Seattle

I didn't take any pictures while we were at my mom's house. D'oh! Since Zach & Sarah were there, it would have been a great opportunity, but instead I spent three days actually relaxing instead of running around doing things. After leaving my mom's and heading over the mountains to Olympia, we drove up to Bremerton to take the ferry to Seattle. I took a ton of Seattle pictures, so I may break them up into a couple different posts.

On the ferry, just after we left the dock in Bremerton:





Hard to get rid of backlighting when it's this bright outside! This is the rear outside deck on the second level.


Drew was really impressed with the Seattle Skyline.


After we unloaded the ferry, Zach & Sarah met us there, and we headed down the waterfront towards Pike Place. L-R: Half of Alex (nephew), Zach, Aly, Sarah, Aspen, my mom


This was almost everyone, just missing Jeff & two of my kids. L-R: Alex, Kendra, Zach, Levi, my mom, Aly, Sarah, Aspen, Jami, Isaiah, Jaden.



The aquarium windows were interesting, but we didn't go in.

Aspen & Aly were both happy to walk with Grandma. With us in Dallas and Aly in Michigan, neither gets to see Grandma enough!

Aspen really got attached to Sarah in the few days we spent with them. This was at Pike Place, the last time we'd see them, and Aspen was having a hard time smiling because she was so sad.

Sitting on Rachel, the Pike Place Market's famous pig. (Not that you can see her under my kids, though.) With that many people and the flying fish right behind us, I gave up on trying to get a shot of everyone looking the right direction!

Just outside of Westlake Center, home of the monorail, there's a waterfall fountain. The water is thick enough that when the kids walked in between the two sides, the pictures were indecipherable, so I went into the waterfall instead.

Leaving Yellowstone...finally!

I know, I know. Slowest. blogger. ever. Heavens, I have so much free time on my hands I just can't understand why I'm not finished with all of these pictures yet! :D

So without further ado, here is our last morning in Yellowstone:

On our way out, we drove to Fishing Bridge. Kind of ironic, since fishing's been prohibited for fifty years or so! If you've not been there, Fishing Bridge spans the Yellowstone River where it leaves Lake Yellowstone. This one has the kids facing the lake, the camera facing the river:

There are stairs going down from the bridge so you can walk along the riverbanks, but the water was too high while we were there. It covered the bottom three steps.

Jeff stayed on the bridge with Lily--we were a little worried she might decide to go for a swim!

We had to pry the kids off of the steps. I think they would have been happy to sit there for an hour! What were they so fascinated with? Fish! These fish were maybe 1½-2" long, not very big at all. I don't think it's an exaggeration to say that there were probably a hundred thousand of them--they extended up & down both banks as far as we could see.

From Colorado to Yellowstone

I'm a bit late posting these, as I uploaded them to my facebook page a couple of days ago. The upside to that, though, is that I'm posting pictures from my new laptop now instead of having to sit at the computer! Not that owning a laptop gives me more time to post or accomplish anything, but at least I can take it with me and steal an extra minute or five here and there. My last laptop gave up the ghost several months ago, so I am thrilled to pieces to have this really cool new one. It was Jeff's 10-year anniversary present to me. Love you, sweetie!

And now I'll try to ignore the guilt that is building since I got an awesome computer and I didn't get anything for him...on our anniversary, we were in the middle of vacation, after all...

So, without further ado, here are the pictures from our 1½-day drive from Colorado Springs to Yellowstone. We drove through the night, so no camp pictures.


On our way out of Colorado Springs, we stopped at Seven Falls (I think). Jeff and the kids made the short hike up to the bridge and beyond, while Lily and I stayed at the bottom. She was out of her stroller, and I was in a boot, so we didn't even attempt to keep up with them.

We did eventually climb up the rock stairway, though. This is the view from the same bridge, looking further up the falls.

A couple of hours later, all of the kids had fallen asleep, so we stopped at a rock store, for lack of a better word. They do landscaping and sell huge rocks and fountains, and in the front of the building is a gorgeous rock garden that's open to passersby. Perfect for them to run around & wake up!

The boys decided we needed a a rock like this. That would be one heck of a game of marbles.

I may just have to find Jeff a chair like this one!

Well, we can't very well travel to England, so here's our Stonehenge substitute:

After driving/napping all night, we stopped at a picnic area just outside the Tetons to wake up the kids, get dressed, and eat breakfast. The hitch platform made a great breakfast table.

An hour or so later, we finally made it! (In case you're wondering, no, Lily did not take the picture. ;) She was asleep in her carseat just out of your sight, but not out of ours.)

I don't remember if this was just before we got to Yellowstone, or just after, but as I was driving and starting to get a little sleepy, I saw a marker for another set of waterfalls. Perfect timing! Kids can stretch their legs, Mom can wake up so she doesn't kill anyone.

We did finally make it to Old Faithful. We ate a picnic lunch and then headed to the viewing area. Thankfully, and quite accidentally, we timed our arrival just right and only had to wait about 30-35 minutes to see the eruption!

