To Spokane in Back in 24 hours or less

We went to Spokane this weekend to celebrate Christmas with Sara and Joey and Steph's Dad. We were also there to commemorate Skylend's 2nd birthday, which is actually on the 12th.
We left Friday morning at 8:30, drove directly to Spokane, with a quick stop in Ritzville for a Zips burger, some gas, and a diaper change. I then crawled in the back with Evie and gave her a bottle while we continued down the road (which is oh, so convenient!)

Upon arrival in Spokane, we went to Gina's house to have a quick visit. She was my elementary school music teacher, and also a life-long close friend of my mom's. Last week, she was hanging Christmas lights and fell of the ladder, shattering the bones below her knee, which resulted in serious surgery and wires, screws and plates. Very painful, indeed. So we drove to her house so she could finally meet Evie, and we could visit her.

Then, we drove to Meadowridge elementary school, (5 minutes from Gina's house, and where she works) my mom's school, so we could show Evie to the staff who had been so faithful in helping and visiting in my mom's last year. We spent about an hour hanging out after school, mostly visiting in the preschool with the ladies with whom my mom worked.

After Meadowridge, we drove up to Sara and Joey's for dinner and Christmas extravaganza. We stayed until around 8:30 pm, and then headed over to Jason and Carolyn Stuart's for the night. Jason & Carolyn have been family friends since the last 1970s, so they've known me my whole life. Also, Carolyn was my piano teacher.
We were up until 2am talking and sharing. Saturday morning we had a wonderful breakfast and sat around and talked until past noon.

Then, we left and headed out to the Valley to visit another family friend from my entire life, Kathy Jones. She has a beautiful home that was built in the 1800s. They have been restoring and remodeling it, and I hadn't seen it in years, so she gave us a tour and then we visited for about an hour. Sadly I forgot my camera in the car and didn't realize this until we had already hit the road back to the harbor.

It was nice to see everyone, but it was fast and by the time we hit the pass, Evie had just about enough of the trip and her car seat. I had to ride the rest of the way in the back seat and try to convince her to stay calm. The horribly-synthesized baby-Einstein CD is what saved us, so the remainder of the trip was spent listening to awful baby muzac, which she loved.

Sunday, after sleeping in as long as Evie would allow, and then just taking her to our bed and letting her squirm around while we continued to lay there, we got up at 11:30. Our friends Chris and Melissa came over, and Melissa and I left Evie with the boys while we went to find me an outfit for Bryan's work Christmas party. They boys spent the day watching movies, drinking beer and playing with Evie. Melissa spent the day talking me out of a nervous breakdown, and after 4 hours in the mall 3 weeks before Christmas, we left, defeated, not a single purchase in hand. Then, we went to Michael's so I could spend a few dollars to deck my halls, as I was feeling they were still not festive enough. I'm happy to report that my house is now much more festive and I feel better, even though I still haven't got a thing to wear to this blooming party next week.