Where did summer go...

... and can it please come back?

Do you remember when you were a kid and you would race down the streets on your bike? You'd fly through the summer air and pray for it to never end! Today I watched my boys take flight. It was a wonderful thing to behold. It was even better when Cole discovered that his bike flipped over and became his own factory. I delighted in his creativity and giggled inside because I used to do the same thing. My bike became a chocolate or peanut butter factory. I would turn the pedals and the wheels would turn like cogs in a machine. Cole was much healthier than I was at that age because his factory was a milk factory.





Thank you summer for such great memories!

The fruits of my labor...

... are delicious. Behold my favorite salad, caprese, made from tomatoes and basil straight from my garden. Thank you, thank you (me bowing). No, I did not milk a cow for my mozzarella. Nonetheless it was heavenly.

Dear any caregiver...

...contemplating a cross-country car ride with small children. I just wanted to share a few activities that proved to be hits during our two week road trip.

BUBBLES:


I bought bubbles at the dollar store with the intention of using them at rest stops. Instead I used the car's air conditioning to blow bubbles every hour on the hour. It gave the kids something to look forward to. HILARIOUS to watch how excited they got about the bubbles.

LAP DESKS:


I looked everywhere for lap desks but refused to pay $20 a piece for them. Found cookie sheets at the $1 Store (I LOVE THE $1 STORE). They worked perfectly. Finn loves to thread/string things. The lip of the cookie sheet was nice because it corraled the little beads. I brought Cole magnetic letters and numbers and he worked out math and spelling problems on his cookie sheet.

TOM TOM:

Yes, it is a luxury to have a GPS (Thank you Isabel for buying Josh one for his 30th!) I don't know how people traveled before. So convenient to be able to look up gas stations, restaurants and parks along our route. We tried to stop and eat at parks so the kids could play instead of being trapped inside a restaurant.

PRESENTS:

I wrapped some new things from the $1 Store for the boys. It made it more exciting for them to be able to unwrap their activities. I spent a grand total of $23 dollars at the $1 Store. Money well spent for 40 hours of relative peace and quiet on the road.

LISA LUTZ:



A good book is a must on the road. I can't read in the car but I CAN read at the gas station, restaurant, park and hotel. Vacations are not vacations without a ton of reading. "The Spellman Files" are laugh-out-loud funny. Dark comedy. I love the series (Thank you Elizabeth for the recommendation).

Dear Anguiano family...

... well, you let us down. MISERABLY. But I will get to that.

Friday night we drove from Seattle back to the Tri-Cities for one last goodbye. We knew we had the short leg of our trip, 6 hours, on Saturday so we spent a leisurely morning eating left over Mongolian and checking out the Reil farm (Libbie's parents farm.) The kids loved the sheep and chickens. They got to hold some of Maddie's bunnies and take a peek at the new kittens.

The best part of the visit was walking through the orchard. I have never picked a peach off the tree and eaten it where I stood, peach juice dripping down my forearms. The Reil's are growing plums, peaches, apples and pears. How wonderful to have fresh fruit in your backyard! I stood in this beautiful orchard gulping in warm fruit-filled air and felt so blessed by Heavenly Father and his creations.





We loaded back into the car with full bellies and Josh opened the sun roof. It was literally the perfect summer day, until Josh went to close the sun roof... and it wouldn't budge. We tried everything. We took it to the dealership they wanted a week to fix it. We sat on the phone with our dealership trying to find the manual crank only to learn the new models don't have a manual crank. So, we were facing an 18 hour drive with a gaping hole in the roof.

That's where you Anguianos came in. We expected you to watch over us and fulfill your purpose. You worked just fine through Oregon where the speed limit was 65 (Did I mention I now hate Oregon, a story for another time) but as soon as we hit Idaho and opened her up to 80... you couldn't handle the pressure. The result? We still ended up doing 14 hours roofless.


Anguiano's discarded family portrait which Josh cut to fit in the exposed sun roof. See picture below for Anguianos in action.