Day 28...The Aftermath

LOTS of mail to go through. Lots of bags to unpack. Sand in my van that needs to be swept out. Even more bags to unpack. I'll be gone today from 1pm to midnight, working my semiannual shift at the Divine Consign Arlington sale, so I don't think much will get done, unfortunately!

I've started uploading pictures, but there are quite a few of them. Posting all of them at once would leave me without sleep and my friends & family bored to tears, so I'll post just a few at a time. One state or location per day seems much more manageable!

With that said, here are a few from our first stop in Colorado:

My little happy camper. Actually, she was so happy to be out of the car that she didn't care where we were.

Our campsite & tent setup. Thankfully, the tent can be completely set up in twenty minutes with two adults. With one adult and four children, as we usually ended up with, it can take up to an hour!

Lily was less than pleased that she couldn't climb up this rock.

The sunset was incredible. You can even see our lovely pit toilet just to the right of center, if you look closely.

Our attempts to cook breakfast, complete with sun-in-my-eyes squinting from everyone!

No zoom on this picture! He was quite curious about my camera.

Lily did nothing but watch the "puppies" all morning.

This was where we went on our first official vacation hike, around Eleven Mile Reservoir.

Aspen was impressed with the fact that obviously, someone knew she was coming!

The kids found a rock cave, open on both ends, and decided it'd be a great place to eat our snack of raisins & cereal bars. Oddly enough, Jeff and I decided not to join them.

Lily was happy to stay in the carrier about half the time. We either got to see this angelic face, or hear her screams of protest. I much prefer this one...

This was the highest point of our hike. You can't tell from the picture, but there is a good 75-100 foot dropoff behind this rock. I was a wee bit nervous to have Levi running around up there.

Lily, of course, was oblivious to the scenery around her.

Not quite so oblivious to her brother, though. She's running away from him.

After our hike, and after we packed up camp, we went to pick up Andrew. This is the closing ceremonies at Camp Alexander, Colorado. This was our troop's first visit there, and during that week, our boys were one of six troops (of ten total, I think) from the Dallas-Fort Worth area.

If you know where to look, you can find Drew in the above picture. I almost didn't recognize him when the troop walked up! It's amazing how much he grew up in just a week.

Day 27

Somehow, when I posted my Day 28 message, my blog managed to eat my Day 27 post, and it's nowhere to be found. It's now 4am and I have no desire to rewrite it.

Suffice it to say that we left Tucumcari at 9am New Mexico time, got home at 8pm Dallas time, and actually had a good day in the car. We stopped and grilled hot dogs for lunch, had an adventure trying to pick up Jeff's car from the shop (it was stuck between two cars, we ended up leaving it there), and ordered Chili's on the way home so we wouldn't have to cook. Jeff has to go back to work on Wednesday morning, and I am more than a bit worried about how I'm going to get the van cleaned out and the house cleaned up!

Total miles today: 464.

Day 26

I wasn’t sure we were ever going to get the kids in bed last night. We started off with a big spaghetti dinner, followed by hours of playing. Andrew and Jaden played Legos and Toontown with Todd and Spencer, Kendra and Rachel did I-don’t-even-know-what, Aspen and Bridger disappeared and were inseparable all night, Levi ran around the house like the Energizer Bunny, and Lily wandered around doing whatever she wanted to do, since Alyssa is only five months old and can’t play much. Just before bedtime, Nicole pulled two pans of brownies out of the oven, and they lasted all of fifteen minutes. Eventually, everyone settled down, and by 10:00 even Levi was asleep.

This morning, my kids woke up, ate pancakes, and settled in like they’d been here all their lives. Besides the similar ages, my oldest four are boy-boy-girl-girl, and hers are boy-boy-girl-boy, and they all get along great. Aspen has been asking since day one of vacation, “Are we going to Bridger’s house yet?” Actually, since the day we left Snowflake last summer to head back home, it’s been a “Can we go back to Bridger’s house?” on a regular basis.

After lunch, we herded the cats kids into the van. Levi, again, wanted desperately to stay and play with his cousins. He howled in protest as we buckled him in his carseat, and two minutes later Lily joined him in chorus as we put her in too. I feel a little bit guilty, because I do wish we could stay for another day. Todd is being ordained a deacon at church today, and that’s an important occasion. We have to be home Monday night, though, and it’s fourteen hours of driving from here to Dallas, and if we don’t leave now then tomorrow will be absolutely miserable.

At the moment, we’re almost to Tucumcari, where we’re staying in a hotel, and we’ve only had to stop three times so far. Gas and bathroom stop, then a park in Albuquerque for dinner, and a rest stop after that. The number one complaint my kids have had in the car is being thirsty and needing more water, so we have several Nalgene and Camelbak bottles with us. You’d think after nearly four weeks that we’d remember to fill them up every time we stop, but we forgot today. When we stopped at the park and pulled out the stove to make macaroni and cheese, we had barely enough water to cook with, and that left none to drink. There were no drinking fountains at the park, so we had to drive another 20 minutes after dinner to find a rest stop to fill up our water. Fiddlesticks!

