Tourist for a day

Today we did the touristy thing....and took a day trip over the mountains!! The destination: Leavenworth, WA....about a little over an hour from here....perfect day trip length!! Enough for Dad to get a nap in each way!! :) He IS old ya know!!!

The way up Samantha was absolutely amazed to see snow and kept saying "no, no, no" her version of snow...it seemed like every inch she saw, she pointed out! It was cute...for the first minute...after that we had to distract her!



We stopped at one of our favourite places on the way up...The Alps shop, which has all kinds of homemade goodies...hot sauces, dipping sauces, syrups and jams. When we arrived we noticed right away that the outside got a face lift....and the inside too once we were in....come to find out they had a fire last year, and totally rebuilt....it used to be this quirky store with all kinds of collectible dolls, odd old toys, bird houses and clocks galore...and then downstairs they had the kitchen and all the food products....now, its just food and bird houses....kind of disappointing.



We got back in the truck with the orange gum drop slices that DJ asked to have...he carried them ever so carefully in his tightly fisted hand too...and drove on to Leavenworth. It was about 12:30 or so when we arrived, so we did some window looking and walking thru some of the shops. Its been about 3 years since we'd been up there, so nothing much had changed shopping wise...but still fun to look! Mom got some kind of chutney and that's it.

We got back in the truck in search of a Wendy's as my dad has had a hankering for their spicy chicken nuggets since Jake mentioned them last Saturday. We headed east and found nothing. Instead, we ended up in Cashmere at this AMAZING BBQ joint! What a feast we all had!!! Absolutely delicious!!! I'm still lickin my chops! After lunch we ran the kids energy a bit and took them to a park we'd seen driving around...they LOVED it!!! Samantha absolutely adores the swing, but I think we changed her mind with the slide they had....she'd climb up it with me trailing behind her, and then she'd slide down it to Howie giggling the whole time! Then she'd rung back to me and climb up. I think she did this 20 times before we decided to leave.



After that we went in search of a place called Aplets and Cotlets....where they make an amazing confection that similar to Turkish Delight. The place wasn't operating today as its their slow season, but we still got a free tour and had everything explained to us....really neat to see too! The samples were yummy! Mom got a sampler pack and some bars to take home. I already have 4 boxes in the hall closet, so when we got home I gave her one.



I think it was about 3:30 when we got back in the truck to head home...at which point it took Samantha 25 minutes to fall asleep (about the time she'd normally be waking up!) and DJ followed suit shortly after. Once I turned the movie off, it was nice and quiet and Dad and I fell asleep in the back seat!



We got back home at 5:30 and DJ was quite anxious to play outside with Kristopher, who was ready to greet him! The rest of us came inside to relax and decide what to do for dinner. Dad won again with Teriyaki...but I chose something different...all of us did except dad! While everyone sat around, I took off to pick it up.


After the kids were in bed, we watched American Idol and just enjoyed reclining! I think I'm done nursing SamSam...yesterday we weren't here at nap time, so she just fell asleep for my mom....and last nite she didn't ask to nurse, but rather for a sippy cup...today's nap was in the truck...and so tonite at bed time I gave her another sippy. She asked for it a couple times but I was able to distract her and get her to forget about it. Could it be...the boobs are mine again!?!?!?



Til next time...ciao!



P.S. my bottom 2 pick for AI is Andrew and Tim with Tim going home...