We're home! Well sort of...

Damon and I are home, but the kids are still gone. The house is so quiet. The kids are in St. George, UT with their grandparents. Hopefully this week will be very productive. This is going to be a long post. We did so much and I haven't posted in a week. My apologies.

The rest off our trip was great. We had so much fun seeing our friends in Oregon. The kids were happy. Damon got right back in to his old schedule of early morning basketball, late night volleyball and a couple rounds of golf a week. He even got some naps in. It was his idea of a perfect vacation. He even had time to do pretty princess stuff with Lily.

I am just really happy to be out of the car and am going to try to avoid it as much as possible this week. We finished the rest of our 2800+ miles road trip late last night. The most interesting thing we saw was in the Cajon Pass. On the side of the road a semi truck as well as its trailer was on fire. The cab was actually melted. Some where in South Eastern Oregon Damon saw big horn sheep on the side of the road. I missed it because my nose was buried in a book. We saw lots of lightening once we hit Nevada and had the smell of Desert rain follow us the rest of the way home. I miss that smell.

Monday we had a picnic at the park where our old friends, who were in town, brought their families and we all relaxed and caught up. The kids played really well together. It was almost like they hadn't been apart for 4 years.

Tuesday we went to the Oregon Zoo. They are adding a lot of great things and it was fun to go back and see all the changes. My most favorite part was the Bald Eagle exhibit. They are very beautiful. The hippos made for a great show this time. We only used to see their rear ends. They walked around and jumped into the water for us. After the zoo the kids got to ride home on the max train. That is the trolley system that runs all around Portland and the suburbs.

Wednesday found us traveling out to the Gorge. I have driven through that area lots of times, but have never stopped to enjoy the hiking and the waterfalls. We were able to enjoy both as well as the fish hatchery and the beautiful views of the Columbia River. The kids were so exhausted by the end of our excursion. We were lucky to have Noah's friend, Jonah, join us that day. At the fish hatchery we were able to feed the rainbow trout and see strugeon that were over 400 lbs and 10 feet long. Now that's a big fish.

Also on Wednesday we had our late night girls night at Applebee's. The girls had a great time. I lived through so much with these girls and we struggled through the joys of early parenthood. I can say that I have learned something from each one of them and I am truly blessed to call them my friends.

Thursday was our last day there and we ran around and enjoyed sales tax free shopping. The kids got their pictures taken. I bought a laptop. Yea!! The last thing we did was go out to dinner with some great friends. The 6 of us always went out together. It was hard to say goodbye that night.

Damon kept driving past our friend's turn to get to their house and ended up on the street we turned on to get to our old house. I found that particularly funny. It was weird seeing our old house. Our swing set is still up. They are using the garden box I built and our wheel barrel is still out in the back. I miss that house, but I don't think I would move back to it.

Friday brought us a long 12 hour drive from Portland to Salt Lake city. That was exhausting, but the kids did well and the drive was well worth it. I was able to see my college roommate who was also in town. We went out that night just us and then Saturday morning we went out with our families. Right afterwards we left and headed to St. George and then on to San Diego.

We stopped in Baker, CA to get gas, change drives and eat. They had a Bob's Big Boy. Damon was so happy. They even have the same dessert they used to. Damon thought he had died and gone to heaven. I just thought I had died because it was so humid there.

It was a great family vacation. Next year we will NOT be going on a road trip.