phew!

Okay, we are back in Colorado. And I have promised Calvin that we are not driving anywhere (long) for a very very long time. :) He was actually pretty good on this last leg, I was surprised. We had a fun visit in Washington and I was sad to leave. I got to spend my birthday up there and it was fun to be spoiled by my mom on my birthday again. Though I felt a little guilty this time, having a better idea of all the work and money and time that went into it. Thank you Mom!!! Mom also talked me into piercing my ears, which I was nervous about but I think it will be fun. We also went to the beach with my mom and had a fun time; well, Emily had a blast, but Kimmie and Calvin got tired and cold after a while. It was fun to be out at the ocean again though. I will have to attach pictures when I get them off the camera. The girls also really enjoyed the hot dog roast out in the woods and swinging on the rope swing. We also got to see my friend Lydia from high school, and that was fun too. It was nice to see how soon our girls hit it off together, but I guess it's not too hard if everyone loves princesses, dolls, and dress-up. I thought it was cute. I will refrain from saying anything about my high school reunion, just that I was disappointed.
We left Monday afternoon and drove down to the Lindsays' home (friends from Kentucky who moved to WA earlier this year) and spent the night with them. Caleb greeted us in classic fashion: bursting out the door and running up to our car as soon as we drove up, yelling, "Hi! Hi friends! You're here! Hi! Hi! Are you coming in!?" It was great. We really enjoyed seeing them again--thanks guys for putting us up for the night! We left there semi-early in the morning and drove all day... til one in the morning. Yuck. But we got to spend a day with Grandma and Grandpa Durrans at their cabin by Bear River, and that was really nice. John got his fill of seeing wildlife (deer, muskrats, fish, etc), I got some extra sleep and time reading in the sun, Calvin got to climb stairs and wander around to his heart's content, and the girls played games with Grandma, "fished" with Dad and we all played in the hot tub which felt very nice. Thank you Grandma and Grandpa for letting us stay with you!
We left the next morning and drove all day to Colorado, arriving here around 6:30pm. We were all very glad to be out of the car and done with traveling for a while. However, now it is back to real life and getting things figured out. We had a very nice vacation and it was great to be able to just put all our worries and problems on the back-burner for a month and tour around the country and see just about all the family one could see in that amount of time. The kids got plenty spoiled (Emily now thinks that a treat or dessert must come after every meal... thanks Mom. ;), Calvin learned to walk with a much larger enthusiastic audience--which I enjoyed a lot since it always made me sad when my babies made big steps in life's journey and I had no family to share it with-- and to tackle stairs. The world is no longer safe, and my baby is no longer so cooperative now that he knows he can get where he wants to when he wants to if you would just put him down!! He's also getting the other front tooth (which is a doozy for this kid) and possibly another.. so nights have not been all that pleasant for the last... uh, month.
Anyway, this blog turned out much longer than I expected. We are home, we are well, and on to the next phase of life! Hopefully it will come soon, I am tired of living out of a suitcase.