Short Vacation With Nikki

We haven't hardly seen Nikki since she moved to Tacoma almost 3 years ago because our schedules just never lined up. Curtis and I decided it was finally time to make something happen so that we could spend some time with her. He took two days off of work and rented a house through VRBO over in western Washington about an hour north of Tacoma in Hoodsport. When we were down in Nampa for Spring break I had asked my mother-in-law if they would be willing to come that weekend to help out with the other kids at our house and she said they could. Not only did we want to spend a couple of days with Nikki, but both Curtis and I had to turn around and drive to Idaho for different reasons right after we got back. I needed to take Garrett to his cardiologist appointment and Curtis has work stuff going on in Boise.

We left Thursday morning on May 1st to drive to Tacoma and pick Nikki up. We stopped for lunch at a Sushi place called Sumo Sushi & Grill AYCE that Curtis really wanted to go to. Nikki and Curtis like sushi but I don't. The only reason I agreed was because they had a few other options on their menu that I would like such as teriyaki chicken.  However, I did try one sushi that had mango on top. Yeah, still not a fan. It was fun because they have these robots that bring your food out to you, but I didn't get a picture. They also had a buffet of items that you could walk up and get. After stuffing ourselves we drove up to Hoodsport. It was a beautiful drive. Our VRBO was close to the Hood Canal (not like an irrigation canal). 

The view from the dining room.

The living room where we watched two of the Twilight movies.

Small triangular kitchen.

The Master bedroom.

The other bedroom where Nikki slept.

Our view from the back porch. That's Hood Canal.

Enjoying the back porch.

We were all pretty tired and it was evening by the time we got there so we just rested for awhile. Then Curtis and I went to the grocery store in town to get some food while Nikki kept sleeping. Her meds that she started taking recently make her tired. We bought some goodies to eat for while watched the first Twilight movie. We're only a few hours away from Forks, where the movie/books are based on. They happened to have the extended versions of the first 3 movies, so we watched the 1st one on that first night. We bought microwave popcorn, Twix candy bars, and pecan cookies. The popcorn did not pop well in their tiny microwave since it couldn't turn properly. I burned half of the first bag. The secone one I took out earlier but it had a lot of seeds that didn't pop. We ate what we could.

The next morning we slept in a bit, but Nikki slept in a long time. We finally had to wake her up around 10 or so if we wanted to have time to go do something. Curtis did some searching on his phone and found a viewpoint called Hurricane Ridge and a waterfall that had a short hike called Sol Duc Falls. We decided to go to Hurricane Ridge first and ended up paying $30 for a pass because it was a national forest. Luckily, that also got us into the falls as well since it was part of the same national forest. It took about 3 hours to drive from Hoodsport to Hurricane Ridge, but it was a scenic drive. We didn't have to hike at all to get to this look out. I originally thought we would, but you just drive right up and park.

It was a very beautiful view!

We walked over some snow and up a short path in the opposite direction to see a different side. It was also very windy up there as you can see my hair blowing back. It was a little chilly but not too bad. I wore two jackets.

We saw lots of deer. There were 8 in this group, and they didn't seem very scared.

On the drive back down we saw people pulled over looking at something, so we stopped in the middle of the road (since no one was behind us) and saw what they were looking at, black bears! It was a mamma and two cubs climbing up the hill. This is our first time seeing black bears in person in the wild. That was probably the highlight of that excursion.

We did stop at another viewpoint on the way down as well. There were a couple of deer walking in that area also. 

This helped us know what we were looking at, parts of Washington and parts of Canada.

We drove back down to Port Angeles to get some lunch to eat at Subway. I wanted to prove that we had been in Port Angeles so after we ate and were driving toward the waterfalls, I saw a sign while at a stop light and took a picture. It's not much, but it's proof. Ha ha

By the time we headed up the other side of the mountain to find the waterfalls, the clouds started to roll in and it began to rain. It came down hard sometimes, but we just kept driving. At one point, Nikki and I stuck our hands out the windows to feel the rain. I got a snap shot of that.

