Day 3

What a crappy night in a crappy hotel. At least we got a crappy breakfast to go with it! We were all still hungry after our "hot breakfast" so we went to McDonald's an hung out for a while waiting for Shirley Ann and Wayne to get out of church. We all played a bean game the Hamblin's have while the kids played in the play place. We sipped on pop and ate cheese burgers. It was actually pretty fun. Then it was off to visit family.

We spent the afternoon at Shirley Ann and Wayne's house. Weldon and Julie met us there, so we got to see Jade for the first time. She is SO cute!!! Jessi just looked way too comfortable and natural holding her. We visited with grandma for a while, and had fun talking to her about her youth. Jeff and Jessi were really good playing with the little kids. The girls had a ton of fun putting flowers in Jeff's hair, and making up Jessi "pretty".










We ate sandwiches for lunch and then (who knows who idea this was!!) we roasted hot dogs in 100 degree weather!! Hot!!!! Then it was off to Amy and Scott's house.

Day 4

Today was a just hang out day. Aaron and Jeff were helping Scott demolish the kitchen wall to put in a sliding glass door out to the new deck. While they did this Jess and I went outside and played on the trampoline with Marylinn. We put a sprinkler underneath it and played for a long time. It was fun to pretend to be a kid again for a while!!!

After a while, Amy and I went shopping to get her out of the house. It's hard watching your house being torn apart!!! I needed some new swim shorts anyway. It was fun just hanging out with her and shopping. That's something we never get to do.

We rented Jumpers and watched it after dinner. Not a bad flick considering the cast.

Tyler had fun giving Jess a makeover. He's painting her toes here :o)

Day 5

Aaron, Jeff and Scott spent the morning finishing up getting the sliding glass door in. Amy was kind of freaking out watching her house be destroyed, and honestly they were making a mess. So, her, Jessi and I took the kids to the park for the morning. It was fun to be outside out of the mess. And, when we got home, the door was in! They did a great job.

After lunch everyone decided last minute to go to the movies to see the hulk. We were all just going to pile in our car and go. Everyone was in, and ready, I turned the key - nothing!! I could not get the key to turn. It was totally stuck. No nothing. Zip. Nada. Crap!!!!!! Well, no time to figure it out, so we got out, piled in a different car and were off to the movies!

The movie was actually great. It was done really well, the plot was great, and the CGI was done way better than the first movie. We all really enjoyed it a lot!!

Once we got back to the house, I tried the key again. Still nothing. It was totally jammed. Aaron tried putting graphite in to loosen it up, but nothing. Great, now we have a major issue to deal with before we can even go home. Way to spend a vacation. But, there was nothing we could do about it until morning, so we took off with Amy and Scotts friend and went jet skiing. Way fun. Non of us had ever done it before, and we all had a blast!! Thanks Jeremy for the fun time!!!

Day 6

Today was Scott's last day off. Unfortunately we spent the morning trying to get our car fixed. Of course the Hamblins didn't want it fixed, because that would mean we would have to stay at their house longer, but I certainly didn't want THAT hanging over my head the whole rest of the vacation!! Besides, I don't think Scott minded the extra gaming time with Jeff!

Here was the whole ordeal, summed up. We called the dealer, who told us to call a locksmith. The locksmith told us before he could do any work he needed a key code from the dealer. The dealer said they could not give out the key code without the title to the care for proof of ownership. Ugh - that's at home in the fire safe box. Ok, call the dealer we bought it from in Renton, they should have us on file. Talk about unhelpful!!! They gave us such a runaround it was pathetic. In the mean time, while Aaron sat on hold with the dealer at home, I re-called the dealer in Logan. I explained that we were on vacation, the title was at home, but we had the registration. Was that good enough? Sure, if you have your insurance card and drivers license. check!! Aaron hung up on the dealer at home, and off we went to the dealer in Logan. Guess what - no key code!! Are you frickin kidding me?! The original dealer didn't register it.

The locksmith also told us that if they needed to replace the ignition switch, they did not have the part, and we needed to call around and find one. We called everywhere and no one had it. The only way to get our hands on one was to order one through the dealer. How long was that going to take. We were begining to think we were going to be stuck in Logan forever. I think the only ones stressed over that were Aaron and I.

VERY long story short, the locksmith tore apart the steering column and took out the ignition switch and took our key. He figured out the key code himself, was able to fixe the switch instead of having to replace it, made us two new keys and put it all back together for us. And the rub, it all cost about the same as it would have to just buy two of the keys here at home. I guess a blessing in disguise since we needed new keys anyway. Man, those electronic keys are expensive!!!

While the locksmith was hard at work trying to fix our car, we all went to the aquatics center to try and cool off and relax. It was nice just hanging out in the water!! It's a fun little water park that is right there in Logan. I think Amy and the kids spend a lot of time there in the summers.

