ROAD TRIP!

After work on Friday, we packed the family into the car, and headed out on a road trip to Washington to meet our new baby niece (the kids cousin) Eden. We arrived in Olympia just after 9PM on Friday night and went straight to my sister Shannon's house to see the baby.

The boys were really excited to get out of the car, and even more excited to find a house full of fun toys to play with. Eden's big brother, Braxton, was already asleep, but the kids still had a ball playing with his toys and checking out his baby sister.

On Saturday morning we joined up with the whole gang for more fun. Nana made homemade lasagna, and the Dad's (Brice and Kirk) took the kids on a fun hike. I got to hold Eden a lot (and so did Brice and the boys). Ryder was the cutest - - our little whirlwind tornado was the perfect gentleman with Eden in his arms. We ended the day with a family trip to the movies to see IceAge2 (rating = two thumbs way up!).

On Sunday we brought over doughnuts for breakfast, so the kids were nice and sugared-up for an awesome walk with Nana around the Capitol building (including running up and down the steps repeatably). In the afternoon, we had an appointment at Olen Mills to get the kids pictures taken with Nana (thanks for the matching shirts Nana!). And no road trip would be complete without checking in on the local Chuck E. Cheese establishment (we are C.E.C. connoisseurs, in case you weren't aware). My Aunt Patricia and my uncle Steve and his family joined the group for a fun night. The kids had a ball running around like wild banshees at Chuck's: riding rides, playing games, winning tickets, climbing in the tubes, eating pizza, and showing off for the relatives!

And after all the fun, we packed the kids in the car, and hit the road again for the long ride home.

It was a great trip, and we LOVED meeting Baby Eden in person. The drive wasn't that bad (easy for me to say since I rode shotgun), so I'm guessing we'll do it again before too long.