It was still raining when we pulled up to the head of the trail but what do you expect when you're in a rainforest? So, we went on the hike anyway. I did have a small umbrella with us and Nikki wanted to use it, so she carried it. 

For some reason, this sign had the name spelled differently. Soleduck instead of Sol Duc.

This big stump had a tree growing out of it.

Covered in moss and looked cool.

There was a shelter where you could stop to get out of the rain. It was built a long time ago.

By the time we got here it wasn't raining much.

Looking down from the bridge where the water rushes through after the falls. It is so narrow down there!

View of the falls from the bridge.

Moved around to the side to get a head on view.

Right at the end of the hike back to the van, Nikki found the perfect hiking stick. A little late for that, lol!

We wanted to go all the way to Forks, but we just didn't have the time. It is about an hour from Port Angeles, and we had a 3-hour drive back to our VRBO as it was. It was about 8:30pm when we made it back and watched the 3rd Twilight movie. (We skipped the 2nd one.) The next morning we woke up a little earlier since we had to get out by 10am. We drove back to Tacoma and Nikki showed us this mini mall called Freighthouse Square. It was originally built in 1909 for the train station but now has lots of little shops inside and a food court. Curtis got a spicy curry from an Indian place while Nikki and I shared some cod fish and chips and shrimp. It was pretty tasty.

We drove Nikki back to her apartment and said our goodbyes. I think we were all adventured out by then and just ready to go home. We got home around 4:30, which was definitely earlier than we thought we would be. I think Nikki really enjoyed our little trip even though she slept a lot. School started for her that next Monday, the 5th, and I'm sure it helped give her a little boost to finish her last semester before graduating. It sounds like she will come live with us for a little while after she graduates, at least until she can find a good job somewhere. She's hoping for animation or maybe graphic design.

Charlotte Turns 11!

Charlotte has been talking about her birthday for months, as usual, and how excited she was for her birthday to come. She really wanted her own Gabb phone like what the boys have but she also had a list of other things she wanted. I can tell you that she received all of the items she asked for EXCEPT the phone and phone accessories. We told her we weren't ready for her to have a phone yet and weren't sure when we would be. For now, the girls will still share the Gabb watch. We may even get her a Gabb watch if we find another deal where we can get it for free like last year. 

Anyway, to kick off her birthday weekend she was able to take donuts to school to share with her class on Friday the 25th of April (the day before her actual birthday). She chose to take Old Fashioned, which are my favorite. It also happened to be Hawaiian day at the girl's school. I wanted them to have something to wear for that occasion because it would be fun and I knew they could wear the clothes other days as well, so I bought them Hawaiian outfits. I found the clothes at Walmart and the leis at Dollar Tree.

Alice loves dresses!

I like to make a special breakfast for the kids on their birthdays and this time Charlotte asked for French Toast Bake, the recipe I got from our Christmas party. The night before Curtis and I prepared it in the pan so that all I had to do in the morning was add the crumb topping and put it in the oven. She loved it!

Enjoying her breakfast and getting ready to open her first gift, from Alice. Alice was really excited to give it to her and didn't want to wait until later.

The gift was a Lego set from Harry Potter. Hedwig the owl at Privet Drive.

