Off to Woodinville

Our first destination for our vacation was Woodinville, just north of Seattle, home to our friends Tom and Jone and their two kids Tom and Alex. I had the idea that we could get up early and get the van packed and leave at a very early hour. However, Vic ended up with a lot of last minute stuff from work, stayed up until 3am and so we didn't get on the road until 11am. This meant that we didn't make it as far as I had hoped and we had to search for a hotel at 9pm around Ashland Oregon. Ashland was of course filled, but we found a small motel outside of Ashland.

The next morning the kids were up early, Gina and Andrew got dressed right away and we were able to get on the road by 8am or so. One of our stops on the way was a small museum in Roseburg, Oregon. It was a nice little museum with lots of animal diorama exhibits as well as old tractors and cars. The kids had fun running around and it was a nice break. Of course, I discovered that my camera was out of batteries at this point so no cute pictures. We drove through Portland, then through a bit of rain, and headed for Seattle. We arrived at our friends house after dinner, definitely a long day of driving.

We spent our first day hanging out at the house with the Vrhels. Tom's parents also joined us as well as Tom and Vic's friend Matt with his family. It was full house with lots of kids. They had fun playing soccer outside, putting trains together inside and video games. Andrew and Gina had a great time playing with Alex who is 12 and is very good with little kids. I hope they didn't wear him out.
Our second day was spent visiting my friend Ruthann who lives about 40 minutes away. I hadn't seen her since our wedding and now she has two kids: Ingrid age 7 and Dan age 2 1/2. The kids had fun playing in the yard, making bubbles, and watching a little TV (so we could get lunch together). It was fun catching up with Ruthann and comparing kid notes. I hope it won't be another 7 years before we see each other again.

The picture below is supposed to include all the kids, however, Gina and Andrew decided that hiding behind me would be more fun.

Next, off to Montana.