Washington!

On Wednesday the boys and I went up to Kennewick Washington with my mom to see the Clowards and Brooks. It is our first time visiting them since they have moved from Boise. The drive there took us 11 hours and boy was it long! My mom and Papa K went to the rental car place Wednesday morning to discover the vehicle she had reserved two weeks before was rented to someone else! So we ended up taking their Jeep. The boys were really good the whole drive. It was uneventful except for the six construction zones we hit that went down to one lane. We left Utah at 8:30 and arrived in Kennewick at 6:30 pacific time. When we pulled up we could see Cassie's little face staring out the window. Cassie, Clark, and Brent all came running out before we even had a door opened laughing and screaming. It was so cute. Emily made us delicious BLTs and we settled in for the night. Thursday we hung around their house and waited for Ry to get home from a business trip. Emily made a delicious salmon dinner and peach cobbler. (I gained so much weight this trip!)
Friday we went to the pirate park in Pasco. It was the most awesome park and it is right on the Columbia river. It isn't quite as big at the park as it is when you cross over it on the Oregon border because the Snake river hasn't flowed into it yet... Useless info... The pirate park had a swing zip line that all the kids loved! I think my kids would still be doing it right now if they could be.



All the kids got three or four turns. They never stopped laughing.
Cassie is so nervous being out on the little river dock. She is terrified that Brent or someone else will fall in. She is such a good big sister. I told Ryan that if Cassie was Doran's big sister I would never have to worry about him eating egg or tree nuts again because she checked everything he ate. Emily wanted to get donuts one morning and Cassie told her she would have to make egg free ones at home so Doran could eat them too.
The Columbia river is the biggest river I have ever seen! When you go over it at the border it is so wide it seems more like a lake!



Friday night we drove up to Seattle and got a hotel room. The boys loved staying in the hotel. It was chilly in the morning and raining (shocking since it is Seattle) so we bundled up super warm in the morning.
Saturday was Brooks' birthday. Here he is opening his present from grandma.
The boys really wanted to see the hotel pool. Is was closed off for the winter and covered up, but Uncle Ry still took them to see it.
The boys loved seeing the Seahawks stadium. They are both pretty obsessed with football right now. Doran was wearing a Seahawks shirt that I got him a couple weeks ago and he loved seeing Seahawks stuff everywhere we went. He would unzip his hoodie and point at the logo on his shirt.
We were driving along the shore and we saw the Seattle fire department and I had to take a picture for Seth. It was pretty cool because the water is right behind it.
The building in our parking lot had this Orca painted on it and Doran asked me if I would take a picture of it. He loves all sea creatures.
The boys loved looking out on the water. Doran kept telling everyone to look for dorsal fins! Ryan pretended he saw a hammerhead and Doran freaked out trying to find it and he thought it was so cool! I didn't have the heart to tell him he didn't really see one because he thought it was so awesome!




We went to Pike's Place after walking around. I loved it! It was so fun. The fruit they would pass around was so delicious! Ryan got us the most delicious donuts and I am craving them! Cassie double checked and was very sad that they had egg in them.
Around the corner we got Doran his treat. He got a big apple and some strawberries. Both of them were so delicious! It is crazy how fruit can taste so amazing when it is so fresh!
There was a robot guy standing outside one of the shops that the boys were fasinated with. Brooks and I were laughing pretty hard at Doran's reaction to him.
Next we went to the Seattle aquarium. It was pretty awesome. You could touch the star fish in these big tanks. I thought that was pretty disgusting, but I was also suprised both the boys touched them.
You can't really see the jellyfish in this arch that Cassie was standing by.
Not even close to the length of a six gilled shark!


Doran's favorite thing there (since there wasn't any sharks) was the sea lion. It was flipping around in the water and Doran would scream and laugh everytime he would flip around.

For lunch we ate lunch at the Crab Pot on the pier. My mom treated everyone for Brooks' birthday. I got the fried halibut. My mom got clam chowder in a sour dough breadbowl. It was delicious! I know what I am getting next time I go there!
On the way out of town we drove by the space needle.

Cassie rode with us on the way back to Kennewick. Both the boys were asleep within twenty minutes. She was not very happy with them leaning on her and said they were going to kink her neck. My mom made he pretend she was asleep too so she could take their picture. If she would have waited five more minutes Cassie really would have been asleep. It was such a beautiful drive! The trees are so thick it is like a tunnel. At the top of the pass it was so foggy I could barely see Ryan's car in front of me.

When we got home the kids and grandma did a little suprise party for Brooks. They basically just played with balloons and party blowers!

Uncle Ry was very popular that night! He had an awesome game on his ipad that all the kids wanted him to win! He got his new high score. Doran said the family prayer that night and blessed 'that we can have a good night tomorning'. It was funny!

We left this morning at 6 a.m. on the dot pacific time. Doran and Brock both fell asleep while it was still dark. I hit my first ever bird while they were sleeping and nearly gave my mom and me heart attacks! When Doran woke up he asked what tomorning it was. When Brock woke up he said, "I went to sleep and made it a sunny day and I woke up now because it is a sunny day!" I drove the whole trip; up, up to Seattle, down from Seattle, and home. It was about 1500 miles! I also learned that it is illegal to pump your own gas in Oregon. Wierd.