Hood Canal {Personal}

My best-est friend from High School flew out from Mesa, AZ last week with her kiddos. She arrived on Monday morning, and Sunday night....the evil flu hit our home. One right after the other we dropped like flies to our refuge of the bathroom floor. I barely gathered myself to pick her up from the airport, and continued my lazy day of caching up with her from the couch. We had plans to take our first road trip with all four kids to her grandparents cain on the Puget Sound, a 6 hour drive from Bend. The plan was to leave Tuesday morning. We prayed and hoped that things would not have to be canceled. To all of our surprise, we all woke up Tuesday morning feeling GREAT!

The car was packed with tons of snacks, water, and too much luggage, and we were on our way. It stated out uneventful, until we had a puker. I'm still not sure if it was car sickness, or a tinge of the flu remnants, but we gave her a bag and she was good to go.

We played every car game known to man, our favorite (or at least mine and Dawnika's) was the "quiet game". the kids piled more snacks into those little bodies than I thought they had room for, and in 6 hours we made it, and still in one piece.

As soon as the kids stepped their feet on the sand they were in the water. It was much too cold, but none of them really seemed to mind to much. There was BBQing and sparklers. Brownies and old photos.

The next morning was more of the same. Kids in the water, way too cold for anyone over the age of 15, and LOTs of sea creature finding; starfish, crabs, muscles, sea snails, and clams.

We caught our lunch of clams. I think that's the first time I've ever been really full on clams. We had more than all 8 of us could stuff in. It was wonderful.

Dawnika and I chatted most of the day and watched our kids have a great time. Around 4pm, we had to take off for part 2 of the big adventure...Off to Dawnika's dads house in Lake Oswego. This luckily was only a 3 hour drive, two of which ALL 4 kids slept and were quiet. Thank you Bob and Lois for a great night at the cabin! Your hospitality was amazing! We were a large bunch of energy and they dealt with it with grace and plenty of love for us all.

It seemed to fly by, and before we knew it we were off heading home, back to Bend. It's always sad to see them go, but nice to get back to our every day routines. We've had a busy and eventful summer so far, and the times is flying by incredibly fast.

Thanks D and kids for a fun trip. We will always remember our first road trip with you!