The kids and I had a fabulous time seeing friends and exploring both old and new places. The grandeur of the scenery around us was utterly breathtaking. It made my heart ache with how much I have missed these beautiful people and places.
I do realize that this is a bewilderingly long post. I had trouble condensing it as it sort of serves as a photo diary for me, but I realize may not be entirely of interest to others :)
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| Fun at Nana & Papa's -- harvesting dry-farmed veggies, helping peel apples, enjoying popsicles on the patio and pampering me with a face mask :) |
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Celebrating my birthday in California! Special coffee date with Mom & Bonnie, then to the beach with Bonnie, followed by
an evening of picnicking at 'music in the park' with my family and delicious dessert back on Bonnie's porch. Perfect!
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| A quick test trip to LA for a few days - first stop to my long-time (and long-ago) hairdresser, Lori for us all to get haircuts. Mabel's first! |
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| More LA re-connection fun - lunch with gals I used to house/pet sit for, the kids use bunk beds for the first time & we visit my alma mater (Azusa Pacific) as well as lovely downtown Glendora. Enjoying LOTS of special treats along the way. |
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| A visit with my very long-time friend, Julie (we became pen pals nearly 30 years ago after meetingat summer camp). A special visit of getting to meet her son, Mattias for the first time, taking giant bubble making supplies to the park and sharing meals together. |
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| Back at my parents, Mabel learning to drive tractor. |
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| Papa putting Luke to work! |
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| And then our extra week in California was up and it was time to head north, to Oregon. Our longest drive day with only me as a driver. 10 hours before any stops. All went well until about an hour from our destination when our ride started making scary sounds but still driving fine. We got to within 20 miles of our destination when I realized a lug nut had sheared off and the others were very loose. Not good. |
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| Having a grand time in Gold Beach, Oregon with Ron & Trudy - they treated us to a visit at the Prehistoric Gardens. They know what kids LOVE - Dinosaurs! |
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| My veeery last day spent at the beach. Love the sunset from their beautiful home. |
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| Heading to Grants Pass -- enjoying the fantastically beautiful coastline. |
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| Driving along the beautiful Jedediah Smith River on our way to visiting my Aunt Yvonne & Uncle Dale - our picnic at the park got rained out, so they suggested tailgating in the garage for something fun after our time on the road. Perfect! They also provided a lot of entertainment letting the kids try on my aunt's medical lung-shaking device. And we loved having Uncle Dale's special breakfast of 'cheesy eggs' before getting on the road again. |
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| A quick stop in Portland for another re-connection from long ago -- Sarah whoe was a Peace Corps volunteer when we were living on a remote island in Palau & who we hadn't seen in 10 years! Last we saw her, we were spending time playing scrabble together at our tent cabin home & watching the island give her a beautiful send-off home. |
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| And on to Seattle! A wonderful overnight at Jamie's. A friend from our Peace Corps days in Tonga. Her kids are each six months older than Luke & Mabel and it was a blast to see them playing together again. |
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| Our next stop was to see our dear friend Allison who we met while living in Guatemala. We got to spend a wonderful 24 hours with her and her husband Brandt on Lake Washington at her parent's home. She had an incredible line-up of fantastic activities planned. From a trip to the playground to lawn games to swimming & hiking to making t-shirts to boat rides to lakeside camping. Not to mention, delicious custom coffee drinks and amazing food! We all had so.much.fun!!! |
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| Boat ride down the lake to Kirkland. Both kids got to drive the boat! |
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| Playing in Kirkland - they treated the kids each to their very own dish 'unicorn yum' ice cream :) |
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| An incredible end to the day - setting up our tents for the night in the middle of the sunset. Totally awe-inspiring. |
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| Some final morning fun, hiking through the nearby woods to Juanita State Park. |
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| Heading to Idaho, but make a quick stop in N. Bend to see a friend & go blueberry picking together. And then the long road through to the east side of the state - not pretty. |
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| At "home" in Moscow. Attending a Resonate service & hanging out as much as possible with friends from our small group. |
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| More time with special friends, in special places in Moscow. |
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| We are thankful to have a lovely home-away-from-home in Moscow, at the Rice's house. This stay we got to have a super special ride! In a 1933 Rolls Royce! So incredibly fun! This car has been in Matt's family since he was 10 years old! |
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| And on to Coeur d'Alene to stay with the Hayes family! Luke and Connor have been fast friends since we met four years ago, the summer we were both living at Priest Lake. The kids always have a fantastic time together. And so do Gretchen & I. |
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| And finally, in Spokane at Jason's parent's home. Big sigh of relief to know we made it and that I will get to see Jason in about 15 hours! |
1 comment:
So many great memories and pictures! Glad that we got to be on your around-the-country tour this year! <3
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