Washington 2011

After several failed attempts at flying Space-A into McChord, which is only 45 min. from Molly and Nick, we caught a flight into Travis AFB - which is 12 hours from them. What should've been a 5 hour flight, max, turned out to be a 7 hour flight because of those two jets you see flying beside us. In-flight refueling. Neat to think about, not so neat to have to wait on.

But we made the most of it. To begin with the plane was freezing, but when the heaters kicked on - Holy Cow - it was hot. We were sitting directly in front of the main unit too, so it was almost boiling - in fact right beside Brian's head in the pic above is where it was the hottest, but move down a few feet and you needed the blanket. Fun stuff.

It was nice to have these stretcher-like seats though. All of us got little naps, which we desperately needed.

Brian has never done well on planes, and of course this flight was particularly bumpy. Galina and I enjoyed ourselves at any rate.

Once we reached Travis, we took Stan's Shuttle Service. I mention it by name because Stan was awesome and very VERY helpful! We rented our car through Budget and he actually called them when we got in his shuttle and told them we were on our way, and I guess he enjoyed talking to us so much that he didn't charge us. We tried to pay him, but he handed it to Galina. She crashed as soon as we got on the road and tried to sleep for about 5 hours. We were worried that she would be wide awake at the hotel all night. Our drive began nice enough, sunny, cold, clear skies...

But as we got into the mountains we started to see a lot of this white stuff.

"Jeez, that's a bright flash!" And that was on Brian's new phone...pretty cool.

The roads were snowy, and icy, and slushy, and full of huge semi trucks.

Sitting in the warmth of the car I would say things like, "Let's find a nice spot and pull over to let Galina see and play in the snow!" We finally did have to stop, somewhere around Grants Pass in CA. But that stop was at an Auto Zone, so that we could buy snow chains. When she finally did touch the snow she said, "Mommy! It's wet!" She was somewhat less than thrilled and was happy to sit in the car after that. She even managed to call 911 from the on-star while Brian and I were arguing about how to attach the snow chains...good grief.

But in the end, we made it to Washington. We were about 3 hours late turning in the rental car (not late, but not on time for the 1 day rate, we had already planned on the 2 day rate, but were trying.) I had called after our stop with the snow chains and let the lady know that we would be late, but I had guessed 30 minutes and it just didn't work out that way. Luckily, she was really, really sweet. She only charged us the 1 day rate. What a blessing!

Of course the first thing we did with Molly, Nick and Julius was drag them into Seattle and to the Space Needle. It was freezing! And by freezing, I mean FREEZING - not to mention windy! I guess that made for a clear day though.

After almost 3 hours in line, we got to ride the elevator to the top and have a look. Of course, I got sick. I don't know if it was lack of food or standing for so long, but as soon as our turn came to get on the elevator I was light-headed and nauseous. I managed to walk out and take a few pictures of Brian and Galina. Poor Brian. All of that time waiting for me to be sick and not want to walk around. I think he walked around the whole thing by himself once and then we rode back down. 3 hour wait + 15 minute viewing = aggravation. But I never heard a word of complaint from Brian and I'm grateful for that. Nick and Molly chose not to wait in line and instead went to the Seattle Children's Museum.

Aren't they cute all bundled up? At least we were prepared for the cold weather with Galina, if not for ourselves.

Don't be surprised if this is on our Christmas card this year. You can't ask for a better picture to be taken at the Space Needle in front of a green screen, and then have Seattle pictured behind you. And 10 minutes later, I was sick.

We also went hiking while we were there. I had big dreams of Brian being able to go hiking in the Olympic National Forest, but since it was snowing everywhere and we didn't think it would be super safe for him to drive 3 hours away and then hike several hours in an unknown place, by himself, we ditched that idea and chose a small hike near Molly and Nick's house.

Julius was fine, as long as he had that stick.

Proof that we were all there, kind of.

If you squint and look really hard you can see the Seattle skyline across the sound.

Our little adventurer.

Brian kept the camera and he and Nick continued hiking while Molly and I took the kids back to the car. They, of course, caught back up with us. We're not the fastest...especially not pregnant carrying 35 pounders too.

If the sun even began to peek out from behind the clouds, we bundled the kids up and went out to play. This particular day we wanted to enjoy the snow that was falling! None of it stuck, but it was fun to catch the big, fluffy snowflakes on our tongues.

Julius' new kicks. I think I like Sesame Street a lot.

Aunt Mimi and Julius - with the basketball. For 3 weeks, if Julius walked out of the house through the garage, he made a b-line for that basketball. It's got to be a genetic thing...

Hands in pockets. She discovered this pretty early on and wouldn't walk without her hands in her pockets. Love her.

Catching snowflakes!

Sorry, I just think she's cute all bundled up.

Brian did manage to go on a second hike up at Port Gamble. It was really just a network of old logging roads, but he took the camera and got out of the house and into the cold.

He also took pictures to showcase his tomahawk.

I think Friday before Brian and Nick left, it snowed a LOT. A very thin carpet was on the ground and we were going to go to a nice scenic park off-base, but the gates to get on the base were doing training and you could end up waiting hours to get back home (we know because it took Brian 2 from the time he stopped in front of the gate when he came back from his Port Gamble hike). So we just went to a small park on the base and decided to feed the ducks.

