I ended up leaving Friday night and staying in Olympia in order to spend some quality, undivided time with my dad, Stef and Kai. I met up with my dad and Kai at Black Hills High School (my old stomping grounds :) to watch a big rivalry basketball game of Black Hills vs. Tumwater. It was definitely a good experience being back in my old gym where I spent a lot of hours playing both volleyball and basketball. I also realized how old I'm getting because all I kept thinking was how loud it was with the band playing and all the fanatic parents yelling at the referees :)
After the basketball game, we headed back to my dad's house and I was able to play with Kai for a few hours. He was too cute; he was so excited for me to be playing with him without any distractions (two, to be exact) that he didn't want to go to bed...literally :) We stayed up till about 11 pm, when I told him it was much past my bedtime. My dad and Stef assured me he'd sleep in until after I left in the morning, but to our surprise he was up and ready to play with me right when I was out of the shower :) I had such a great time with him and am so fortunate for the special time we had together!
I left my dad's in the morning and picked up my friend, Jessica, who lives just North of Olympia. It was so nice to be able to ride there and back with her, the drive flew by as we were catching up and chatting the whole way :)
When we got to Ellensburg, we met up with everyone at Randi's house and had a couple of hours to lounge around and hang out. It was so much fun, as if no time had passed at all since we've been together last. It was quite a big deal for us all to get together like this since 7 out of 8 of us girls have children (the majority having 2+ kids).
All dressed and ready for a nice dinner together. We got lots of head turns in a small town like E-Burg, the locals knew we weren't from around there...I forgot how fun it is to be around other tall girls like myself :)
After dinner, we went to Nicholson Pavilion to meet up with our volleyball coach, Mario. It was so fun to catch up with him; the last time I'd seen him was at our wedding, but I didn't get to talk to him much then. Hopefully as our kids get a little older, we'll all be able to make it back for an alumni game soon :)
We all headed back to Randi's for a bit before hitting the town. It was a lot of fun to go out with all my girls (except for our two prego girlies who dropped us off and went to bed early :) and have some fun. This is probably the most fun, crazy group of girls I've ever known and I just love to be around them!
We all spent the night at Randi's house and went to coffee together in the morning. We inevitably talked a lot about our kids, which I always enjoy. I'm still amazed that between 7 of us girls, we have 13 kids and 2 on the way! Kate, my roommate for 2 years, wasn't able to make it since she's living in Minnesota and also just recently had twins (she now has 3 boys)! ...And, we're all under 30!! :)
Needless to mention, I survived a weekend away from my kiddos (even though I did miss them a lot!). I was happy to return and find them both in one piece (as I knew they would be :), happy, well fed and well rested. Tyce and Shay had an exciting weekend while I was away and got to go to a very special party (...more details and pictures to come). Thanks, babe, for being such a wonderful daddy and taking such great care of our little angels! And for supporting me in getting away for the weekend. Love you! XOXO
