" attraction.

Jake really appreciated Henry's blanket being draped across his neck all day.

After a quick swim back in St. George, Henry was out for the night...at 5:17 pm. Perhaps we should take him hiking every day.