Washington Trip - Part I

We left for our 15 hour journey to Washington mid-March.  Having done the drive previously in one fell swoop, but with Russ with us...I determined that there was no way I was even going to TRY it without him (although we did have Bubba in tow as well, but I'm a bit of a control freak when it comes to driving. :)  ).

Stopping at Shasta Lake.  I love the greenish water, outlined by the red soil.

Kids these days...

We stopped in Bend, Oregon for the night.  The place we stayed at was great--our room was HUGE, the pool facilities were great (heated indoor pool, 2 hot tubs and a sauna!), and breakfast was good. 

The kids LOVED the pool.  Brooklyn would put her scuba gear on and just float around the pool with her face in the water the entire time.  She would occasionally get water in her snorkel and flip out, forgetting that she knew how to swim...but she's getting better at that.

Breakfast!  The kids were intrigued (and thoroughly delighted) at the idea of a buffet.

Sam saw this fountain out the window and wanted to throw snow on it to see what happened.  There wasn't an easy way to get out there to it, but Bubs pulled through and he got to see.  The snow was SO exciting to Brook and Sam.  At one point on the second day of driving, we had to pull over for a snowball fight!  Sam quickly got back into the car, but I almost couldn't get Brook back into the car!

We made it to Quincy the following day.  Parts of our sanity were missing, yes, but we were there.  Phew!

I didn't take a ton of photos while in WA because my camera is on the fritz, but I got a few.  Like this nifty habitat that Brooklyn created for Simba, Teeter's cat.  What more could a cat want?!

The weather was just downright COLD...for me at least.  For a couple of hot-blooded, energetic kids?  Notsomuch.  So why not put them to work??

There was another birthday party for Brooklyn.  She got these wings, and found Corinne's box of pretty shiny things (which was put back after she was done), and even did her hair herself.

The Wenathee Children's Theater put on Zorro!  I wasn't sure how impressed the kids would be, but they really seemed to enjoy it!!  Sam loved the sword fighting.  And I don't think it's a moment that I will readily forget, as Zorro is the first real solid "interest" that Brooklyn has grabbed onto.  What I mean is, the way we homeschool, it leaves a lot of room open to study what interests you.  With that being said, 4 and 6 year olds aren't super into ONE thing, ya know?  And as a mom who still occasionally has some traditional schoolish worries like 'what if they never want to learn to read?!', it put my mind at ease as I saw her become desperate for more Zorro "stuff"--movies, playing, masks and capes and swords, eager to talk about California, horses, good vs. bad, etc.

Since then, I've noticed a few other things that she has grabbed on to and it's amazing the tangents and adventures (both physical and mental) you find yourself on.  Truly amazing.  I am so grateful that I have the opportunity to be such a big part of it and see it unfold in front of my eyes.

We also had the opportunity to spend some time on Fox Island with some family.  Of course, Brook had to stop at the summit to play in the snow.

I'm kicking myself for not getting any more photos than this!  I had so much fun relaxing, laughing, talking, playing...it was good.  The kids were a bit worn out, but it was still good.
Here, we're on the train, headed to the Children's Museum in Tacoma.  All of the boys in the photos were my nephews.

The Children's Museum was a madhouse, so we didn't last super long.  We took a snapshot at Union Station...where Sam is in the beginning stages of a meltdown (really, you think that I would know by now to pack snacks with me when we're out and about!  GAH.).

Walked on the windy, but awesome Museum of Glass bridge.  Brooklyn really enjoyed this and wasn't thrilled to leave. 

We went back to Quincy and celebrated Easter a bit early (so we could have baskets to use for the Easter Egg Hunt!).

We went hiking, looking for wildflowers to press, up on Monument in Quincy.  We could see a big sheet of storm encroaching, and it finally hit us...HAIL! 

We were all starting to miss home at this point (we were gone for about 3 1/2 weeks).  Sam wanted to sleep with me, but Brook "needed him!!!!"  I negotiated with her and she decided she'd be alright if he did sleep with me, but only if I left the light on.  I came in a bit later to find that she'd stacked ALL of her babies, pillows, etc. behind her and was sitting nearly straight up...with ALL of the lights on!  HA!  Funny girl.

"THE EASTER BUNNY CAME!!!"

Verna bought these gummy teeth, thinking the kids would love them.  Brook took one look at them and declared them "freaky."  She could hardly stand to look at Bubba with them in her mouth! 

The Egg Hunt was a success!  It was in Teeters' backyard, essentially...it was actually in the park there, but it was fun being able to just walk out back and you were there.  Anyway, I mentioned to the kids that there was a golden egg, but just get whatever.  Sam went RIGHT for his.  Unfortunately, it later fell out while he was busily getting more eggs and another little boy took it.  I wasn't sure if Sam would even care and decided to just let it play out.  Turns out, he did care A LOT.  I explained what happened, and he said he wanted to ask for it back.  So we went and asked the boy, and he gave it right back!  So all was well.

Unfortunately, I didn't see Brooklyn's hunt, but she ended up with a gold egg too, I guess.  She got a water bottle filled with Smarties as her prize.  Sam's was a talking Simba stuffed animal.  Lucky duckies!

Part II tomorrow, hopefully.  Unfortunately, my allergies have been insane and it's been in such rough shape that I had to grab some medicine at CVS and forgot about the importance of getting NON-drowsy.  Ugh.  G'nite...over and out.