Monday, September 28, 2009

Our trip to WA


We took a trip to WA the 2nd week in Aug. We drove our van with our family and Jared's to Kennewick and stayed a couple of days at Mom and Dicks where Bethany was also staying. Then headed to Dash point where we met Wendy's family.
We camped at the beach for a couple of days sharing a tent with Wendy's family. The first day was rainy and cold. Eddie cried most of the time we were on the beach and wanted to be held because the sand was cold and scratchy. ):
Ethan loved it and spent his time gathering shells and pretty much anything he could find, including a small dead fish and part of a crab and begged to keep them even though they smelled terrible! Below is a picture of Ethan with a big find. And above is a shot we got of Eddie while he was happy for a few minutes.

The next day we decided to go to the Science center in Seattle since it was still raining. Everyone loved it. Below is a pic of Eddie. They had big dinos that made noise and moved. Just as I set him up for a picture the dino moved his head toward Eddie and he panicked!

Here is a pic of Brad playing in the play area with Ethan.




Below is a pic of me and one of my cute niece Eveline. (Bethany's baby)


Here is a pic of Grandma Terri playing w/Eddie in the water area.

Here is Eddie on a huge Caterpillar



Ethan loved the butterfly exhibit. The rainbow beads and necklace you will see him wearing in most pictures belongs to Eveline. Silly kid.

There were star fish, hermit crabs and other sea creatures you could pet. Eddie would not touch anything except the star fish once after he saw Ethan do it.

Ethan touched about everything!

Family pic

Bethany and Eveline

Brad's stinky find.

Here is cold Eddie and Dad

Here is fussy Eddie and worn out mom

Happy twins! David and Benjamin loved the beach that day, especially David.

Ethan trying to get warm in a little puddle with his latest "Treasure" a clam

Ethan was so sad when I told him we could not keep the clam as a pet. I told him we could take it's pics to remember it by but that he needed to go back in the water.

Happy Ethan! We woke up and the sun was finally shining! He is standing on top of a very tall stump.

The second half of your trip we said good bye to mom and drove to Birch Bay and spent a few day with Dad and Carren, the Grandparents Mattie and some of Carren's family. Ethan loves having cousins he can run and play with. They had so much fun. Here is Grandma Kauer playing with David.

Grandma Gale holding sweet little Allie (Jared and Nikki's baby) There were plenty of babies to be held, we all loved it especially the grandmas and grandpas.

This is one of my favorite pics of Jeni and Jeremy's baby. Happy Shyla in her stroller ready for the beach!

Eddie had a difficult time most of the trip. He cried a lot and wanted me t hold him most of the time. I think it was mostly lack of sleep and mom holding all her nieces and nephews and he didn't like that. I was thankful when dad took him for a nice long bike ride. Eddie really enjoyed it too. Thanks dad!

I thought this was a cute pic of dad holding sleeping Eveline

Aunt Jeni helping Ethan roast a marshmallow.

Here is where we all congregated to eat and get warm by the fire

When we decided to go to Birch Bay we didn't know what to expect since none of us had been there. What we didn't expect was the beach to be covered in rocks! There were lots of shells and hermit crabs for the kids to find and collect. Here is a group of us wandering the beach. Almost everyone is holding a baby. (:

Ethan and Lilly finding baby hermit crabs.

Ethan and his bucket of "beach treasures"

"Can I keep ALL of them mom? Please?!"

Summer helped the kids paint and glue to make all kinds of things with the treasures they found on the beach. They loved it.

I finally was able to hold my nephews for the first time after camping with them and sharing a tent with them for several days and nights. But my happy moments holding them the last few days of the trip never lasted long. But at least they happened! I just love those cute little guys!

Ethan, Mattie and Eddie playing in the rocks on the beach.

Eddie enjoying the rocks



Eddie heading back to camp with his wagon full of "sand toys"

Here are my sisters and one of my brothers. Jared, Jeni, Bethany Wendy and me in a huge tree. I love my siblings they are my best friends. I am already thinking of our next trip together next Aug. I love you guys, you are the best!

Here we all are with our families. Brad, me, Eddie, Ethan. Bethany and Eveline. Jeni and Shyla. Sterling, Benjamin, Wendy and David. Jared Nikki and Allie. Wow our family has really grown in one year! Since last Aug we have 5 new babies and ours on the way in March!

Here are all the cousins. Benjamin, David attacking Eddie. Shyla. Eveline Ethan and Allie. It was really difficult to get them all in one place at the same time, and mostly happy. (:


Etah Mattie and Eddie. A happy little trio.


Happy Cramers!

Me and Brad

The last night we took the boys and Mattie to get some ice cream and met everyone down at the beach to watch the sun set. It was beautiful.


Here we are waiting for the sun to go down. Carren, Dad, Bethany and Eveline, Grandma and Grandpa Gale, Ethan and Eddie.

Here is Eddie with Great Grandpa Eddie sitting by the fire the last night.

After sleeping in a tent for 6 nights we were all ready to sleep in a real bed and take a nice long shower! Our little ones were so dirty by the end of each day. There were showers but they were not great.
Before heading home we met at Nikki's parents house (as presentable as possible after 7 days of camping) and had Allies baby blessing. We said our sad good byes for another year. Some of us a little more emotional than others. (:
Then we climbed back in the van with Jared's family and headed back to moms house in Kennewick. We stayed the night and drove the rest of the way in the morning. In all we put 2050 miles on the van. The boys and Allie did really well considering the time they spent in the car. not that they didn't have thier moments. Overall it was a great trip, it was good to be together and the boys loved it.













































4 comments:

  1. What an adventure! That's neat you all got to see each other. Maybe next time you should all come to AZ ;-)

    ReplyDelete
  2. It's so good to catch up with you guys. Congrats on the little one by the way. We also took a similar trip this summer to Oregon. That car ride was bruital! Tell Ethan hi from me and Ally. We miss you guys.

    ReplyDelete
  3. You guys really love cold camping, eh?

    ReplyDelete
  4. It looks like it was a fun trip!! I love the ocean!! I'm glad you got to go & have fun!!!

    ReplyDelete