The One With the Carwash

Our trip to Portland and Disneyland was so full of fun, and we took so many pictures that if I put them all under one post it would be the longest post in Guiness world history! So I am going to break them up a little bit.

It has been FOUR YEARS since Eric and I have had a real vacation. We go out of town for a few days to spend the holidays with family occasionally, but the last time we had a real vacation was our Honeymoon where we went to Disneyland (ironic). I think Eric checked out right after New Years, we were so ready for a break. Work is hectic, family life is hectic, there are crazy medical issues happening, add in our church responsibilities (Eric is the Executive Secretary, and I am an Acitivity Days Leader) and we are lucky if we get 5 hours of sleep.

It's hard when you feel like you are trying to be a good parent by providing for your children - giving them a house to live in, and heat and air conditioning, food, clothes, etc -that all cost money, and so you work, and one day you wake up and feel like by providing financially for your family, you aren't getting to spend enough time as a family with them. So when Thursday, February 17th came, we were up and ready to leave our house at 9am.

It was SO COLD at our house, it had snowed, not much, but it had snowed! When we went to Disneyland for our Honeymoon in January of 2007 it SNOWED in ANAHEIM! The first time it had snowed there in like 25 years. We were joking about how with our luck we would go to Disneyland this time and the snow would follow us again.

The kids did great in the car. Parker watched movies, and Preslie watched movies and every couple of minutes she woudl start yelling at me, and I would turn around, give her a honey wheat pretzel (the really huge ones) and she would eat and be quiet for a little while again. She LOVES pretzels. She now also thinks that whenever she sits in her car seat she thinks it is time to eat. She yells at me and puts her hand out, and yells and yells until she gets what she wants.

Denny, Eric's Dad, always has us stop in Hood River, a city an hour outside of Portland, where his dental practice is for dental work every time we come up and visit. We got to Hood River about an hour early, so we went and grabbed some lunch and then Eric said he wanted to take the kids to a playground that he played at when he was younger.

He was telling me about this huge wood playground, but I wasn't expecting to see the playgroudn we pulled up to. It is AWESOME! I seriously want one even half the size of it in my yard someday. Look at it! Eric and I even wanted to play on it! :)

Preslie took her first ride down a slide with Mommy. And she took her first ride in a swing. She loved that too. She giggled and laughed the whole time, blew kisses to Daddy.

Parker made friends with a couple little girls and ran around the whole playground shooting guns, and laughing. I am so grateful that he knows how to make friends.

After we tired the kids out at the playground, we went and got our teeth worked on. Parker is a sippy cup kid. He LOVES chocolate milk, he loves juice, he always carries around his sippy, everywhere he goes. Apparently, although this is great for his hydration, it is NOT great for his teeth. Denny told us that his front four teeth were really badly damaged, even though we brush a lot, it wouldn't have helped. So now Parker gets a new GrIlL! At the end of March we are going back up to Portland and Parker is getting caps on his teeth. I'm a little nervous about how he is going to do in that chair.

After that we drove the rest of the way up to Portland, decided that our car, after having driven through snow in Boise, through snow over the Blues, and through snow in Portland, was disgustingly dirty, and went to through a car wash.

I have never seen Preslie so terrified in my life. It was hilarious and so sad all at the same time. Every time one of those big brushes came by her window she got so scared she couldn't even cry, and she would shake and look at us with her big brown eyes like she was about ready to die. That of course got Parker freaking out too. So we had two kids in the back seat crying and shaking convinced they were going to die, and Eric and I up front laughing and shaking, and yet trying to comfort them all at once.