Finally, a blog about the vacation!

Well, for those of you that I "talk" to regulary, please forgive me for waiting over a week to start blogging about the vacation. I didn't do it while ON vacation for two reasons: One, I was ON VACATION and two, I really have this weird thing about putting out there on the internet where I am, when I'm going to be home, who I'm with, what we're doing, etc. It's one thing on facebook where you can limit who sees it--quite another on Twitter or any other public post, yes?

So, this is the first of many (I hope) this week since I took nearly 1000 photos in 10 days. No, no, relax--I'm not posting them ALL on here! Only about 800 of them. Is that better?

Now to start.....

IN THE BEGINNING

It was Little Man's first plane ride. I was pretty nervous, actually. My other two have been flying around the country since they were just weeks old so no big deal. Little Man is a tough sell however. You can never judge how he's going to react to a given situation. With him, I just kinda hold my breath and hope for the best, not the beast. I had been hyping this trip with him for weeks on end. The flight, the Space Needle, the drive, the family, everything. I like to use the term "adventure" with him. We don't go hiking we go on "adventure walks", things like that. So, at 4:00 a.m. on the 24th, we started our adventure. LM was very excited about the shuttle ride to the airport. I wasn't. Nothing like driving around in a 15 passenger van with six strangers and a driver who has NOT A CLUE where he is going for over an hour at that time of day. So, down a bunch of backroads we flew, the van the leaning to and fro. I'm just hoping that we're going to get to the airport, LM is having a blast. David and Jim have fallen asleep. Carlos and I are holding on for dear life. We arrive at the airport, whiz through security and the photo ops begin.

As the plane boards, I remind LM that we're going to be going REALLY fast at first. He insists on the window seat so he can see what's going on. He asks about our suitcases, he asks me about all the people on the ground and parts of the aircraft (nothing like having a jet mech as a mother) etc. Now, it's time for roll-out. We start going, he's excited. Whoosh!! Into the air, he says excitedly, "Mom! We are soooo high!!" as he looks out the window. I agree and smile, ahhhh....The best, not the beast. Within a minute, he's very quiet. Thinking he's getting nervous I ask, "Are you ok?" He looks at me with what seems like trepidation in his eyes and quietly says, "Yes mommy, I'm fine." I turn to speak to Carlos and when I look back here's what I see:

Sound asleep with his lifelong friend, Lammie. Lammie is a whole blog on his own, by the way.

THERE WAS A MIDDLE

So, we arrive in Seattle and head to my sister's house. We're somewhat tired from a three hour time difference. My sister Robbie is the hostess with the mostest. Consummate hostess. Food and beverages for all. She gave our tribe complete reign of the bottom floor of the house. So the next morning, we get up to go have dinner with one of my old skippers from the Navy. He flies for the FAA now and ironically works just a few minutes from Robbie's. After that, off to the Space Needle and downtown. We're gonna do the tourist thing, that's for sure and I'll get more into that later this week. After staying overnight with yet another sister, we drive back over the mountain to Seattle. It's Friday and the clan is arriving at Robbie's house. All 10 of us, with all children in tow. There was only one nephew missing out of everyone. First time in 13 years the sibs have been together, God knows how long for the entire family--if ever.

After a night of drunken debauchery and talk of old family rivalries and memories, we pack it in. Now all my kids travel very well. Like I said, they've been traveling since they were born. LM's first week of life he put 1000 miles under his belt and Jim and David have frequent flier memberships. But even then, as the next day kicks off with brunch and Mimosa's, this is what I see:

Yes, this is Jim and jetlag is setting in. Between flying and driving, the boys have put over 3200 miles behind them in two days. Ahhh, to sleep, to dream. By the way, this isn't where we're supposed to be sleeping. He didn't want to miss anything so grabbed a bag and just crashed on a sofa in the family room.

AND THEN, THE END

So, after four wonderful days with my family it's time to start the long drive to California. Again, doing the somewhat touristy thing. We stop at Multnomah Falls outside of Portland, OR and hang out for about an hour. LM and I wanted to do the six mile "adventure walk" to the lake but were shot down by those less willing. Of course, I was in capris and sandals, not exactly backwoods hiking gear.

As I said in an earlier post, we then headed to the HOT AS HELL Central Valley of California. Stayed four days with the in-laws and had a great time. So, now it's time to fly home. We say good-bye to Jim and David, albeit tearfully for me, and yet again are on the road at 4:00 a.m. to catch a flight out of Oakland.

We arrive in Baltimore on the 4th of July at 4:30 p.m. Enough time to buy some fireworks and beer (can't have one without the other, right?). We again get into Shuttle hell for the 30 mile drive home. Carlos and I are quietly excited as there is only one other passenger this time. LM is excited to be heading home to see Chico the Wonder Dog and his faithful sidekick Beau the Police Dog. For the first few miles, Little Man is all a chatter. He and I are pretty much inseperable so he's sitting by the window and just talking to the driver and the other passenger about our trip, leaving his brothers in California, blah, blah, blah. Stranger danger really has not sunk into this kid. About 15 minutes into the ride, he gets quiet and this is was Carlos sees:

Hard to imagine we did anything but sleep on this trip!!