Trip to Spokane

It's been a busy (and kind of sick) Christmas season, so in spite of my good intentions to blog frequently as sort of a gift to my parents for the holidays, I'm a little behind the times.  Perhaps I can catch up a bit during the next few days.

I had the opportunity to visit my brother and his family in Spokane recently.  We had wanted to get my side of the family together for Thanksgiving, but because of schedule constraints, we just couldn't pull it off.  So, I threatened to visit Evan and Darla in December when I had a string of days off instead.  Happily, they actually acted excited to have me come.  I was pleased to make it work because I always enjoy going to their house.

I didn't get to see my brother much because he had a string of call and post-call days during the short time I was there, but I was more than happy to spend time with Darla and the kids anyway.  My sister-in-law Darla is a wonderful hostess and always has a list of fun things we can see and do.  I feel super comfortable around her and just enjoy the relaxed, accepting atmosphere in their home.  It was fun to be there.

It was especially enjoyable to be around my sweet nieces.  I MISS the little ones!!  Seriously, it was fun to just hang out and watch their imaginations work.  Maren and Chloe could not be more different personality-wise, but they get along famously well.  It is super entertaining to listen to what they have going on, and I loved when they let me participate as well.  My first night there I got to read with Maren and then snuggle for a few minutes before she drifted off to sleep.  Since I haven't had little kids for a while, I thought that was heaven.

It was also really fun to watch the little girls in their gymnastics classes.  (It seems not that long ago that I was watching my own little girls in their various classes!)  Maren is an especially good little gymnast, and I was actually a little in awe of what she could do.  Since I can't even touch my toes without bending my knees, the fact that she could drop down into the splits was pretty amazing to me.  Chloe's class was remarkably well-controlled by a great teacher, and it was cute to see the little three-year-olds all following their teacher around as a human train.  Fun stuff.

Darla almost convinced me to try skiing again, but it was a bit cold the day we thought about going.  She did get me to a minor league hockey game, and it was a total blast.  The Spokane Chiefs seriously dominated their opponents and scored like five goals in the first period and nine overall.  Man, if all hockey games were that riddled with goals, I think I'd attend a little more often.  It was exciting.  Maren went with me and Darla, and she is a TRUE fan!  I'll have to admit that I was actually kind of hoping for a fight to break out.  We didn't get one until the very end of the game, and it was a pretty lame one at that.  

Another fun activity we did was to go to the lobby of the Davenport Hotel and look at the Christmas trees and decorations.  The Davenport is a really old hotel that has been beautifully restored into a rather magnificent building.  The lobby had a gorgeous, huge Christmas tree, and upstairs there were some really pretty decorated trees that you could enter to win in a raffle.  If I had lived in the area, I definitely would have purchased some tickets to try and win the golf tree.  (The trees were decorated with prizes as well as traditional ornaments and such.)  It really helped to get me into the Christmas spirit.

 
Besides seeing Harry Potter, shopping, eating out--Darla and I got a little carried away on the sushi, but man, it was good!--we went and painted ceramics.  That may have been the most enjoyable activity of all.  The little girls were remarkably well-behaved and focused on their projects.  I liked it so much, in fact, that I'm going to take the whole family tomorrow here in Boise.  Mike is a little reluctant ("Are you sure you don't want to just go with the girls?"), but it's going to be fun.

Yes, we have the ENTIRE family here right now, and all I can say is that it feels like heaven.  To have all my chicks in the nest at once is the greatest Christmas present I could have ever gotten.  Awesome, awesome, awesome!!