17 June 2011

Wow, the days are flying by...
We spent a day in the Redwood Forest and the girls were excited with the walks and large trees.We drove our car through the tree and the girls were so thrilled to be able to be in the car. We had a nice walk in the forest and Kirsten sang loudly the entire time...no chance of seeing animals. Tom and Maryann took all three girls and headed for Spokane on Wednesday and Kelly and Bryan had a couple days to themselves. We arrived at Noreen and Hugh's about 9PM on Wednesday night. It was a long day for the girls as left Grants Pass at 0830 AM...we forgot how long it takes to stop and let the girls have a break, eat and potty breaks...each potty break took over 25 minutes before all were settled again. They were sooo good and no complaints from them! When we got to Noreen's and Hugh's it only took them 5 minutes to treat them like family. Carrie arrived Thursday eve and Kelly and Bryan on Thursday afternoon. The girls were delighted to see Auntie Carrie on Friday morning. We all went fishing on Friday with the girls. Molly caught 2 leaves. Samantha did not catch anything but did a great job holding her pole and looking very intent. Kirsten played on the playground with Auntie Carrie. Saturday we went to the park in downtown Spokane and all rode the merry go round and had a nice walk. Spokane was having an outbreak of "black fly bites"..of course one does not feel when the fly bites but it sucks blood so leaves bloody spots at the hair line....All the girls had bites so had to put benadryl spray on the bites after they were washed....Molly did not want to go outside after her encounter and was quite dramatic...Kirsten and Samantha did not seem to think was a big deal. Sunday we were in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho for the morning and spent Sunday Afternoon with Trina and Bill and family for a birthday BBQ for Trina's 40 + birthday. It was so nice to all be together...the girls jumped on the trampoline and Bill spent time dancing with the girls....yes we have video. We said our teary farewells to Bryan and Kelly and girls on Monday late morning as they left for Yellowstone park. They arrived back in Tucson on this past Thursday. Carrie was back to Tucson on Tuesday. We thank God for keeping us safe as we traveled. Tom and Maryann and Noreen and Hugh have spent the evenings playing all kinds of games. What fun and laughter and of course the guys so enjoy their winning...but Noreen and Maryann are winning too...but not appreciated as much by the guys.
Hugh got to be the passenger for once as Tom is the driver on this trip. We came over the Cascade mountains today and took some walks in the snow on the mountain tops and stopped in the town of Winthrop Washington and walked. AND walked over the Deception Pass Bridge. It was another perfect day. We will spend the day in Anacortes on the 18th and then take the ferry to Sidney on 19th. Will spend the night in Sidney BC , Canada and then got to Tawassen Canada by ferry and then take the southern route through Canada back to Spokane. We are staying at Whidbey Island Naval Lodge tonight. We went to the Apple Store to check on putting pictures on the blog from the Apple and found could not do. So I am still trying to figure out how to send some pictures ...
We appreciate all your prayers for safe travels....and are keeping you all in our thought and prayers.
God BLess and hugs
Tom and Maryann