Happy Trails To You, Until We Meet Again.....

Monday, August 4th--Sadly, time to head back to Utah. My niece, Samantha, woke up feeling quite ill. We debated leaving the next day but I didn't want to make the long drive in one day and I had to be back to work on Wednesday. We decided to make her as comfy as possible and pull over whenever she needed. It was hard to say good-bye to my parents, my sister and her family, as usual. Fortunately, they're coming for Christmas so we'll all be together again in 4 1/2 months. Nate stayed behind and he flew out the next day so he didn't have to miss any work. He was able to hook up to my parents wireless internet to work all day Monday. By the time our 2-day drive ended, my sister, Alishia, and I wished we had spent the HUGE amount of money to fly us all back to Utah!
About an hour into our drive, Samantha began to feel better after an urgent pull-over to the side of the road. Elise and Brady were whiny and fighting a lot. I think we were all just needing some "alone time" and none of us were getting that in a cramped car. The sooner we got back, the better! Tuesday morning, after staying the night in Ontario, OR, Brady threw the monster of all tantrums and tripped on some asphalt, scraping his knee and elbow. I got him cleaned up with colorful band-aids and then we sat down for breakfast at Denny's. Another 9 hours later we made it back to the house where Nate was waiting to greet us after a comfy, SHORT (2 hours), plane trip from SeaTac. And once again, I was happy to let Nate spend one-on-one time, all night, with his lovely children while I went and took a very long bath. Aaaaahhhh.........
In all seriousness, Brady and Elise were just as exhausted as I was. We had a great time in Washington but spent our days filling them full of activities. Rarely, did we get naps or quiet time so, by the end, we were all cranky and it was understandable why they acted the way they did. The next three nights, after we got home, they both slept over 12 hours every night!
Our next trip up to Nana and Papa's might just require us saving a little extra longer to fly instead of drive. It will be well worth it!