Our Washington trip

We got the chance to visit Dan's family and hometown this past August. It was so great seeing everyone (and for me, meeting my sister-in-law Jessica). We hadn't been to WA for at least 3 years and we feel so grateful that we were able to go. The plane trip wasn't that great (but what do you expect with two little boys?) but it was all worth it! I'm so glad the boys got a chance to meet their cousins and get to know them better. Enjoy the pictures of our time there!


Grandpa getting hugs from Noah and Chase. Noah gave lots of sweet hugs while we were visiting.


The kids loved playing on this hammock. Carter, unfortunately, loved pushing people off of it.


Carter and Chase "playing" soccer. Carter thinks tackling is part of soccer.


Carter thought his big cousin Alex, the tall one in the back, was just so great. He loved tagging after him and the other big kids.


The boys with their all their cousins on Dan's side.


Chase, Simon, and Carter.


The boys with their cousin Eva, who was "helping" us watch them that afternoon.



Noah and Carter both loved this keyboard, but especially Noah.


Carter and Noah insisted upon sleeping on the hotel floor one night and were absolutely so thrilled with themselves. Who were we not to let them?

Visiting the park with Grandma

Playing at the park with Grandma before visiting Great-grandma Rula.






If you look closely, you can see Grandma poking over the side rail.

Uncle Bob's house

We got a chance to visit Uncle Bob and his family. Aunt Wendy came with us to play in the pool. Bob got a good workout in by lugging the kids around the yard. He didn't ask us back to visit. (Just joking).




Aunt Wendy and Noah playing in the pool.


Chase was so cute in his goggles.

Great-grandma Rula

We were able to visit Great-grandma Rula while we were in town. She's 99 and turns 100 soon. She really enjoyed the boys and she and Dan got a good chance to visit. I'm glad longevity runs in Dan's family!


Rula. Doesn't she look great for being 99!?



Great-grandma Rula with her great-grandchildren.


Grandma and Noah looking out behind Rula's apartment.


Noah and Carter lazily swinging as we wait for Daddy.


Noah smelling the flowers behind Rula's apartment.

Scavenger Hunt

Aunt Jessica came up with a fun photo scavenger hunt that we all were able to play. We divided into groups and went all over town taking fun pictures. Most of them had to do with Dan's hometown in some way or another. It was a great idea. Not only did we have fun, but we got some great pictures of the family. I don't think I've ever seen so much of Dan's hometown before. Here are some of the pictures from the day! (BTW, Dan and Jessica's team won. Sigh. But I did get to help eat Dan's prize -- M & M's.) See if you can figure out what some of the items we had to take pictures of were!




Chase, Michelle, Carter, Grandma, Holly, Simon



Grandma



Noah and Dan



Simon, Chase, Carter



Aaron, Eva, Lexie, Dave




Alex, Noah, Dan



Grandpa, Dave, Aaron, Lexie, Eva




Alex, Dan, Noah, Jessica



Michelle, Grandma, Chase, Holly, Carter, Simon

Swimming in the river

There's a little river by Dan's hometown where they've set up a little wading area. We took the boys and they had a lot of fun. We even saw little fish swimming by. Reminded me of minnows.


Noah wasn't quite sure if he liked sitting in the water, but he quickly got used to it. He loves the water.


Carter smiling for us.


Noah kicking his feet while Dan is trying to point out the little fish swimming by.


I'm not quite sure what they were doing here?

The boys thought it would be hilarious to stand up and jump down as hard as they could, over and over again.

Climbing and climbing

I know I'm a Southern girl, but I'm just not used to climbing things that aren't covered in grass. So when the family decided to climb this "hill," I was a bit hesitant. I should have been, too. All that loose dirt and big rocks! But we made it!



Carter being helped by Dad, literally by the seat of his pants.


Carter happy to be beating Mom.



Noah trying to figure out why we had climbed so far.


Dan trying to recapture his glory days. The first time I thought I might "like" him was when we went rock climbing and he was so good at it!

The gang after climbing down (Eva, Michelle, Simon -- who apparently didn't want to be in my picture, Dave, Alex, and Noah).

Leavenworth

A group of us went to Leavenworth one day. It's a little town that tries to mimic Germany. It's actually pretty cute and we even had a German lunch (Lunch had rotkohl - yuck - one of the foods I had to force myself to eat on my mission. Noah really liked it, though!) We had a fun day.




Noah looking very suspiciously at the man with a monkey. He really enjoyed the music, though, and eventually sat down on the sidewalk to listen.


Carter smiling, hoping for some ice cream.


I loved all the flowers and cute shops. They had some great pastry and chocolate shops. Yum. And apparently, if you look behind me, the paparazzi are after me. (And yes, Carter has no shorts on. He had an accident. He got a lot of strange looks, including a very loud child exclaiming, "That little boy has no pants on!)

Side trip to the river

After going up the mountain to look for salmon jumping, we were heading down and we just kept seeing beautiful glimpses of the river below (see picture below). Finally, we decided to stop and trek down to the side of the river to wade. It was just too beautiful not to! The water wasn't deep and we just stayed pretty close to the river bank. I'm used to muddy, ugly rivers and this was just so clean and crisp. Gorgeous. It was one of my favorite memories of our trip.




Dan wanted to get a picture of Carter and me but Carter really didn't have the patience for it. He just wanted down so he could play!

Carter is very thrilled with himself in this picture. He's found the perfect rock to climb on.


Picture of Carter with the great scenery.


With all this beautiful scenery, Carter just wanted to throw rocks into the river. Sigh.

Carter and Noah looking for rocks to throw.


Noah lazily hanging out on a rock.


I call this Noah's "Little Mermaid" pose.


Dan and Noah chilling in the water.

Noah acting silly.

Noah, Carter, and I playing in the water. The temperature was perfect for a hot day.

Noah and I posing for Daddy.