We took a last minute trip to Washington to see Brian's parents. We planned to leave around 4am on July 5th. That was our first mistake. Never plan to leave for a 12 hour drive the morning after you have a huge party at your house. I spent the 4th getting ready for the party and doing minimal packing, figuring I would get around to it. After my family went home. That was the second mistake. We had so much fun on the fourth we didn't even think about getting ready for our trip until 11pm as the last remnants of party goers drove off. Then I looked around and made the command decision that we would be leaving a little later. I sent Brian and the kids to bed and I packed. And packed. And packed. We ended up not too far off schedule, we left at 5:45am which I thought no small miracle. An even greater miracle was that upon completion of the trip, we realized I FORGOT NOTHING!! Yes, I'm feeling rather prideful at pulling of a trip of this magnitude in 4 hours. Not to shabby!
The trip there was awesome! We had so much fun with the boys and they were so good. We only turned on the DVD player for one movie and they didn't really even watch the whole thing. Tyler was the real
entertainment, asking every question that would come up watching scenery pass from Utah to Washington. Things like, "mom, why do people want to live in Idaho, it smells here" to "How does a tug boat push that huge ship all the way to the ocean?" as we were passing
thru The
Dalles. Not to
mention the crazy rest stop shenanigans, like climbing on the roof of the car when Brian and I try to steal a kiss, thinking our kids are safely in their seats...
In Shelton grandma and grandpa provided hours of fun with their new boat and
innertubes. The kids spent more time on that lake then they spent with me! It rained most of the trip, but that didn't stop anyone, proving they are true
Washingtonians!
One of the
innertubes was a 4 man, which means to little boys can ride, fully clothed all around a lake and not even get wet. This is a priceless feature when it's 58 degrees outside and they just have to go for one last ride!
I just loved this scream! They were so cute on that tube!
We also got to see Brian's sister Karen and her 4 kids. The boys loved spending time together and Jake got a long really well with
Kalena, even if she is a girl. :) Tyler and Jake both loved helping in Grandma's garden, including Picking
Huckleberries for a pie, which wasn't quite as fabulous as we thought it would be...digging potatoes, picking raspberries,
strawberries, lettuce and sweet peas.
We took some long breaks during the drive, stopping for lunch and some football and
Frisbee tossing.
All in all it was an amazing trip, we were so proud of the kids and how great they were. We feel like we've finally gotten the road trip thing down to a science without having to rely on a TV to keep everyone happy.
We drove to Seattle Wednesday morning on the way home, even though technically it wasn't anywhere near the way home. (Although after checking map quest it is only the longer way by 45 minutes, so I think it's justified!) All I wanted for my birthday this year was to be in Seattle, eating either fish and chips from Steamers or cheeseburgers from Dicks. Well Brian and I had amazing fish and chips the night before so we went for Dicks. It was everything I'd longed for! the kids loved it, we have always loved it, so it really was the perfect way to start the drive home. We spent some time on the waterfront, just hanging out.
And yes, you read that right. Fate had the gall to bestow me with a grey hair on my birthday, MY 29th BIRTHDAY no less! Not cool. And no, I don't want to talk about it.
