We invade Spokane

Adam and I threw the kids and some luggage in the car last weekend and headed out to Spokane. Our good friends, the Halls, live in Liberty Lake which is right outside Spokane. Rachel and Garrett and their kids lived above Adam and I for three years when we lived in Cleveland and we really missed them. Their kids and our kids are the same age almost and were all excited to see each other again. It was a rough 5 hour drive for Madelynn, and only half hour into our drive Jack and Olivia started in with "Are we there yet" and "I'm so bored!"

Liberty Lake is beautiful and I am totally jealous of Rachel's beautiful house! Maybe it's because Adam and I are in a small apartment for the next year, but her house was gorgeous with a huge kitchen and a play room (all of which are on my "must" list for a house). We let the kids settle in and we caught up with news, and then after dinner we snagged a babysitter for all six kids (the two babies were sleeping though) and the four adults went to see Eclipse in the theater. It was so much better than the first two movies and I had to keep updating Adam since he hasn't seen any of the movies or read the books.

The next morning we got up and went to see Garrett's new law office. Well, it's not really new, but it was new to us since we'd never seen it before. Then we headed out to Lake Coeur D'Alene (did I spell that right?) and let the kids frolic in the waves. Most of the other people there were snacking on BBQ or sandwiches. Us? We pulled out the doughnuts from a shop called Scrumdiddilyumttious Donuts (and yes, that is how it's spelled). They had some donuts called "Tiger Tails" that were a donut and a brownie twisted together. And then another called "Double Delight" which was a bar doughnut that was filled with bavarian cream on one side and custard on the other side, then topped with chocolate. The perfect beach food, right? They were so yummy!

Madelynn didn't particularly like the sand and she was wary of the water, so she was completely fine sitting on the towel and watching us for a while.

You know those times when your kids are just genuinely happy and having so much fun that you want to stay there forever? Well, this was one of those times. My kids were in heaven and it made me really happy to see them so happy. Who knew the beach could be so fun?

Olivia, Carter and Jack.

Jack jumped right in, even though he expressed a concern that sharks were going to get him. In the lake. The land-locked lake. He watches too much TV.

Still doesn't like the sand or the water. It was a little cold.

She much preferred being held far away from the water.

I love Jack's face here. It's somewhere in between "this is so fun" and "I'm still terrified of those sharks".

Baby steps for Madelynn. She finally warmed up to the water!

Rylynn and Olivia "burying their legs." I just saw it as "getting extremely dirty" so thankfully we were super near a water source so we could dump them in to get clean.

Saying goodbye is the hardest. Rachel said Rylynn cried for a long time after we left because she missed Olivia. Olivia asked almost the whole way home when we were moving to Spokane so we could see Rylynn every day. It was hard for these two because they were such good friends who saw each other almost every day for three years, and then suddenly they are hours away from each other. I'm just happy the Halls moved to the same state that we did, even if our cities are on opposite sides. It's closer than it could have been! We couldn't get a Jack/Carter picture since Carter fell asleep on the way home from the beach, but Jack was sad to leave his friend too.

Rachel and I. We seriously haven't seen each other in months but we slipped right into our old routine like we still lived in the same house. She is such a dear friend and it's heartbreaking to live so far from friends (seriously, our friends are all over the country right now!) but now we have reasons to take road trips and fun people to look forward to seeing.

Oh, these boys. Garrett and Adam oddly have a lot in common and get along so well. I know they are crying in their hearts in this picture but masking it with smiles :) Seriously, though, their sense of humor and everything is eerily similar, as is their taste in politics, sports, etc.

Thanks Halls for hosting us and feeding us such yummy things! We definitely need to stay longer next time. A day and a half just wasn't long enough!