I'm Leaving, On A Jet Plane

I have a very wonderful husband. My wonderful man is so wonderful that he is going to watch all 5 kids, by himself, for 5 days so that I can fly to Pennsylvania to stay with my oldest, dearest friend, Tiffany. He is so amazing that he let me do this on a mere whim. Tiffany and I haven't seen each other in 16 years and have had little contact in that time. A few weeks ago we were chatting on facebook and she mentioned that she missed me, and I realized how much I missed her, and then I was just daydreaming and looked at airline prices. The tickets were amazingly cheap, AMAZINGLY!!! It is cheaper for me to fly cross country than it is to fly to Idaho. I got excited and Mr. Hotness said yes (I LOVE YOU MR. HOTNESS) and then he said I should maximize my return by going without the baby and for staying as long as I could. Is he not the best??? No, you can't have him! He's mine forever, whether he likes it or not.

This is Tiffany and me when we were 2-3 years old. We were raised like twins, always getting matching haircuts, practically living at each other's houses. Her mom had no problem spanking me, heck, our moms would even nurse us interchangeably when babysitting us. When Tiffany turned 4 I was so distraught that we weren't 4 at the same time I convinced my mother to have my birthday 2 1/2 months early. When I was 6 and Tiffany had to move clear across the country to Pennsylvania I was sure my life would end, but we followed soon after to NY and were reconnected. When my dad died and my family moved back to Idaho I lost touch with Tiffany (I lost touch with a lot of people at that time) but every time we reconnect we are always amazed at how much we live our lives alike. I named one of my girls Lilliana and she named hers Lillian, we both chose to homeschool our children at various times, and we tend to have the same length hair whether really long or really short. I am so excited to see her and see what else we have in common and to strengthen that lifelong bond that we both believe has existed since before birth.

Oops, Mr. Hotness says it is time to go catch my plane. See you all later!

Home, "Sweet," Home.

Goodbye, Idaho!

Hello, Seattle!

Makes you want to cry doesn't it? Nothing like Pacific Northwest rain to tell you that the vacation is over. =)

I know I promised a real post for today but my fridge is empty, I must unpack, my kids are hungry and bored (a dangerous combo), there is a tower of junk mail threatening to fall on me, and the only ice cream I can find has freezer burn. Waaaaaaa. I'm not ready for reality!!!

Almost Home

You know you've gotten your money's worth of Idaho when you have a rockin' farmer's tan, are excited to get home to your own bed and washing machine, and you have enough post ideas to see you blogging through the rest of the year.

We are having a grand time here but the vacation is coming to a close. I will be home Monday morning and will finally have access to the internet and my blog again. (YIPEEE! I had no idea how much I rely on blogging to keep my thoughts in order).

The only problem is that I just don't know where to begin. So, I'm asking for your help. Which blog post would you rather read first?

1. Kaleidoscope Memories
2. Gourmet Dump and Eat
3. Sitting in My Personal Hades
4. The Ultimate, Greatest Baby Invention Ever That Makes Me Smile Every Day and Why Americans Are the Last to Use It.
5. Meet My New Best Friend/Drug Dealer
6. Succumbing to Peer Pressure: My Review on Twilight

Totally Enjoying Life

This is what happens when getting Sweet Terror ready for a trip is a combined family effort. =)

Aaaaahhhh, life has been so good lately. It is pretty much a fact that anytime we take a vacation it will rain on us the whole time, no matter what the weather woman says, no matter what time of year we go, and no matter how far we drive. These last few days have been a lovely exception and we have had a blast. We drove over to Port Angeles:

Mr. Hotness had a job interview over there (We have no clue what is going to happen. Basically, they found him and asked him to interview. It is a much higher position, slightly higher pay, but we aren't sure we want to move.) It is a cute city, we had lots of fun playing at the park while Mr. Hot was at the interview. Then everyone but the pregnant lady who refused to buy a swimsuit, that would only be used maybe twice before never needing it again, played and had a blast in the pool. (I dared Mr. Hotness to wear his wet suit in the pool. He almost always takes my dares... unless I dare him to eat the whole baby squid at the all you can eat Chinese buffet.)

The kids thought that watching *gasp* TV was the best thing ever and gorged themselves on SpongeBob and PBS till bedtime. The next morning we decided to drive around the rest of the peninsula and stop at the beach. On our way out we stopped for bagels at the Olympic Bagel Company. Ok, folks, now I'm really really wishing I had taken photos of these bagels. I cannot believe they don't have photos on their web site. These bagels were DA BOMB!!!!! I don't remember the last time I ate so many bagels. And every single calorie that I forced into my body was totally worth it. The family favorite was a bagel called Apple Crunch. It was a slightly sweet bread bagel that was covered in an apple juice glaze, topped with large sugar crystals, with a carmelized apple ring baked right on top. Oh, my heavens, it was heavenly. They had a pesto bagel that had a huge wedge of artichoke heart, half of a sundried tomato, topped with a slice of provolone cheese baked right on top. There were so many different flavors and all were so very good. I bought an extra 1/2 dozen for the ride home and almost ate them all myself. If we ever do move to Port Angeles I may just have to rename this blog My Bagel Diary. Droooooooooool. After that, our first stop was Crescent lake. We just stopped long enough to throw in a million rocks, take photos of each other, and take some for a Korean family, eat another bagel, or two, and head back out.

After the bagel feast we had to work off some of those calories by playing at the beach. The first beach we stopped at was rocky and beautiful. The kids had so much fun exploring and climbing.

That last one there is a self portrait, because I'm too ridiculously vain to post a pregnant photo of myself. I know, so silly.