Later that evening we rented Vantage Point. We had heard a lot of bad things about this movie, so we weren't sure what to expect. We all really liked it a lot. I'm not sure what other people were seeing, but we all had fun trying to figure things out and guess the "who done it". I guess it's just how you like watching movies, but we like to sit around and try to figure out the ending. It was fun!

Day 7

Scott had to go back to work today, so it was a pretty low key day. We sat around all morning enjoying the new deck. Jess and I played cards, and everyone else just chilled. It was nice to just sit and relax after the super stressful day yesterday!

In the afternoon we went to the rec center and played racquetball. Of course I dominated everyone, but what you gonna do? (Actually, I was just having a good day. Aaron and I are usually very evenly matched). Marylinn wanted to go to the bakery for a treat, so we sat around there for a while too.

We then went home to Christen the new deck with it's first BBQ! Poor Aaron stood out there in the blazing heat grilling the hamburgers and hot dogs while I sat in the air conditioned house making jojos. Scott come home for his lunch break to eat with us. A huge advantage to living in a small community, everything is just uber close!


Later that evening we met Scott at his work to watch the town fireworks. Why they do them on the 3rd instead of the 4th is a mystery to me, but whatever. Tyler freaked out, so Amy had to sit in the car with him the whole time.

When we got home, we stayed up way to late watching "The Others", but that's what vacation is all about - right?

Day 8 - 4th of July!

We got up early today to head out to Weldon's. We were invited over for a big 4th of July Breakfast. Unfortunately I forgot my camera, so I didn't get any pictures of the baby. I didn't get to see her really anyway. We were too busy visiting with Weldon.

Weldon got his camp stove out and made up a great omelet bar. They were really yummy!! And, Julie made up a great coffee cake that Jeff is dying for the recipe for. It was very good, and we really enjoyed just sitting outside visiting.

After breakfast, Jeff, Amy, Marylinn, Tyler and I walked down to the nearest gas station for soda. Amy needed her fix, and it was a nice walk. Tyler does love to explore every blade of grass for bugs on the way though. Thank goodness we weren't in a hurry!! It was kind of cute!

After a while Weldon took us to see his new project. He likes to buy fixer-uper houses to work on. Buy them cheap, sell them for a profit. He is extremely talented at this and has already paid off his barber shop, and is saving for the house they want to build for themselves. Too bad he lives so far away, or I would pay him for some of that talent in my house! Oh well, I guess I can just learn myself.

We had to leave a bit early to meet Scott for lunch. He had to work again today, and didn't get to come to Weldon's house with us. We met him at Angie's, a restaurant in Logan. We then all went back to the house and took naps. I love naps!

That evening we got together with the neighborhood to share fireworks. That was an interesting experience. We were starving, because we wanted to wait for Scott to get off work to eat with him. So, we sat around watching while eating pizza. The interesting part was you had all of these families "doing fireworks together" but what it really was was the dad doing fireworks while pacifying the kids with sparklers. Poor Marylinn accidentally set the neighbors bush and grass on fire and I think there were several kids, including Tyler, who got burned. I think Amy and Scott were getting tired of the way the "neighborhood" fireworks were going, and decided to go home. I think they'll do it on their own next year, and let their kids be more involved, and easier to watch without 20 other kids around. We just went back to the house for brownies and hung out before we had to leave in the morning.

Day 9

The drive home is never fun! It's not as bad going, because you know you have your whole vacation to look forward to, and the excitement of seeing each other, but the ride back sucks! Vacation over, you're sad to leave family, and it's just so long!

Amy and Scott did their best to talk us into staying longer, but it was a no go. Aaron really wanted a day at home before having to go back to work. It was probably a good thing we didn't stay anyway. I pretty much spent the whole day with a sore throat feeling like crap in the back of the car with my book.

We did have one interesting adventure on the way home though that got all of our pulses racing. Just as we were heading out of Yakima Aaron started freaking out about a motorcyclist in front of us. He was acting very strange. So, we all started paying attention to him. We think he was drunk or hight or something. He was weaving back and forth in the lanes, sanding up on the foot rests with no hands, leaning over and touching the ground, putting his feet on the ground all while going between 80 and 100 miles per hour at any given time. I was so freaked out that I told Aaron not to even get close to him. The last thing I wanted was for my kids to see the idiot spill right in front of us and have their dad run over him with the car! It got bad enough that I called 911 and reported him as a drunk driver. I don't know what ever came of that, if anything, but I at least felt like I did my part. He kept going, we pulled over for gas, so that was the end of him. We didn't see a carcass on the side of the road, so I guess he made it wherever he was going.

The biggest bummer was driving into the pass. We spent all week with sunny, 90+ degree weather and were really liking it! Get to the pass to clouds and rain. Welcome home to Seattle! Can't wait for our next rendezvous with the Hamblins!!!!!