Warning - This Could be Long!!

Sorry it's been so long, I got our laptop back on Friday, but I haven't been motivated to download pictures and blog much, but I have time to rest and think today so here I am! And yes, this will be long because the kids and I were gone for a week and a half and we were busy!!

So, we left on September 1st to head back to up to WA for a visit with my family. I've seen them a lot since the last time I went up there (last February) but I hadn't been back up there so the trip was much overdue! The kids did fine on the flight out there, Timothy played on his new Leapster and Charlotte mostly snacked and played peek a boo with the people behind us. We got in that morning and spent the day relaxing and adjusting. The next day began the adventure. Charlotte and cried off and on during the night, but it never lasted more than a minute and she would go back to sleep so I didn't think anything of it, but when I went in that morning to get her she was covered in dried puke...nice...but she had apparently gotten it all out over the night and she was fine that morning, she ate her breakfast and was fine so it ended up being ok. I had an appointment to get my hair cut (by the best hair stylist I've ever had - love her) so my mom played with the kids at the play area in the mall while I had my hour of pampering, it was so nice!! Thursday night we went up to Poulsbo to celebrate Heather's birthday and of course, Charlotte was fussy and as soon we got home she puked again and then she was fine! Crazy kid!!

Friday and Saturday were nice and relaxing, it rained and it was nice and cool and everything was just perfect. Sunday we went to church out at Delano and it was so nice that morning, it was cool and as soon as church began it started pouring down rain, which, if you've ever been to the camp at Delano, you know how amazing that sounds, combine it with hundreds of Christians singing praise to God and I have to admit I teared up a little! It was beautiful! We had a fun morning of worship and fellowship and then spent the afternoon relaxing and enjoying the rain. Monday was about the same...Brittany and I went to see that Sandra Bullock movie "All About Steve", it was really cute, I totally recommend it!!

Then we got down to business, Tuesday we took Tyler and Timothy and Charlotte to Chuck E Cheese, it's become tradition to go there and play with Tyler. Timothy had a blast and Charlotte loved walking around looking at everything. She wasn't too crazy about the ride, but she still had fun. Wednesday my dad took Timothy to the playground and to McDonalds while my mom and Charlotte and I went to the mall (we were on the way there when I turned around in the car and noticed that the bottle of Aleve we had given her to play with - bad idea, I know - was open and empty, but she was fine!) and we did a little shopping. Thursday we met Candice and her kids at Titlow Park and had a picnic and let the kids play on the playground and down at the beach. Brandon and I used to take Timothy there all the time when he was little, I love that park, and he had a blast playing with Ethan and Lara. Thursday night we went out to the Oden's and had a birthday dinner for Jeff and spent time catching up with friends.

Friday we went to opening day at the Puyallup Fair. We didn't get to go last year because Charlotte was so little I was too scared to take her (germs EVERYWHERE!!) but this year was better and the weather was PERFECT!! We even talked my dad into breaking his 10 year streak of never going to the Puyallup Fair! The only bad part was that Charlotte had eaten some red velvet cake the night before at the Oden's and she also had had a lot of corn casserole and apparently when those two are combined...you get the idea, not a pretty picture diaper...and the worst part was that I only had four wipes left in the diaper bag!! But, we got her cleaned up and cleaned up ourselves and still had a fun day at the fair. Timothy loved it, his face was so precious, every ride he was on, he had the biggest smile ever. I wish Brandon could have been there to see it, but of course, I took a lot of pictures.

We finished up the trip with a picnic dinner up in Port Orchard with Heather and Kevin and Tyler. It was prettiest park, right on the waterfront, and it had the coolest playground! It was such a fun trip, despite all of the yucky puke and poop...and I'm so thankful to have such a wonderful family to visit!! We're going back up for Thanksgiving and I'm so happy this time that Brandon gets to come with us, he hasn't been back up there since we moved!! AND...hopefully I'll get to go back again next Spring since we found out that my unemployment has been extended through the end of April!!!! It's been such a great month and I'm so grateful every day for God's blessings! Enjoy the pictures (this is just a few, the rest are on Facebook) and I promise I'll blog more often next month!