Spokane: long drive, worth every second

Brooklyn and I had our first girl's weekend of the summer. We took off last Friday for Spokane to visit my dear friend Erin and Brooklyn's friend Wes, who have known e/o since they were 15 months. Erin's husband Andy hung with Tatem (whose Benny's age) so we could get crazy on the town just the 4 of us. It was so liberating to only be in charge of ONE child, and to throw caution to the wind and not stress schedule or nap. A BIG thank you to Andy for being such a trooper and helping so much.

First, if you have never been to Spokane, you must go. It reminds me so much of Central Oregon in so many ways, lot's of outdoor activities, small town feel, beautiful scenery, the river running right through downtown. Adorable city, I fell in love immediately.

We got in like I said mid-day Friday and decided to just chill. The kid's immediately fell back into the rhythm of playing great together and Wes had a blast showing off his new digs to Brooklyn. We played in the hose, scootered, and they made us a wonderful dinner Friday night (thank you so much you guys!) Then we headed to their neighborhood ice cream shop called "the scoop" for some tastiness and live music.

Saturday was busy! We went to the rose garden's, the Japanese gardens, had a great lunch right in the middle of all of it at a great sandwich shop. Then headed back to their house and both kids napped (unheard of these days) so Erin and I capitalized on the rare quietness and went to get coffee and pedicures. Such a treat.



After naps we hit the road again and headed to the carousel that is right on the river front. To say Brooklyn was excited would be an understatement. Tatem and Andy came with us for this, and I loved watching little T's face light up at the horses. All three of them were in hog heaven. 

sweet friends



Then we headed to pizza at the legendary "flying goat" and it lived up to the hype. mmmmmm.
It's funny, we took our time eating, the kids colored, got a little antsy, but for the most part Erin and I were able to just sit, enjoy our food and talk. This is a luxury, the exception, not the rule these days for both of us. The babies are...well...babies, and they don't like to sit still, so we don't enjoy meals sitting down very often. It was truly nice. So after dinner we decided "what the heck" let's take the kids to another park. I'm so glad we did because this ended up being my very favorite part of the whole weekend. It was 7pm, but really hot out, so when the kids asked if they could go in the fountains we said sure (even though we didn't have a change of clothes or a towel). They had a blast and we sat and talked and talked and talked :)

The picture below is of "annabelle" and "arf". Brooklyn has been playing "puppy" these past few months. She named herself annabelle and she is our puppy and we have to pretend to bathe her and feed her and all the other things you do with a puppy. So...it was a delight to discover that Wes has been playing the same game, his k-9 alter ego being "arf".

They were naked, drying off in this blanket in the back of E's car barking and sniffing each other. So funny. I think the best part however, was the fact that during all this puppy play, Erin's keys went missing. We seriously spent 30 min tearing her car apart looking for them. We kept looking at each other saying "what is going on? are we on camera". We must have been a sight to see! Our naked kiddos sprawled out on the side of the road jumping around like wild dogs while we were on all 4's searching the bottom, top and every nook and cranny of the car for the keys. Great memory...now :)

Sunday we went to a great local bakery, let the kids split a cup cake (even though it was only 10am) and then went to yet another amazing park. I would move to Spokane just for the sprawling park scene. For reals, it's amazing.

We were so sad to leave, not nearly enough time. I was very happy to be greeted by our boys though, waiting at the front window when we pulled up.

Can't wait to come again (soon!) O's. Thank you for an amazing weekend.