Anyway, we arrived in Richland on Tuesday, August 5 after listening to a Mary Higgins Clark book on CD the entire drive. We were happily greeted by Lydia's screams of joy and Pongo's sausage tail wagging. It was the best coming-home welcome ever. As we rested from our travels, Mom treated us to some of the essential oils she had recently purchased (which helped my headache a TON) and then the girls immediately started playing Dr. Mario on the Nintendo 64 we had brought with us haha. That night we just relaxed outside, enjoying the warm Tri-Cities summer weather, and caught up with my favorite Briebers. It was good to be home.
For the next couple of days, we continued with some of our favorite traditions, which included working on our annual summer play. This year Jenna decided to direct our own version of the movie "Frozen," which turned out great and was the first play Jordan participated in. But even though we FINALLY had a boy who could play the male roles, Jenna still had some of the girls play the guys in the movie haha. We ate at Casa Mia with Bri (another favorite tradition), played with Pongo at the park, ate Mom's delicious and famous homemade pizza, visited with the missionaries, watched good movies, etc. And just to make it like old times, Pongo even came into our room to sleep with me once Dad left for work in the morning. It was perfect.
Early Friday morning, we left for Silverwood wearing our specially hand-picked superhero shirts. I was way more excited for this year's trip since it was Jordan's first time there and I love going to theme parks with him. We were also very blessed this year because a family friend let us stay at their home in Coeur d'Alene so we wouldn't have to pay for a hotel, and then we didn't have to even pay for any tickets thanks to the elementary school and to the generosity of some extremely nice friends. So yes, we were very blessed when it came to our annual Silverwood trip and we enjoyed every minute of it. We rode almost every ride in the park, especially Aftershock (in honor of Alex and her favorite ride) and laughed our heads off as we got drenched in the water-shooting bumper boats thing (thank you Dad for ganging up on me the whole time). We stuffed our faces with ice cream, lost our voices screaming on the waterslides, got lots of compliments on our shirts and partied hard until the sun went down. We finally left the park around 10 pm, ordered pizza from Domino's (another tradition), and fell asleep pretty quickly haha. It was a busy and extremely fun day for all of us.
On Saturday we began our annual shopping trip in Spokane and literally shopped for 6 hours straight. I think we could all say it was a successful and crazy day (especially since I was pretty sure I had a small concussion from all of the rollercoasters the day before), and we all came away with quite a few new outfits. We found lots of good clearance sales and deals, ate lunch at the food court, and I even found some clothes I felt good in, which I think was the best success of the weekend (if you've been keeping up with my latest frustrations then you'll understand why). We got home from Spokane around 9 pm, sorted through all of our purchases, and decided to go to Applebee's for late night appetizers (another favorite traditions). It was such a great weekend.
One of my favorite parts about visiting Washington is going to church on Sunday because I absolutely LOVE the Duportail Ward. It's really hard to beat those people because they are one of a kind and they feel like family. Richland wards are the best, hands down. We spent the rest of the Sabbath as usual, taking naps, watching home videos and playing games together.
Monday was filled with more traditions like eating lunch at Shang Hai, our favorite Chinese restaurant ever. In fact, we eat there as a family so much that the owners and workers know who we are haha. Man I'm drooling just writing about it. If you're reading this and you live in the Tri-Cities, please go to Kennewick and eat some of their General Tso chicken for me. Thanks. After that we did some shopping at Target (since the one in Idaho Falls doesn't even compare) and then went to a neighborhood party to say goodbye to the Becker family. For Family Home Evening, we got together with the Hunt's so they could share with us their recent trip to Missouri and church history tours. They also taught us a crazy fun card game---Lucky Unders---which we love to play now. Speaking of the Hunt family, please continue to pray for them and for AJ. I'm sure they could use as much love and support and faith as possible in this time of trial. We love you Hunt family!
Well, that just about wraps up our adventures in Washington. As usual, the trip was much too short but very much enjoyed. From my experience, some of the best parts of life are the little traditions we create with our friends and family and then continuing those traditions and make memories that last forever. Washington will always have a special place in my heart for many reasons (thank you Jordan for being one of them) and I can't wait to go back!
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