Washington Trip, AKA Longest Post Ever. Consider Yourself Warned:

We enjoyed a fun and relaxing/busy trip up to Washington to visit family.

It was WONDERFUL!!
I'm ready to go back.

Here's how it went:

-Friday: We left when Carl got home from passing his PHR test (in post below. hooray!!) at about 4:00 pm. We stopped in Boise and stayed in a super nice hotel compliments of mom and dad Owens. Thanks guys!

-Saturday: Drive the rest of the way to Kennewick to spend time with mom and dad McCain.
Some of Hayden's favorite things:

Phoebe the guinea pig

reading with Grandma

-Sunday: Went to church, then dinner at Great Grandma and Grandpa's house with more family: Uncle Craig and Aunt Mel, cousins Jennifer and Jim with their two girls. Hayden was the entertainment of the evening by standing on a chair and singing every song she knows in front of everyone. She was a hit :) Good food and good times. Some favorite pics of the evening:

Great Grandpa

The Girls

So sweet with Grandpa

-Monday AKA Memorial Day: We took a trip up to Spokane with Carl's parents. It's about a 2 hour trip from Kennewick but it was so nice. We wanted to visit Carl's grandparents' graves and visit the spots he used to play at as a kid when he would visit their house. Hayden rode her first merry-go-round and fed the trash goat. We walked on a shaky bridge and I smelled my first ponderosa pine, which smell like vanilla, by the way. It was a nice getaway with mom and dad McCain.

Smelling the Ponderosa Pine. Yummy.

The scary, shaky bridgeHayden makes me laugh in this picture. Check out that pose. It's awesome.

Look how excited she is

Waterfall in the middle of the city

-Tuesday: We headed over to the west side of the state to visit gma and gpa Owens. We decided to take the scenic route this time. It added on about an hour and a half but it was pretty and we had never done it, so why not? Too bad it was cloudy because this drive has an amazing view of Mt. Rainier. But we enjoyed it nonetheless. When we got to my parents house, mom watched Hayden so we could go see Iron Man 2 with my dad. Good times.

Lots of waterfalls on this trip...

Lots of snow, too...

-Wednesday: Pedicures with the ladies! My mom treated me and my sis in law, Flora, for a day at the spa. Mom and I got pedis while Flora got a massage. Pure heaven!

That night Carl, Hayden and I headed down to Olympia to visit my friend Amy and her cute little family. Her little guy was born in April, and he is a stud. Seriously, look at him. He's ca-yute!

I love this girl! This picture represents many, many late nights we shared in college just laughing. She's awesome.

On Thursday my father planned a very nice getaway for me and Carl and my brother Brian and Flora. They were up visiting with their little 6 month old, Elaine. We hadn't seen each other since before I was pregnant with Hayden, so they finally got to meet her and we got to meet little Elaine. She is sooooooo cute and such a sweet baby. But Thursday night, we were childless, and it was amazing! Mom and Dad watched the girls and we took off for the Salish Lodge which sits right on top of Snoqualmie Falls. BEAUTIFUL. The rooms were equipped with a wood burning fireplace and a huge jetted tub. Yeah. It was fun ;) We went to dinner with Brian and Flo, walked up to look at the falls together and then retired to our separate rooms. Thank you, Mom and Dad for taking care of Hayden. It was my first time away from her overnight, but it worked out nicely.

See the hotel on the top left? Pretty awesome.

Bri and Flo after our lovely dinner.

-Friday: We woke up late, left the lovely hotel and headed back to grab Hayden for our trip to Vashon Island. We caught a ferry, went to the beach with the lighthouse, skipped rocks, had a picnic and searched for shells. Carl's grandparents used to live on the island and I had never seen their house, so we went and looked at it and since it's vacant at the moment, we walked up and took a look around. We found the old rope swing and took a ride. It was really fun. Good memories for Carl.

Ferry ride

Picnic at the beachSearching for shells

LighthouseThere is something strange about this tree.....
Carl reliving old memories as a kid...

When we got back from Vashon, we just wanted to hang with the family. Hayden also decided she didn't need to sleep that night, but whatever.

Sweet baby Elaine

The evening's entertainment

-Saturday: Brian and family left in the morning back to LA and we went to the farmers market. I love Puyallup's farmers market. We scored some delicious treats and Hayden got a cute cute cute fairy outfit. We then had to head back, pack up and leave for Kennewick to start our journey home. We had such an amazing time on the west side with my family. I hope to do it again soon!

We love Gma and Gpa Owens! Someone looks really tired here...

When we arrived back in Kennewick, I was forced by my Mother in law to sit in a big comfy chair, eat donut holes and read a whole magazine talking about Twilight stuff. I had no choice. I had to do it, so I was cooperative. :) We then had a BBQ, watched Hayden play on the swing set and visited with great gma and gpa Kesler. It was a beautiful evening and we had such a wonderful time with Gma and Gpa McCain. We love you guys!

Pure torture...ha, more like pure blisssssss!

We left Sunday morning for our 10 hour drive back home. Hayden was an incredible traveler. She gets an A++ for how well she did. We even rolled into town while a nice thunderstorm was going on. A perfect way to end a great trip.

The End