I'm not statistically possible

I saw this interesting little box on a blog and thought it would be fun to find out how many people have my name in the US. Sadly, this is what came up:

HowManyOfMe.com

There are: 0 people with my name in the U.S.A. How many have your name?

Hope your luck is better than mine
http://ww2.howmanyofme.com/

"I don't want to be in the car anymore!!!!!"

That was Julia, about two hours into our car ride. It was definitely a long morning. We got the girls up early so we could leave by 7:30 to be at Uncle Steve & Aunt Kathy's in time for dinner. Usually, the girls don't get up until 9 and on all the other days we'd gotten them up, they'd go to be early. But not today. Consequently, Charlotte was also in a terrible mood and things got so bad we had to pull over and move Julia's seat. Chris and I were also so tired from getting up early and staying up late that we swithced drivers constantly. Add in Frankie's general grumpiness and we were stopping all the time. But somehow we made it to Elk Grove around 5. Kathy, being a very wise woman, had bought a Dora sprinkler for them and they immediately changed into their suits and ran around the backyard until it turned into a swamp. We had a fabulous, home-cooked meal (including dessert) and enjoyed the feeling that the majority of ou driving was done.

We got on the road at 11:30 today and are hoping to be home by 6. Julia is finally getting what she told us is the favorite part of our vacation- going home!

The road to Bend is beautiful

Next day it was time to hop in the car again. We left Sandpoint around 8 am and headed for Bend, Oregon. We retraced our steps back to Spokane, then went south though some dry, dusty areas. Once we got to Oregon it changed to beautiful green rolling hills with great views of Mt. Hood. It's part of the Oregon Trail and is called the "Journey through Time" highway. It was like stepping back in time with all these cute little towns and farms. When we reached Madras the traffic reached a standstill. Turns out we'd reached Madras when the funeral service for Pfc Thomas Tucker was letting out. It was a high-profile death and there were quite a lot of people in town, including the Govenor, PFLAG and the Patriot Guard Riders (motorcycle riders that ride at memorial services to sheild the family from protesters). It was so touching to see all the support that this family received. All the businesses and trees and everything were decorated for miles. We saw sign after sign at the local establishments expressing prayers for the family and it was so sweet.

Eventually, we made it to Bend. Just as Francesca decided she'd had it, our hotel appeared over the hill! We all hopped out of the car and into the lobby as fast as possible. As it turned out, there was a dog show in Bend and many of the contestants were staying at our hotel. The girls had fun trying to spot dogs from our window. We ordered pizza, went swimming and tried to rest up for another day on ther road.

Sandpoint

We spent the day in Sandpoint at the beach. We brought a picnic and chairs, but somehow, I forgot bathing suits. They didn't seem to mind and had a great time. The only real problem was that Charlotte was used to walking way out in the water in Canada and would quickly get too deep for my comfort when we were at the lake.



Frankie really wanted to join them
It was such a nice, relaxing day. The girls made friends with the local kids and we just sat around and were grateful they were entertaining themselves. We finally dragged them away and went back to our motel where we had a much calmer dinner and then said goodbye to Uncle Jamie.

Vancouver, day 2

We started the day at the Kids Only Market on Granville Island. It's basically a bunch of toy stores, kid related stores and a two story play place.
The structure too scary for Charlotte and too big for Julia, so Chris went in and helped them.

Next we took a horse-drawn trolley through Stanley Park and got to see the totem poles for less than 5 minutes. I was so disapointed, I didn't want to leave.

Vancouver Aquarium

Francesca couldn't get enough of the belugas. She'd squeal when they swam by.
Fish's eye view
Giving seals their check-ups in the kids area:

 

Final Vancouver Island pictures

The beach house. Our condo was the one on the bottom, right in front. The beach is right past the driftwood!

The girls out for a boat ride in the driftwood. Having lunch on the ferry.
The ferry was so much nicer than the one from Washington. It even had a kids area!
 

We're in the final stretch

After a whirlwind tour of Vancouver that left Chris and I wondering what we were thinking staying only two nights, we departed for northern Idaho. We'd spent our time in the city at Stanley Park, visiting the aquarium, which the girls loved, taking a horse-drawn trolley ride, and visiting the kids market at Granville Island. We also squeezed in a visit to a long-lost relative of Chris' (it was possibly his father's second cousin). We loved the city and loved the place where we were staying. It was just the perfect place for us and exactly the opposite of our beach house. The girls and I were wandering around remarking at all the conveniences (look it has a diswasher and a stacked washer and dryer!) and I said it was the nicest place we'd stayed thus far. Julia remarked, "Yeah, after the place with the bunkbed."
"Which place with the bunk bed? Do you mean the place we just stayed?!?"
"Yes."
I guess it's true that kids have different standards than adults. It doesn't matter that the place was a tear-down, as long as there were bunk beds, it was the best.