Josh "MacGyver" Saunders engineered the roof with portrait and cut up pool noodle to keep the draft out. It worked beautifully for a time. I blame the Anguianos!

Dear Red-Hair Grandma...

... I always know that I am getting close to home when I start seeing billboards for Little America. Do you remember the place?



When I saw the first sign about 100 miles from Rock Springs, a little breath caught in my throat. I remembered when you and grandpa picked us up in Denver and took us to the cabin in Montpelier. You had an inspired idea, you wrote down the names of all the cities we would have to pass before we got to the cabin and you had us cross them off as we came to them. Cheyenne, Larimie, Rawlins, etc. GENIUS! I am sure it saved you a couple earfuls of "are we there yet?" We stopped in Little America, tradition I suppose. No more 33 cent ice cream cones, they are 50 cents now.

The kids thought the extra 17 cents was worth it...





...so did I!


Not the most beautiful drive. Though some of the expanse is filled with giant wind turbine farms. There is something so graceful yet violent about those monster pin wheels whirling in the wind.



Wish the boys could have seen the cabin. I have some great memories there. I am excited though about them making some of their own memories at the ranch. We miss you and thought of you today as we continued our trip!

Dear Elisha...

... took a trip down memory lane today. We visited the old stompin' grounds in Bellevue. Drove by our old condo and the previous Barry residence. You can't see the roof of your old place, it's covered in pine needles. They need some gorgeous thong-clad gutter cleaner to come do the roofs. Ahhh the memories. I took the boys to that great park around the corner from your house. It was one of my favorite parks because of the walking trails and green grass. The grass is not so green right now, the heatwave has scorched everyone's yards so there are just rows of houses with lush green trees and brown parched lawns.



Took the boys to Kidd Valley. You introduced us to Kidd Valley, should I be grateful? I don't know, because I regularly crave their garlic fries and "Secret Hand Shakes" and while my stomach is grateful my hips are not. Oh well! Love it anyway! Kids loved it too, they now have sweet potato fries at Kidd Valley, so they are a little healthier.





It was a fun trip but it was missing something...YOU! You really made Seattle bearable for me. I miss your warmth and sense of humor and I miss your wonderful example which drove me to be a better wife and mother. I miss sneaking hot cocoa into movies in my purse and I miss having a friend who'd stay up late to howl at the moon with me. I hope once baby #4 is born that we might plan a trip up to see you. Hope you enjoy the summer. We start the long haul back to Denver tomorrow. Have fun in Alaska.

Dear Laena...

... wish you were here.

Eating farm fresh raspberries right out of the flat. The color and the sun literally burst in your mouth with each juicy bite.



And what would a trip to Pike Place Market be without a dozen mini doughnuts straight from the fryer?



Seattle is having a record-setting heat wave, thank goodness we have a hotel where we can blast the air conditioner. Though nothing beats the natural air conditioning of the salty ocean breeze right off the sound. I have missed the green, the lushness, the freshness of Seattle. I have NOT missed the traffic. There is traffic everywhere, caused by a single source... can you guess what the source is? I can't tell you but you should know me well enough... remind me again how many times a stereotype has to come true before it's a fact?

Dear Ryan ...

Do you know how much I love you? Enough to have now seen your latest flick four times! That's right, four times! Mind you it was no skin off my teeth to see your naked goodness once again. But really, for a so-so movie, four times seems excessive.

Luckily, the fourth trip was FREE!! The whole night was wonderful and FREE! Thanks to our best buds we enjoyed a kid-FREE night of complimentary dining...


Olive Garden with Libbie

...and an exclusive FREE showing of "The Proposal." Thanks to Mamie for getting us a theatre all to ourselves. The movie was only elevated by our personal commentary and Brett's delightful symphony of sounds.


(Josh, Damon, Libbie,Tsveti, Tyson, Scott, Meghan, Brett, not pictured Mamie and Bekie)


It was a great night! Another one for the Saunders/Faichild's annals.