The Past Month... part 2: Derby

So we've done a few things since we've been here.  One of the fun things we've done is go to a car race/derby and it was a lot of fun.  We didn't get the ear plugs into the babies until after the loudness started (oops) and Noah too...  and so they were all upset for a little bit, but got into it all.

Calahan of course loved it, and met a new friend.

Noah was a little bored I think.. lol..

Nathan got into it after a little while...

And Kaedyn got into it too...

We saw cars crash ... start on fire... we saw fast cars and slow cars and cars that just sorta fell apart... lol..

But there were some fun (funny?) cars too.... like the M&M one...

The one with the Skittle beating up the M&M on it's trunk

And the one with ... well, Calahan says ...  Achmad the Dead Terrorist (Comedian Jeff Dunham) ... riding with him.  One of my best friends, she said it was the last driver... LOL..

The Past Month... part 1

So we got to Washington State on May 3rd.....er...  well, about 2am May 4th...   We've been learning our way around, and looking for a place to live...  going to almost all the places we have to (still have to get the vehicle licensed and our drivers licenses done...)  ...

My Mom's back yard is fenced in so the boys have been having a blast playing outside (when it hasn't been raining) ...

They also have a hot tub which Nathan and Noah love, Kaedyn is afraid of, and Cal would go into every day if he could!

We met up with my Dad ... it's the first time we've been able to get together with him since the babies were born, and he hasn't had the chance to see Noah since he was 4 ..

There are goats where he is, and the kids just loved that.  We considered moving into where he is at, because they are moving back to Wisconsin in the middle of June (pout pout, I'll miss them) ...

Grandpa had a fun time helping Nathan feed the goats.  He taught Calahan how to blow on grass and make it whistle ...

and Noah got a whole bunch of stuffed animals from Grandma Nancy that he just LOVED ... (duck in the pocket)

Kaedyn was super shy and he's just not dealing with the "new people" real well... but he's doing okay.
Here is my sister, Mary, myself, and the boys...

My Dad and two of his girls..

More to come!  I'm writing up and scheduling entries for this week to catch up!  We found a place and will be moving in this week! YAY

Happy Memorial Day Weekend everyone!!  I hope it has been fantastic for you!  Stay tuned for the next 6 installments of our Month of May!!

Mommy Rhapsody Video

13 days ago..... we ARRIVED...

Where did we arrive?  Well in Washington State of course!  Before we left, Nathan managed to find a new past time he loved (climbing boxes)

After a lot of tears, realizing that we couldn't fit HALF of what we wanted into the moving truck and then having to friends and family behind (boo-hoo) ...  we packed every inch of space we could, two people in the moving truck, five people in the car...  and we left Wisconsin. 

We ended up getting a really late start, so we started making our way through the few miles of Wisconsin, into Minnesota, and on my trusty cell phone, I would post a status message on Facebook saying goodbye to each state as we left and hello to the next... 

We made it to North Dakota at about 3 AM, and it was snowing....  so settled in for a few hours of sleep.  We had packed the truck so tight we were afraid to get in there to get to our clothes that we needed to, and the babies didn't have socks, or sweatshirts, Noah had on a long sleeve but no socks, and well... Cal had just a t-shirt too... so being as cold as it was, and we didn't expect it... and finding out that regardless of how nervous opening the truck made us, we couldn't get in it because Dennis accidentally put the lock on upside down and we couldn't get the key in.... we left the hotel early to find some warm clothes at ... say ... Walmart!  Well, we found one.... 24 hour Walmart.... but we couldn't get in.  Apparently... and take note of this if you ever travel through North Dakota on a Sunday ....  the stores (retail) do not open until NOON on Sundays.  UGH!!  So we managed to wrap the kids up in what we had to get them out in the nippy air to the car, decided to find another store at some point on the way ... Then headed out again.

(Notice:  The sign says "HOME ON THE RANGE"... I almost broke into song!!  And the next one, it may have been cold, but I stopped at BEACH!)

Beach North Dakota that is.......... and let me just tell you.... we are NOW entering Montana...er.. I mean Bump!  Didn't know we had a state named BUMP... me either!  The things you learn!

I took the previous two pictures from a gas station parking lot that we stopped for gas at.  When we went to leave, the car wouldn't start.... lovely right?  Yeah I thought so ...  We had to get a pair of $30 jumper cables just to continue on the road.  (There is some short in Dennis' car that causes it to do this now and then) .. but hey, we saved the day and no one was the wiser... 

 (Picture of Calahan complementary of Cousin Ashley)

Then we pulled into BUTT....er.... BUTTE Montana for the night ...

We didn't get there as early as we wanted either, the kids wanted to go swimming really bad, but getting there at 10:30 .. the pool closed at 11 :(   Oh well I guess...  not to mention ... the kids were getting sick and it was just good times all around...

So the following morning we started out on our LAST stretch of the nation before getting to Nana & Papa's house!  (first picture is Butte, Montana .. in the morning)

Welcome to Idaho!!  I had REALLY bad luck with state signs ... yep, I did... It was my favorite state though, took about an hour to drive through!!

And with that...  it started to get dark and I couldn't take anymore pictures....  so I will leave you with this one before going on with our story...

The kids did really great the whole time, they would melt down once in awhile but it was usually because they were hungry. When we left Butte, we realized that we were going to be facing a snow storm when we went through the Snoqualmie Pass a couple hours from Mom's.  I was watching the webcams on the internet (on my phone) and updating Dennis on what was going on.  It was raining by late afternoon, by night fall it had started to snow in parts of it... then by the time we got there, there was probably 5 or so inches on the road.  They post the restrictions and such on the site I was watching so I knew what was going on.  It took us a long time but we managed to slowly make our way through the snow on the pass, I'm not going to lie, it was scary.  By the time we got to the bottom of the West Bound side of the pass, they had closed the East Bound pass and there were tons of cars lined up waiting (which is what Mom had been afraid would happen to us if we didn't get through early enough.)  But we made it through and we were on our way for the final bit of our travels.  We ended up getting to my Mom & Russ' at about 2am.  Then it was time for quick hellos and such, and where are we crashing cuz everyone was tired. 

But we made it...