Me and the kids have been going home for a few weeks every summer to visit my family. This year since we can actually drive there now, we decided to plan a surprise visit. My parents and my sister knew, but we didn’t tell my sister’s kids that we were coming. Our initial plans got delayed which meant we would be arriving the weekend of my nephew Ethan’s birthday. Even though Erich wasn’t going to be able to stay with us for the two weeks, he made the 15 hour drive from Wyoming to Washington with us, stopping to visit some old friends in Idaho. They are the kind of friends you can not see for years, but you can pick up right where you left off. So fun to see friendly faces while traveling. Anyways, we arrived just in time for Ethan’s birthday dinner. We pulled into the driveway with our noisy F350 that sounds like a jet coming in for a landing and the kids hopped out. My sister’s kids just stared at us, not believing it was real. It was like they recognized us, but knew it was impossible that we were there, so there was confusion all over their faces. It was awesome. The next day Erich flew back to Wyoming and we headed to Eastern Washington to join my sister’s family on Ethan’s birthday camping trip to Lincoln Rock. I was super blessed by my sister who planned and packed enough food to feed both our families and for my brother-in-law who stepped in to help out with Micah, even when he was being a bear and most guys would’ve said “Not my kid,” and walked away. My parents joined us for a day and it was so much fun just to hang out with family. After camping we enjoyed staying at Papa and Nana’s house for the rest of the visit and spent our days between there and my sister’s house, one mile down the road. We also got to see my brother and his wife and their new baby girl. We also made a trip out to Camano Island State Park with my grandma for some driftwood fort building, one of my kids’ favorite summer traditions. Erich rejoined us after two weeks to make the trek back to Wyoming. How superhero is that?! Work, work, work, while we play, and then fly 7 hours only to hop in the truck and drive 15 hours home to work again? He deserves a super dad award of some sort. Anyways, no life lessons this week, just family, fun and feeling thankful to be married to superman.
Wander More 