Nick left first in the Penske while I gathered the kids up and we said good bye to their friends...Lincoln Bonham (age 3), Preston (age 4), Bentley Bonham (age 5)...next door neighbors...Preston's best friends!
Hailie Dangerfield (age 7), Ashleigh (Age 8), Jasna Hooke (age 7)
Hailie lived 2 doors down from us and Jasna lived on the corner just down the street from us. They have been Ashleigh's best friends since we moved to that house 3 years ago. I HATED taking Ashleigh away from them...it was SO hard watching Ashleigh say good-bye to them!!! She and I both had a good cry as we were driving away. I hope those girls are like Vanessa and I are and keep in touch through out their lives!
We had a few things to do before we headed out of town, but finally, we were off...
The kids were PERFECT on the drive this first day. There was no fighting, no arguing, no loud noises, etc. Just perfect kids. I was SO happy. :-) I took a couple of pictures along the way and I also gave Ashleigh the camera to take pictures as well...she did a great job. lol. there are some cute pictures. :-)
We entered Oregon before Nick, after catching up to him in Burley, Idaho, and headed towards our hotel in Ontario, OR. We got ice cream for the kids and Pizza for dinner and Nick arrived only 30 min after us! :-) Once we got settled in at the hotel and had our dinner, we decided to go swimming. The water was really cold at first and we had a hard time getting Preston in the water. We got him to trust us that we wouldn't put his head under the water and then he loved it! I tried to teach Ashleigh how to swim a little...apparently the swimming lessons she took 5 years ago didn't stick. ;-) We had a lot of fun and wore out the kids good! They slept great that night (they always sleep great, but I think this time it was a bit of a deeper sleep!)
The next morning I took the kids down to have the free continental breakfast while daddy slept and then we took a few pictures of our hotel room. The kids LOVED being at a hotel. it was so cute. :-) We could see the Penske truck from our window so every time daddy went to the truck they waved to him. 
After a few hiccups in the morning and a very irritated mommy, we were finally off, only 30 min behind Nick. I thought for sure we'd catch up to him, but we didn't. We arrived about 10 min behind him when we stopped in La Grande, OR for gas....had to load up on gas before we hit the Blue Mountains (although I didn't realized until we got there that going to WA we go down hill over the blue mountains...not up...thankfully...that sure helped with gas mileage in the truck!!!
We left daddy in La Grande and got about a 5 min head start towards Portland. I took pictures again along the way and got more and more excited as we got closer and things started looking familiar to me...the beautiful trees, the hills, the Columbia River, and the "toilet paper trees". lol. It was like heaven driving through there again and knowing that we were going back to stay, not just to visit!!! :-)
The kids were a bit more active this day on the drive and Preston was a little stinker...touching Ashleigh, bugging her, whining, etc...It drove me nuts, so we stopped at a couple of "view points" so I could let the kids out and I made them run around for a few minutes to get their energy out...didn't work! :-(
The one place I knew I wanted to stop at before we made it to Vancouver was Multnomah Falls. It was always such an impressive waterfall growing up and I knew the kids would enjoy seeing it. Daddy arrived about 15 minutes after we did and we got to enjoy the falls all together as a family. The variety of people and the energy there made me feel instantly right at home! I love Portland! :-)
And then....we arrived. :-) and my camera battery died....so I haven't taken any pictures, except with my cell phone since we arrived 4 days ago! lame... Overall it was a FUN/busy/intense/sad/exciting move from Utah to Washington. We miss our families, but we are happy to be home.
1 comment:
Fun trip! Glad you made it safely "home". Love you!
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