To Grammie's House We Went!

God is good. Though our travel plans changed several times last minute, we were finally able to go spend some time with by wonderful grandparents in NE Washington State. By N I mean almost in Canada, and by E I mean almost in Idaho. Blake and I LOVE the Inland Northwest, and our dream is to live in this part of the country one day. We spent six glorious days with my Grammie and Grampie. General activities included being woken up early by the kids (it starts getting light at 4am!), sitting on the porch, watching TV with Grammie, going to town (a 20 minute drive) to give the great grandparents a break from the noisy babies, nonstop playing with the kids, disciplining a two year old, cooking and eating, a fun day trip to Coeur d'Alene calming the hysterics of a two year old, lots of chatting, and feeling very loved.

There are always wild turkeys in the yard. And lots of other birds, for that matter. We saw at least a dozen species from the porch- G&G have a few bird feeders, and it's so fun to watch them! Blake made friends with a hummingbird he named Mortimer. Mortimer landed on his knee!

Rory could not get enough Papa time! She wanted to be with Blake the whole time, and was constantly asking him to take her "a'side" (outside).

My sweet 7 month old boy!

Little hillbilly baby fit right in!

A terrible picture, but I just love Grammie so much! She's one of my favorite people ever- I'm so blessed that my kids are getting to know her! Rory was so sweet with both Grammie and Grampie- lots of precious memories!

For Blake's birthday, we went to the Pend Orielle County Historical Museum. I hadn't been there since I was way younger, and we really enjoyed the history. Rory was impressed by the old school house.

My pioneer family. I swooned over all the glorious grass!

The cool fire tower made us decide that a fun vacation would be renting one for a few days.

Blake and Bash in what Blake hopes will be our future home. Dream on, my love!

Two of my favorite people ever! There are many amazing things about Grammie, but one of her standout qualities is her ability to find joy in any circumstance. She sees the funny side of everything, and she sees beauty in the ugliest of God's creation, like wild turkeys.

I take after Grammie. Maybe Rory will too!

Eating Blake's birthday pear pie

Playing hide and seek. Rory grew up so much while we were gone. She's starting to play more imaginatively, including getting down on all fours and declaring, "I'm Tom!" referring to Tom, my grandparents' cat. She says new words everyday. This is such a fun age!

An even worse picture than before! I talked with G&G about our family history, and, more importantly, how they became believers. G&G are first generation Christians, and their testimony is awesome. I'll blog about it here sometime.

Rory graciously helped Grammie by eating all her raisins each morning.

Bash finally sits up all the time! No more toppling over for him (at least not too often)!

So much wonderful rain!

We had a nice mixture of rain and sun on the trip. It was never really cold or really hot.

Last bit of playtime before bed.

Bash wasn't too thrilled that Rory shared her stickers.

She walked around saying, "Dust dust dust!"

Rory and the bear Grammie gave her.

She tried to look through the kaleidoscope, but would close the wrong eye. We watched a lot of American Pickers, one of our favorite shows.

Just another day in paradise.

The greats

Grammie and sweety Bash

Rory got this awesome water table as an early birthday present from her auntie and uncle and cousin! She is obsessed with it!

Bash on Memorial Day- we spent the whole weekend with family, BBQing and swimming and having a grand time.

7 months old!

Rorykins is growing up! She gets on the horse herself and rocks herself, and then gets down on her own! She's such a joy!

It's nice to be home and have the holiday weekend over. Time to make order in my home again, and get the garden planted and errands done before Blake's school starts next week and we celebrate Aurora's birthday and a couple weddings.

Adios, spring, and hello summer!