Washington Visit

A while back Rebecca got stuck on an airplane while they tried to fix some problems before taking off. Fortunately, they gave her a $150 credit toward another flight. This weekend I used that credit to go visit her and the children back in Washington. It was a great trip and a nice way to break up this time that we have apart. I left Pocatello at 2 a.m. on Thursday morning to catch a 6 a.m. flight out of Salt Lake City. That sounds horrible, but it was actually a really nice drive - no traffic and I got to hear some interesting things on a radio (one station had a guy on who did his dissertation on alien abductions and he was talking about how aliens are breeding with humans and now they live among us and we can't even tell who is a human and who is an alien). The flight went smoothly, I was able to sleep through it all, and Rebecca and the children were able to pick me up at the airport at 7 a.m.

So on Thursday we went to the Puyallup Fair. I mentioned that Rebecca and the children had gone before, but they joined me again while I was in town. Talitha gave us some tickets so we got in for free. Then we mainly checked out all the animals and crafts and produce and things like that. As we were almost at the front gate on our way out, someone stopped Rebecca and gave her a bunch of ride passes. There were passes for at least 8 rides, but we decided to just do one for each of the kids and then give the remaining rides to someone else. Julia, Ethan, Christian, and Elliott considered the roller coaster that they did last time, but they all decided on a train ride instead. At the last moment Elliott was worried it was going to be like the roller coaster again and he jumped off. He ended up going on a spaceship ride instead.

On Friday we had a Harry Potter party. It was a lot of fun and I will do a separate post about that.

On Saturday we went to the zoo in the morning, then the kids had a practice for their primary program, and then Julia and Rebecca had Women's Conference. The zoo was a lot of fun. We were able to see them feed the sharks which wasn't as cool as it sounds. All of the sharks were super active at feeding time and that was neat, but when they gave them their food it was just small bits of fish that they feed them through a tube one at a time. We did get to touch the sting-rays and some sharks and then some other sea creatures as well (starfish, anemones, crabs, sea cucumbers, etc.). That was probably everyone's favorite part.

On Sunday there was just enough time for me to see the kids primary program at church before rushing off to the airport. Julia, Ethan, and Christian all did a great job on their parts and it was fun to see them sing all of the songs too. They were really excited for it and for me to be able to see them do it. However, the program was taking a super long time and Ethan was the very last person scheduled to talk in it. Rebecca snuck up there during one of the songs and asked if Ethan could go next. All the other kids were a little confused, but he did his part and off Rebecca and I went to the airport.

Besides all of the time with Rebecca and the children, one of the things I enjoyed the most was being able to have some real food. Some of the things I ate were a croissant baked french toast, breakfast cake, an omelet, pizza, and a lot of ribs. Since I was only going to be there for a couple of days I didn't hold back at all and for every meal ate until I was stuffed.

Now just 5 more weeks and we are all through with our time apart!