I have really enjoyed posting pictures and explaining our trip bit by bit. I did want to take a minute and just summarize what we did and how it went all in one post.
We started out getting on the ferry in Ketchikan. That in itself was crazy. We were all packed and ready to go and just waiting until it was time to go. I thought we had to be at the ferry at 9:00, well at about 7:45 I decided to look again at our itinerary and noticed that the ferry left at about 9:00, so we were supposed to be there at 7:00. Cody got the kids in the car while I called to make sure they knew we were coming. Luckily it's only about a 5 minutes drive to the ferry. We got on and got our little room. It had a bathroom with a shower in it, and my kids all decided that they wanted to take a shower on the ferry. Mind you, this was at about 9:00 PM. We were also hungry because we had planned to eat dinner with some friends at 8:00, but missed that, so we got some dinner after the showers. Then we finally got to sleep.
The next morning we were in Canada, customs was easy, except Abby was grumpy when the guy was asking who each of the children what their names were and she did not want to answer. We had a talk about how she needed to be happy and answer any questions the guys at the borders asked her so that they did not feel the need to pull her aside and ask her more questions. I got little sleep on the ferry - I was worried that I was not going to wake up in time to get off - so I was very tired. Finally when most of the kids, except Autumn were sleeping, I pulled over to the side of the road and took a nap. Autumn was reading and she said she'd play with the kids if they woke up and wake me up if anyone came close to the van. She was also supposed to let me sleep for only about 30 minutes or so. The next thing I knew, everyone was awake and making a lot of noise. I looked at the clock and I had slept for about 1 1/2 hours. Autumn said that everyone was fine and as they woke up she gave them a snack and something to play with. She figured I needed my sleep. Well about five minutes down the road I passed a huge billboard that said, "Women, don't hitch hike on the Highway of Tears. Killer on the loose." At the bottom, it had pictures of 2 victims. That freaked me out a little, but I was glad that I had decided to sleep when I did. Had I seen that billboard before I napped, I would not have pulled over, and I really needed to. We drove all day until about 9:00pm only stopping at rest stops to go to the bathroom in "Big stinky holes" as April called them and to get gas. Cody had gotten us plenty of drinks and snacks, so we didn't have to stop for food.
The next day, we were back at the US-Canada border by about 10:00 am. It was pretty fun to see how excited my children were that we were going back into our own country. They did make the comment that "People from Canada are almost just like us." We got to Seattle and decided to take the ferry, the traffic on I-5 was horrible. I had told my family not to worry about dinner for us because I figured that we would not get there until late that night. OOOPS. We were taking the 3:00 ferry and that would get us to my dad's at about 4:15. I called and let them know that we were almost there, but that if they had other plans they did not need to worry about us. My dad met us as we got off the ferry and took the girls in his car with him. We works right next to the ferry terminal. That night we had dinner at the lake.
We spent the next two weeks at Misty's house or my Dad's house. It was a lot of fun just hanging out doing nothing. We got the car fixed and getting a rental car from them was interesting. I was taking my mini-van in to get work done, so the dealership was giving me a rental. As I was at the counter to get it I said, "I have four children, two of which have to be in car seats." The guys said, "Oh, all I have are small compact cars that hold 4." Give me a break. I am taking a minivan in. They are a dealership, they should have something comparable to let me use. They ended up having to rent a small SUV from Enterprise.
At the end of the Washington part of the trip, we got to go to Amber's place to see her little boy get baptized. It was good to get together, and my brother, Clinton's family was there (minus him and one of his daughters.) More time spent with more cousins, and my children were loving it.
Next came the trip to UT. Somehow losing that hour crossing into ID killed me. It was a long day with a lot of driving, and I was tempted to stop and not make it all the way there. Grandma Nelle came to the rescue. She and Tenny (Cody's sister) drove through Logan Canyon to drive my van the rest of the way for me. It's only about 45 minutes, but I hated that canyon in the day when we lived there, so I was really thankful I did not have to do it at night while I was dead tired. At Nelle's house we got to play at the beach and see all but one of Cody's siblings and their families. Tenny and her girls were there, and Mac and his kiddos came up. Zeb and his friend played with us as well. The girls also got to ride horses and Abby decided to change her name to Cowgirl Abigail Davis. She has a love of horses.
While we were there I checked my e-mail and noticed that I had gotten an e-mail from the college telling me that if I really was going to be gone until September they would have to consider someone else for the teaching position because class started Aug 28th. I frantically e-mailed back that I could come home early and would be happy to. We were going to the beach, so Cody kept checking my e-mail for me and would call me when they had e-mailed another question so I could tell him what to say in reply. This was a Friday and they were going to make the decision by Monday, and if I were hired, I would have to be back home the following Monday. Monday I got a call and they offered me a job. This meant some quick change in plans. For we still had Cody's dad and grandparents to see, as well as a trip to Lagoon.
So, in two days, we saw, two sets of Grandparents, went for a short visit to Temple Square, visited Cody's Dad, went to the church Distribution center, and went to Lagoon. It was a crazy two days, but I'm not sure I would have been forgiven had I not gone to Lagoon. These change of plans also meant that I would not get to take my kids down to BYU or go to Colorado and visit the relatives there. That was sad.
After that, we started back on our way home. The drive from UT to Washington was much easier, and we made it back in time to have Birthday cake with my dad. The next day was "Misty wear out the kids Day". She played with them while I vegged and repacked everything.
Our trip back through Canada was uneventful, and I did not stop on the side of the road to rest. We stopped in one town and played at a park, then as we got close to Prince Rupert, I remembered that the ferry leaves there Sunday afternoon as well. So, I was hoping we would get there in time to catch that ferry instead of waiting for our the next morning. We did not make it, we got there about 20 minuted too late. Had we only not stopped and played or got stuck with the police man behind us. Oh well, we went and found the little tiny church building and played in the grass until it was time to go get in the ferry line to sleep until 4 in the morning.
It was great to be home. As we were puling into Ketchikan the girls were looking and saying, "I see Dad's work." "Look, there's Safeway." "Hey, there's our church." (The funny thing about that one is that you can't actually see the church, but it has a communication tower across the street, and whenever April sees the tower she says she can see the church.) Cody was waiting for us when we got off, and everyone wanted to ride with DADDY, so we traded cars.
I had a meeting that afternoon for work, and then I got to just relax. It took me a few days of relaxing before I felt relaxed. Then Cody left to go elk hunting, and I was alone with the kids again. (Not so relaxing)
All in all, it was a crazy trip, but it was a lot of fun. The time with family is precious and I only wish we had more of it.
