So I should probably update this thing, right?

No excuse, really, for waiting so long to update this blog. We had my parents' visit for Spring Break in April, and then we went to Utah in May to visit George's family and attend his sister's wedding (which was stunningly beautiful!) The kids got spoiled having family around. They're not used to it, being alone up here in Washington. No grandparents, cousins, or distant relations of any kind near us. I only really think about the lack when we're visiting, and now that my kids are older, I'm really hoping we can find some way of moving a little bit closer to family. It's currently a 12-14 hour drive to our nearest relatives. I don't know when, if, or how we'll manage to pull it off, but if we could cut the distance down to even just 8 hours it'd be great. Of course, it means George finding a new job, and probably moving to a new state (we're about as far South in Washington as you can get), and that's no small feat. Who knows if it'll happen.

Our trip to Utah was wonderful, although it got off to a rough start. The morning of the day we left I did all the packing and got the car packed up, with the intention of using the afternoon while Errol was at preschool to prepare some snacks for the trip and relax for a bit before picking him up again, and picking up George, and then hitting the road for an all-night drive. Turns out, just as I finished dropping Errol off at school, the car decided it didn't want to move. There were two possibilities: the tank had been on "E" when I'd turned the car off, or the battery was dead. Hauling Raia and Patrick with me a few blocks to the nearest gas station I bought a gas can and some gas and brought it back to the car. No dice. I finally had to call a tow truck to give it a jump, and that got it going. I drove it over to a service station to have the battery checked to make sure it wasn't *completely* toast, and then had just enough time to get back to the school to pick up Errol. We ended up getting an hour late start on our trip as I wasn't going to give up on the snacks I'd had planned to prepare (like fry bread! yum!). But the drive itself went well. The kids got new PJ's as a "surprise" to wear while they slept in the car, and George and I traded off driving across pitch black Oregon and Idaho.

The kids got to discover all the fun things there are to do around their Grandparent's home, like Discovery Park, the Dinosaur museum, Legacy pool, and Temple Square. We stayed at a resort in Park City where the kids had a murphy bed to sleep in (they thought it was pretty cool). They also got spoiled by their extended family. They're the only grandkids/niece/nephews, so they were showed with attention from the adults. Raia got to be a flower girl and Errol got to be a ring bearer in their aunt's ring ceremony and did their parts well (even if Errol did have an attack of shyness halfway down the aisle, he eventually made it the rest of the way down). They were soooo sad to leave Utah, and they still miss their family there.

We also drove down to Las Vegas to visit my grandmother for Memorial Day weekend, and that was fun too, although there were a lot of things in her house that the kids weren't allowed to touch. My cousin Megan and her little boy Kale were also there though, so they had at least one new playmate. :) We also got to explore a bit of the Strip, and they thought that was pretty cool too.

Of course that made for a much longer drive home. It took us 3 days to get home. We drove from Vegas to Tremonton, UT, from Tremonton to Pendleton, OR, and then from Pendleton home. A lot of hotels, a lot of strange beds, a lot of continental breakfasts... but we made it, and the children remained surprisingly sane! A four hour stop in Boise might have contributed to that... We saw a Tucano's restraunt and simply couldn't resist stopping there for lunch. Then we had to wander around the nearby mall to walk off that meal. :op What had started as short lunch break turned into a 4 hour break, but the kids were SO much better once we got back into the car. We might try taking longer lunch breaks the next time we do a roadtrip. (which won't be for a long while!)

Since we've been home Errol has had his final days of preschool and his own little graduation ceremony. Next year he'll be doing Kindergarten at home. My class size just doubled. ;)

Patrick is talking up a storm now, coming out with sentences and statements and jokes (he'll repeat "knock knock" jokes if you tell him what to say). It's so nice getting to see more of his personality! He is a fearless little ham. :)

Next week I'll be trying my hand at throwing a garage sale. We'll see how that goes...