Back from WA

From April 11-18th, H1, H3, and I took a trip out to Washington to visit family and friends. My parents flew out from OH at the same time and stayed with my dad's brother, Craig. We stayed with Bethany's family (my college roommate), whose house in conveniently located in the middle between my dad's side of the family and my mom's. Easter Sunday we went to church with Bethany's family, and then had a delicious lunch with them before heading to Uncle Craig and Aunt Peggy's for the afternoon and dinner there. My cousin, Eric, was there as well. We really enjoyed saying hello to everyone and introducing H3, who spent most of the evening on Peggy's lap! Monday afternoon we drove with my parents down to Lacey, where my mom's parents live. Her brother and sister came down as well (one from Orcas and one from Snoqualmie). It was the first time the three of them were together with my grandparents in over 30 years. We had a wonderful dinner and spent as much time catching up as we could. The last time I saw Dayton and Ally (cousins) was a couple hours at a McDonald's when I was 10. We're all pretty close in age though. My grandmother was able to talk a bit, which is more than we were expecting, and she recognized all of us and called us by name. That may seem like something small, but she has dementia and we never know who she will recognize or what she will remember. The nurses at the convelescent home said she talked about our visit all week, especially about seeing my mom and holding H3. She and my mom hadn't seen each other in 19 years.

On Wednesday we went up to Seattle, toured the Space Needle, and had lunch at the restaurant below. Thursday was a trip to Ellensburg to see where I was born and to visit some family friends. We stopped at Snoqualmie falls along the way. So beautiful! Friday morning we went back to Lacey to visit my grandparents again without everyone else around. Originally, my parents were going to come with us, but my mom came down with pneumonia and was hospitalized on Thursday night. They didn't release her until Saturday afternoo, just in time for their flight on Sunday morning. We flew out on Saturday morning. That's the basics of the trip in a nutshell (a very small nutshell...maybe pistachio shell?). I was going to blog a bit about what's happened since we got back, but maybe that will wait until tomorrow. Below are some pictures we took while out in WA (Facebook will have to cover the rest, since there were so many!).

My grandmother and Shannan

H1, H3, and I at Snoqualmie Falls

My parents, H1, H3, and I atop the Space Needle

At Pike's Place Fish Market

My grandparents, Cousins Ally and Dayton, H3 and me

4 generations

My mom, her siblings, and her parents

Bethany and I at a garden in Tacoma

Pretty garden!

Walking along Puget Sound in Tacoma

Aunt Peggy with H3

Bethany and H3 on Easter morning