Our 2008 Washington Trip

July 26-August 5: We had a great and exhausting time visiting family back in my hometowns of Bremerton and Silverdale, Washington. I made the 1000 mile, 18 hour (lots of stops!) trip with my kids, my sister, Alishia, and her two kids, Samantha & Jacob. The first day we stopped in La Grande, Oregon, to stay the night. The next morning we were back on the road and stopped in Pendleton, OR, to head to Wal-Mart in hopes of finding a new portable DVD player. The one Nate and I bought 4 years ago was no longer working. I found the perfect one with 2 screens and much less bulk to it, compared to the 4-year-old one. We made it to Bremerton, WA, just in time for dinner. Mom cooked a yummy roast w/potato's. The kids were very happy to see Nana and Papa and stay at their house for the next week. The kids have a hard time comprehending that their own mom grew up in that house. Shortly after our tasty dinner, my sister, Amanda and her husband, Ben, came over with their son, Keven. It didn't take too long before the kids were bouncing off the walls, full of hyper-activity.
We were PLEASANTLY PLEASED to have high 60's and 70's weather the whole time. It was wonderful, to say the least. It was well worth the daily laundry I had to do because I only packed one pair of jeans and one jacket for each of us. The rest were summer clothes---imagine that! The first 2 days were spent hangin' out at the house and around town. On Tuesday we discovered Brady and Elise's feet had grown since they wore tennishoes, a few months ago, so we went to the store to get new shoes. From there we all went to a place that does go-cart racing and had a good time doing that. This was also my moms 58th birthday so we headed to the local buffet for dinner.