Weekend Goodness

First, a cherry update. The kids made $102! They are so proud of themselves. They split the money three ways and then each of the big kids gave Reed $2. All four kids are very happy. They can't wait to pay their tithing (Nathan told me he would like to pay an even amount {so him} and add $0.80 for fast offerings, that makes my heart happy) and we've already ordered the Wii game they had their sights set on. The rest is headed to the bank.

We traveled over to the west side of the state for a couple days. Our main purpose for the weekend was to hear my nephew Jared speak in church before he leaves on his mission to Brazil. We decided to leave on Friday afternoon and fit in a little more fun.

We drove over to Kyle and Heidi's house Friday night. We had the worst. rain. ever. Really, it was the worst.  Heavy, misty rain with fog mixed in makes me one nervous driver. Thank heavens I had new wipers. At one point I knew the rain was as heavy as I felt it was because all the drivers (read...not just me) were only going 55 mph. Kyle joked it was because I was the lead car, ha! Another insight....drivers from Eastern Washington have their wipes going full speed and drive slower. Western Washington drivers have their wipers at the slowest intermittent speed and drive like it's a beautiful day out. I swear that's only a slight exaggeration.

 We were all excited to get to their house so we could meet and hold their two week old baby, Chelsea. She is so tiny compared to our roly poly Owen. I loved snuggling her.

Dane held her for quite a while. He loves babies too.

Saturday morning (despite the weather predictions) we woke up and went to the zoo. The kids were so excited, we haven't been for a couple years. I was in quite the 'zen zone' to take each animal exhibit nice and slow. I didn't care if we were there all day, we'd just go at the pace the kids set.

 

 Right when we walked in two giraffes were front and center in the Savannah exibit. A big mama and a baby. We sat there watching them walk around and eat the leaves off the tree. Reed with the biggest eyes turned around and asked with the most surprised tone, 'they are alive??'. Everything is better through 4 yr old eyes.

 We moseyed over to the elephants. The big one was eating and throwing hay (I love when they cooperate and do something other than sleep).

 

The little one was walking around, trying to get through the gate.

 Reed laughed when I took a photo with the elephant's bum showing. See, he's fun to have around.

 I got all 5 of them to look my way a couple times. This just past the elephants.

 Again in the orangutan area. Reed knows a lot of facts about them from a show of Wild Kratts. He corrected the other kids when they said, orangutang. Funny. The biggest one was sitting really close to the glass and the smaller two were huddled together in a different area. Out of nowhere, Dane says, 'even that one's bigger than Grandma DeeAnn.' Ha!

Our last photo before the weather turned. We were on our way to watch the raptor show and eat our packed lunches on the bleachers. I stopped, opened up the cooler, started passing out lunches and the next thing you knew we were in a downpour. Almost instantly there was standing water on every walk way, people hiding under and eave and hurrying to find cover. We smuggled our lunch into the komodo dragon exhibit (indoor) and finished eating our lunch along with others trying to keep their food dry.

 The kids didn't want to leave so we trekked up to the indoor playground to try and 'wait it out'. There is no such thing in Seattle, for real. Look at my hair, disgusting! The blanket I had covering Owen's stroller was so wet I could wring it out. Nasty weather. Again, the Seattle-ites were pulling out their umbrellas and ponchos while laughing at those of us rookies that didn't pack any rain gear whatsoever. I don't even own and umbrella! The kids ran around the indoor gym for nearly an hour and the downpour never let up. We grudgingly decided to leave. What a bummer, especially with the 'zen zone' I had going on. I was ready to look at animals for hours.

 We don't look as wet as we really were. My pants were wet half way up my shins, Reed and Dane had sopping wet shoes, my hair was a total mess with wet hairspray and worst of all it was cold once you were as wet as we were. We took our receipt back to the front and for an extra $23 we turned our day at the zoo into season pass. Looks like we'll be going back when the forecast is good. When is Seattle's summer....August?

 The guy taking our picture said Dane didn't have enough teeth to smile big, we all cracked up. We started heading south to my sister's house and in less than 15 minutes the rain stopped and wait for it....the sun came out. Go figure.

 My sister's kids are all grown up now. It's hard to believe, it has gone so fast. Michael sat with Nathan for an hour at least and taught him the patterns to solving the Rubik's Cube. He asked for one a few years ago and we've watched quite a few YouTube videos but in real life learning is much better. Michael was so patient with him, it was endearing to watch.

The big cousins are so good to play with the little cousins. I love it. In fact, on the way home I kept getting teary eyed thinking about how much fun the kids had climbing on them, wrestling with them, yelling with them (ahem....Chad with Dane and Reed, haha) and torturing them. Their age differences don't mean a thing.

 Most of the cousins on my side of the family. We were missing Riley, Gage, Gavin, Preston, Chelsea and Owen (he was inside sleeping). L to R- Michael, Kate, Chad, Dane, Nathan, Jared, Reed, Madison, Lindsey and Kathryn. Notice the gorgeous, sunny weather we had on Sunday?? Of course.

 In two weeks Jared is heading off to Brazil. We are so excited for him, he is going to be a great missionary. He gave a great talk yesterday. I still can't believe he's old enough to go!

 The girls wanted their picture taken too. Bunch 'o blondes. Don't you love Lindsey's pirate face? Funny little girl. Kat was quite the dog whisperer too. She played with their dog Maverick for hours, she was in heaven. By the time we left, I almost wanted to go get her a dog.

Despite the rain and losing zoo time, we had a great weekend. We loved spending time with so much family and building memories. Is there anything else that really matters?

Ooooh and an added bonus.... the kids slept in until 9am today. It was awesome.