A Few Days in My Former Life...

We’re back and Seth resumes school tomorrow. I think we’ve made the most of this first break. The first week, we stuck around here but did something fun everyday (children’s museum, hike, library, playground of dreams) and our trip could only have improved if Jay had been able to go with us.

The weather was perfect everyday (even the brief day of showers was a lovely respite one day), the company outstanding, and the scenery some of the best in the world. I feel fortunate that my kids are excellent little travelers (although Henry is undergoing training and thus his newbie behavior of fits and cries were tolerated and understood. Older brothers’ performances were freakishly perfect - no whining whatsoever), we had no car issues and even though Jay wasn’t there, I didn’t have one “I’m a single mother and overwhelmed and tired” moment. That statement, alone, is call-the-press worthy, but somehow, my attitude managed to remain enthusiastic and upbeat so that I could enjoy every second of our trip.

Rather than a long and lengthy recap, here are some pictures (and a few from before our trip):

Before we left for our trip, we went up to Brighton and went on a hike. It was SO cold. In fact, it was kind of snowing at one point. And, yes, I let Sammy wear shorts.

Jay got his own Good Mail package from Libby. Perfect, perfect gift. Libby, you're awesome.

I haven't done this in a long time, and I admit that it happened accidentally, but when we were at the library, getting books and movies for our trip, I came to find my boys and found them absorbed in story time. Bonus!

Jay and I went to the Saturday morning session of conference. Maureen gets tickets from being in the Tab choir and they were pretty good seats. We were way on the side, but only about eight rows from the front, so we had a nice side view of all the speakers.

I zoomed in on this one, but it looks like President Hinckley is looking at me.

Without the zoom. See? Good seats. We saw the "knighting" of President Eyring perfectly. It was really funny.

We got to Jen's house on Monday night. The boys went to bed and woke up Tuesday ready to play. They were outside so much and Henry discovered the dirt. Jen had to sweep her deck off multiple times.

The was the gym we took all our kids to play in on Wednesday. It was kind of rainy that day, so this was the perfect activity.

Seth was definitely the biggest child there. Luckily, he's gentle and not super hyper so wasn't knocking any of the babies down.

The springy floor was our favorite place to play. I even had fun hopping up and down. I think it was dusty in there. Every picture has all of those "globes." Aren't they supposed to be spirits or something like that if you happen to be kooky enough to think that?

Henry and Sadie

Sam and Owen

Ansel and Seth (those socks got thrown away!)

Henry found the playhouse just his size

Time to go. We had an absolute blast here and Sammy, as usual, isn't ready to go.
Henry was already in the car so he missed this photo opportunity.

We drove through Spokane and all the way up to North Idaho to visit Chad and Kariann's mountain cabin. It was a cute reunion when all our kids saw each other and they immediately picked up where they left off. Here's Sammy on the three-wheeler. His driving philosophy was more of a pumping style. He'd push the throttle and let go, push it and let go but he did a great job.

Henry was constantly in the way of the three-wheeler's route, but at least he's easy to see in his bright outfit!

Seth did pretty good. He only ran over a bush and hit the edge of the cabin. Of course, he was mortified but Chad and KariAnn are very forgiving.

Seth, Abbie and Reese spent a lot of time playing Harry Potter. They were the perfect Harry, Hermione and Ron. And this is the only picture I have of cute little Luke. What a sweet little baby.

Henry, wandering again.

Sam and Alec building a "fire." which was actually just lots of dirt swirling about.

We built an actual fire in the fire pit. Then we played Ali Ali Oxen Free and Capture the Flag. Fun.

Seth, avoiding being caught.

Chad worked hard the whole weekend. Here, he's taking a break and letting the boys try their hand at splitting logs.

Not so good at splitting, but all the kids chipped in and formed an assembly line to stack the logs.
Here's Sammy passing to Alec (Reese was unloading the logs from the sled)

Then Abbie would hand them to Seth who put them in a pile outside the back door.

Sunday, after church (which was so great to be back in my old ward. I told my friends that I felt like I got a glimpse of what the Celestial Kingdom will feel like, when we meet up again with "family" again, because so many of those ward members felt like family members. I was surprised by how many), we went to Andrea's house for a few hours, mainly so that Seth and Emma could have a chance to play. They have always been such great friends and it was fun to watch them giggle for an afternoon.

Sam and Henry spent hours in the sandbox and Lily, who has grown up so much in the last few months, had fun with Sammy.

On Monday, I took Seth to his old school at lunchtime to see his old chums. It was so sweet. Here he is with his old friend, Hank.

Out at recess, he didn't skip a beat and immediately found his old "Wall Ball" friends. Kate was hard to beat.

Kate, Shamrock and Seth

Then off to our old park for bike rides. What a great park.

One of Sammy's training wheels fell off when we at Jen's house and Christopher silently put these on his bike before we left. I asked Jen if they ever sit around and simply soak up their fantasticness or if they only share it with other people. Apparently, they limit it to sharing.

Leaving the park and looking at our old home. I miss Spokane like crazy, but not really my house. Funny.

We stayed at the best Bed and Breakfast in town.

Look at how cute KariAnn's porch is. I haven't even bought a pumpkin yet.

So cute.

While the older kids were at school, Sam, Alec and Seth enjoyed the backyard.

KariAnn and I got a babysitter so that we could escape our seven kids for a couple of hours and went downtown for dinner and to browse some shops. This is the delightful scene when we got home. The babysitter playing tag with them outside.

Dirty but happy.

Carolyn, Kristin, KariAnn, Andrea, Rebecca and me:)

Then, the old bookgroup gang (we missed you Alisa) got together without even the pretense of discussing a book. What's funny, there have been many months when the book doesn't even get mentioned, much less discussed, but we actually did talk about a few that night. But mostly, we enjoyed chocolate in both its liquid and solid state.

All around KariAnn's table.

There was nothing bad about this entire trip. I can say I only felt one emotion, other than complete joy, and that was a hint of sadness when I was at Seth's school. I miss that. That group and those kids and everything about it. I wish he could still be there, building on those two years of friendships and classes. I hate that, although he's having a good year here, he's going to have to start over again next year. Poor kid.

If there was a rewind button in life, I would be tempted to press it and return to this former life. I love these people. I love that area. But, there is no button, and there are lots of good things happening here that I need to soak up and enjoy more. Besides, 2000 miles and 22 hours of driving is almost the same thing as a rewind button:) Almost.