Vacation day 2........

We started Sunday morning off with a trip to Lava Butte.  View of the summit of Lava Butte from the parking lot and the watchtower which is in use.

View from the top of Lava Butte, looking out towards Pilot Butte

The watchtower, which while in use, you cannot visit the upstairs.  The main floor gives a diagram to the mountains in that are in view.

The Blocks and The Tishendorfs at 5020 feet!!!

This little guy stopped us and asked us to take his photo....quite the poser he is....

Hanging out on Lava Butte!!!

Our family on Lava Butte!!!

Our next stop of the day was a hike to Benham Falls.  This is where we learned our first lesson of vacation --- Bug Spray Mandatory ----  apparently the mosquitos thought we were the buffet line coming down the trail.  (Note here, our next stop was for bug spray and anti itch cream).

Above is a photo of Tyler as we were starting our hike....prior to becoming a main course....

Matt along the trail....(actually, he is off the trail because he has a genetic malfunction which causes him to go and climb any BIG rock he sees...but we love him anyway)

Benham Falls -- not quite the waterfall we expected but we did decide it would be awesome to raft down some day!!!

The final 5 who finished the hike (the others decided the mosquitoes were TOO much to bare and headed back to the parking lot with Mechelle)-- Ryan, Matt, Tina, Sarah and Bret is taking the photo!!!

After a Costco run (that included lunch at their food court!!!) we headed up Pilot Butte.  This is the view from the top!!!  

Mechelle, Mallory, Bret, Matt, Sarah, Ryley, Tina and Ryan on Pilot Butte!!!

The men.... probably figuring out which mountain is which.....or the location of the nearest Starbucks....

Ryan in his favorite "I Love My Ducks" shirt...not sure if he is a duck or the Karate Kid (every child wants to be Ralph Macchio right???)

Butterfly on top of Pilot Butte

Heading home from Pilot Butte, the day is only half over and Tyler and Sarah have hit exhaustion....

Later in the afternoon we headed out to Paulina Lake for a swim!!!  Morgan and Sarah in the photo above swimming!!!

Bret and Matt WAY OUT in the lake swimming!

Sweet Mallory playing on the beach

Tori warming up after her swim on the beach ...note a book is NEVER far behind.  We bought her this 750 page book for the trip...as you can see, it didn't make it past day 2.  

Ryley in Paulina Lake.....YES we feed him.....NO he doesn't float well with 0% body fat.  YES his nickname is "6 pack" for a reason...he's got one.

Sarah and Tyler in the lake as the sun is starting to set

Tori with a frog they found in the lake

Leaving the lake, thunderstorms were on their way.  We stopped to take a photo of this cloud and the storm that was coming with it.

After a great BBQ'd dinner, the kids headed out to play.  Roman and Ryan hanging out on the play structure at the log cabin.

What happens when you take 9 kids out of the suburbs and let them loose in the forest???  They find a rubber axe, and run throughout the forest, dodging in and out of trees, and hiding areas playing AXE MURDERER.  Yes....it is true, we have failed somewhere and know we are responsible for their therapy bills when they grow up.  But I would bet money this will be one of their favorite memories from this vacation as the years go by.....