Washington and the BIG 3-0!!!

Warning: This is a long post, so if you want to skip it I have put the pictures first :)

 Me getting to read in peace.

 The trampoline was a huge hit (he is begging to get one at our house).

 Sabrina loved the swing in the backyard.

 Sabrina in the adorable dress my friend made her!

 Sabrina and Daddy at dinner

 Fun in the park

 Sabrina and Uncle Parker

 Ben and Grandma

 Sabrina and her Uncle

 Brook with his siblings

 (Brook's Birthday dinner)

Our trip to Washington this summer was FABULOUS! Between Brook getting his birthday off from work and one other holiday-combined with weekends- we ended up with a nice long 17 day vacation with Brook only having to take ten days off work. It was wonderful and I can not wait for our next trip up. This trip I really wanted to do lots of things that we hadn't done before. On my list was go to the  beach, spend the day

at the Lake, take the kids to Leavenworth (the local Bavarian Village), go to Seattle, and hike Saddle Rock. We were able to get everything on my list accomplished except for hiking Saddle Rock.

First, I have to say that my kids did AMAZINGLY in the car. It is about a 12 hour trip with just two adults and two stops for gas, but with kids that 12 hours is usually closer to 15. The way up we split it up into two days with a night spent in Boise. The kids did awesome and we only stopped a total of four times! They were so excited to see their Grandma and Grandpa and once we got to their house I hardly saw them except for meal time and bed time. They have so much fun playing with their aunt and uncles that mom and dad become obsolete. My mother-in-law is amazing and loves to be with her grandkids, so anything that needs to be done she usually does it before I even know it needed done in the first place.

The day after we got there we took the kids to the beach, but the water was not all that great that day so we ended up just staying in the sand and picnic-ing. The kids had a blast and Ben could not believe that Grandma lived so close to a beach. He thought it was the most amazing thing in the world.

We were also able to go to Lake Chelan for a day, and while we didn't actually go to the lake, we hung out at the pool all day, which my kids LOVED! The pool is kind of a special thing for us to do and it was the only time that we went this summer (in my defense my kids get sick EVERY time I take them to the public pool and it is not worth the four days of puking for the one hour of fun).

One of Ben's favorite things that we did was go to the Bavarian village. Why? you might ask. Well... Ben got to see something that he has wanted to do for six months (which is forever in kid time)-- He got to go and see a real honest-to-goodness tattoo shop. He is obsessed with shows like Ink Master and Miami Ink so getting to see a real shop was his dream come true. He has definitely decided that when he grows up he is going to be a doctor and tattoo artist. I think it is great that he had so much fun-- also of note was the beyond cool toy store where we picked up these amazing wood puzzles for the kids, and the ice cream store where each kid was able to get an ice cream cone that was over flowing with ice cream. We took my sister-in-law Madison with us and it was so nice to have a helper with us and I wish I could have brought her back home with us!

Since my mother-in-law is so amazing she took the kids for TWO WHOLE DAYS so Brook and I could go to Seattle. We had an amazing time just the two of us. We were able to go to Brook's favorite electronics store as well as some other shopping. We were able to go out shopping for five hours with no kids and that may have been my favorite thing of all. The next day we went into the city and while it was great to look around I would not want to live there. I am too much of a cheapskate to live in a big city like Seattle. Since I was too cheap to do any of the attractions (but seriously they wanted almost $50 so we could ride an elevator to the top of the Space Nettle) Brook took me to see Red 2 (and even that was $11 a ticket for matinee tickets). It was good to go, but also good to get back.

After we got back it was Brook's birthday. I put together a surprise party for him and his parents took us all out to dinner. I can not believe that he is 30! It will be my turn next. I love his birthdays for the same reason that I love Father's day. I get to spoil him and I feel like I did. He got a new tablet from me, the kids got him a remote control helicopter and the game Risk (which I am now obligated to play), and he got some weights for the gym (if and when we ever get it set up).

All in all it was a great trip and while it is good to go, it is good to come home too.