Our Kennewick Weekend

Last Friday, Annika's school was closed for teacher training. That meant one of us would be home with her and the idea of "hey, why don't we make a weekend out of it an visit the extended family in Kennewick before the passes get snowy" took shape.

Before kids, the door-to-door drive would take us 3 hours in the summer and 3.5 hours in the winter (barring anything weird like pass closures, etc.). On Friday, it took us 4.5 or 5 hours to go door to door. Nothing like traveling with wiggly kids who have to pee every 10 minutes!

We wound up driving two cars over because of our plan to leave our spare car behind so our nieces can use it. Great in theory... in practice, that resulted in Eric having a very peaceful drive over with our dog and me having a stressful time driving our kids over in the van. We did caravan and used Annika's Hello Kitty walkie talkies to maintain an open line of communication between the cars, but that didn't help when the kids needed new movies in the DVD player or helping picking up the book/toy/shoe/water bottle that they happened to drop. I was pretty frazzled by the time we pulled up to our destination but was glad we made it in one piece and me without too many bald spots. ;)

Our plan was to stick around until Sunday, but that had a chance of getting hijacked when Eric's boss reached out to him saying there were Internet connectivity issues back at the office. Mind you, this was at 9 Friday night. Eric wound up working with a guy from the ISP until 1:30 AM on Saturday (can we have a collective "ugh, that poor guy!!" inserted here, please??) Fortunately, the issue was resolved and Eric didn't have to pack up our crew for a Saturday return trip to Seattle, which he thought might have to happen.

Conor woke up at 4:50 Saturday morning (can we have a collective, "ugh, that's early" inserted here, please??); to pass the time, he and I hung out in the bedroom's walk in closet (all of us shared a room that weekend) and read stories until Annika woke up a bit after 6:00. To let the others in the house sleep as long as possible (namely, Eric), I shuttled the kids off to the closest Starbucks for hot cocoa ("hot toto", per Conor) and the opportunity to speak above a whisper.

The rest of the weekend was really mellow. John (Eric's brother) made chocolate chip cookie dough before we arrived so he and the kids could do a project together. (Wasn't that sweet of him??) It was a huge hit; the kids loved it ... and the rest of us loved the resulting cookies.

It was a rainy, cold weekend, so we mostly hung out at the house and caught up with Eric's brother and his family, as well as Eric's sister and her husband, who live close to Eric's brother (et al).

A few months ago, Eric's brother's family added a 3rd Great Dane to their pack. They named him Zed; he's super cute, but already bigger than our Buca. He decided that Annika (who runs everywhere and makes random squeaky noises) was his toy, so took to chasing her and trying to play with her. Annika wasn't overly impressed with that idea. Zed also wanted to play (aka nibble  and slobber on) Buca, who like Annika, wasn't overly enthusiastic with the idea, so poor Zed spent a lot of the weekend segregated from the kids or on a leash. Our kids had a great time with the older Danes (Nevaeh and Boomer) who were much slower and less inclined to think our kids were chase-worthy.

On Sunday morning, we packed up and made the long drive home. (Fortunately, without the many potty stops that we had on Friday!) Because of our fairly early start, we had the freeway to ourselves for much of drive to Ellensburg. We saw quite a few gorgeous fog banks (partially making me wish we had the ability to stop on the side of the freeway so I could practice photographing landscapes), not to mention beautiful waterfalls in the mountains and some stunning autumn-colored trees all along the way.

Nevy

Zed

View of the canyon Friday night

Boomer and Erin chillin' on the floor

Makin' cookies with Uncle John

Coooooookies!

Our Weekend in Kennewick - Pt 2

If you ask Annika, she became a cowgirl when we were in Kennewick, and I think she's probably pretty accurate in that assumption. She learned how to groom horses, feed horses, and ride horses ... at least, to some degree. On the Friday of our visit, Annika got a chance to ride John/Wendy's horse Jarl. On the Saturday of our trip, she got to ride Kajsa's horse Nissa, who is a gorgeous buckskin morgan (insert sigh of jealousy here!)