We got up early this morning and had a pretty good day of driving. The girls were happy to find all sorts of unexpected surprises at the rest stops, like a bush covered in caterpillars and big boulders for climbing. They were pretty restless by the last 20 minutes or so and I resorted to teaching them old camp songs and begging them to hold it together for 3 more blocks because we're almost there. Happily, we made it in time to have dinner with Uncle James. Unhappily, it was a crazy dinner because they were much to keyed up to sit at a table and eat. At least the host was perceptive enough to seat us at the farthest table in an empty room, so they didn't disturb anyone but us.

Saratoga Beach

We're at the beach now, the longest stay of our vacation, and it's been heavenly. Well, apart from the fact that our beach house is a dump. But to back up, we left Victoria Friday and had a pretty nice drive up the island. About 20 km from our destination, Frankie couldn't take it anymore, so we pulled off the road so I could nurse her. We ended up at the Courtenay Japanese and Chinese cemetary (they were side by side) and got out and looked around.


Then we got back in the car and after a quick drive, we arrived at "Taylor's Sandy Beach Resort". We were supposed to stay in a log cabin, but when we got there, the owner decided to upgrade us to one of the condos. It is better than the cabin (especially since it smelled like it had a gas leak), but it is grimy. Like the kind of place a bunch of college-aged beach bums would stay. Everything is falling apart or has already been broken. Like our coffee table, that is about to fall apart just from Frankie pulling up on it. Or the fact that we don't have any hooks or towel racks because they were pulled out of the wall at some point. It's like indoor camping. However, it is right off the beach and right next to the "playgroup" and has a fabulous view. Julia was heartbroken that we weren't going to be in the cabin as we'd been talking it up and there was no explaining to her the benefits of a bigger place. Especially since they both looked pretty junky. We really try to stay out all day and I've tried not to freak out every time the girls flop down on the carpet. Another bonus is that two other families are staying in the other two downstairs units and all our kids have been having a blast. It's been really nice sharing their campfire and getting to know them. They're from Victoria and Vancouver, so we've been getting some local tips.

The girls have been enjoying the low tide, which goes out 1/4 mile in this area. The water is so shallow and the waves are so gentle that they've all enjoyed getting in the water and playing in the sand. We went over to Miracle Beach Provincial Park, where my family camped when I was a kid, this morning and the girls had so much fun looking at the crabs, sand dollars, clams and even a sea anenome. Francesca finally stopped trying to eat handfuls of sand, so I had a better time, too. It was a great stroll down memory lane, but it's so much easier to deal with sandy kids with a shower and bathtub.

It's been a great, lazy time and we all really wish it could go on longer, but tomorrow will be our last full day here. We'll probably spend the morning on the beach and then play "mini golf" in the afternoon. Julia has been dying to play ever since we played at the museum in Victoria and won't forgive us if we don't make time for it.





Frankie sleeping under a makeshift umbrella:
















Beach at high tide right behind our condo

More Victoria

Tea at the Empress.

Victoria, BC

We started out the day at the Bug Zoo in Victoria. It's a great little place where a guide shows you all sorts of cool insects to look and and pick up. Julia is holding a walking stick


Mirissa decided to hold the walking stick too. This is Julia holding a millipede.

A millipede moustache!




















Mirissa holding a millipede!















Chris holding a tarantula.
There will be NO picture of Mirissa doing this.
They don't allow kids to hold tarantulas because if you drop it they will die because they are somewhat fragile.
Mirissa and camera disappeared when I held the scorpion! So no picture.

On our way back to our hotel we took our only family picture with one of the bears that are up around the city. We've taken pictures with four of them and Julia is determined to find them all.












































On to Butchart Gardens....

The girls had a blast at the gardens and it turned out better than we thought. We went in the late afternoon and they pretty much had free run of the place. Which was good, since Charlotte decided to wander off on her own and Julia had to stop and smell every flower and comment on what she would do where if she lived there. We pretty much would've alternated between backing up traffic and running past everyone to keep up with Charlie.