Caring Cabin Weekend

 We had the amazing opportunity to spend 3 days at the Caring Cabin!  The Children's Cancer Association owns this awesome place and they let families of cancer-fighting kids go stay there free of charge.  It was so great.  This is what we found on the table when we first arrived.  A blanket for Carter made by some volunteers in Pacific City (where the cabin is), disposable camera to take pictures for CCA of our stay at the cabin, and two name stones - more on those later.  So here's a lot of pictures - enjoy :)  And notice Carter's hair is coming in nice a thick now.  I love it!

 

 

There was so many ladybugs in the house!  Carter had a blast catching them and carrying them around.

 We celebrated this little guy's birthday while we were there.

 We got him a super hero cape and mask because he LOVES everything super hero.  He didn't even want to put it on.  He just today, 3 days later, put it on for the first time.  Carter, on the other hand, has been wearing it around everywhere.

 The rec room.  The boys just wanted to stay and play with all the toys all day.

 The rec room is on the left.  The building in the front right is the "meditation room" and the main house is behind those two buildings.  It was absolutely beautiful.

 There's this little private lake on the property.  We spent some time in the row boat and canoe.

 View of the cabin from the lake.

 Entry hall

 This is the room the boys slept in.  There was a loft with two more beds.  They loved it.  A lot.

 View from the deck

 Most of our time was spent just relaxing and the boys played and played with all the toys and games there.

 We went to the Tillamook Cheese Factory and got some ice cream cones.

 We ran from the waves.

 The boys rode their bikes.

 So the rocks.  Every kid that goes to the cabin with his/her family gets one of these rocks with their name on it and year they visit the cabin.  Sometime during our stay we are supposed to pick a place along the path to the lake to put his stone.  The other stone is for us to take home with us.  Carter chose this spot because it's where he fell off his bike the first day.  Placing your rock can be symbolic of all the hard things you've been through.  We asked Carter what was the hardest thing he's had to do and we talked about some tough things he's been through.  He doesn't get very sad about it anymore when we talk about it.  He's become so brave.

 He threw his rock down right next to the path.

 

There were tons of name rocks all along the path.  Then there's this big cluster of them right near the lake.

  It was pretty humbling to see that many names, some of which we recognize from being in the hospital.

 Carrying an oar down to the lake.

 We saw bear tracks!  Yikes!

 They got a little tired walking back up the hill.

 After we left the cabin, we headed down to Newport to check out the aquarium.  Thanks to Candlelighters for Children with Cancer we got an awesome "behind the scenes experience".  We got to go see these harbor seals up close.  They even did some cool tricks for us.

 Like sticking out her tongue :)

 And giving me a kiss.

We also got to go to a big shark viewing window.  There were so many sharks and it was really awesome to just stand there and watch them swim around.  After that we went back out with the "commoners" (haha) and just walked around the aquarium and enjoyed the nice weather.

 Sting ray

 Have you ever seen a Super Dad?  I have.  I'm married to one.

It was a fantastic weekend.  We all thoroughly enjoyed ourselves and were sad to leave.  But we have another trip to look forward to in a couple weeks!  Carter goes back in for his monthly visit on Thursday - more updates to come.