Washington has been good to us so far. On Saturday night (June 27th), we came "home" to our furnished temporary apartment with two bedrooms. For apartment living, it has been pretty good. We are on the bottom floor so we don't have to worry about quiet feet, which is such a relief.
The very next Monday I took the kids to the library and got them a library card and signed them up for the summer reading program. One of the activities was painting a canvas to be displayed in the library. The kids had fun on the back porch bringing out their inner Picaso.
Steve and I checked out the mall and some furniture stores one Saturday. This was taken 10 seconds after entering the first store.
Five hours later....
...the kids were barely keeping it together. At one point, Steve and I had to divide and conquer. He had Kylee with him and I sat with Cody and Olivia. Cody was fine if he was laying or sitting on something comfy and Liv was just all over the place. In the video below, Liv is singing Cody to sleep. She is singing her own version of "Hi Ho the Dairy-o" that goes something like "Hi Ho the Dairy-o Goodnight Cody"
The first few weeks we were we went to Costa Vida three or four times.
Liv only wanted to drink the queso.
This is our apartment pool. This is pretty accurate for showing how the kids were before swimming lessons. Cody loved the water, Kylee would get in if she had her puddle jumper on, and you were lucky if Liv put her suit on at all, but she wasn't going to get wet.
(Kylee)
We discovered a splash pad close to our apartment.
Cody and Kylee squirting each other.
On another Saturday we packed some snacks and set off to go hiking. A few minutes into the drive we changed plans and wandered until we found a park. We had a good time playing as a family and eating snacks under a shade tree. Below is a movie of the kids spinning.
Since our apartment complex is right on the Yakima river, we walked down to the river one evening. The kids discovered a rope swing and had fun chucking rocks in the river.
We bought this car for Liv a few weeks ago. The deal was she had to stop sucking her thumb for 10 days in order to open the box.
We are excited to move into our new house. Even with our move being as smooth as it could possibly be with all that we've had to do we are still emotionally exhausted and ready to settle into "normal"
I'm really good at taking naps. It's one of my talents, actually. If I sit down to read books with the kids it's not a matter of if, but when I will fall asleep. Well, on this particular day Kylee and I were in my room and I made the mistake of laying on my bed. She likes to take pictures and make movies on my phone and so she was having fun with that for a minute. The next thing I knew I was face down on my bed waking up from a deep sleep. In the mean time, Kylee entertained herself with my phone. There's not a lot to do in our apartment right now so there's at least a bajillion movies on my phone since we moved here.
After being in Washington just one week we decided to hop in the car again and head down to Utah for the 4th of July. It's so great to be able to do that now!
Steve woke up super early one morning and headed up the canyon to take some sunrise pictures.
We also went to the Annual Cramer Family reunion. It was so fun catching up with family that we hadn't seen for awhile. Just two days before Raquel had her baby and was coming home from the hospital on the 4th. As crazy as it is, Raquel let us come over and we had the best time hanging out with the Hess family. It was hard to leave knowing we wouldn't see them again before they moved to New Mexico.
Kylee holding baby Dallin, our newest cousin!
That night we had fun at my parent's house watching and lighting fireworks.
Simon upgraded his go-cart with sparklers.
These boys have a special bond called firework enhancements.
We had so much fun and we're looking forward to doing it again next year!
Our moving plans shifted with the wind. Every day something would change and we weren't sure how things would go, but we knew it would all work out. I think the original plan when we accepted the job was that Steve and I would go out for a house hunting trip the last week of June. After finding a place, I would fly home and Steve would start his job and work for a week. Then he would fly home and work remotely until the house sold and we could all move out together. It sounded great until we actually started getting the house ready to sell. I would work on a closet or a room, only to have the rest of the house ransacked by our poor children who were just plain bored out of their minds. No matter how much I tried, I couldn't get them to sit on the couch with their arms folded without toys or food.
Somehow our plans morphed over the next few weeks into our family driving out to Washington and staying in temporary housing provided by the company while our house was on the market. The day after the house went on the market and our final day of driving we received and accepted a full-price offer on our house!
The week we headed west was the week after school got out and also the week of Cub Scout Day Camp. Cody had been looking forward to this week for a whole year. When we realized that he wouldn't be able to attend the whole week in order to get to Washington for Steve's first day of work, he was devastated, but was a good sport about it.
As a cub scout parent you are expected to volunteer at least one of the days at camp. Everyone thought I was crazy for going in the middle of moving, but I was so glad I did. It was great to spend a day with Cody doing something fun and low-stress. Periodically, Steve would send me a text with a picture of all the stuff he was doing on the house while I was gone. He was able to get a lot done without anybody home (Kylee was at camp as a tag-along and Liv was at a friend's house).
Cody practiced CPR the day I was there. The boys did chest compressions on a dummy to the beat of "Staying Alive" by the Bee Gees. Apparently, if you sing that song in your head while you are doing compressions it will be the right speed.
First they reviewed the proper way to fold a flag. then they each got a mini flag to fold and put in a little clear bag with a note of encouragement or gratitude to troops on the front lines.
One of Cody's favorite parts of the camp is shooting BB guns. He is a great shot. Here's his target from this year (the whole center of the target is missing!)
On Wednesday at noon we got the house photographed and by the time Cody came home from camp we were ready to drive west. Steve and I needed showers desperately at this point but I wasn't about to mess up the bathroom that I had scrubbed.
Our wonderful neighbor and friend: Miss Barbara. We all miss her. The kids loved running over there any chance they got to say hi to her and her cats. She kindly mowed our lawn after we left until the buyers moved in. Whoever bought our house is very lucky to have such a great neighbor next door.
Our first hotel and not the best one we stayed in.
Steve and I took turns sitting in the back part of the time.
We stopped in Indiana to visit with the Bleazard's. It was so fun to spend the afternoon with them. They made it very hard to leave. We loved having family within a day's drive while we lived in Maryland. Lacey gave the girls some of her headbands and lotion while we were there. They were not only fun, but very practical. I put a headband on Kylee every time she needed a nap in the car and it helped her actually fall asleep.
Liv was trying to watch a movie but the setting sun was getting her in her eyes. So she put a sleeping back in front of her face to block the light.
The kids loved the continental breakfasts. A bagel for the road? Yes, please!
Dairy Queen in Minnesota for lunch
South Dakota later that day
Steve fell in love with South Dakota while we drove through. It was really beautiful.
We pulled up to this podunk gas station in South Dakota in the middle of nowhere. There were only two other cars there, both with Maryland license plates. We all got out of the car and laughed about that one.
That headband sure came in handy. Thanks, Lace!
Blackberry lemonade from Wendy's is a good idea.
The weekend after we moved was the 4th of July. So we headed down to Utah to see family!
We got to go to the Cramer 4th of July reunion and see lots of people. Kylee got to have all the leftover name tag stickers and they were immediately put to good use while riding with Grandpa Airplane in his jeep.
We were lucky enough to meet baby Dallin while there. Raquel had just come home from the hospital during the reunion and I am amazed at how well she handled having us over for a visit.
We also got to check out Aub and Jordan's new apartment that Jordan and my dad remodeled together.
We stopped in Boise for the night on our way back home. It was so fun to see the Rich family! I taught Charlie and Duncan about the thrills of tickling Uncle Steve's feet. The loved it. These videos show them tickling.
Yay for seeing lots of cousins that we have missed so much!
