Washington 2012 Day 3

The next morning we woke up after not actually getting very much sleep (or at least I didn't) because Joseph woke up in the night and ended up in our bed. We never sleep good with kids in my bed. We headed off to our continental breakfast
 walking through the state park.

  It doesn't look like it from this picture but Gracie actually was being pretty sassy that morning and was not very happy. But after she got some breakfast in her she did a lot better. Joseph and I came back earlier than everyone else because he needed a diaper change (or so I thought, he was on antibiotics for most of the trip and it gave him terrible gas sometimes). 

So we sat on the porch for a while waiting for everyone else to come. Joseph sat down on a step and then patted the spot next to him so I scooted over close to him and he shifted his body back and forth settling in contently to the step with a cute little smirk on his face.

 And then my heart exploded. How can such a small thing make me so happy? As we sat there we saw three deer and soon after that Russ, Gracie, and William were back so we decided to take a walk down to the beach. 

And I mean down. Check out all the stairs. I was very sore a lot of this trip, it made me realize that I need to get in shape.

It was a beautiful down at the beach. The water was so so cold and we were all wearing sweaters because it  was nice and cool outside.   

The kids loved throwing rocks in the water, especially Joseph.

Which is exactly what William would have been doing at his age.

 They also love turning over rocks and finding little sea creatures. Joseph was a little bit nervous about holding this little sand crab but he really wanted to.

  Gracie planted a flower right there on the beach. 

 Uh oh, I guess I should have taken his shoes of.

 And nobody loves to get dirty like Gracie does.

Russ loved (and I mean LOVED) finding the sea creatures.

 After a while I was getting tired of standing on the beach and I saw the sand hill and the sand was dry and I thought maybe it was warmer so I went over to it and the sand was nice and warm. As I climbed up it a bit I realized that the flowers there smelled like heaven. They were absolutely gorgeous. 

 So I sat there in the warm sand the smell of these pretty flowers next to me and watched my family plan on the beach. It was probably one of the most relaxing moments of my life.

After a while Joseph got tired of the beach and came up to join me. He had gotten  nearly all of his pants wet and now he was covered in sand so I took him back and got him changed and dried off.

After a while he found a bag of some Ritz crackers and I guess he decided that he knew how to eat it.

 That night all the older grand kids watch the little grand kids so the adults could go out for adult dinner.

  After are yummy dinner in downtown Port Townsend we walked out on the pier laughed a lot and frozen knickers off.  I need to get my hands on the pictures Ted took so I have some of everyone else.

When we got back we found the Gracie had put herself to bed wrapped in a towel. 

 After we got back Lilleigh fell asleep on her way up the stairs

and the next morning when we changed Josephs diaper we saw it was on backwards. I'm thinking one of the nephews changed its diaper.

 It was such a fun day.

Washington 2012 Day 2

The next morning I woke up bright and early but nobody else did. I decided to go for a walk by myself and I'm so glad I did. 

When you walk out the door and across the street this is that what you see.

And then if you walk a little bit further down and to the right, this is what you see. Nothing much, only my dream house!

There was beautiful flowers and greenery everywhere, something that doesn't happen as much in Arizona.

In another direction you come to this bridge it's no longer use by cars and it is over a magnificent gulch. 

You looked down and it's like you're over Ferngully. I knew we would have to explore that, but wouldn't have time to do it that day.

After I walked around the neighborhood and "oooh and ahh"ed to myself over all the gorgeous homes and an landscape I headed back and here I found myself at Kirsten's back door.

Later that day me and Kirsten went on a massive Costco run. And Russ and the kids went exploring in the gulch. And then we were packing up and getting ready to go to Port Townsend. Here's everybody outside getting ready to load up the car.

The kids really made fun out of the steep hill that is their front yard. Gracie called that tree the heart attack tree and when  she would hit it she would dramatically pass out and fall to the ground and then rolled down the hill. She did this over and over again with her cousin Carmen and I couldn't help but laugh every single time.

Then we were off on the beautiful scenic drive to Port Townsend.

We got to Fort Worden the state Park where we were staying. I got out to check in and the kids and Russ saw a doe. Actually I think they saw couple.

Here they are running around and the officers quarters homes are in the background and that's where we would be staying. 

