washington fun...

goodness. how do i sum up our fantastic trip to washington? we flew up there to help out aunt nancy with wedding stuff. her youngest son, craig, got married while we were up there and we were lucky enough to be up there for the big day. aunt nancy was in charge of the rehearsal dinner and my family (me, kelsey, austin, mom & dad) were her people... we were the hired help for the whole shebang. it turned out beautiful, ps. we also got some real vacation time in there too. we got to go the coast and boating on the river and we took a drive on the old highway to see the waterfalls. we also got to have a real fourth of july... complete with fireworks... how does it get any better than that? sigh... it was a good trip. we had a great time seeing our cousins and aunts and uncles.

blogging this much stuff is a little daunting... so i just made collages of everything. haha... so here we go....

we really did have a great 4th of july. we had a little family bbq and shot off a butt ton of fireworks (we figured it was a few hundred dollars worth). austin, my favorite little pyro of a brother, was having so much fun! i honestly don't remember the last time we were up in washington for the 4th... austin hasn't really ever had a real 4th of july. he loved being able to shoot them off in the front yard... we just don't get that here in the good ol' AZ.

we also got to go to the rheinlander... our favorite german restaurant in portland. it's definitely a family tradition now.... and we haven't been in years. every time we go, we get our favorite meal... the shnitzel cordon bleu. mmmm!!

we also, thankfully, got a day to go visit the coast. we ate lunch at mo's and then meandered down to seaside to visit the aquarium. it's a hands on aquarium... we got to touch starfish and sea cucumbers and hermit crabs and sea anemones. it was neat. we dipped our toes in the ocean and ran back out... the water is so cold! it was a perfect day at the coast though... it didn't even rain! and naturally we made a trip to the tillamook cheese factory for some squeeky cheese and ice cream.

we also made it to the waterfalls. we took a drive up the old highway and stopped at all the waterfalls (except 1)... it was just dad, kelsey, austin & me, but we had such a fun trip! were stopped at crown point vista... and the vista house (the building) was open. i don't remember it ever being open. it was cool to go inside. we were blessed with beautiful weather again... it was another perfect day.

that afternoon was craig and cassie's wedding. congratulations! (this is the happy bride and groom with isabel and scarlett... jason and laurel's girls.)

it's also tradition to go on a boat ride on the columbia river with uncle dan. he has a super fun boat and it's always a great few hours spent together. we went down to the dam and saw crown point vista and the waterfalls that we had visited a few days before. this day was a little cooler... kelsey and i were both in 2 jackets in the middle of summer! wow! 

what a fantastic trip it was. and now we are back in our warm arizona sun... i have to admit, i don't miss having to wear jackets. lol... :)