Annika climbed up on Nissa and Kajsa guided them around her yard. My girl was in absolute Heaven! After a bit, Kajsa invited me to climb up with Annika, so we did a few laps around together. Kajsa offered to up the speed a big; she definitely didn't have to ask twice; Annika was all for it ... as was I. Let's just say, though, that trotting on a horse while bareback, without reins, and while holding onto a 4-year-old kiddo who was bouncing herself silly is quite an entertaining experience, I must say! (And talk about a great thigh workout!). Once Annika was done, I took Nissa out for a spin and had a marvelous time with her.

After the fun of riding was done, Annika learned a few lessons about caring for horses, including how to feed them. She was very proud of herself for being able to carry the feed bucket and give the horses their hay (which made them immediately fall in love with Annika!)

Thanks to Kajsa for sharing Nissa with us!

Three generations of Olson gals

Annika on Nissa

Annika, Nissa, and Bestemor

Nissa getting some loves from Bestemor

Oh, did you REALLY think I wouldn't be clamoring for my chance to ride, too??

Annika hauling hay for the horses

Annika giving Nissa lunch under Kajsa's supervision

Drifter sticking his tongue out .. isn't he funny???

Pretty Nissa

Our Weekend in Kennewick - Part 1

We just spend a fun-filled weekend in Kennewick with Eric's side of the family. We have a tradition of clumping birthday celebrations and it was time to celebrate the March birthday boys: Eric's dad (aka Bestefar), Eric, and Conor. (How ironic that we drove across the state for the birthdays, yet all three of the birthday boys live on the west side of the state.)

Eric's mom (aka Bestemor) had the idea that we should also get some family photos taken while we were all together. That was a great plan until one of our nieces was at a school retreat/function over the weekend (hope your glow-in-the-dark stars and footprints were a hit, Erin!) and our other niece wound up with a stomach bug and spent the weekend throwing up and sequestered from the rest of us (Piper - we hope you're feeling better!). A few pictures were taken, but not quite what was originally envisioned.

The weekend was a good combination of relaxing and fun. Oh! And I learned about a really yummy baking item ... cinnamon chips (by Hershey). Wendy, you are a rock star for having discovered these little gems. Oh Nellie!

On Friday, we packed up the kids and dog, braved the pass (which was beyond easy to drive over), and drove across our state. Everyone did really well in the car (God bless the inventors of portable DVD players!) and we made it without incident. After getting settled and a wee bit unpacked, we decided it was time to get out and enjoy the gorgeous weather! (Oh, I forgot to mention it was sunny and we had blue skies.... it was WINDY, but still really nice outside.)

The kids got to ride Wendy's horse Jarl, who is a very sweet horse. Annika was an old pro - she'd ridden him one before when she was about a year old, but this was the first time she knew what was going on. Conor also rode Jarl, and was fine, but definitely had more inclination to play with the sticks than sit on a horse.

Annika riding Jarl (with Aunt Wendy and Uncle John providing backup)

Conor's 1st horse ride



After Conor was done, Annika wanted to ride again (that's my girl!!)



Did you really think I'd let the kids have all of the fun??

After releasing Jarl from his horsely duties and getting him corralled (he made a bit of an escape and had to be rounded up by Wendy and John. As they chased him around the yard, Annika very kindly pointed out that "He's MUCH faster than you!" to Wendy. She's so helpful.)

With Jarl in his yard and John/Wendy catching their breath, we all decided to kick around the yard and let the kids burn off some energy. There was plenty of room for them to run and lots of mole hills for the kids to play in/dig up/bury sticks in/stomp on. They had a BLAST and definitely needed baths when we finally made our way inside.

Annika enjoying every moment of the nice weather

Conor was in hog heaven with all of the sticks available to him

Mole hills are fun!

More mole hill fun



If our kids playing in the mole hills don't scare away those critters, nothing will!



Cute dirty bum!

Buca supervised the kids as they excavated the mole hills

This is Bub. He was a guest this weekend, too. His family was on a trip,
so he stayed at Camp Olson and fit right in and had a blast!

Buca and Bub had a great time chasing each other and wrestling.

The kids poured some dirt on the deck and (mean mom that I am) I made them clean up their
dirt piles before we went inside. There was only one broom and both wanted to use it,
so this was the solution.

The weekend was so packed that one blog post simply don't do, so stay tuned for part 2 of our trip!