Call Us Crazy

Silly idea, I know. 3000+ miles. Six kids under 10 years old, snuggled in a car that is otherwise very LARGE...until you stuff 8 bodies in it surrounded by luggage, pillows, blankies, 'goods' and snacks...just driving north along the meandering and often sharp coast. Yes, there was a master agenda and plan--always is when I'm in charge. But this time we had to roll with the punches quite a bit. We did really have a good time while our time together lasted. And it was great seeing Mark, Tallie, Luke & Hank in Tacoma, WA for what was supposed to be a once-in-a-lifetime fun and adventurous spring break. The kind of adventure that ensued wasn't what we bargained for. I was hoping for a picture-perfect memorable Easter. Would a normal family photo be just too much to ask for? A memory we sure have, but too bad we were split between the hospital & Mark and Tallie's house. Roll with the punches.... We'll certainly never forget spring break '08! We made the most of it all.

Some of the high points:

• San Francisco Pier 39, Golden Gate Bridge, Trolley Car, Lombard Street. We rushed through San Fran like mad people, but the kids got their referesher-course on San Fran and it wasn't all that exciting to them. Wow. We looked exactly how we felt!
  

• Sleeping in a hostel in the Redwood Forest with an amazing ocean view-call me cheap---I thought it would be a very unique & great experience for the kids--bunking it together in a room inside this great house on the coast. And it was---it did end up being memorable! It was only like $10/head...way to stick to the budget!
  

• Paul Bunyan's Trees of Mystery--the surprising favorite stop of the whole trip. Who knew? Glad we ventured into the trees. Sky tram ride way up to the tree tops was the coolest--did you know that there are more bigfoot sightings in that county than anywhere else in the US?
  

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• Roughing it' in a Oregon coast cabin/yurt--scared the begeebies out of the kids talking about bigfoot. Truth be told, that's how I got them to obey and be quiet..."Did you hear that? It's probably bigfoot." What a great campsite--I'd love to go back & actually have a vacation in this spot when it's not pouring rain & freezing temps! What a sight it was though to try to find this cabin in the middle of nowhere, off a pathway with no flashlights, pouring rain, sloshing through the muddy path, darker than Haites. We were troopers. And we woke up to see the gorgeous view that was surrounding us all night. All for forty-five bucks. Deal of the century. Five-star hotels have their place too--but hey, it was now Sunday and we were still wearing the same clothes we started with Friday night! I think we probably scared bigfoot away.

• Tillamook cheese factory was pretty cool---at least the stop was worth it for the yummy ice cream. I discovered they have chocolate peanut butter just like my favorite Baskin Robbins. I think I'm kind of glad our local stores don't carry Tillamook otherwise I'd be 200 pounds in no time.

• Seattle Pike Market. Chowder and mini donuts at Pike Market. Yum--gotta try those donuts if you're ever there. Oh, and the crab was great too. Fish-throwing was cool to see. I wanted to buy up all the tulips---I really miss my front yard of tulips in Utah. I don't know what the big deal is about the space needle. We took a picture anyway. We tried to go to the children's museum but it closed early, so we headed to Canada early.

• Fort Nisqually area beach with Mark, Tallie & boys.

• Ferry ride to Victoria Island, Canada. AMAZING how many big rigs, buses, trailers, and cars go into the bowels of these ferries! We drove our Escalade on---and good thing we did--Victoria isn't as small as one might think.

• Butterfly Gardens in Victoria. Actually, very cool. But cooler for the kids--2 for 1 webkinz. Yup, that made their trip. They each left with a webkinz after they rushed through the gardens. Guess that's how they pull tourists like us in during the off-season. At least I enjoyed the butterflies. Note to self...could have saved a ton of money from the Victoria trip and bought webkinz in the United States...the kids would have been just as happy. We would have gone to Buchart Gardens, but the locals said it just wasn't spectacular this time of year. There are downsides to going places in the off-season I suppose.

• Beautiful Canadian coastal scenery--not any different than the great US of A. Again, the kids were NOT impressed. But we all loved our Cadbury Wunderbars! The yummiest candy bar that my brother, Brett, introduced us to after serving his mission in Calgary. Too bad I didn't get to the Vancouver Costco to buy a case or two.
  

• Gearing up to 'fly' through the Seattle sky. See next post.

• Easter-egg hunts & subsequent raw egg toss at the park. A few un-named people got nailed with the salmonella stuff.
  

• Mouth-watering gourmet yumminess for Easter dinner courtesy of David (the chef) and Tami (Tallie's mom). It was like going to a five-star restaurant!

• And of course, playing with Aunt Tallie. Lexie loved jump rope and they all loved Easter Egg coloring.

Low Points:

• Izzie puking at the hostel. Caught it in a towel--we're probably too good at anticipating & managing puke. Sad, but true. Those skills came in handy at the hospital later in the week.
  

• Forgetting Vivs birth certificate--had to leave her behind with Mark & Tallie (Thanks for lovin' her, guys!) while we went to Canada because of the new documentation requirements.
  

• ER trip at 1 am after arriving back from Canada. Up all night. JOYS. But just the beginning.
  

• ...and 9 day stay at Mary Bridge Children's Hospital...bronchialitis, RSV symptoms, pneumonia. Love the bed chair. We're buds. We did have fabulous physicians & a few wonderful Respiratory Specialists to speak of. And thank you to Mark & Tal for some homemade meals--special delivery.
  

• Wind patterns not cooperating with us for our paragliding excursion!
  

• Curt having to drive all the way home with 5 kids by himself leaving me and Vivie behind in the hospital. The end. Lesson learned. We can't travel far from home with Viviana just yet. At least during the RSV season. Utah in June will have to be an exception--at least we know the doctors there. But I think we handled all the stress and rolled with the punches pretty well considering it all.
  

Funnies:

• Driving in the 'nexus' lane at the Canadian border. We didn't know it was a high-security paid-only lane for the locals who undergo an extensive FBI back-ground check complete with fingerprints. Heck, we avoided a 2 hour wait and but also could have had a $1000 fine and impounded car. OOOPS. Good thing we sounded convincing when the border agent wanted to have us do a U-turn or our trip to Canada would have ended at the border.
  

• Izzie so cleverly picked our 3000+ mile trip to start potty training. (And now that we're home she's not so gung-ho). Ya think she has a mind of her own?
  

• "I don't like that guy"--Izzie, referring to Paul Bunyan. You've got to hear it in her voice though. Very funny.
  

• "What a surprise...another beach" Brayden said when passing by yet another beautiful shore. After about the tenth one it was hard for the kids...okay, all of us, to appreciate the Oregon coast amidst all the twists & turns. We all wished we'd headed inland to the I-5 a little earlier.

• And Aunt Tallie taught Vivie how to wave. I thought she was just kidding cause Vivie apparently ONLY does it for Aunt Tallie. I half got a picture of it while we were in the hospital and on the mend.