We’re on an Adventure!

Last weekend was supposed to be the weekend for me to walk in the Portland to Coast Relay with a bunch of friends. However appendicitis happened and despite being six weeks post-op the surgeon suggested skipping that level of activity (especially since I was recovering and not training). Therefore we took advantage of the change in plans and went on a road trip/adventure.

First stop was to my parent’s house as originally scheduled. Dad’s 59th birthday was the day before we left so when we got there my sister hosted a birthday party dinner complete with German Chocolate cake covered in frosting made from scratch (Dad’s favorite). Usually I avoid coconut in dishes but this was sooooo good that the coconut could be overlooked.

The next day we took a short trip up towards Longview to visit one of my oldest friends. She and her family took in the kittens we fostered this past spring. Add to that fact that the last time we saw each other in person Emilie was under 6 months old and her youngest two weren’t even in the picture. You could say the visit was long overdue. It also was too short in my opinion (I think she’d agree too) and we’ll definitely have to wrangle a longer get together next time one of us is in the same vicinity as the other…hopefully that’s not another five years.

 

 

Part of the reason we couldn’t linger longer was due to the fact that my Mother, sisters, and I had planned a “Ladies Night” (another long overdue occurrence). Dinner a La Pellah down off Highway 14 near Fort Vancouver (Not sure what the area is called now as the county has grown so much, and that shopping complex didn’t even exsist when I lived in Clark Co.) and taking in The Lion King, Broadway Musical, at Keller Auditorium in Portland.

It’s been ages since I’ve seen a play and this one was well worth it for the costuming alone! Plus the company wasn’t too bad either…

After that it was off on the adventurous side of the adventure. Many years ago we discovered we work much better without a plan. A basic idea of where we want to end up when, yes. A detailed plan, no. So we knew when we headed out Thursday afternoon we wanted to try to land in Moses Lake that evening, we also wanted to avoid the main freeways if possible.

Dad suggested taking the old Lewis River Highway around the back side (south side) of Mt. St. Helens. The drive is scenic (takes you past Merwin, Yale, and Swift reservoirs, you get great views of St. Helens and some nice glimpses of Mt. Adams too) the road is paved all the way through, and you come out at Randle, WA on Highway 12, and from there you can pop right over White Pass into eastern WA.

The drive was gorgeous. The road itself, however, left much to be desired. Once we hit the Forest Service maintained road there was pretty much a 35 mile stretch where the road had buckled or slid and been poorly patched if patched at all. With all the shade from the trees you couldn’t even see some of the dips until you where half way through them. It was truly and adventure. I felt for those riding through on motorcycles or pulling trailers. Not sure if the problem is unstable terrain, low maintenance budgets, or some combination of those factors, or what, but Kevin came through it feeling a whole lot better about the maintenance and upkeep he does on the forest roads here.

After we bounce or way around the mountain and stopped for milkshakes in Yakima we cruised up to Moses Lake just in time for Chico’s (aka the best pizza known to man) and a dip in the pool. Turns out those swim lessons are paying off as both kids were able to paddle across the deep in of Grandma and Grandpa’s pool without too much difficulty.

From Moses Lake we aimed the car toward home but opted to head for Walla Walla and Milton-Freewater instead of the usual trip through Tri-Cities. Of course we stopped at the Country Mercantile on 395 and while Emilie sampled her way through various salsas, Jack discovered a new love of Dilly Beans. Not too surprising as he loves dill pickles. I canned 25lbs of pickles last year and he’d eaten them all by February (did 30lbs this year).

Our intent had been to try and stop at the Whitman Mission outside Walla Walla, but if you recall what I mentioned about us and planning… By the time we reached the turn off for the mission the kids were wasting away from hunger in the backseats. There was no food to be had until Walla Walla proper so we thought we could always go grab something and come back. But as we drove through town we saw the Fort Walla Walla Historical Museum and it looked pretty neat and  wouldn’t require much back tracking so…change of plans. We grabbed lunch at the Ice Burger Drive-In (Highly recommend this to my burger/shake loving crew) drove back to the museum and ate at the park next door then went and toured the museum.

What Fun! The museum covers history from the early days and Indian Wars up to WWII. There are also huge displays of farming equipment, a penitentiary display, and a little “town” of buildings the historical society has moved to the Fort from the surrounding area and staged with period items.

There truly was something for everyone. Kevin and I were most impressed by the early harvesting displays for harvesting wheat on the Palouse. Can you imagine driving 30 Mules at one time? Quite the undertaking. Makes using a combine harvester seem like a cakewalk in comparison.

Enough history for one post…back to current events. Though I do recommend getting over to visit the Fort Walla Walla Museum if you’re in the area.

