Rushing around with the Rushings!

It all started two years ago with a bet.  While we were all visiting family in Utah at the same time and playing board games at my mother-in-laws house, Scott made a wager with my brother-in-law Brian.  If Brian lost the game he would have to drive his family out from Colorado to visit us.  Scott won.  It was finally time to for Brian to pay up. So the Thornocks loaded up the van with 16 days worth of supplies plus all their camping gear and headed West.  Scott and Shane took the week off work as well and then planned one crazy week of activities for us to do.  If anyone has ever vacationed with Scott before you know what I am talking about.  His nickname is "General" when we are on vacation and there is no rest for the weary!  Here are some of the highlights of our week together:

White-Water Rafting down the Salmon River.  

It was supposed to be an adult-only day but Kennedy ended up taking my place.  This was the only perk to suffering one week with a really bad sinus infection!  I was still not feeling well at all when our vacation began and a throbbing headache that was accentuated by movement did not bode well with racing down rough, rocky glacier water being thrown all about a tiny raft!  As you can tell, I wasn't too thrilled with the idea even if I was feeling well!  But Kennedy had done this run with her dad 4 years ago and was anxious to be included with the adults.

Their guide told them he needed two volunteers to ride the bull.  Of course the Rushing brothers were quick to raise their hands.  And raise their hands they did!  They had to raise one hand and keep it in the air like they were riding a bull throughout the toughest part of the run.

Hands up!

Notice the hands still up even though they are completely under water!

We have a winner!!! Congratulations Scott

Cannon Beach

We are about a two hour drive from the Coast.  We packed up food, beach toys, bubbles, towels, and plenty of jackets and headed to Cannon Beach for the day. The coast is always about 10 degrees cooler than Vancouver in the summer and almost always guarenteed to be windy.  The kids loved to fly kites and play in the sand but the water is way too cold for swimming, for everyone except my niece Kerrigan.  While we were all hiding under blankets and towels to stay warm, Kerrigan was running around in her swimsuit all day going in and out of the water.  Her mom, Sonya (Scott's sister), said that Kerrigan thought she was in Florida!

Layton blowing bubbles for the kids to chase and pop.

Kenzie, Cassidy and Karsyn with Haystack rock in the background.

Karsyn and Kerrigan

Will and Andrew

St. Paul Rodeo

We went to the St. Paul rodeo for the first time last year for the 4th of July.  It is a small town near Salem, Oregon but they put on a great rodeo.  There is a fair to go to during the day with rides and food while you are waiting for the rodeo that begins that night.  Then after the rodeo they have a fireworks show.  We had such a good time last year that we took the Shane Rushing  and Thornock families again this year. 

Mitchell and Layton

Shane, Brian and Scott

Will

Mitchell, Cassidy and Kenzie laughing at the ride operator that thought he could pop and lock!

Kennedy and Cassidy

Will, Cassidy and Karsyn

Will showing off his meanest cowboy face with his dad.

Cowgirl Cassidy

Victoria, BC

The thornocks have already told us this was the one time they would make this drive (where is the love?) so we needed to show them a good time.  They have always wanted to go into Canada and since we are only a 5 hour drive away we took them there.  Even though it only takes less than 5 hours to drive to the top of Washington, it still makes for a long day of travel after catching the ferry to cross over into Canada.  You have to arrive 60-90 minutes before your Ferry leaves and wait in line with your car.  Yes, we were the first of the three cars in line at the Ferry.  Looks like the other two families found something to color to keep them busy during the wait!

We didn't realize this was on the back of our car until after the hour wait in line, the 90 minute Ferry ride and until after the 45 minute random security check.  We were randomly chosen to be checked by security and they had us exit the car while they looked through everything!  It wasn't until after the check and we went to re-pack the back of the car that we understood why security kept laughing during their check.  We didn't wash it off because we were in such a hurry to get going to our campground that was still a two hour drive north.  Then we kindof just forgot about it.  When we finished our trip and went back to the Ferry to come home the security officers there asked us if we would like for them to wash that off our back window.  But after a week, we were feeling secure about our hemmorhoids and told them to leave it on, that it had big entertainment value for the others waiting in line behind us!

The view of downtown Victoria coming in on the Ferry

Camping

We went to a great campsite about an hour and half north of Victoria.  The site was beautifully nestled deep inside a wooded area that surrounded the Cowichan Lake.  During the day we went to the lake and the kids swam and tried to master walking the logs.  The swimming area was marked off by several large logs floating and chained together to create a border between the swimmers and the boaters.  

Cassidy and Kenzie

Cassidy helping make dinner

Karsyn, Cassidy and Kenzie sitting on one of the logs that they would try to balance on while walking the width of the lake.

Layton and Mitchell

Alli, Will and Kerrigan

Layton and Scott

Duncan:  City of Totem Poles

There is a rich history of Totem Poles in Victoria.  Our campsite was about one hour from Duncan which has a walking Totem Pole Tour you can take. We took the kids on this tour and they enjoyed it for about 5 minutes.  Scott was a trooper though, he kept walking and we kept following and he kept reading and we kept listening (or at least pretended to listen).  No one complained however we he walked right past the last 4 or 5 Totems without stopping to read.

Alli, Will, Kerrigan, Andrew, Ty, Karsyn, Layton

Cassidy, Mitchell, Kenzie and Kennedy

Butchart Gardens, Victoria, BC

You can't go to Victoria without stopping by Butchart Gardens.  We also went to the gardens last July when we came camping but couldn't stay late enough to watch their famous firework show. This time around we planned it better so that we could have enough time to see the Gardens and finish just in time for the show.  

My favorite ... the Sunken Garden

The ironic thing of this whole trip is that the Sat. fireworks show at Butchart also happened to be July 4th.  So all 17 of us showed up in our Red, White and Blue stars and stripes.  Between our attire and Uncle Brian's ever present video camera, there was no doubt we were yankee tourists!

The Rushing siblings

Kenzie, Mitchell, Cassidy, Karsyn, Layton, Ty, Kennedy

Will, Andrew, Alli, Kerrigan in the Japanese Gardens

Will in the Italian Garden

Then the moment Scott has been waiting for for one year...the fireworks!  

Waiting for the excitement to begin!

The show was everything it was promised to be.  It was different from any other show I have ever seen.  It was like watching a firework show combined with an opera and a Christmas light show.

The show started at 10:15 and we couldn't get out of the park until 11:30 that night.  Our campsite was about a 2 hour drive from there and they locked the gate to the camp site at 11:00.  The plan was to drop the woman and children off as close to the camp site as possible while the men found a place to park farther done the road.  This was only a small sacrifice until a bear was spotted in camp earlier that day and all our air mattresses popped and our girls had been using to car to sleep in.  Needless to say, some people (Shane) were very nervous about walking into camp at 2:00 in the morning with a loose bear.  But luck was on our side.  Just as we pulled up to the locked gate, the ranger was there.  He had been called because a boater had left the lake way too late and was locked in on the inside of the camp.  We convinced the ranger to let us pass through to the inside and we were able to drive into our site.  Shane's relief was short-lived when we found our camp site a mess.  The two garbage bags had been torn apart and strewn across the entire site.  Shane was convinced the bear had made himself at home in our tents and layed awake and on guard the entire night!  But besides the bear, and several lame air mattresses the whole week was a blast.  It was so great for the cousins to have this time together and to get reacquainted.  Can't wait until the next time we are together playing games at mother-in-laws and a small wager is made!