I’m glad we’re going to be in a hotel tonight, both for time-saving purposes (2hrs tonight to set up the tent, 2hrs tomorrow to pack it back up) and because we’ve been watching thunderstorms all around us as we’ve been driving. We haven’t hit any, but the road is wet, and the lightning has given us quite a show. Not the weather I want to be tenting in!

Day 25

Boy, I could get used to this sleeping-in-a-bed thing!

My aunt and uncle came back over to the house this morning to spend a couple more hours with us before we had to leave. My uncle is the same age as my dad, so Aspen has decided that he’s another Grandpa and is as happy as a clam to have him here again. She’s also very snuggly with Linda, my cousin. This trip has been really good for Aspen; she’s incredibly shy, bordering on selective mutism, and never speaks to anyone she doesn’t know—and frequently not even people she does know. Of course, she’s always more comfortable around her siblings and parents, and every time we’ve stayed at someone’s house, she’s been able to relax more easily since we’re around all the time. Four weeks means a lot of new situations, and by the time we got here, she’s warming up more quickly than she did when we started our vacation.

Last night, Aspen was sitting on Linda’s lap, and Linda was asking her what her name was. “Is it Bob?” Each time Linda came up with a silly name, Aspen would shake her head no. Finally she ran off, and Linda thought that Aspen had just gone to play. She came back just a few minutes later, though. Aspen had looked around the house until she found a Magnadoodle. She wrote “Aspen Rose” on the screen, brought it back to Linda, and held it up for her to see. It may not be talking, but it’s definitely communication!

We let the kids play for a while, and after lunch we packed up to go. Hugs, kisses, almost-tearful, reluctant goodbyes, and we drove off. Levi kept yelling “We don’t hafta leave! We can stay here!” We got as far as the gas station a mile down the road when I got a call from Auntie Reen letting me know we’d forgotten the food she and Linda had packed for us. Since we were filing up, they hopped in the car and brought it to us. More hugs and kisses, and we left again. Fifteen minutes later, I realized I’d left my wedding ring there. The one and only time I’d taken it off this entire vacation, and it’s sitting in the guest room! I called, Linda found it, and we turned around. Two minutes later the phone rang again. My aunt and uncle were heading back to their house and were bringing me my ring, so we found a halfway spot and met them there. More hugs and kisses again, and then we were really on our way. Whew! Quite the production.

We drove from Phoenix to Snowflake, and the scenery (and how much it changed) was incredible. We started out with desert landscape and lots of saguaro cacti. Within an hour or so, we were still in the mountains but surrounded by tall pine trees, which covered hills and peaks as far as you could see. An hour after that, it was mostly flat, with a few rolling hills, spotted with short, round, scrubby brush trees and slashes of dry orangey-red washes.

Made it to my sister’s house around 4pm. She has 6 kids too, 3 girls & 3 boys. The oldest is only 9mos older than Andrew, and the youngest is a year younger than Lily. My kids love it here, adore their cousins, and the next 24 hours are going to be crazy-fun!

Total miles today: 177

Day 24

I do NOT like sleeping in the car.

It’s great to get where we’re going faster, and it’s the only way we could have made a stop in Phoenix, but it’s not something I want to do much. Levi, Lily, Jaden, and Kendra are all pretty well-rested, because they slept nine or ten hours straight, but Aspen, Andrew, Jeff, and I are all somewhat groggy and out of it. I actually woke up three or four times, and each time I tried to keep driving. After 20-30 minutes (or even less), I couldn’t keep my eyes open anymore and had to stop again.

We made it to Phoenix at about 1:30-ish and went to a mall to eat and let the kids run around. We’ve been trying to fix our own meals and buy food from the grocery store rather than eat fast food all the time, but it’s hard. Since we’re not at a campsite, we were going to head to a park and make sandwiches or mac & cheese, but it’s already 94 degrees outside, so fast food it is.

Once we got to my cousin’s house, the kids ran around in circles and had fun playing with Dakota and Bandit the dog. The house was packed, although that happens everywhere we go: Linda, her husband Dennis, Dakota, my Uncle Bruce and Auntie Reen, my dad, my stepmom, plus the eight of us and the dog. The kids all played on Dakota’s blow-up waterslide for what seemed like hours and had a blast. We had a wonderful dinner, including my aunt’s delish potato salad that I haven’t had in forever, topped it off with chocolate cake with homemade buttercream frosting, and then just sat and visited. As with every family member we’ve visited, I wish we could stay longer and visit more often!

Wasn’t hard to get the kids to go to sleep tonight. They’re worn out. I’m glad, since they spent so much time in the car yesterday. Total miles between last night and this morning: 717.