As I mentioned before we were on the scenic route. From Walla Walla we headed south through Milton Freewater and popped out at the Travel Plaza just east of Pendleton right before you head up Cabbage Hill. Here Emilie took the liberty of dumping her just purchased icy-cold beverage on my feet in the middle of the store…ahhh memories. Once I washed all the orange stickiness off my feet (thank goodness for small favors and I was wearing flip-flops at the time and not my sneakers…much easier to clean) we headed on over the Blues and stopped in Nampa for the night.

The next day we finally made good on our promise to take the kids to the water park. We’d picked up a couple of passes at the school carnival this spring and were going to go after swim lessons concluded in July. Once again, foiled by the appendix. This was about our last chance to squeeze it in before school started. Both the kids had a blast! I only have one picture as water and cameras don’t really mix but I will say both kids rode the slide in the background of the picture. Both kids were fearless…me not so much. Normally waterslides to bother me but I fret about my novice swimmers. Emilie was so small compared to most of the kids on the slides and while she was too short for some of the bigger rides Jack made the cut…barely. Seems he is precisely 48” high…so precise that we had to take him to guest services to get an “official” measurement and wristband so he wouldn’t be turned away from any slides for being too short. I was hoping he’d be under, but his excitement at being a “big kid” made up for my lack of enthusiasm. Fortunately Emilie adored the lazy river so she and I spent most of our time there. Though, my thighs were sure to remind of how many laps we made the next day.

After three or so hours of swimming the kids were both exhausted so we went and got a late lunch at Yard House (And yes, we did have the Mac and Cheese Squared) stretched our legs with a quick tour around the Zoo and then headed for home.

It was a fantastic way to cap off the summer. We’ve had a great one, but I’m ready for school to start and for us to be back in a regular routine!

Baptism and A Miracle

Two weeks ago we had the pleasure of meeting this little guy.

Wyat is the newest nephew, and yes that is W-Y-A-T. Don’t go thinking his parents are into generating unique names just so their kid has one no one else has. Truth be told it’s an acronym of sorts in honor of his great-grandfathers. Walter, Delvin Fay (for the Y), Alvin, and Ted. Pretty neat if you ask me.

Anyway, we went up to Spokane country for little Wyat’s baptism on the 22nd. We took the Montana route hoping for a change of scenery. I understand the country around Dillion is very scenic, and I’m sure that’s true. The valley bottoms were very nice and I’ll take people’s word that, beyond all the smoke, there were some gorgeous hills and mountains. I think I may have even glimpsed an outline a time or two. So much for the scenic route.

Wyat’s baptism went off with out a hitch. He was surrounded by adoring fans…aka grandparents. After the ceremony we had lunch at Wyat’s paternal grandparents place. Now understand that Aunt Julie and Uncle Cory and his folks all farm together so that means farm equipment. Translation: Jack was in heaven, especially since Uncle Cory was willing to take him for a couple of rides. He rode in the Stiger, and got to plow a couple strips in the crawler. He declined to ride in the combine though, stating, “The field is already harvested.” I mean, what’s the point in riding a combine if you don’t get to harvest anything?

Emilie was pretty excited too (yes, she rides the tractors as well), especially after she realized little bunnies rest in the shade under the equipment. She just had to find one! He only disappointment was being unable to hold Lola, Cory’s Mom’s Cockatoo. Lola is, shall we say, selective in her ‘friend’ choices. Even after explaining to Emilie that the bird can bite hard enough to take off fingers she was still bummed to not be able to give her a cuddle, but satisfied herself by sitting in a chair and talking to Lola across the room. Lola does like to be part of the conversation. Jack has dubbed her, “The Grouchy Bird.” By the end of the visit both kids were happy, tired, and absolutely filthy, so we loaded them up in Grandma and Grandpa’s van and sent them off to Moses Lake.

This is where the miracle comes in. Kevin and I also went down to Moses Lake for a day, but then we took a trip over to Leavenworth & Cashmere…. kid-free. We were trying to figure out the last time we had an overnight without kids. It would seem that last occurred when we went to Plain, WA the night before a cousin’s wedding and Kevin’s folks watched Jack (Emilie was not in the picture). That would mean we hadn’t had a night without kids in over 5 years. This really was some sort of miracle and long overdue.

We enjoyed the sights of Leavenworth. Marveled at how every other shop there seems to have turned into a wine tasting room. Enjoyed sampling brew at the Icicle Brewery, took a little walk around the National Fish Hatchery nature trail, dipped our feet in the appropriately named Icicle River, enjoyed a quiet dinner on the patio at Gustav’s, then had a rousing game of Mini Golf followed up with a trip to the convenience store so the loser (me) could purchase ice cream. We were in bed by 8:30pm. Yep, wild and crazy in our no-quite-old-age.

