Get back in the time machine...

Back to our Spokane trip!!

This is totally long, but let's get it over with. I have other things to talk about now. :)

Monday morning my mom had to work until noon so we had a nice relaxing morning then headed out to one of our favorite parks for a picnic; Manito!

We went back to my parent's house after that and had Taco Salad for dinner and the kids played in the sprinkler. Since my Dad had to work on Tuesday we took the boys back to Amanda's with us and prepared for our next day!

Wednesday morning I went to get a hair cut. The man was Russian and hardly spoke English. I think this should be a no-no in hair cutting society. I'd like my hairstylist to understand me. Point in case: "I don't really want a ton of layers" was understood by him to say, "I want as many layers as you can squeeze on my head." By the time I realized he was sheering off my freaking hair it was too late. Then he said, "You want bangs?" I said  a very clear and resounding "no" which was understood as, "Definitely, please give me bangs." I am not a bangs kind of person. I do not like my hair to touch my face. Ergo; I really hate my hair.

At least that's how I feel like it looks.

It looks okay when I'm wearing a hat though.

Tuesday was the first day of summer, and we celebrated by having our good friends over for left over ice cream cake and playing together... okay the real reason was to meet Elizabeth's new baby and for her to meet Iris. We have several kids the same age-ish and what a coink-idink that I have three girls and she has three boys!? Muahahaha!!

If there were ever a picture that needs to be recreated in about 10 or 15 years, this is it.

I was also able to be present for Jack's first time sitting in a bumbo.

Wednesday morning we planned to meet as many of our friends at the park as possible. It was going to be 85 degrees so we chose a park with a splash pad. First though we hit up a free movie at the Garland Theater.
We saw Mega Mind. I thought I had seen it but then when I actually was stuck in the chair watching it I really enjoyed it. It was so danged funny!

And then we headed to the park!

"Should we go Jack?"
"We should go Iris."

After the park we were pretty tired but the kids were even more tired. My mom and I dropped the kids, Amanda and Colleen off at her house then we went back to finish up my shopping list for kids' summer clothes. Sam came with me and my mom and spent his allowance for the very first time on a nerf gun. He even got 1 penny back as change. I think that made his day!

I was so shocked when I came home to find Lucy had taken a nap on my mom's bed and not in a crib.

Huh.

Whaddya know.

After a delicious grilled dinner the kids got a very special treat of milkshakes from Zips. The boys just love zips and since we don't have one here they think it's so special to go there!

Wednesday night I was finally able to do laundry for the first time all week. I hardly even go a full week without doing laundry at home and I had only planned out 2 days of clothes for each kid. Colleen and I stayed up late watching Kill Bill Price and Prejudice while I did 5 loads of laundry. lol. Oi.

Thursday was a big day. I wanted to get the car packed by 10, which it didn't get done until around 11:30. Then a few of my aunts came over. We had tea and My Aunt Robbie brought Her grandkids to play.

"Molly, do you want to be my sister?"
"Sure!"

We also got to hang out with Lucas, my nephew. He's so freaking cute. I had some music on and he was rocking back and forth and just had this totally "I'm awesome" face on. Amanda said something like, 'you need some new moves' and he immediately went to dance move 2; bouncing up and down. So funny.

"Luke, I am your father"

Right when Lucas was about to go down for a nap Amanda reminded me, "We need a cousins picture!"

And then a couple of hours later my cousin came over and brought her kids and she wanted a baby second cousin picture so we did that too.

Finally it was time to leave. I fed the baby, changed her, loaded the kids in the car, got in the car and Iris started crying immediately. Colleen was reaching into the back trying to find her binki but she couldn't find it and since we hadn't actually even pulled out I jumped out to find it. When I stuck my hand down next to her to see if it had fallen next to her leg *squish* she had some how in that 10 seconds or so had a HUGE poop explosion. Her car seat, clothes, diaper, blanket... even car seat straps were super poopy. GROSS!
I ran back inside and used our last unpacked diaper and borrowed an outfit from Jack then we got on the road.

I should have known it would only go downhill from there. It took forever to pull into the danged gas station and then for some reason the gas kept clicking off like we were full... which we weren't. We went to starbucks and I got a venti, hoping it would get me through the drive only to find it had horrible burnt shots and was way too strong. Colleen encouraged me to not taste it but think of the purpose it's serving. I just couldn't.
We got on the road.
We stopped in Ellensburg for about 40 minutes. Feeding kids and babies and changing diapers.
Got more gas...
Headed to the pass. It was about 7:30pm by now. I'm thinking... we'll still make it home by 9.
7:50: Colleen and I spot the "Temporary Closure Due to Rock Blasting" at the exact same moment. It was like a movie. See the sign, exchange terrified look, look in the back seat at the kids.
We quickly found the radio station for the Department of Transportation, "CLosure will begin at 8pm at mile marker 61." Again like a movie, we look to the mile marker; 63 then to the clock 7:58 then to each other.
Pedal to the metal.
We got to mile marker 61 at 8:01pm and sat there for almost 2 hours.

Iris had a special present for us and sadly we had no clean diaper for her.
Yes, she usually wears a size newborn but she got to try out a size 4. They did not work very well containing her poop later on down the road but at that point she already had poop every where. I can say it was a pretty crappy trip home. lol.

We didn't get home until 11:00pm. The kids were SO grouchy but I let them all stay up when we got home because Jerry was working and wouldn't get back until close to midnight, but we were almost there! Iris had a bath, I fed her and when I went to find the kids Joe was asleep in his bed and Molly was asleep in my bed. Sam waited on the couch and Lucy waited in bed (I just couldn't handle her!) but she was still awake when Jerry got home so we basically went to bed at 1:00am. It was SO nice to see him.
Man, I missed that guy.

Colleen was the best person to travel with. I wouldn't be surprised if she hates me though, my kids cry a lot, I am kind of crazy, I yell at my kids, we all had a few meltdowns over the course of the week (I got like, 3 hours of sleep each night) and she was just awesome. I never had to ask her to do anything but she was so helpful with the kids and was totally comfortable telling the kids to calm the heck down. The kids love her anyway and so do I. It was fun to spend some time chatting and watching movies late at night and playing with the kids.

Thank you so much Colleen for being wonderful, next time let's go by ourselves and let's include more alcohol.