Month: June 2019

On Sunday we mistakenly though the ferry terminal to go to Vancouver was where the ferry terminal was when we arrived in Victoria, but it turns out it was 20 minutes away. We drove fast so we wouldn’t lose our reservation and made it in time. The ferry from Victoria to Vancouver was so plush and luxurious. There was a very clear difference between it and all of the U.S. ferries we rode on the trip. There were two play rooms and a live show teaching about how to respect the ocean. I did not realize the Pacific Trash Dump is as big as California, Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Utah, and Nevada COMBINED. That was so horrific to learn.

When we got to Vancouver, we drove to Stanley Park, had a picnic, and took a walk along the shoreline.

Then we went to our airbnb and spent the rest of the evening just kind of lounging around.

On Saturday we went to Butchart Gardens. They were spectacular. We were all in awe.

Then we spent a long time in the gift shop. Abe was with the kids outside and met the sweetest man there. I met him when I came out, and then later that day ran into them again at the hotel we went for high tea! They were very kind and made us feel peaceful.

Then we went home to regroup before high tea at the Fairmont Empress Hotel.

After this we all went back to the hotel, played in the pool (well I stayed out) and went to bed. It was a long day!

On Friday we got up early to meet Clark, Swathi, Soren and Meera at the ferry terminal to ride the ferry to Victoria.

Passing the border control was a little dicey. The guard asked us a bunch of questions and Jean was about to have a panic attack from how crowded the cars were upon exiting the ferry. Thankfully we got past pretty quickly and found a parking spot and a bathroom in short order.

When we got to Victoria, we ate lunch at the Spaghetti Factory and then headed over to the Royal BC Museum. I was, honestly, disappointed. I was also exhausted and finally just took Clarissa and Ammon to the car to nap because I was too tired to chase them. But Clark reports that the third floor of the museum, which I did not see, was very kid friendly and fun.

Then we went to our hotel, Hotel Zed, and checked in. It was kind of fun, quirky motel that called itself a hotel, and I liked it a lot.

Then we went to a beautiful beach side park with a petting zoo. The petting zoo was closing as we pulled up, but there were peacocks strutting around outside of it. Jean parked herself by the peacocks and Lydia eventually joined her for a long time. We met up with Clark and Swathi outside of the rose garden and all of the kids played together there. I loved smelling all of the roses with Clarissa.

After the park we went to dinner at a lovely sushi restaurant. It was so delicious and the first time I’d ever had crunchy sushi in a bowl. Then Jean got us some gelato while we waited in the car, and we drove back to the hotel. I was so excited at bedtime because I knew Abe was flying into Victoria at midnight, and if I could just fall asleep the next thing I knew he’d be coming into the room. And he made it! It was SO great to have him arrive.

On Thursday we drove up from Federal Way to Port Angeles. We stopped at Walmart on the way for potty breaks and ended up spending about an hour there. By that time, it was almost lunch so we took another break to get gas and Jimmy John’s.

 

We arrived late in the afternoon at Port Angeles and drove to the Olympic National Park visitor center. This was the first National Park visitor center I’ve been to that has a dedicated play room for kids. We could even close the door so Clarissa couldn’t escape. It was so nice to just sit there, let the kids play, and do NOTHING. We did that for over an hour.

Then we took a hike in the rain.

Ok, well I forced everyone to take a hike in the rain. No one wanted to do this activity, but I think we were all happy when we hit the trail and were surrounded by verdant beauty everywhere. Ironically, I was probably the only one to not enjoy the hike because shortly into it, I noticed my iWatch was missing. I felt sick to my stomach thinking it had come off in the parking lot when I changed coats or somewhere along the trail. I spent the rest of the hike worrying about that and the next hour trying to locate the watch with a GPS. The GPS said it was on the side of the highway, which I combed to no avail. An hour later while unpacking I found the watch by Ammon’s booster seat. It had fallen off when I squeezed my hand in to unbuckle him! That was the last time I wore the watch on the trip. I didn’t want to ruin another moment worrying about a watch.