Next morning we were up with the sun and took a nice long walk along the Wenatchee River. Then we tootled on down to Cashmere and explored their massive antiques galleries, took the Aplets & Cotlets factory tour, and visited the Cashmere Museum & Pioneer Village. Then we mosied on down to Pasco where my Dad was doing a NASDA training for his next set of NASDA surveys and took him out to dinner before heading back to Moses Lake. It was a wonderful whirlwind trip.

When we got back home the following Sunday we found the Garden bursting at the seams with beans, tomatos, raspberries and carrots. There is even a decent crop of parsnips, which is fantastic since we didn’t even plant those this year (all volunteers from last year’s plantings) I planned to have this posted sooner, but vegetables don’t keep and canning took priority. Now that everything I picked last Monday is put up I have a little time. That said we picked another box of tomatos yesterday so I return to being a slave to the stove for another day or so.

Still Breathing!

I warned you about summer and my predictions were true. I haven’t updated in close to six weeks now. Sheesh!

We’ve been thoroughly enjoying our summer. The kids and I had a blast at Vacation Bible School. They are still singing all the songs they learned and counting down the days until next year.

Over the 4th of July my entire family came to visit. We even surprised my parents by flying in my older sister and her three kids in for the event (they were moving cross-country at the time and my folks thought she was coming a few days later) This is the first time in over 5 years that everyone had been together.

It was exciting catching up. We enjoyed the 4th of July parade in Buhl and a pie eating contest for both the kids and adults. Grandpa and Jack were our winners.

Unbeknownst to my poor younger sister, her kids had all been exposed to the Hand, Foot, and Mouth virus prior to making the trek to Idaho. They all broke in blisters on their feet and hands while here. That was ‘fun.’ By the time we all realized what they had everyone had been potentially exposed so the most we could do was become hand washing and house cleaning  tyrants. My poor dryer just about gave up the ghost trying to keep up with drying all the bedding. The kids were everywhere touch and walking on everything so everything had to been washed. I’m not much of a laundry enthusiast so it pretty much sucked. Thankfully, our efforts paid off and neither my nor my older sister’s kids caught it. Still it caused us to have to adjust some plans so we wouldn’t expose other just in case which was discouraging.

My older sister stuck around Idaho for a few days after the rest of the family left and the next week we loaded up all the kids into the van, kissed Kevin goodbye and drove to Washington to get her settled into their new home. We met her husband and father-in-law midway. They were driving and truck and trailer with all their worldly possessions including the cat and Guniea pig from Virginia to Washington.

We helped them move in and stuck around a few days visiting more with my folks. Lots and lots and lots of playing with the cousins with some blueberry picking thrown in. By that time the previous three weeks were starting to catch up with me so the kids and I headed back home with a new addition in tow…a Guniea Pig. Peppa, as she is called, was a belated birthday gift from my little sister to Emilie. So far she has not yet been loved to death, but more on that in another post.

We made it home to Idaho with no major hiccups. We even managed to stop in at the SAGE center in Boardman, OR. I recommend this to anyone driving I-84 through Oregon. It is totally worth the $5 admission fee. It’s all about agriculture and very hands-on. The kids loved it. We probably would have stayed longer, but the pig was in the car and we didn’t want to roast her.

I think, after two weeks home, were finally settling back into our routine. It takes me three days, at least, to recover from any trip and this one seems to have taken longer. The kids are busy swimming in the little easy-set pool in the back yard and playing games in the dirt. The garden is starting to really put out. I’ve already put up peas (which need picked again) and zucchini (relish & bread). Jack’s ‘pickle plants’ aka cucumbers, are producing. There are raspberries starting to come on. Even the beans, that took a hard hit from a now deceased ground hog (thank you dogs!), have made a come back and have blossoms. We may get green beans yet!

We’re hoping to get in a camping trip before the fair at the end of August and after that it is back to school. I’ve already started to slowly gather supplies as the sales pop up. It is amazing how fast the summer goes! There is really never a dull moment.

A New Zoo

I always threaten that. one day, we will get on I-84 and head east instead of west like we always do. We’ll just be rebels and run off in the opposite direction. This past weekend we did just that. Jack had Thursday and Friday off school for the teacher in-service days and Kevin decided that it might be nice to finally get down to Salt Lake City to see their zoo and aquarium like we always talk about doing. It doesn’t hurt that there is also a Cabela’s and a Scheel’s in that area to check off the list.