After the rocky beach we drove only about a mile or two south and found a lovely sandy beach (where yesterday's photo was taken) and we all had a blast chasing the waves and getting sand in ever crevice of our bodies.

Yeah, we had a total blast!

There's No Place Like Home

Ahhhhhh, home at last.

Top ten signs that it is time to stop vacationing:
1. The answering machine is full.
2. While driving into your driveway you say, "Look kids, we're home!" and they ask, "Who's home is it?"
3. You enter your house and wonder, "Has my house always smelled like this?"
4. Just the thought of handling another wet swimsuit makes you want to cuss in front of your children.
5. You actually turn down one last dip in the hot tub because of sign #4.
6. Home cooked food sounds so good it brings tears to your eyes.
7. Doing your own chores sounds fun.
8. There is more sand in your car than there was at the beach.
9. You have spent more money on toothbrushes and sunscreen than you have on gas.
10. Your mailbox is full of sympathy cards because people think you have up and died.

I'm not sure how long it is going to take me to get all the sand out of our shorts, or the campfire smell out of our shoes. I'm not sure if my kids will believe me when I tell them that this next weekend we are just staying home. I'm not sure if I will be able to fully unpack and catch up on laundry before Christmas. But this I do know: I'm stayin' put for awhile. So, don't get married, have a baby, hold a family reunion, have an anniversary, offer me tickets to a big game, invite me to your beach house, ask me to go camping, or any other such fun because I will not get in that car one more time (Well, unless it's to run to the store for some stress relieving ice cream. Anyone want to suggest a new flavor for me to try?).

Driving In Cars With Boys

When, exactly, does "E" mean empty? Not depleting, not running out, but empty, as in all gone, as in not a drop left? If you are a Seinfeld lover then you may remember the episode in which they dared ask this very question. I'm no Kramer and I've always been content with refueling several bars before the "E". The only things that ever stop me from premature fill ups are laziness, procrastination, cheapness, and a lack of gas stations for miles on end while taking a very long road trip with all four kids and no husband.

We were driving through Montana at this point (normally I drive through Oregon so I was a bit unfamiliar with the territory). I notice that the gas is less than half full so I think, "Better keep my eye out for a station." I see one about 10 minutes later but tell myself, "Oh, that is in a little po-dunk way side. They always charge too much. There should be another stop in the next 45 minutes or so and I have plenty of gas too see me that far." Well, don't count your gallons before they are burned. We drove on past that little po-dunk station and then didn't see another for longer than I care to remember. Our car has one of those little over head displays that show the direction you are traveling, the current miles per gallon, the average miles per gallon, and the estimated miles you have left from what ever is still in your tank. Well, the further we drove, and the longer we went without seeing a station in sight, I began to worry. I turned on that "miles left" display just before the gauge hit that big ol' "E". It said we had 27 miles left on our tank.

"Kids... Hey you guys?... HEY! Listen to mommy for just a minute. Ok guys, we are running really low on gas and we need to try and make it to a gas station. I need you all to be quiet while mommy worries. It would also really help if we all say a silent prayer to Heavenly Father to ask Him to help us get to a gas station and to be safe." Worry is a great thing for getting kids to be quiet.

We finally get to an off ramp that has the name of a town, or something, next to it. I could take it and hope that it leads into a town with a gas station, but I don't see any lights and I only have 17 miles left, according to the lit display. A sign says that there is another off ramp in 10 miles. 17 is just an estimate, it could be high or low. I feel strongly to just keep going and keep praying. Pablo is the family worrier and he is watching the mileage countdown and keeping me alerted, unnecessarily I might add.

"MOM, it says we only have 10 miles left."
"I know, Pablo, but the exit is only 4 miles away, I think we will make it."
"Now it's only 7. Everyone, look, it says only 7. Oh, oh, its only 6 now!"
"Look, look, you guys a gas station just up ahead. See the lights?"
"ONLY 5!"
"It's going to be ok, Pablo, we are exiting right now."
"ONLY 3! Now it's 2! Oh mom I'm so worried"
"Calm down, sweety, we are hear."

I kid you not, folks, we drove in and stopped at the pump with a readout of 1 mile left in our tank. It took over $55 to fill it back up. We were all happy, safe, and very grateful that we didn't get stranded on the side of the road. And now Pablo makes sure to point out every gas station we pass and if we are on the road for more than an hour he asks if we need to get more gas. And so , I will pay for my little mistake for the next several months, I'm sure.

Lesson: Overpriced po-dunk gas is better than nothing.

Be It Ever So Humble....

Brrrrrr. It is COLD here. After living in a world of air conditioning it was rather shocking to return to Seattle and its lovely coastal breezes. We came in around 10pm last night and it was so chilly I turned the car heater on to warm my toesies. The local weather report tells me to expect a sunny high of 68 degrees today. Ahhhh, I am home. I have lots of pictures to share and stories to tell you all. The pictures won't come in until tomorrow because I need to wait for DSSH to put his computer back together (my computer still refuses to acknowledge my camera, it is such a brat) so you will just have to wait for those. I may share one of my travel stories with you later today, when the kids are being quiet, but for now I must tackle the mountain of bags that need to be unpacked and the monster pile of laundry that somehow managed to follow me home.

BYE

If anyone needs me, this is where I will be for the next 13 hours. I may not be blogging very much for the rest of the month but if you are wondering what I'm up to just read my Scribbit Writeaway Entry. Yup, that is me for the next 4 weeks. I can't wait. Hope you are all having a fantastic summer, don't forget your sunscreen, and keep up all your wonderful blogs!

BYE!

P.S. Scribbit has posted the new writing topic for this month. Will YOU accept the challenge?