Spokane Vacation

I got to visit Becky in Spokane last week!!! This was something I have been looking forward to all year! I took the boys and we flew to Washington for a whole week, courtesy of Mom and Dad. THANK YOU!!!!! I was really nervous about flying two toddlers by myself (who wouldn't be?) so we booked a flight at night so hopefully they would sleep, and it worked! Although the time between getting through security and the plane taking off was a bit challenging. The boys were excited to watch the planes out the window until a clear, light up, robot ball came rolling over to where we were. Of course the boys chased after it trying to catch it and pick it up. Lucas was literally crawling under chairs, through peoples' legs, and around luggage to catch it. Zander was laughing his head off; he thought that was the best thing ever. I had no idea who was controlling it, so I finally gave up on telling the boys to stop and put it down. I got to my feet looking around and shouted, "Who's is this?!" When a sheepish young man raised his hand as he was laughing. He walked over to me and we chatted for a bit while we waited to get on the plane. He was a young dad with a few kids whom he missed a lot, so he thought he'd play with mine. He said his kids love the robot ball, and lets be honest, it was really pretty cool. I know he was trying to help me with the kids, but it kind of riled them up even more before we got on the plane, but I was grateful to him for playing with the boys trying to help me out. It was really thoughtful of him. The boys slept all the way to Spokane, but didn't go back to sleep until around 1:00 am.

Monday was by far one of my favorite days because we got a babysitter to watch the kids and Becky and I went shopping for SIX hours! I got a lot of clothes for me and all the boys at home; I even got some of Stephen's birthday. Becky also told me she's expecting baby #3!!! I'm so excited!

Tuesday we took the kids to the Mobuis Museum downtown for a few hours. They had a great time playing with each other. I think the giant bubbles were one of their favorite things they did. That night we went to the fair. I'm not gonna lie, I love fairs, so I was probably more excited than anyone to go, and it was even more exciting because Zander was finally tall enough to ride some of the rides this year. The food was good, I loved watching Zander get all excited while on the rides, and poor Lucas was having kind of a hard day that day. I don't think he was feeling that well, but he was a good sport. We didn't get back home until 9:00

Wednesday morning Becky and I went out to do some more shopping. Yippee! Then grandma and grandpa arrived in town. The kids had been looking forward to it all day....and so were Becky and I. After the kids got to play with grandma and grandpa for a bit we took a walk through Riverfront Park downtown. We rode on the carousel, ate ice cream cones, and played on the wagon slide before having dinner. Lucas wasn't having any of it, so I had to take him out until everyone else was done eating. I don't think he was feeling good the week we were there.

Thursday we drove to  Coeur d'alene for the day to do some window shopping and go to the beach. We stopped at a candy shop, ate lunch, and headed to the lake. The water was cold, but there wasn't a cloud in sight; it was hot outside. Zander jumped right in; he loves to be in the water. Lucas soon followed, surprisingly, and soon all three boys were in the water playing with grandma. Visiting Coeur d'alene has been on my bucket list of places to visit, so I'm glad I got the opportunity.

Friday we took the kids to Greenbluff out in the country where they have all the orchards, mazes, and pumpkin patches. We had lunch, then let the kids feed the sheep and play in the pea pit. Grandma and grandpa had to head home after that. We had a great time with them. Two and half days wasn't enough time, but we'll take what we can get!

Saturday was rainy all day, so the kids stayed inside to play while Becky and I peeled and sliced apples for pie to put in the freezer. After naps we went to the Chinese lantern festival at the park. I love going to stuff like this! I saved my appetite for the festival, and it did not disappoint. That was some of the best Chinese I've had, but the kids were restless so I had to eat fast. The light displays were really cool. I wish we could've watched a show, but we missed it. They had mechanical dinosaurs that the kids got to ride on at the end. I had fun, and I think the kids did too, haha.

We headed home Sunday afternoon. We were sad to go, but getting back to our routine was much needed. Zander woke up feeling really sick that morning. He didn't eat a single thing that day. He was wiped. Poor boy! That just means we had a really good time and played hard. Thank you Becky and Lance for opening up your house to us. I quite enjoyed my time with you. I actually really loved their home; there was a certain charm to it and it felt warm and inviting to me. I'm sure most of that is due to the people that live there. I wish we lived closer to each other.  Maybe one day....