Ugh!

I can't find my camera cable, so I can't get any of the pictures from our trip onto my computer.

So I'll just recap with my extremely colorful writing that will make you feel like you've just returned from vacation yourself once you're done reading.

The first four days of vacation were spent in sunny Chelan at my parent's vacation house. Imagine warm weather, a refreshing lake, boating, wakeboarding (be still, my heart), good food, great friends, cold drinks. Does it get any better? I'll just leave it at that, and not mention anything about being stranded in the middle of the lake on the boat, or spending 7 hours in the emergency room, or several of us leaving with a strange skin rash. {giggle} Honestly, it was an amazing time.

Next we headed to my Dad's other house (near Seattle) as "base camp" for the next week. We celebrated Brian's birthday the first day with a nice dinner out with family. Our main objective for the week was to have fun, relax, and get to do the things with the kids that we never have time to do on our quick visits. We visited Snoqualmie Falls, and everyone but Noah and I hiked the 1/2 mile steep incline down to water level, then back up. Brian had Isaiah in the back pack carrier, and he reported that Emma handled the hike like a champ, with only one resting break. Noah and I enjoyed a quiet stroll through the gift shop and a latte. Did I mention quiet? With no kids begging for stuff? Bliss.

Other highlights of our first few days were: hosting a BBQ for friends and family at my Dad's house, visiting the candy store I worked at in high school, a trip to Build a Bear with grandma where each kid got to pick out their own bear and accessories, plus a lunch out at Cheesecake Factory (yum!), and finally a trip to the awesome Woodland Park Zoo. Probably the highlight of the zoo was one of the last attractions we saw...the gorillas. We spent about 20 minutes watching a mom, dad and baby gorilla interact together. They were so sweet. And no, I'm not ashamed to admit that when the mommy gorilla leaned over, picked her (ahem) butt, and then casually stuck her fingers in her......wait for it......MOUTH!!!....I laughed. Hard.

We took the ferry over to the "other side" and got to see my brother and sister-in-law's new house, and the kids got to spend some time together. We spent two nights at Brian's parent's house, and spent the day in the sand on the shores of Bainbridge. Brian, Biniam and I went for a run one morning. I am not used to running on any hills, and this run was pretty much a roller coaster. I was about ready to puke when we made it back to the driveway, but I was excited to drive our route to see how far we went. The excitement quickly turned to disgust as we clocked out 1.5 miles. Pathetic. Note to self: try using INCLINE on the treadmill every once in a while.

Okay, wrapping up here. We took the ferry back to downtown Seattle and enjoyed lunch at Red Robin on the waterfront. There really is nothing like the view of Seattle from the water. Breathtaking. Our last night was spent hanging out with family, and wishing we didn't have to go. We would have made fairly decent time driving home, except for our emergency trip to Nordstrom for the anniversary sale. (Calm down all you Dave Ramsey fanatics, it was just to exchange some jeans that were paid for a long time ago. Long story. But let me just say Nordstrom has AWESOME customer service.)

It was a wonderful summer vacation, and we're already talking about the next time we will make it back out. Christmas, maybe?