We woke up early that morning so that we could do Charlotte's early breakfast and then the girls and I went to Richland to do the annual Clot-Trot. It's a free race to bring awareness to blood disorders. Bonnie and Sam Smith from our ward helped to put it together because the disorders run in their family. This was the 18th year for them to do it. We helped volunteer last year but this time the girls and I did the actual race. You could choose from the 1-mile or the 5K (just over 3 miles). At first the girls wanted to do the 5K, but I knew that would be too much for them and they didn't realize how long it was, so I told them we would do the 1-mile. And I'm so glad I did too because I tweaked my back that morning when pushing in the Happy Birthday yard sign into the dry ground (no sprinklers yet). I had to walk most of the way and the girls went way ahead of me. Alice did come back and walk with me for at least half of the race. I was able to jog a little bit a couple of times, one of them right at the end. Afterwards, they had prizes for the people whose numbers were circled on their papers and mine was one of them. I told the girls to choose for me, and they ended up getting these 3 little cute glass ladybugs. And I said that was perfect, one for each of us! And they would make cute little decorations all summer long. They're about the size of a dime or a penny. (I didn't get a picture yet)

While walking back to the car the girls saw this workout area in the park and had a little fun.

Of course this is not the correct way to use these, ha ha!

Bonnie knew that it was Charlotte's birthday because I had told her and she gave her a coupon for a free ice cream at the shop right by the park. It's the Amethyst Creamery; the same one Curtis and I went to for our anniversary two years ago. The ice cream shop is family owned, and they have many gems and crystals on display and for sale. Both of the girls went with strawberry ice cream, but Alice also got a bit of vanilla as part of her scoop. I passed on a cone this time because it was a little early in the day for me to want ice cream.

Charlotte did not have a friends party this year because she had one last year, but we did decide that she could invite a friend to go see the Minecraft movie with us. Charlotte really wanted to see that movie. Because we were going to the 1:00 show and Jack didn't get home from his choral practice until 12:30 we decided we needed to wait to do her birthday celebration after the movie. It was definitely not my kind of movie. It was made by the same director that did Napoleon Dynamite. I was probably the only one that didn't enjoy the movie. Even Curtis was laughing it up in the theater. I was only too happy to have an excuse to leave the movie when the girls were ready for a refill on popcorn and root beer, lol. 

After the movie we came back home and did the celebrating. We all filled up on popcorn, so that was our lunch. Ha ha! Charlotte wanted donuts for her cake also, so we bought two different flavors and I stacked them up. And when we had bought Hawaiian stuff at the Dollar Tree, we bought these little umbrellas and stuck them in her donuts.

Her gift from Gma Vernie and Gpa Tony. A cute card, some gum and money in a homemade paper purse. Her friend folded up the money, so it looked like a heart, I think.

Curtis was joking that she was opening his missing package because his name was on it from Amazon.

She received a Cirkul water bottle and a package of flavor cartridges to go with it. Also, the Lego set, a dark blue hoodie, a larger 3D printed dragon that's 18 inches long, a Harry Potter secret diary with invisible ink, a sign language book (since hers went missing awhile ago) and this year she wanted Tim Tams for her birthday treat/snack.

Charlotte's friend, Riley and of course Charlotte and Alice.

Curtis getting festive with leis and Garrett in the background.

A picture with mom.

The sign that tweaked my back that morning.

She loves her dragon so much that she had to have it in the picture too hanging on the B.

The missionaries saw the birthday sign in our yard and then texted me to ask whose birthday it was and what's their favorite drink. They brought her a root beer.

We were doing a silly picture and then Milo jumped up to lick Elder Webster. It was pretty funny.

Charlotte was a little disappointed to not get a Gabb Phone yet, but she was pretty happy about all the other things she did receive and said it was a really good birthday. We ended the night with watching a movie. We had multiple movies lined up as possibilities to watch and it ended up being Jurassic Park. Believe it or not, my girls like watching that movie. However, it was getting late and I was worried about them getting nightmares. Thankfully Alice fell asleep for most of the movie and Charlotte did not have any nightmares. 

And the very next day we had the elders over for dinner to have sliders and then all of us went over to the McShane's house to be a part of Dallin opening his mission call. Dallin is one of Garrett's closest friends here. Dallin wanted to go to Ireland, but instead was called to the Ogden, Utah mission! He'll start July 28th. It made Garrett more anxious to get his papers turned in. We're working on it! Anyway, it was a good birthday weekend for Charlotte!