On Wednesday we headed to the Museum of Glass in Tacoma. While the glass collection in the museum itself is not quite as impressive as the museum in Seattle, they have a glass making studio in the Tacoma museum. We got to watch the artists at work. And the kids also got to enter a competition to have their drawings made into glass. At one point, one of the people in the studio spent a lot of time talking to Mary and asked her to draw a monkey for him. Jean and I were ecstatic thinking he would turn her drawing into glass because it was an AWESOME monkey. But it turned out she had to make a separate drawing for that competition, and the subject she picked (I can’t remember now what it was) seemed very unlikely to make it into glass. I was so sad she didn’t just draw her monkey again. We could have made another trip to Seattle to see them make her monkey if she won!

Anyway, after that excitement, we ate lunch in the museum cafe and then walked across the Chihuly bridge of glass, which is amazing. Then we stopped in the Tacoma courthouse and looked at all of the glass there before going on to the Children’s Museum. Clarissa fell asleep so I sat with her while Jean took the other kids through. When she woke up she was so excited to join her siblings and do all of the fun museum stuff.

On Tuesday we drove from Boise to Seattle, again making many stops along the way. My favorite was the rest stop welcoming us to Oregon. There were really sweet ladies there who were handing out brochures about Oregon–and Washington when they discovered we were spending most of our trip in Washington! Also they handed out coffee, cookies, stickers and coloring pages. Oregon is just such a friendly state.

In the evening we arrived in Federal Way. We stopped for pho before heading over to Clark and Swathi’s. The cousins were all so happy to see each other again! We spent the evening picking berries from their bushes and playing in their back yard.

On Monday we finished packing the car, stopped at Trader Joe’s for more snacks, and finally hit the road. We stopped A LOT along the way. Jean suffers from anxiety which manifests itself in a frequent need to stop for bathroom breaks, and that means she is ultra compassionate whenever the kids expressed a need for the potty. Without Jean, I would have been waaaay more reliant on pull-ups and diapers, but with her, the kids got to travel with dignity intact. She was a huge blessing. (Also, since she was so happy to take them to the potty, I got to just scroll my phone whenever we stopped. It was so nice and I felt so lazy!)

We made it to Boise around 8pm. We went to Whole Foods to pick up some food and ate it outside of the Boise Zoo to let the kids burn off some steam and run around. Then when we got to our hotel (the Home2 we stayed at the last time we were in Boise), we changed into swimsuits and let everyone get their wiggles out in the pool. Then it was showers, part of a movie, and then bed!

On Sunday Jean and I went to my meditation group while Abe and everyone else went to church. Then when we came home, Lydia made waffles for everyone. After that, I napped and Jean played with the kids…until dinner time. I mean, she really played with them. They did board games, duck duck goose, duck duck everything, tag, Connect Four…the works! I don’t know a time when the kids have had an adult literally PLAY ENERGETICALLY with them for five straight hours. It’s beyond my personal capacity, that’s for sure. Abe and I were so in awe and just flat out grateful.

These are some pictures Jean took:

Then we spent the evening packing. It was really stressful but Jean was super helpful with all of the kids while I watched tutorials on how to pack. We had to fit camping gear, snacks, and a month’s worth of stuff for six people into the van. It was crazy.

On Saturday we woke up and I made an executive decision that we would all hike the Y. At the beginning of the hike, Jean and I were both positive I had made some sort of major day-planning mistake. The hike is so steep at the beginning and we thought we were going to die. The kids vocally expressed their physical discomfort quite frequently. Normally when we hike with them we do easy hikes, so this was quite a stretch. But they did it! We all did it!! We were so proud of ourselves. I was especially proud of all of the kids. At one point I stumbled right onto Ammon’s foot and felt so bad that I carried him almost the entire rest of the hike. He is the sweetest to carry, though. He makes sweet comments and made me happy.

We went to dinner at an Argentinian restaurant near our house. This cute picture is of Ammon telling Jean he loves her:

On Friday Jean and the kids and I headed up to This is the Place park in Salt Lake. Usually I go alone with the kids and just do a couple parts of the park, but with Jean there, we did almost ALL of it. We toured Brigham Young’s home, we panned for gold, dug for gems, made Native American necklaces, played and picnicked in the playground, petted animals in the petting zoo, did farm chores, rode the ponies, watched men burn themselves in the blacksmith shop, and crafted in the hospital. Whew! The weather was so nice, though, and so we didn’t wilt in the heat or cold and could power through it all.