So we decided to take a little family trip up to Spokane to visit Matt's brother and family. We have missed them a lot since they moved up there a few years ago. We've always wanted to take a trip up there and are finally glad we got to go!!!
Sadie had lots of fun with us until the end of the day when she got a little sleepy and didn't want to ride any of the rides. Ethan loved all the kid rides and Spencer, well, he went on EVERYTHING!!
For our final day we drove to downtown Spokane and went to a place called the Riverfront Park. It was such a beautiful picturesque park with a big river, (of course) flowers, trees, waterfalls, and pure beauty.
I'm not sure how the shopping cart and bike ended up in the waterfall, but it makes for a funny picture!
This was one of the highlights of the park. The giant Red Flyer slide! This thing was huge! The kids thought it was sooo awesome!!
Isn't this place beautiful? The kids had so much fun together. They even have a garbage sucking goat....see the picture below where Ethan is feeding something? Well it's a metal goat with a vacuum in it's mouth so that's where you put your trash...too funny!
Riverfront also had this beautiful water fountain. It was only 70 degrees, but the kids didn't care! They ran out and got soaked! They had lots of fun!
On our way back from the park we stopped by the bar and grill that John Stockton's Dad owns. We are big John Stockton fans so driving by this and then Gonzaga University was pretty cool!
So thanks to Brian and Carrie for their warm hospitality and putting up with all of us for several days. We had loads of fun!!! We can't wait to come again! (if we haven't worn out our welcome!)
On the way home we stopped by to see my Uncle Doug and Aunt Sally. They have a beautiful home right on Lake Coure d'Alene. Here's a few photos of the gorgeous place....I can't imagine waking up to that beautiful scene every day!
So after being away from home for a week and sleeping in hotel beds and air mattresses, there was nothing I looked forward to more than my king size bed!!! I love to travel, but it's always nice to be home!!
Before deciding to go, I asked Spencer if he would rather take a trip to Disneyland or go up and stay with his cousins. Without any hesitation he said, "COUSINS!!!" Wow! I had no idea he really missed his cousins A LOT!!! So we packed up the van and away we went!!!
Along the way we found a perfectly named town in Idaho...Spencer!!! I told Spencer we could leave him there, after all that was his town!
We spent the night in Butte Montana to take a break from the road and then continued the rest of the way. The drive from Missoula to Spokane is BREATH-TAKING!!! Forest, rivers, streams, trees, trees, trees and more trees...did I mention the beautiful pine trees? And the rest stops were 5 star!! These pictures were taken at the actual rest stop...crazy beautiful!!!
We finally arrived safe and sound and had lots of fun catching up with everyone. The next morning we got up and went to Silverwood Amusement Park... It's like Lagoon times 2 in the middle of the forest. It was AWESOME!!! They had lots more fun roller coasters and lots of fun for the kids too!!
Sadie had lots of fun with us until the end of the day when she got a little sleepy and didn't want to ride any of the rides. Ethan loved all the kid rides and Spencer, well, he went on EVERYTHING!! Spencer even went on the biggest ride in the park, Aftershock. I went on it, and it's pretty scary so I'm so impressed Spencer went on it...he even went twice! The second time he went, he convinced his cousin Alli, a "girlie girl" to go too. Alli got off the ride and said with lots of dramatic enthusiasm, "That was terrifying! I can't believe I just did that! I'm a girlie girl and I went on that scary ride! Wow!" We had lots of fun being entertained with Alli's fun personality. She is such a doll! She rode with Ethan on the ride below and I rode with my cutie nephew Andy.
While everyone else rode all the big rides, I took the younger ones for some fun on some of the smaller rides. Oh what fun!
We ended the fun-filled day with the most amazing, delicious ice cream!! I ate the Maui Wowie Sherbet and boy was it tasty!! Spencer "wore" his vanilla quite well I think!!
The next day we recovered a bit and went to church. After church I took some super fun pictures with all the kids. These were taken in Brian and Carrie's backyard! What a beautiful yard they have! I wish I had that in my backyard!
Sadie had so much fun with her cousin Rachel. Sadie doesn't have many girl cousins her age, so she really loved this visit! In fact on our way home, she kept saying, "We go home to Carrie's house? I miss Rachel! I so sad! I want to play with Rachel! Please Mommy, let's go, let's go get Rachel!!"
For our final day we drove to downtown Spokane and went to a place called the Riverfront Park. It was such a beautiful picturesque park with a big river, (of course) flowers, trees, waterfalls, and pure beauty.
I'm not sure how the shopping cart and bike ended up in the waterfall, but it makes for a funny picture!
This was one of the highlights of the park. The giant Red Flyer slide! This thing was huge! The kids thought it was sooo awesome!!
Isn't this place beautiful? The kids had so much fun together. They even have a garbage sucking goat....see the picture below where Ethan is feeding something? Well it's a metal goat with a vacuum in it's mouth so that's where you put your trash...too funny!
Riverfront also had this beautiful water fountain. It was only 70 degrees, but the kids didn't care! They ran out and got soaked! They had lots of fun!
On our way back from the park we stopped by the bar and grill that John Stockton's Dad owns. We are big John Stockton fans so driving by this and then Gonzaga University was pretty cool! So thanks to Brian and Carrie for their warm hospitality and putting up with all of us for several days. We had loads of fun!!! We can't wait to come again! (if we haven't worn out our welcome!) On the way home we stopped by to see my Uncle Doug and Aunt Sally. They have a beautiful home right on Lake Coure d'Alene. Here's a few photos of the gorgeous place....I can't imagine waking up to that beautiful scene every day!
8 comments:
Sounds like fun. You have some beautiful pictures.
How fun! Rachel and Sadie are so cute! I want to go!
That sounds like a lot of fun. I would totally take a road trip with Amelia....NOT!! I do think it would be fun though, with kids that would cooperate.
What beautiful scenery...and more than that I appreciate the RIDES! YEAH!! Spencer's my kind of kid. I can only pray that Will can be brave like that when he grows up!
Even though vacations are a blast, it is always good to come home. But 'cept for the laundry...EWW!
I love all the pictures. It always amazes me how much fun the cousins have when they get together. Connor would give up almost any activity to spend time with the cousins. Sounds like you had fun. It must be nice to be on year round school so you can take trips like this when it's not 100 million degrees outside.
What a fun scrapbook of your trip. Sounds like it was especially a hit for the cousins ! ! !
All of those pictures makes me want to go to Spokane! I loved the "scary ride, girly girl" story! Kids are so fun when they are dramatic!
Road trips are always good memories and this one sounds like a good one. So happy you guys had so much fun, that the kids were so good and that everything went over well.
Fun times for the Gadds! Thanks for the camera info-I'm currently bidding on ebay, wish me luck. One day, the Cronin's will take a road trip somewhere besides Florida! Hmmm, you've got me thinking about that one. The scenery looks so beautiful. I truly, truly miss the mountains. I'll bet your leaves are starting to change. Be sure to blog some of that...we don't get much "fall" here in MS!
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