Washington Trip 2011

This trip was memorable at the very least. 

We started out our journey stopping in Utah and staying overnight with our dear friends the Merritt's.  Thank you for opening your home to us! We miss you!  (forgot to take pictures. Grrr)

Then had lunch with a couple of Jason’s high schools friends.  (Again, no pictures.  I got the hang of it eventually)

Stopped at Shannon’s for a few days. 

Had a grand time zipping around her little Pleasantville neighborhood on quads, trampoline jumping, marshmallow roasting, airsoft warring, target shooting, item blow up-ing,  ping ponging, pool table-ing, and enjoying one another's company.  Thanks for the memories Poppleton Fam!

Then we headed up to Washington.  I think THIS is where I started going down hill…

Montana’s 50,000 silver dollar joint.  I’m not keen on the place.  We had stopped there on previous trips and I wasn’t super thrilled about swinging in again.  I became monster mama and developed a 3 year old attitude of I hate this place and how soon can we leave. 

Our first stop was Jake and Kyra's, church with them, and then a few hours up north to his mom’s.   It is definitely off the beaten path.   The forest was gorgeous.  My kids had the time of their lives.  It is well known (my whining was inescapable) that I am not a huge fan of camping.  So I struggled a bit huge amount.    The days went like this: tents,  hiking, swimming, creek wandering, kitten hording, outdoor shower taking,  out housing, bow and arrowing, hammocking, tree climbing, mallow roasting, and all around running amuck.  Love you Chad and Lynnette!   Thank you!! 

 

Well into week 2 of our vacation, and we headed out to his dad’s place for the family reunion.  (I snuck 2 days of a hotel in, as a buffer between me and crazy.)   Joe’s was great.  The kids (and Joe!) went down the creek one afternoon,  we spent a day in the church gym playing volleyball, and death by rubber ball  dodgeball.  I did some hair on the lawn. Kids ran through sprinklers, had meetings in their clubhouse, were told they couldn’t marry their cousins, and played lots of Legos. Lainy and 5 year old cousin Aaron, had an immediate friendship. He told her he was 8 so she would like him, though he could have been 3 and the color green and she would still adore him.    And then the boys decided there was no better send off for us than to blow up a dryer. 

Thanks for the memories Stolworthy family! 

The journey didn’t end there…  We (Jason) drove straight through 24 hours and came home to a washer than had flooded the night before we left (thank goodness!), a water heater that exploded and a fridge that had died a week into our vacation.  I cried.  And then I took my already packed car and went to my sisters.