First stop was the Hogel Zoo. Took us a bit to find it. It’s not really that difficult, but we’re old-school and still use a real honest to goodness paper map for navigation (no fancy phones here) and the map I had was a regional one and the exit number off I-15 listed on the map was actually the exit before the one we should have taken. Not the end of the world, but the other issue being regional maps don’t label each street by name and Salt Lake City doesn’t seem to care to label major thoroughfares with their route number, only the local name. We muddled through though because we’re that kind of good. We knew the rough direction we needed to head and had a couple of street names and eventually we found a sign saying “Zoo this way.”

The Hogel Zoo itself was pretty nice. It’s honestly not too much larger than Zoo Boise (though with the admission price they charge you’d think you were at the Oregon Zoo – thank goodness it was an AAZA reciprocal facility and we got a %50 discount ) but the campus is more updated and has more acreage for expansion. The kids had a blast. They have larger animals at this Zoo so we got to see elephants, rhinos, and even a polar bear. I myself enjoyed the Asian Cat exhibit. It was a warm day so all the kitties were hanging out in the shade and it was like playing a real life hidden picture game to find any of them (darn right I ‘won’  ). Best part (in Jack’s mind anyway) was that they had a little Zoo train that we rode.

After we finished at the Zoo we headed out of Salt Lake City proper and went down to Lemhi to the Cabela’s  I think this is the first two-story Cabela’s store I’ve been in. I like to collect the smashed pennies from each store and was thoroughly disappointed to find out this store did have a machine. Really had to bite my tongue and not correct the sales associate when he told me, “We used to have one, but not no more” too. Not sure if that is the Mom or the NEPA nerd in me that wants to do it but there was a part of me that really wanted to reply with, “ANY more…..you don’t have one any more.” This was after the Zoo turned out to be a bust with smashed pennies too. As usual the kids made up for that lack of flattened copper. They know just what to do in a Cabela’s. First you check out the fish in the big aquarium and have mom or dad name them all for you, then you find the fudge shop and bat your eyelashes at the lady behind the counter till she gives you a sample (always remember ‘please’ and ‘thank you’ it works wonders.) Then you go find the toy section and see what’s new. This Cabela’s also had a huge taxidermy mountain display complete with live trout in the pond at the bottom AND for a quarter you could feed them. Since I didn’t have a penny to deface, we let the kids got at it with the fifty cents I’d brought along for that purpose. (Sheesh, I think I’m more disappointed about the lack of flattened pennies than I realized )

By that time stomachs were demanding dinner so we found our hotel. Then carefully cajoled the kids away from the hotel pool saying there we not swimming until after they ate which, in hindsight, really flies in the face of eons of old wives and their tales…. Oh well, no one said we were perfect parents anyway. Turns out the pool was unheated so it was a bit chilly for swimming anyway and the kids didn’t last long before turning a dusky shade of blue.

Old wives also tell you “early to bed, early to rise” and they are right on with that one. Saturday morning the kids were up and chomping at the bit by seven. Someone must have told them the breakfast bar served orange juice. The early hours don’t bother Kevin or I much, it’s just that most stores don’t seem to like to open until 9am at the earliest and aquariums like to open even later. Thankfully Scheels, or first destination of the day, had a golden arches next door complete with indoor play place. We sipped some questionable Arabica while the kids let loose on the playground until the big sporting goods store opened.

If you’ve never been to a Scheels, find one. They are similar to Cabela’s in size a in number of taxidermy mounts but they have a wider array of sporting goods than just outdoor items. They also have a Ferris wheel in the store! Emilie was juuuuuust tall enough to ride so we took both kids for a spin. Been awhile since Kevin or I have been on one. I’ve never had a problem before, but this time the height made me a little nervous, and Kevin even more so. I think it has something to do with riding with a small, wiggly, excited, blind-to-danger person that  you love more than life itself. Still, it was fun. So were all the ‘photo booths’ stationed around the store.

After plenty of playing, and two tennis balls for Tilly, we finally made our way over to the Loveland Aquarium. Now this place was pretty cool. They had penguins, a rope bridge (Emilie was in love with it), rays you could touch, jelly fish, and even a big walk-through shark tank. It seemed fairly new to me and there is plenty of space for expansion in the future. Best of all, they had smashed penny machines!!! We made two…. We’d definitely come back again!

I could go on and on…and on with the photos, but I’ll spare you this time. Needless to say we had a wonderful trip. Oh, and if you ever find yourself on I-15 in northern Utah do remember to stop by Smith and Edwards. It’s the surplus store of surplus store. You can buy everything from wool socks to old missiles and everything in between. They even have nickel candy! Worth a stop if you are ever passing through. 

 

 

Alright, I lied….one more photo for the road. This one just cracks me up.