Travel Days

I haven't blogged in a few days. We were busy and I didn't want to get the computer out at the hotels.

We left my Dad and Suzy's cabin on Sunday morning. It was such a great visit. The kids have a blast and it's so nice to visit with my Dad and Suzy. Suzy spoils us rotten with great meals and it's nice to just have fun for a few days.  I did make the kids get their annual photo on the bench before we left.

 And I snapped one quick photo with my Dad before we left.

The landscape through Washington is so diverse. This is some of the apple trees. Washington is the apple capital of the world.

Noah was so happy when we got to the hotel. He LOVES hotels.

It was hot out in Wenatchee on Sunday, like 103. I thought we'd go down to this beach at a park, but it was too hot. So, we went swimming in the hotel pool.

Then, we went to the beach area once it got later and cooler. This was the Wenatachee river going through. 

The kids realized you can walk out on a sand bar and it's like you are walking on water.

Here's a pic with the kids.

Then, we saw this cool playground. It was awesome and I love that none of us can resist a great playground. Not even the 47 and 44 year old kids.

The next morning we had a river rafting trip at noon. We drove to Leavenworth were we were going to stay the night and dropped off some of our things and used their pool for an hour.  We stayed at the Bavarian Lodge. It was so cute. Leavenworth is a little German town. The flowers were gorgeous.

Ben was obsessed with this loose tooth he had. He kept trying to get it out. I knew it was going to bother him the entire river rafting trip. So, David actually got dental floss and tied it around and out the tooth came.  Ben was so happy.

I don't have any pics of our river rafting. They told us not to bring a camera or it will get lost, but that there is normally a guy taking pictures. But, he wasn't there. The guide did take a video, so I'll find a way to get that posted here at some point.

But, the kids loved rafting. It was David's first time too and he really loved it. We did most class 2 and a few class 3 were in there. It was enough of a wow factor without being too crazy for their first time. They all would go back tomorrow if we could.

We got back to our hotel and Emily and I hoped in the shower and got in their robes.

Me with the pretty flowers.

Then, we got bratwurst and huge hot dogs and David loved the mustard condiment station.  Every type of mustard...garlic mustard, apricot mustard, etc. It was crazy. David loved the apple cider kraut too.

David couldn't wait to get into his bratwurst.

I just wanted a pretzel.  :)  Then, everyone ate it, so I had to get a second one.

Then, we got ice cream and went in all the cute little stores. But, we didn't realize that the whole town closes down at 6:00ish. Seriously, everything but the brewery's. And I was bummed as I put ornaments on our Christmas tree from all the places we've been and I didn't get an ornament.

Then, we walked around and saw a goat. It was so random.

Then, we brought the kids back to the hotel and I told David we should go to the gas station down the street to see if they had anything that I could use as an ornament. So, we went. He posed with this cardboard lady. Then, we went into the 76 store and I found a magnet that will work just fine as an ornament. It even has a goat on it!

Our hotel was super cool and we had this nice patio and we could sit outside. It was perfect. Emily was out there enjoying the peace and quiet.

We woke up this morning and got on the road by 8:15. I wanted to stop at this place called Deception Falls as it was a 3/4 of mile loop of some amazing water falls. So, we went and it was gorgeous.

The trees were so cool This one is actually coming out of a tree stump.

I loved this sign.

Noah is so sweet. He wanted to take my picture by the falls.

Here's some of the falls.

The bridges were cool.

I'm glad we stopped. It was gorgeous. The mountains on the driver were unbelievable.

Then, we headed to the border and it took forever to get through, like 45 minutes. We went a different way which took us through downtown Vancouver. And we got stuck in grid lock traffic. It was awful. Beyond awful. We thought we'd have so much time left to catch the 2:20 ferry that we'd get Starbucks. Then, we didn't even know if we'd catch the 3:15 ferry. David was so frustrated with the traffic. We all were. Then, we finally got moving. We pulled up to the ferry at 3:05 and thought we'd be getting on the 5:30 one. But, the 3:15 wasn't sold old and we got on. We were so happy.

We got to Uncle Terry and Aunt Paula;s house and had time to get down to the ocean for a dip before dinner. The boys love this new log that sticks straight up in the air.

This is David and Emily and the two heads in the background are Amy and Aunt Paula.

We had a yummy dinner and headed for gelato.

We are so glad we are here!