A visit to Washington

Sometimes I do believe that there are a few screws loose my head. For that matter, I happen to think there are a few loose in Nathan's head too (oh yeah, I'm dragging you down too, Love!). This year not only did we drive three kids, under five, 12 hours to visit my parents after Christmas, we were crazy enough to continue another six hours (edit - 7 hours with wild munchkins) to visit my beautiful sister-in-law and her hubby in Washington. They recently moved up there and although it seemed crazy, it also seemed oddly logical to keep going and visit them when we were soooo close at my parents' house in Oregon. Besides which, the extra bit of driving earned us the bragging rights to being Auntie Kimmie and Uncle Dana's first house guests (nanny nanny boo boo!).

The first night there the boys spent the evening teaching Auntie Kim and Uncle Dana aaaaaaalll about what it's like to live with three little hooligans. The big boys were so excited to be there and lacked no energy in showing it!

Meet Sugar. Sweet Sugar had just come back from the boarding kennel where she had stayed while Kim and Dana were in California for their Christmas vacation. Collin loved Sugar (and for that matter, their Golden Retriever Jesse as well). Loved. And Sugar? Well, if a picture is worth a thousand words then this one pretty much sums up her thoughts. Poor Sugar wasn't so sure about the rugrat that kept chasing/squeezing/pulling/laying etc. on her. Sorry Sugar.

Kim and Dana's house is right on the bay. Right. on. it. As in, the water is just beyond a little knoll on the other side of the road from the house. As in, you can see the water from every room on the side of the house facing the bay. As in, when you step outside you can practically taste the salt in the air. It is gorgeous.

And as if we weren't impressed with the views from the house just on its own during the daylight hours, the sunrise the next morning was amazing. The pictures just don't show enough of the color.

See that fence in the bottom of this picture? That's Auntie Kim and Uncle Dana's fence. See that water in the center of the picture? That's the bay. Yep, it's that close.

So Nathan and Dana had already run out to the store during our first afternoon there and both came back informing me that they had found a place I should work. Actually Uncle Dana had found it and drove Nathan by to look. It's part of Auntie Kim and Uncle Dana's grand scheme to get us up to Washington with them:

The world's cutest bakery (conveniently for sale)! All the baking happens on this side...

...and all the eating of the baked goodies happens on this side. Too cute, right? And right up my love-to-bake-alley!

The town itself that they live in is really cute. Charming, really. From the main street, to the school, to the... public restrooms. Everyone made fun of me for taking a picture and thinking they were cute, but seriously, what town has restrooms (and public for that matter) that are this cute??! Kim and Dana's. That's which town.

The second day we were there we made the trip over to Port Angeles and spent the morning sight seeing. As its name implies it is a functioning port, so the boys had all sorts of fun checking out the ships and cranes and things that make it operational.

At the end of the wharf was an observation tower that we went out to explore.

Of course I had to stop everyone to snag a picture on the walk out and as you can see, my boys were oh-so-willing to oblige. Love the face I happened to catch on Uncle Dana as he made fun of the boys squawking about having to say "cheese" for me!

The observation tower. If you didn't know, I have a thing with heights. We don't get along. Even knowing full well that nothing could happen with a solid railing around us I still felt squeamish and had to hold the railing most of the time we walked around the top. 

The view from the tower turned out to be worth fighting my fear of heights though. It was fun to see everything from so high up. See those dark hills at the edge of the water (in line with the ship)? That's Canada!

Checking out the ships

I liked that you could see all the ships from the tower, but I also liked that you could see the town...

...and the operations that make the port work.

When we were all done with the tower, we headed over to a small play structure the boys had spotted on the way in. Aren't they just the cutest little Auntie Kimmie and Uncle Dana? :)

One last look at the crane the boys loved...

And of course, another (maybe slightly more successful) attempt at a picture on the way out

Over by the play structure was this awesome octopus, and can you believe it? I happened to catch The Hulk while trying to take a photo of it!!  (He's on the right in the green muck boots)

Such a fun trip and sooooo worth the extra bit of driving! Kimmie and Dana you live in a b-e-a-u-tiful place. We can hardly wait to visit again! Maybe a summer trip next time...