Westport

The weather man said it was going to be 70 degrees, sunny, and under 10mph winds at the beach yesterday.  Big. Fat. Liars.  It was in the low 60's, overcast, and super windy!  Oh well, it was still a lot of fun!  Kaylee has this awesome pop-up shelter that at least provided some relief from the wind!
The crazy big boys spent a lot of time in the freezing cold ocean water.

Annabel got dressed up like it was winter (check out her sweet socks!)

Sand castle's with moats were built

Wyatt did some cliff jumping

A hole to China was dug

"cheese!"

I love the beach!  I'm hoping we can get back there again before we head back to land-locked Kansas.

Teresa's Birthday

Yesterday, we went and spent time with my very best friend from my childhood, Teresa.  It was her birthday, and while we used to spend every birthday together, neither of us could remember the last time we we around each other on our birthdays.  The weather was beautiful and her parents had a small bbq for her at their house on Oakland Bay, which was pretty much my second home growing up.
After dinner, Teresa, her husband Teddy, and the kids and I went for a boat ride.

There were lots of tug boats coming in and out of the port, pulling and pushing barges full of wood pulp and gravel.

Then we took the kids over to the log boom where the seals like to hang out.

Once the tugs and barges cleared out of our way, Willow really wanted Teddy to "drive faster!"

Both of the kids got to take turns driving the boat back into the dock.

It was really fun to hang out with the Gardner's and Wenner's again.  Happy Birthday Teresa!!!

3rd and 4th of July

The 4th of July always manages to spill into 2 days over here.  When we were on Mason Lake, there was always a huge fireworks show on the 3rd, and now that we're not on the lake, we still seem to seek out a show.  So, this year, we watched the fireworks show out at Alderbrook.  Alderbrook is where my mom is just now moving into a new house, but instead of going down to the resort and paying to get in, we found a clearing right up above it and watched from there!  They were a little far away, but it was still an awesome show to watch.
Jayden lost another tooth while biting into a strawberry.

Our view from the top

The boys playing in the dirt waiting for it to get dark.

Willow started collecting rocks.  She claims she wants them for painting on.  So far, we still have a pile in the back of the truck and there has been no mention of painting...

Sisters!  Together again!  Finally!

And some fireworks!

The 4th of July, we packed up and headed to Tumwater's 4th of July Parade.

Sadly, it was a very lame parade.  It was long, and mostly politicians running for office, businesses around town advertising, and hardly any horses, and no one was throwing candy!  Well, no one, except for this one and only clown.

I mean Albertson's came by with a huge truck advertising their new remodel and they were pushing 2 empty shopping carts down the road - they could of at least fill them full of candy!  I didn't even see/hear one marching band.  Lame!  We ended up leaving early.  We fed the kids some food and put everyone down for a rest.  Including the 3 older boys!

Later in the afternoon, we blew up some parachute fireworks.

Then walked around Kaylee's property and the kids did some ninja moves on the rope swing.

Then we let Sam run around in the orchard.  He. Is. Loving!  the long grass to run through.  His ears look like bat wings!

Later in the evening, we lit a bonfire, did some sparklers, lit off a few little fireworks, and roasted s'mores.  It was a perfect 4th of July and it is SO FUN being parked right next door to my sister!

The Wandering Goose :: vol 10 :: Regal Park

Day 7 of our Kansas to Washington trip!

We've made it!  We powered through the day and drove over 500 miles to end up in Kaylee's driveway!

Chapter 1 : Sleep
It only took a week, but the kids finally slept last night!  They were so wiped in the evening that I put them to bed around 6:30.  Willow went right to sleep, Jayden however struggled and struggled and struggled, and after a stint in his bed, then a stint in my bed, then he was sent back to his bed because I was going to bed at 10:30, he finally fell asleep.  The night brought big thunder and lightening and rain storms.  My kids being used to Kansas thunder storms, slept through the whole thing, and I lay awake in my bed listening to the rain pounding on the roof.  It was like Heaven.  Willow slept in until at least 6:30 (12 hours!  Hallelujia!)  Jayden continued to sleep, thanks to the cloud cover that kept the trailer dark, until 8:30.  Both kids woke up completely different kids.  It was practically a miracle.

Chapter 2 : The Drive
We hit the road around 9:00, much later than normal, but we had info for a rv park in Ellensburg, WA which was about 300 miles away, so if we needed to stop we could.  We didn't make any reservations because well, once in Washington, I had a feeling it was going to be hard to stop driving.  We crossed into Idaho and our clocks flipped back an hour and we could make it to Kaylee's house by 5:30...but that was a long drive away...

Then we crossed into Washington!  Washington!!!!  Yipee!!!

We got to Ellensburg, assessed how the kids were doing, how we were feeling and decided to blow right by the exit.  We were headed to Kaylee's!  Yes!  I still had a few surprise gifts I could bust out for the kids to make the last few hours bearable.

We pulled into Kaylee's driveway a little after 5:30 and we had to stop halfway up to the house because there were cousins running down the road and two little cousins in my backseat practically crawling out the windows.  So, the kids and I got out of the truck and walked with Brendan and Wyatt back up to the house.   I pretty much didn't see Jayden again for a few hours.

