and we're back

Clearly, I lied about updating from the west coast. Who has time for blogging when you're on vacation? We're still getting settled here at home, so I still don't have a whole lot of time for blogging, but I thought I'd let my loyal readers know that I am still alive. And I'll give you a brief summary of the trip. And I wish I had some photos to post, but it appears that we've lost our memory card, so you'll have to make do with my descriptions and some internet photos.

Our kids were phenomenal on all of the flights, thank goodness. We got to see lots of Greg's family -- his sister came for a surprise visit; his 7-year-old cousin visited for a week to attend the horse camp Greg's mother was running; we were able to visit a few times with Greg's aunts; and we spent some time at his grandparents' house. We got to see Dawn and meet her boyfriend Derek; we got to see some of Greg's friends and have a kid-free couple of days in Seattle all at once.

Lots of outdoorsy goodness: we hiked at Hurricane Ridge, Sol Duc Falls, the Spruce Railroad Trail*, and I think there was one more hike I can't recall right now. We went to Salt Creek to look at tidepools, we went swimming at Lake Crescent, we picked millions of wild blackberries, and we went to the Clallam County Fair where we fed our boys nutritious foods like cotton candy and elephant ears.

Other fun included James' and Evan's numerous dance parties, Mentos-and-soda volcanoes, a little horseback riding for James, games of Settlers (and Seafarers) of Catan, Burnout Revenge (Evan is already becoming a video game addict), a viewing of Munich (which wasn't really "fun", but instead sobering, depressing, and disturbing, in an interesting way), and a visit to Herkimer Coffee.

All in all there was a lot of much-appreciated relaxation, and our boys got the chance to be just a little spoiled by Greg's family. I really wish we had photos -- I'm going to be annoyed if it turns out that our memory card really has disappeared for good. But anyway, we did have a lot of fun, though it's nice to be home again, too.

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*See the cliff on the right of the photo? Greg jumped off of it (only at a point highter than the picture shows) because the pool at the bottom ("the Devil's Punchbowl") is very very deep. It's safe, but it is a bit harrowing to watch your boyfriend jump off a cliff. Also, there is a very dark, cold, scary old railroad tunnel along this trail. Greg and his friends have even been known to go through it, but just standing at the mouth of the tunnel gave me the heebie-jeebies. Alas, I cannot find a picture online, but trust me. Creepy.