fun with my family! part 1

at the end of june, we took a trip up to washington to see my family. it was one of the most fun trips we've taken up there. everyone was there, and it was fun to have the kids a little bit older. we left here on saturday the 20th around noon. we had a 3 hour layover in salt lake, which wasn't too much fun. it could definitely have been a lot worse, though. we just watched airplanes, took walks, and ate snacks. the kids were a bit bored by the end, but they did well. we finally got to seatac at 9:00 p.m., pacific time, which was 11:00 p.m. to us. we had this awesome view of the mountain, as we flew into the airport. you can just see the peak through an ocean of clouds all around it. beautiful!

it's a 2 hour drive from the airport to my parent's house, so we were a little tired when we got there! we put the kids right to bed, and then stayed up way too late talking. it was great, though! we hadn't seen jeff for 5 years, i think we figured out. way, way too long! it was great to see him and get a chance to catch up. he had to leave monday morning, so we spent as much time with him on sunday as we could.

the next day was father's day, which was fun to get to spend with my dad. jeff spent almost the whole day playing with the kids. they had a great time with uncle jeff. we had a barbeque, and just enjoyed spending time together. hope you had a great day, dad! we love you lots!

on monday we spent the morning waiting for my suitcase, which had been put on a different flight, for some reason. luckily i got it back, but it was a little frustrating. while we waited...

grandma painted naomi's fingernails

christopher's always a bit sad that he doesn't get his done too. instead, he got to help grandma with her toes. :)

in the afternoon we went and got some ice cream, and picked some strawberries. fun!

tuesday was dave's birthday. happy birthday, handsome! unfortunately, he and dad both had to work that day, so amy, mom, and i took the kids down to the beach. it was a crazy, low tide, so we had a blast in the sand, tidepools, and warm (relatively speaking, of course) water. we were only planning on staying an hour or so, but we were having so much fun that we ended up staying almost the whole day.

building sandcastles in the rocky sand

christopher took this picture. pretty good, eh?

another few by christopher

it's kind of hard to tell, but that's an eagle on the rock. he was fishing, and it was pretty awesome to watch.

we had about a 20 minute walk in from the road, and we found this "monster" by the trail. naomi was a little scared of it. :)

later on that day, mom made up some yummy ribs, baked beans, and salad for dave's birthday dinner. yum! and, of course, a yummy cake.

more to come...