Washington!

Before I get to our Washington trip, first I have a couple other things I need to catch up on.
First, Jason's birthday! It was nothing to terribly exciting this year. I decided not to get him anything, but rather take him down to the Sportman's Expo on his birthday and leave it wide open to him to decide what he wanted. The expo was pretty fun, though very crowded. I think our favorite part was watching the the dock jumping dogs. You wouldn't believe how far some of those crazy dogs will jump. The furthest we saw was 19 feet, yowza! They also had the bear cubs from Yellowstone's Bear World there. We wanted to just go see them, but you had to buy a $15 5x7 picture in order to do so, so we bypassed that and just walked off to the side to get a pretty good glimpse of the cute furry little baby bears. Jake just enjoyed the fact that several of the booths had toys or treats for the little ones. Sadly, Jason didn't find anything in particular that he wanted for his birthday. That turned into a horrible excuse to have to go the extra 10 or so minutes to Cabela's. There he found himself a spotting scope that he's wanted for a while. The next day we went over to his parents where his dad had made dutch oven chicken and cheesy potatoes, yum! We totally over-stuffed ourselves and then later enjoyed his Detroit Lions birthday cake (after Jake had tasted the frosting for us of course.)
Then, on Monday, we had our first appointment to see our newest addition. All was well and good and we got to see our little fuzzy blur on the ultrasound. We found out our official due date is October 23rd, but having had Jake by C-section, we'll have to have a scheduled c-section and they do those at 39 weeks so there's less risk of gonig into labor naturally. So, YAY for one less week of being pregnant, and not having to do that dreaded wait at the end not knowing for sure when it'll happen.
Now, on to Washington.on Thursday, the 21st we loaded up the car and left home for the long drive to Washington at about 9:30 am. Jake did absolutely fabulous on the drive, with a little help from a borrowed portable DVD player. He only got angry when he woke up from his nap and realized he was still in the car, ha, poor kid. Getting through Utah an Idaho was pretty boring with nothing to look at really and a bit windy. We stopped for lunch in Idaho and Jake was pretty excited to stretch his legs, so were we. We got back on the road and didn't stop until Oregon where we had to stop for gas. SURPRISE! You can't pump your own gas in Oregon. State law says so, so when the man surprises you by suddenly being at your window when you stop at the pumps, worry not, he's just there to pump your gas. Moving right along, and another surprise, this time involving red and blue lights flashing behind me in Washington. Apparently, it's illegal to drive in the left lane unless you are passing or moving over for safety purposes in the state of Washington. Luckily, the officer took my look of confusion as proof that I had no idea of this law and let me continue on my merry way ticket free. Shortly after that we stopped at a rest stop for one last chance to get the wiggles out before we made the home stretch. Or so we thought. Shortly after starting through Snoqualmie pass we hit a horrible snow storm that was only made worse by the unfamiliar (55 mile long) canyon and the fact that it was dark now. I crawled along at about 10mph while some people zipped past me, crazies. After doing a full 360, a 180, and a lot of fish tailing I was thrilled to find a little town calle Cle Elum where we decided to stay for the night. After stopping at two different hotels with no vacancy, we found a nice local motel with a room. It was clean, quiet, warm, and a million times better than continuing on in that mess of a snow storm. Jake ran circles around the room for about ten minutes, had a little bath, and then crashed within minutes of being laid down in his playpen. Thank heavens. The motel had a tasty free breakfast that we enjoyed and then packed up and continued onward. Luckily the roads were nice and clear come morning and we made it all the way to the ferry in Seattle with no trouble at all. Jake had a blast watching the seagulls while waiting for the ferry and then did several laps around the ferry while we took the hour journey across the sound to Bremerton. The ferry stopped right next to our wonderful hotel there and after navigating the crazy one way streets to it, we were oh so happy to finally reach our destination, and Jake was more than thrilled to see Grandma!
After some lunch we got settled, Jake, Jason and Grandma went swimming and I took a nap. (Of course the morning sickness would hit for the first and only time on vacation.) Later, we all got ready and went over to Bryan and Kati's where Kati had made a tasty Mexican quiche for us all for dinner. The kids had a blast together, it was so much fun to watch them all play.
The next day, Bryan, Kati and the kids came to the hotel to swim with us and brought us hoagies for lunch, yum! I though for sure Nicole and Karlie had turned into fish until they finally joined us as everyone else was finishing lunch. To have the energy of kids would be oh so wonderful. After lunch, Jason and I made a quick trip to Wal-Mart because I forgot to pack pants, yup, pants. Oops! When we got back we went and toured a naval ship they have docked by the hotel, the Turner Joy. It was very cool and they had a majority of the ship open so you could walk through it. I can say though, that navy life and me would never get along, ha. After a little nap for everyone, we went over to enjoy another meal from Kati and watched Wreck it Ralph. That night Jake did not got to sleep so easy. He'd caught on that Grandma was in the very next room and wasn't giving in until he saw her. So she took a few rides on the elevator with us before we stuck him in the car to go for a drive. It was even 5 minutes before he was out so we went a little further to be sure and then finally got to sleep around 10, so not too terrible.
The next morning we all got up, got ready, had breakfast and headed to Bryan and Kati's church for LynDee's Blessing. Bryan gave her a beautiful blessing, I'm so happy we were there to enjoy it with them and for Jason to be a part of it.
Afterward we made our way to their house along with Kati's parents and Michael and Erin and their 4 boys and new baby GIRL! We ate some very tasty burritos and let the kids go nuts outside for quite a while. It was so great to get to see Erin, we just love her! It was also so cute to watch Jake love on the babies. He kept wanting to hold and cuddle them. Adorable!
About 4 o'clock we decided we better get on our way and start our journey home. We followed Grandpa and Grandma to the hotel and then the five of us went and got on the ferry to Seattle. It is such a pretty ride across the sound. From the ferry in Seattle, we said good bye to Grandma and Grandpa and got on our way. We stayed a night in Kennewick, and then made our way home with just a couple stops and no trouble at all.
Jake was more than excited to be back home, as were we. As much fun as a vacation is, it's always nice to get back home, and everyone slept great back in our own beds.
(Pictures to come)