Chapter 3 : Recycling
So, it turns out.  There isn't a very big demand for recycling at RV sites.  I just couldn't bring myself to throw recyclable materials in the garbage, so I saved them, just sure the next campground would have a recycling bin.  Now, I have a bathtub full of cardboard and plastic and am here at my destination.  Good thing Kaylee has a recycling bin!

Chapter 4 : 50 States
I made these really awesome travel notebooks for the kids.  I printed off these activity sheets for them, like the license plate game, colored slug bug bingo, I spy games, etc...  I put them all in sheet protectors and bought dry erase markers for them to mark off what they find with.   I really didn't expect Willow to do much but draw all over hers, but I thought maybe Jayden would find something to do in there.  Nope.  One more thing I think is awesome that they think is lame.  I'm starting to see a trend here....  Too bad it doesn't get me down!  I'll be coming up with lame stuff for them to do for a really long time yet!  However, my travel notebooks did not go to waste.  My dad and I played some games. We were pumped about the license plate game and the colored slug bug game.  Well, we played the slug bug game until dad kept punching me in the arm so much I stopped playing.  Unfortunately, he didn't stop punching me in the arm when I stopped marking down which color he'd found.
We were pretty serious about the license plate game.  When we went to Yellowstone when I was 16, I played the license plate game by myself - because that's just how awesome I am!  I'm just the kinda girl who needs a stupid goal to try and obtain!  On this trip, we managed to find all of them except 9!   We think we're pretty awesome.  Now, on the drive back to Kansas in August, should I start the game over, or just try and find the 9 we are missing.  I mean I kinda have a problem with the fact there are still some not crossed off license plates....

Chapter 5 : The Campsite
Regal Park is pretty spiffy!

And so is my view!

I heart trees!  And am secretly hoping it rains tonight (even though I know everybody else here will curse me if they knew that!).
And I'm super pumped to be sitting in my sisters driveway!

Welcome to our summer!  Only 23 days until Royal flies in!

The Wandering Goose :: vol 9 :: Nugget RV Park

Day 6 of our Kansas to Washington trip!

Chapter 1 : The Perfect Drive
Today, my dad and I had what we think was probably the perfect drive.  We have really felt the hand of God on our trip, from when things were going disastrously wrong, to cramming in so much into such a small amount of time, and then to just our feeling of ease and joy on our drive today.  I mean we are on day 6 of this adventure, we are all a very tired, slightly dirty,  quite sick of riding in the cramped truck, and really ready for a long break.  And to tell you the truth, we feel like we are on the home stretch now, which can sometimes make the miles seem longer.

We left out campground around 8am, and usually Willow pipes up for a bathroom break about an hour down the road.  Either she is getting over the novelty of using the trailer toilet, or she was really into the movie they were watching, but she didn't even get out of the car to use the bathroom when we stopped for gas around 10.  And then when she did finally say she had to go, we were 2 miles from a rest area and it was close enough to lunch that we could stop for awhile and eat.  Then we piled back in the car and arrived at our campground by 2:30.  Plenty of time to get it set up, take the dog for a walk, lather the kids in sunscreen and hit the pool.  All before needing to come back and cook dinner for everyone.  It all really felt like perfect timing.

Now there were a few mishaps.  One being Sam.  We left his crate door open again, since he did so well a couple days ago, and really spent the majority of the time in his crate anyway.  However, we didn't get the bikes arranged quite the same way in the back of the truck that limited Sam to the back half of the bed, and about a mile down the road going 60mph, I look in my side mirror and see Sam's butt hanging over the side of the truck.  He had managed to climb over the bikes and on top of the wood pile.  It was the scariest thing I'd ever seen.  And by the time I was able to stop squeaking and pointing and actually say something so dad could pull over, we were on a bridge and had to keep driving until there was finally a shoulder to pull over on.  Sam, of course, didn't know anything was wrong and was quite put out about having to be locked back in his crate again.  I'm just thankful I didn't see Sam falling out of the back of the truck.
Another, not really mishap, but more of a 'Why the heck are we stopping on the hyway? Bear?!? Could it be a bear!?!  Oh, nope.  Just cows...'
 You know you are in Montana when you see cowboys herding cows down the side of the road!  Mooooooo!

Chapter 2 : Our Campsite
We are camping in Saint Regis, MT tonight, at Nugget RV Park.  It is a beautiful campground and we'd like to stay longer, but alas, we have very impatient kids and cousins who are waiting to see each other and (Brendan) "When I see you I'm going to hug you!"  (Jayden) "When I see you I'm going to tackle you!" (Wyatt) "When I see you I'm going to punch you in the face!"  Boy cousins, it just doesn't get much better than that.
Here is our campsite and mountains behind

And I sat down to do some reading this evening and this was my view.  Green trees, big hills, blue skies...I'll take it!  Now, if Papa and I weren't so tired, we'd be sitting around a campfire roasting marshmallows.  Unfortunately, my children are still waking up at 6 in the morning and we have another day to spend in the car.  And as co-pilot/navigator/kid-need fulfiller, I have to be wide awake the whole time, so I'm afraid the bonfire is just going to have to wait....