Wednesday, July 22, 2009

Part Two - The Reprieve

Thank-you for your sympathy, it was well-deserved!!! Fortunately Part Two of our journey, wasn't nearly as horrifying as Part One.

In less than four weeks we flew from Virginia to Seattle, then drove from Seattle to Colfax, Colfax to Spokane, Spokane to Vancouver, Vancouver to Olympia/Seattle, then flew from Seattle to Japan! Whew, it was a whirlwind of craziness, crankiness, mixed in with some fun. Travelling with 3 kids 3 years and younger was, well, challenging. Thankfully, (for us, not him) our friend Troy dislocated his ankle (yes, even the doctor was surprised by that one), rendering him incapable of driving. So he loaned us his Lexus SUV for the month, it was rough. :) I can't even imagine how expensive it would have been to rent a car! It was fun to have a pimpin' car to drive after selling our souls to the minivan underworld nine months earlier. :)

It was great to see everyone. We did manage to have a good time in between all the driving! We didn't do anything too outrageous or super exciting. We relaxed and visited everyone, which was enough after all the crazy travelling! My parents did have a nice surprise when we arrived, we got to help them set-up their above ground pool and re-landscape their front yard! We managed to finally bless Canon, I'm glad we waited to be around our families. We celebrated our 7th anniversary. We saw almost all of our family members, which is quite the feat. (Robert's family is quite large, it is nearly impossible to get everyone in the same place at the same time!)

Unfortunately Canon's sleep habits got worse and worse, and by the end I felt like I had a newborn again. (I can't imagine what his problem was!) It was wonderful to see everyone, although I must admit, I'm in NO rush to go through all of that again! It was exhausting!!! The nice thing was, by the end we were very ready to move to Japan :) I think next time we will stay in one place and make everyone come and see us, after all, the first leg of our trip was enough to last us a couple of years!

Summer fun in our old backyard! (they've made some improvements)
Aunt Susan with Canon, and Aunt Pam with cousin Tessa (just 7 wks younger than Canon, but a whole lot chubbier!)
Fun at Riverbend (Susan and Jesse's property) Perfect for getting energy out and s'mores roasting (to put energy back in)
Loved ones gathered for Canon's blessing, loved this day!
Canon with Aunt Jenni
Canon with Uncle Jared and Uncle David
Rockin' out with Rock Band
Beckam and Rylan getting thrown around by Jared and David (I'm glad to see that their uncles have as little concern for their safety as their father :)
Hiking in Vancouver
My parents with 4 out of 6 grandsons
All 6 boys together, smiling (mostly) and looking at the camera!

4 comments:

Christy said...

I'm glad this part was better. I love the last picture of all the boys together.

Vintage Dutch Girl said...

Whew! That WAS A whirlwind trip! I sure hope Canon is on a better sleeping schedule for you now.

Glad you got to see almost all your family and happy 7th anniversary!

Keep the fun blog posts coming...

Bri said...

That picture of the all those boys is adorable!

Unknown said...

Dear Jess:

Just a reminder that if you have any possible free time that you could maybe consider putting up a picture of me with Canon where I don't look like a complete stoner (no pun intended). Yeah...thanks....:)

Rylan stealing Beckam"s Pacifier (7 months old)