Been awhile...

Wow. You know it's been too long since your last blog when you can't remember your Blogger password. I'm full of excuses, but the best is that life has been too busy to both live it and write about it. Now it is summer vacation, we just got home from our big summer-time family trip, and things seem to be moving at a slower and more simple pace. I LOVE summer vacation. I get my kids all to myself. (ask me in late August if I still feel the same). Since school let out, it seemed that we had one thing after another to do or plan for. As a family, we knew our big priority was to get down into California to see our friends, the Swanks. So, we decided to pepper the trip with other stops along the way.

The Oregon Caves was an awesome place to take the kids. They enjoyed it even more than Bry and I hoped. It was neat how you go from a sweaty, humid heat into the cool 40 degrees of the cave. So much to see and learn about. I totally recommend to take your kids if you haven't already

Of course, being tourists, we had to pose at the border!

Next we were off to the Redwoods. Bryan & I had never been through it ourselves, so we weren't sure what to expect. Amazing. Simply amazing. We were blessed to have beautiful weather and interested kids. Of course we fell for every tourist trap, including the Drive Thru Tree. In retrospect, maybe not the best $4 we've spent, but not the worst. Kids got a real kick out of it. I freaked out as only I can because Bryan's side of the car cleared the hole by about a quarter inch. Ah...memories...

The trees were awesome to look at and the kids were amazed. All we heard was, "Look at that one!", or "These are unbelievable!" Then Bryan had to tell Jill the story of Bigfoot. Then all we heard was, " Do you think there really is a Bigfoot?", "Is Bigfoot real?" Oh Bryan.

From there we were off to see the Swanks! Truthfully, it was what I most wanted to do. I couldn't wait to see my dear friend. It had been too long since our last visit and the miles between the Redwoods and her house were definently the longest for me. We planned to arrive on Tuesday evening, then go to Six Flags on Wednesday. The kids, all of them, had a blast. So did the adults, however to Dawn's dismay, I don't like the freaky upside down, scramble your brains kind of rides. Bryan went on a big one with Hayden and well, let's just say that was enough ride for him. Poor guy, he just wasn't himself the rest of the day. Funny, we weren't that way twenty years ago... Luckilly for Dawn, she did have a ride partner-Hayden. Hayden surprised his dad and I by how much he loved the rides. The really BIG rides. You know the ones that go very fast, upside down, backwards? His favorite was the Boomerang. Aptly named. He went on that ride four times! Three times by himself!

The kids has lots of fun and because Dawn has taken her family before, she knew all the ropes and made sure we saw all we could see. We watched a dolphin show, a tiger show, a whale and a sea lion show. Oh my!!

On Thursday just the four of us went to SanFransico. We went to Pier 39. What fun! However, more than anything I may only remember the drive there. Crazy traffic! I'm not used to stuff like that, I am only a country girl, afterall. Poor Bryan, he had to put up with my freaking out at every turn. At one point he said I looked like I was sitting in a dentist's chair. Oh well...

There was nothing wrong with our trip. Unless you count having to go through a Dairy Queen's trash to find a cup holder that belongs in the car...(the kids thought that was a riot. Years from now- "remember when Mom dove into the trash at DQ?") Also, Phil had to work so we were only able to visit with him in the evenings. Bless him though, on our last night he stayed up to 1am visiting even though he had to get up at 5:30 the next morning! Les Schwab- are you listening? If so you should know you've got one heck of a guy working his tail off for you! It was very sad to leave them. I'm proud to say that we all kept it together...until we got into the car. Many tears cried. Can't put into words how much I/we miss them.

We had a great trip and one that I hope the kids will always remember. I hope they look back someday and think of the fun we shared as a family and that they realize it was all for them. Well, mostly :)