They eventually made their way back to us and got to enjoy some pretzel goldfish.

"Here, take it!"

Julius was definitely born in Washington, in winter. The boy doesn't care HOW cold it is as long as you let him outside!

Of course, the desire to play is incredibly strong in kids, snow or not. Below thirty degrees or not. We indulged Galina for a few minutes.

Brian made snow...dwarfs? They actually lasted for about 3 days.

We did make it to Scenic Beach but there was no beach and there was a TON of wind. You can't see the tears in our eyes from trying to hold them open for the picture. Once again, a trip that took 30 minutes to get there and we spent all of about 10 minutes there. Poor Brian, his time in Washington went by in short bursts of activity.

Once again, the kids are just always ready and willing to play.

Indefatigable. I love that word. I also love the word Papillon. Odd. Off track.

So cold she kept the mittens on the entire time...that's saying something.

These trees are just amazing, and we didn't even get to see the massive ones in the Olympic National Forest this time.

Of course Molly and I had to drag everyone to the mall...okay, it was just me, but Galina made the most of it. She found a comfy spot and settled in!

She seems to settle in wherever she goes - this happens to be at the Naval Undersea Museum. This is the size of the bunk that Uncle Nick has to sleep on. My word. Not to mention everything he brings on board with him has to fit in the little space underneath it.

Checking out how the pistons work in the motor for the torpedo. Good learning experience.

Climbing through the hatch. It was neat to see where Uncle Nick works - but only because it was spread out about 10x more than his actual workspace.

So the day after we visited the museum, Uncle Nick and Brian got onto airplanes and flew away leaving Molly and I to entertain ourselves.

We drove to Bainbridge Island to visit the KiDiMu - that's the Kid's Discovery Museum...I don't know. Luckily we chose to go on the first Thursday of the month, which meant we got in free!

We taught the kids how to drive.

Made Galina get a job as a bank teller, but Julius questioned her abilities.

Reviewed how to brush teeth.

And managed to get both of them employed in the construction industry. Julius was in heaven - the boy throws everything. Luckily we had him facing into the box.

He knows how to use the shovel...just chooses not to. Kind of like with a fork or spoon...or anything else that comes into his hands.

Creatures of the deep.

They're not too scary after all.

Grocery shopping. Molly made the comment that she and I must be making up for all of the times we hadn't been to Wal-Mart together. I think we did spend a good 45% of our time at the Poulsbo Wal-Mart. It was so nice! To be in ONE store that has everything you need...not possible on the island.

"Keep your hand on the cart. Stay beside me."

Writing Mommy a check to make-up for all of the money she was spending!

After visiting the museum we stopped at a little pizza shop called 'That's A Some Pizza" - it was yummy. I especially enjoyed the cream soda. (Have I mentioned how much food I ate in WA? And how much Shasta Cream Soda I drank? I can't get that here...and it's caffeine free and I miss it...incredibly...)

Now, we spent at least 45 minutes every night in the bathroom with Julius and Galina. It was a lot of trouble to fill the tub and empty it twice, so eventually we just started bathing them together, but in the last bath before that Galina had a lot of room to play and she decided that laying on her back wasn't so scary. This is a big thing, she has NEVER let us put her on her back - not in the pool, the beach, the dentist's office...and then all at once, there she was, floating in the tub. Silly girl.

Playing with Aunt Mimi's organ. Utilizing the rocking horse since she couldn't pull the bench out by herself.

Molly and I did really well at making healthy dinners, in fact we only ate out twice I believe. This was the second time. We needed a break and chose McD's. Galina chose not to sit with us.

Bath time together was full of screaming matches and splashing and dousing each other. It was fun. I'm glad they both enjoy baths so much!

A few days before Galina and I left, Molly and I spent money on fancy-schmansy cupcakes. The red velvet had heavenly icing, but the cake was lacking. The blue icing was vanilla bean frosting and vanilla bean cake. It was gluten free, but I didn't notice :) It was incredibly yummy. There was also a tiramisu cupcake, but it didn't make it into the shot...I had already eaten it. The green icing is a lemon raspberry cupcake and the white is a carrot cake. I didn't get to taste these, but hopefully Molly enjoyed them.

A few days later - let me think, two days - Galina and I bought tickets and flew home. Friday. It was bittersweet. We were ready to get home but I, of course, was incredibly sad to leave Molly. I love my sisters and look forward to the day when the three of us (okay 5 - jeez 6 counting Mom) can all be together and just hang out.

It's hard not to be around everyone and it was so wonderful that get to talk to Molly - we had 2 weeks to just hang out and it was great. You just can't beat a sister that's also a best friend. Emily, we've got to coordinate better - you need to be there next time. We'll get absolutely nothing done between the three of us, we'll get aggravated with each other immensely but we'll cry like babies when we have to say goodbye - and that's okay. That's as it should be.

Thank you Molly and Nick and Julius for sharing your house, your cars, your bedroom (poor Julius), your food, your clothes, your time. We loved seeing you and being with you.