We actually went out there to visit Wednesday night and Thursday day, which was such a great trip!
But first, in chronological order:
Saturday morning we got up early and rushed to do errands before Seth left. Somehow (mercifully) we made it to Lowe's on time, despite my pessimism, to for their Grow and Build program. The boys built a Captain America motorcycle (with lots of help... or "help" because I don't think I was actually much help. They were so little that it was hard to hammer in the nails without destroying the rest of the motorcycle!).
Sunday was the church picnic, so I took the boys over to the Hamlins'. Unfortunately, the Family Olympics were cancelled, but Pastor Rich bought 30-40 squirt sticks (is that what they're called?) and the kids had fun playing in the water.
Monday morning we went up to Shoreline with my mom to see my grandparents. Since we still had our squirtsticks in the car we got to play with them again. I got to talk to my grandparents while the boys played, so it wa those silly sticks more than paid for themselves! I also got to help my grandma figure out her new tablet..
That night I dropped mom off at her house, along with both boys, for a slumber party in the tent. Ezra has been talking about this for weeks, and since Seth was gone it was especially nice to have a little break from watching kids. I was supposed to go to my swim lessons at 7am Tuesday morning but slept through them since i'd stayed up so late the night before, folding laundry at watching movies. I did get to take my online Herodotus class without interruption though!! And then, after class, I got a hair cut and picked up Isaac at the spray park (where he'd been playing with Grandpa and Ezra). Ezra had somehow convinced all us to let him spend another night at Grandpa and Grandma's house, since "a sleepover means you sleep over and over and over" " at someone's house. So Isaac and I got to spend time together packing for our trip and then, Wednesday morning, Ezra and my mom met us at the Y for the boys' swimming lessons, after which the boys and I headed off to the Yakama Indian Reservation.
We made pretty good time, got dinner and checked into a hotel. We got in the pool a little after 6pm and didn't get out until it closed at 10pm! I did get the boys out for a bathroom break twice, actually. And Seth came and joined us around 8:30-9!! The boys are swimming so well this summer. Every time we get in the water they make more and more progress, which is so fun to see. We were all pretty wiped out when we straggled back to our room and Isaac hardly stayed awake during his shower. Ezra, as is typical, powered through his exhaustion and took a long leisurely bath, but fell asleep wrapped in a towel on the bed as I was looking for his underwear.
Thursday morning the team drove up from the rez to meet us in our hotel parking lot on their way to Rimrock Lake. The lake was a good hour and twenty minutes from the rez, but it was much cooler up in the "mountains" and I think all the kids thought the drive was worth it. Our kids thought so! I sat in the shade the entire time and watched the teenagers play with my kids, so it was quite the break for me too. Unfortunately, one of the teenagers found a little garter snake and the group of them spent a good 5-10 minutes passing it around, much to Ezra's delight. I, of course, heard "snake" and jumped up and ran down the beach and sat on a log 50 yards away until Seth assured me the snake was long gone.
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When it was time for the team to leave the lake (to get to Kids Club) we thought we were going to part ways and see Seth (and the team) on Saturday. The boys and I got popsicles and then went to the museum.
I just had so much fun with the boys at the museum. Ezra was SO excited and to go to the museum. I'm not exactly sure why - he enjoys going to other museums and we had talked a lot about the Yakama, but his enthusiasm was particularly high. I took our umbrella stroller and kept Isaac in it for about half our time in the museum, which was probably a good decision. He did ok, but it was hard to keep his interest in a particular installation as long as Ezra wanted to stand there and look at it and talk about it. There were a lot of taxidermied animals on display, though, which helped Isaac immensely. Since we'd talked so much about Yakama history and culture, it was easy to interact with Ezra while at the museum and he asked great questions. I love, love, love this stage of engagement! [photos in the museum weren't allowed]
The museum closed at 5:30pm, otherwise we would have stayed a bit longer (well, definitely longer if Isaac hadn't been with us), but we spoke with the clerk in the gift shop and admired the beadwork for sale and then Seth called and invited us to come have dinner with him (well, and the ERC team and other churches) at the church on the rez. We hadn't expected to see Seth again and were just going to hang out in Yakima for a while (find dinner and a park?). I hadn't seen the new church building (built last year) so it was really fun to go see where the teams now stay and to meet some of the new missionaries and, after dinner, listen to Chris Grandberry speak. The boy enjoyed a great deal of attention and the opportunity to play on the playground equipment.
We didn't make it home until 2am Friday morning, but it was definitely worth the long drive to go see Daddy and have a better idea of what he was doing for a week (even if, on Friday, the boys got to watch too much TV while I napped and didn't get any of the chores and projects done that I had expected to).