 This is a duplex home we had this whole house and a duplex from the other house next to it. It was such a fun historic place. I would have loved it when I was a kid. The tall pine tree in from had a place where the branches opened up and you could go in and then there were tons of branches and a lot of them low so the kids could climb and climb. It was so awesome. 

Look at those two little cuties up in the window. After that we had all the window shut and told them not to open them anywhere. Especially on the second-story.

Here's Joseph checking out the house with me trying to pick out a room. There were plenty of rooms to pick from.

 We got one that was big enough for a port a crib and a pullout bed for William and Gracie. I don't have any pictures of the rest of the night because the rest of the time was spent hugging the rest of the cousins and family that arrived making dinner and then spending far too much time getting Joseph to go to sleep in that place.

Washington 2012 Day 1

This picture was taken while we were gathering our warmer clothes and getting ready for the Christensen family reunion that was going to be hosted by Russ' sister Kirsten and her husband Ted and their 2 boys Grayson and Hal in Tacoma. The kids were so excited to go on an airplane and go see their cousins.

We were able to talk William out of bringing his (very) bulky raincoat/hat.

On Tuesday the 19th Connie drove us to the airport and we were able to leave on time except we had to turn around for my phone (grrr), but we got up to the security counter at the airport they reminded me that we needed a security boarding pass for Joseph even though he was going to be a lap child (how did I forget something this important? I have no idea) and in order to get that boarding pass I needed his birth certificate so I call Connie and she's almost back to my house. She goes inside looks for birth certificate and guess what, I don't have one. She was able to bring his Social Security card and his certificate that said he was born at home with his name and the date on it so we were hoping that would work and she brought it to the airport. As she's coming I'm standing in line for the ticket counter with Joseph who is doing things like laying flat on the floor, refusing to stay with me, and not wanting to be held. Luckily the people in line around us were very patient with him. I am not so sure I was. Connie came walking into the airport when there was just a handful of people in front of me and I was able to get the boarding pass and get up through security in just enough time to sit and visit for a minute before we had to board the plane. Two things that I already knew where confirmed in this experience. I don't know what I would do without Connie and I don't have a brain.

My sister-in-law Mindy and her three little girls were (unintentionally!) on the flight with us and the kids were really excited about that. Here's Mia, Roxy, and William enjoying some sky mall magazine's.

 Here are some pictures from when we were taking off. When you are flying with kids it takes forever to finally get in the air (actually I would have said the same thing even if there were no kids there).

trying to get a peek.

Gracie it was beside herself with excitement about the flight you would've thought that they were going on a roller coaster.

  You can see how we kept our toddler entertained on this almost 3 hour flight. Here he decides to lay down on the floor we actually hoped he would go to sleep but that wasn't going to happen. 

Having a couple new things they have never seen before is nice too. In this case it was his sisters new sunglasses. 

We would drip water on the tray and let him wipe it up because this kid loved to clean.

Tickles are always a good idea.

And then he cleaned his belly. Also a good idea.

I love how nice and comfy Gracie looks in this picture 

 advertising that we love to fly Southwest (he actually kept this on for awhile)

I loved looking back and see Mindy and Carmen all snuggled up and sleeping on the plane. 

 After I got there we went to rent a car which took a little bit too long for my liking but it worked out we got our car and we were headed off to Tacoma. Also I should note that I may have been sore the next day from lugging around all our luggage. 

We had been to Kirsten and Ted's house once before when William was about two, I think. But this was pretty exciting because they just did a major remodel of their house and added a whole two bedrooms and two bathrooms to the upstairs. They also relocated their stairs and extended their dining room. Just so much work was done and it was made bigger so now it was able to accommodate the big load of people that came to see them. 

 I love Gracie posing for this picture. That porch is where the cats lived and Joseph remembered when he saw me uploading this pictures the first thing he said was "nuggles" (because their cats name is Snuggles). It was what he said and  wanted to see first thing in the morning every morning.

Then we had some delicious grilled cheese sandwiches with my favorite cheddar, Cougar Gold from Washington State University and I forgot to come home with some so now I'm going to have to order online here.

Ted came home later and all the sandwiches were gone but there was still some soup and plenty of gold fish:)

  Anyway, we were just so happy to finally be there out of the heat and in the nice beautiful green state of Washington. And to be with my loved ones. Stay tuned for many many more pictures and posts.