Road trip: Thirty minutes in Oregon

Paul and Daneen just had an ADORABLE baby boy up in Oregon.  While I'm on this side of the country, I decided I had to swing up there and meet my new little nephew!  However...we didn't want to infect the little one (or other cousins) with the Great and Terrible Stomach Bug(GTSB).  So, we hung out in Utah for a couple of extra days to make sure it was all cleared out of the girl's systems.

We had more time for...

stories with Grandma,

a visit to Gateway Discovery children's museum,

4 out of 6 thumbs up

The girls loved playing with the balls in the beehive.

Whit tried her hand at rock climbing.

And Caroline showed off her sweet moves on stage.

Also visited Thanksgiving Point's Museum.

5 out of 6 thumbs up.

Watch out for that Megalodon!

The kids especially loved the fossil dig at the end.

 I had a great visit with Linda and Dee, 

two of my dental hygiene classmates.

And we met Grandma for a quick lunch at Wheeler Farm.

At this point, both girls had been symptom-free for two full days, so we decided it was safe to hit the road.  Boise was our fun stop.  We managed to squeeze a whole lotta fun into our two hours there.

First we stopped by Bronco Stadium

so Brandon could see the blue turf.

Awesome!

They have a great little Hall of Fame there, too.

We got to see a Heisman Trophy and other

random sports memorabilia.

Then we had a fabulous (but way too short)

visit with Angie and her kids, some of

our very first friends when we moved to NC.

We decided to let the kids take a dip in the backyard pool

while Angie and I visited.

They thought that was a GREAT idea.

After our swim it was time to head up to Oregon to meet Colt

and visit with Paul, Daneen, and their kiddios.

 Look at that sweet little boy!

Loved snuggling up with his newborn goodness.

The girls had fun playing together for a little while.

We celebrated Carson's birthday...a little early.

And we even got to see Celeste while we were there.  Bonus!

And then it happened.

Caroline got sick.

Again.

You have got to be kidding me.

There go our plans for the weekend.  I stayed in a hotel room with her all day long, both of us sleeping off and on throughout the day.  Luckily, Brandon was able to play with Carson and Sydney.  And Whit was on her way back to Utah with Gigi and Grandma Cuca.  But it was pretty miserable for C and me.  I finally gave in and called the doctor and found a place to have her checked out.  They found that nothing else was wrong with her--no ear infection or urinary tract infection.  So, just watch what she eats and let it pass.  But that doesn't help when you want to be snuggling with a newborn.

So....we said good-bye to Colt and Paul and Daneen and Carson and Sydney.  After spending about 30 minutes with them.  If Colt ever wonders if his Aunt Andi loves him, I'm going to remind him that I drove 18 hours to see him for half an hour.  Is that love or what? 

 On the way back to Utah, we drove straight from Oregon to Salt Lake with not a single fun stop along the way.  That is NOT the way we road trip.  The kids were SO good, too.  I decided to try a little retail therapy and stopped to shop at H&M before heading out to my folks' home.

Yep, it worked.

I found a whole bunch of cute new shirts at great prices.  Just what I needed to lift my spirits.  :)

Caroline is STILL not 100% over the GTSB, but she is ALMOST there.  And she has been SUCH a trooper throughout the whole ordeal.  Maybe I should have bought her some new shirts, too.  Nah, I don't think retail therapy works on 4-year-olds.