fun times with friends

**Warning! Long post ahead!**

Last Sunday morning we headed down to Coos Bay to visit friends. It was our first time heading that direction since before Austin was born. They make the drive up here often and the last trip when they came in January for Playhouse Disney Live! here in Portland, we promised that we would come down to visit them next. We followed through on our promise and despite it being a short trip (left home Sunday morning and arrived home Monday night), it was well worth the 3 1/2 hour drive! We had so much fun and love to be with the Moore family any chance we can get!

The drive down was rather painless. We left at 8:30 in the morning right after breakfast. I had packed some fun things to do in the car...sticker books, cars, play phone, coloring book, etc. We tried to hold off as much as we could before we put in a DVD. I think we lasted a little over an hour before they were ready for a movie. The rest of the time went by rather quickly and with plenty of snacks to hand out and me being engrossed in The Shack, we made it to Coos Bay a little after noon.

The rest of the afternoon was spent eating lunch, playing in the backyard (the weather was beautiful!) and while the kiddos (that's for you, Jason) napped, the adults got to do some catching up. In the evening, another couple came over for dinner and we had the most amazing meal!! The homemade salsa that Jason made was to die for and I made him promise that he must bring that the next time they visit! So much for "watching what I eat". That didn't go over too well on the trip.

When it was time for bed, we decided the girls could sleep in sleeping bags on the floor in Chloe's room. It started out so fun and cute and so of course I took pictures of Mikayla's first sleepover, but the fun quickly wore off for us parents with all the giggling, running down the hall, "pretending" they were asleep, etc. that the girls continued with for over an hour! Finally, at 10:00, we had to give up our competitive game of Sequence to go tend to the girls. Mikayla ended up going back into our bedroom where Austin had been asleep for quite some time, and it took us another 45 minutes of her being "wired" before she finally dozed off (I had to lay down next to her on the floor for her to fall asleep...but she was out in 5 minutes or less once I finally got smart).


The next day started early. Austin decided that since he went to bed at the normal time, he had had enough sleep. We tried to keep him quiet and brought him into bed with us, but that didn't last long before I tried to sneak out of the room without him waking Mikayla. I had just made it to the door when all of the sudden he yells out "Issy!" (sissy) And, lo and behold, Mikayla pops up her head. Fun times when traveling, right?

We decided to head to the park by the lake in the morning and it was a beautiful day for a walk...

Austin (20 months) & Allyson (22 months)

Chloe (3 years) & Mikayla (3 years)

Enjoying a little snack after playing hard!

Kara & Jason

Austin sacked out on the way home, and we were able to transfer him to his bed where he slept for an hour and a half. I guess that's what happens when you wake up so stinkin' early!! The adults played another game of Sequence and enjoyed some lunch while the girls all played outside.

Right before taking off to leave for home, we went to the beach which was just a short 15 minutes away. The older girls had a wonderful time! They loved running to the water and filling up their buckets...doing it over and over.


Austin, on the other hand, not a fan of the beach. Just look at the disgusted expression on his face. And he has shoes on so it's not like the sand is even touching his feet! He literally would not even move.


All he wanted to do was be held. Does he not just look miserable? You would think we were somewhere awful. It's the beach for crying out loud!


And Allyson was the same way. She would not let her feet touch the sand. Too funny those sweet little kids!

On the way home we decided to stop for a treat at Dairy Queen where the kids shared a chocolate sundae. Now this may have been a mistake...a sugar rush on a road trip! Not smart.

Look at that icecream dripping down his front!
We had to pull over before we even left town to clean up the mess.

The ride home was definitely not painless...more like painful! Even a movie wasn't working! Mikayla had only slept for 15 minutes on our short ride to the beach. She didn't sleep a wink on our drive home, so I'm pretty sure she was exhausted especially after a late night. At one point, we had to pull over on the side of the road because Mikayla had to go to the bathroom so bad and there wasn't an exit for miles. So, I whipped out the old Pull Up and gave her permission to pee as she pleased. Sheesh! What a great mom! I guess you do what you gotta do!

Instead of hitting up the drive-thru, we decided to let the kids get out to play while Ryan and I ate and then they could have their dinner in the car. We knew this would put us home a little closer to bed time, but EVERYONE was getting antsy and we needed out of the car desperately. This was such a smart move for us! The kids had a great time running around in the McDonald's play structure for 20 minutes or so. And then they were happy to eat their hamburger and fries while we finished up the last hour of the drive. We pulled into the driveaway a little after 8:00 PM and didn't waste any time in getting the kids to bed. I think they both were asleep by 8:30. ...exhausted from the two days of playing hard!

It was a great trip! We had such a fun time (as always) with the Moores and can't wait until our next adventure!