Over the river and through the woods...

... to grandmother's house we go!!

We just got back from another whirlwind visit to the Tri-Cities to spend time with family. You know the phrase, "It's always something"? Well, that's how I feel about our visits to the Tri-Cities. Every time we plan a visit, something seems to come up that shortens the amount of time we are able to stay. Over Thanksgiving, I had class Tuesday night, preventing us for coming the whole week. At Christmas, it was the bad weather and closed I-84 that kept us from coming earlier. And this week, the kids had their swim lesson Tuesday night, causing us to have to leave earlier from our Spring Break vacation than we would have liked. We were still able to have a quality visit with family, but didn't really get a chance to see any friends this visit- always a bummer!

Friday night, we left town after Rick finished school and meeting with our tax guy and didn't pull into Kennewick until 10:30pm. We enjoyed a lazy Saturday morning at my mom's and I was able to go for a run in the chilly, rainy weather in my mom's neighborhood. After a quality naptime for the kids, we made our way to my dad's house for some of his World Famous BBQ burgers... alright, maybe not world famous, but we LOVE them! Great home cooked meals were a theme for the weekend... my mom made a great quiche for breakfast, we had homemade pizza for lunch, and then the cheeseburgers at my dad's. No wonder I gained a couple of pounds while we were gone!

Sunday morning, we hit the road early for a day trip to Coeur d'Alene, Idaho. The weather certainly could have been better (think rain, cold, more rain, and wind), but we enjoyed lunch at the Coeur d'Alene Resort and walking around some of the shops. Rick had never been there before and I'm hoping he and I will be able to go back when the weather is warmer and maybe even without the kids! :) On our way back to Kennewick, we made a stop at our good friends, Maggie and Casey's, for another yummy home-cooked meal. It was great to catch up with them and let the kids all play together.

Monday morning brought another road trip, this time to Walla Walla to have lunch with my grandma at Applebee's. Monday was actually the first day of the trip that I remembered to take out the camera!

Cooper with his great-grandma Clarette

Our attempt at a picture of all the cousins on my grandma's couch.
Mommy and Cooper
Cousin Cassidy and Cooper
Uncle Bryan and Cooper

Daddy and Riley
Tyson, playing around with grandma's shoes... again
Riley and Tyson enjoying their new favorite activity... coloring!

We hit the road on Tuesday morning in order to get back in time for the swim lesson, which went really well! Over the past few lessons, Tyson has regressed a little and wasn't doing very well in his floating (think sinking, swallowing water, and many tears). He is battling a cold and we were a little worried the lesson was going to be a huge disaster again this week, however, he surprised us all and did awesome! Back to his old self and floating like a champ! I guess having to cut our trip short was worth it after all. The cold is slowly making it's way through our family... Cooper had it first, after we returned from D.C., then Riley had it, now Tyson and I seem to be in the midst of it. Let's hope Rick can avoid it and avoid having it ruin his much needed spring break! The tired, achy feeling and runny nose is already getting old!

This morning, Rick and I complied a rather long To-Do list for the remainder of spring break, which should keep the both of us pretty busy. We're both in a spring cleaning/organizing kind of mood, so I'm looking forward to crossing things off the list, one-by-one. Hopefully we'll have some great "after" photos to post of a few of our list items! Now, if only the weather would start feeling a bit more like spring!