The Trip to WA

Well the trip to Washington was a great time. It went by very fast though since we didn't have even one day to just hang out and relax. Our itinerary was full, driving somewhere each day to visit family or friends. I don't think we would've changed anything if we could though. It was great to see everyone and enjoy the more mild temperatures than the daily upper 90's we've been experiencing here in Utah. Our main worry about the trip was the drive. We decided to drive at night so that hopefully the girls would sleep and I (Tony) would just power through the sleepiness...which they did and I did. We were also lucky enough to borrow my friend Jessica's dvd player for Molli so we could all have some Dora along the way. Vamanos! We left Utah around 6:00 pm on July 3rd and got to the home base of Elma around 11:00 am the next morning stopping only for dinner and gas. This allowed us to hit 4th of July celebrations at Auntie Kathy's house which, as always, was filled with good food and family. Molli was very excited to see her cousins, especially "baby Eilis" who she has decided needs constant hands-on supervision.

We had a great time the following Friday. Molli & I dropped off Kyla & Brynn at Pat/Marie's house in Olympia. We then met my bro Jerry and his family at my ma's house in E-town (we were, as usual, late). We went and climbed Mt Peak (a steep hike my dad used to frequent) that ended up with Molli on my shoulders probably 75% of the time. Here's a shot from the top:

Then we had lunch at Deep Lake. Driving those back roads really brought me back to growing up in the Claw. Wrapping the Reliant around a telephone pole, delivering pizzas, soccer hangouts, finding parties, etc. Good times. We then went back to Pat's house in Olympia, had some apps and beers and was surprised by my sis Chris (lives in AZ). Our mom met us and then we went to a great restaraunt (Waterstreet Cafe) near the state capital. What a great day.

The main reason for the trip was my cousin Erin's wedding on July 12th. It was a rare occasion in that all of the 8 cousins were able to attend (Chris, Joey, Jerry, Brian, Patrick, Erin, Shawn, & Tony)...the first time since my dad's funeral. Needless to say, there were plenty of "cousins pictures" taken...here's one from brunch the following day:

This is a requirement at any gathering of more than one cousin at a family function. I remember one holiday where it was just Erin, Shawn, and me and we still had to do the picture. The wedding was at a picturesque park in Seattle, overlooking Puget Sound with Mt Baker in the distance. It was a great venue and wedding. Here's one picture of Kyla, Brynn, the top of Molli's head and me.

We shaved about 2 hours off of the drive on our return trip to Utah. It was nice getting back to a little normalcy...it's hard living out of your car with two hairy dogs and two little girls! It's been suggested that we're ready for a minivan. If it does come to that, it'll be Kyla's ride for sure. We'll get some more pictures added once we find our camera. Until next time!