American Summer: The Northwest

In hopes of catching up before baby comes, my posts are about to get significantly shorter. Sorry Northwest. It doesn't mean you are any less loved...

With mom at the airport

At the end of July, we flew to Seattle, excited and eager to tell/"show" my family our big news. At that point only Destiny and Lacey knew. My mom picked us up at the airport and despite what I thought, she didn't notice! In her defense, she was pretty overtaken with excitement at us being there, giving hugs, and snapping photos. Jake asked her if she noticed anything...and I lightly pressed my hand on the bump, making it pretty obvious. Her reaction was pretty great, and Jake managed to capture it on video. 

Telling Dan the news

She drove us straight to the Ostrander Family Barn and it was 2AM, but Daniel was still up. Jake threw on his favorite summer purchase, a XXXL t-shirt from Target that said, "DAD BOD," in huge letters across it. Dan was totally surprised too, which was another surprise for us. We had been feeling guilty, I suppose, being already nearly 5 months along, and just assumed people were onto us. However, for the most part I think people were genuinely surprised. 

The next morning we awoke bright and early to all the kiddos and a quick jump in Nanny and Poppy's old pool that I grew up swimming in. Nothing like going back to your roots. That was all pretty surreal and exciting, and fun to see Jake experience. At breakfast we told four little kiddos on bar stools that "Boo Boo has a baby in her tummy." We got some pretty funny reactions to that, captured on video, but mostly shock and confusion. Ha ha...it was pretty great. 

We all went to my dad's work to meet him for lunch and little Isa girly just couldn't keep it in any longer, so she told Paka that Boo Boo was going to have a baby. You know Dale...just thrilled! ;)

We went to the farm that day and spent some time with Anna and it was just lovely. Told her the news, too. After that, we had to tell the rest of the immediate family by phone. I face timed Cassandra in California and got to tell Juliet, while Micah and Cassandra were there listening. That was pretty fun. We face timed David over in Pullman and he was totally surprised too. Funny to watch him process it for a minute over the phone. I guess people believed us when we previously told them we weren't ready for kids! ;) Still aren't, but what do you do? ;)

Rachael at 31 weeks and me at 19 (I think)

We were home for two days I think, before we drove down to Oregon to go to Rachael's baby shower. I was lucky the timing worked out well and we got to go! Lucky that our best friends in Doha live in the state below us in the summers! It was so fun to finally meet her and Alex's families after hearing about them for a couple of years. Jake and Alex went and did some golfing with Alex's family, while the ladies did shower things. We stayed the night with them which was relaxing and wonderful, as usual. The next morning, we took a stroll through the neighborhood, ended up at a park, swung on the swings, and then it was about time to take off. We had a date with the Nike Employee Store and Destiny, Thomas, Daniel, and Chase, were all on their way down from WA to meet us there. We spent a lot of money and all of Jake's dreams came true, then we were on our way. We made a quick stop in Camas to see two of my great aunt's- Lyndee and Tricia. It's always fun to catch up with them and there's never enough time, but we do pretty well throughout the year via email. 

Aunt Tricia and Aunt Lyndee

The next road trip was up North to Bellingham. We hadn't been to Bellingham since we left there for Costa Rica in June, 2014. What a crazy time! We had finished a year in school there, Jake took off for Costa Rica, I closed up shop (with the help of my dear friend, Leslie), and then drove south to leave our things and fly to Costa Rica, and then on to Qatar. Anyway, Bellingham is a special place for us and we were thrilled to be back. Leslie and Joel were kind enough to host a cohort BBQ at their house so Jake could see everyone he completed his Master's program with. They also drove us up to Mt. Bachelor, which is incredibly beautiful and refreshing, even with the cloud cover. We did a little hike (well, everyone but Jake) and I embraced every second of fresh mountain air, and stunning scenery. Bellingham is a place we would always like to return to. So much more left to explore there!

We love seeing these two- Joel and Leslie

Baby bump shot

We took all the kiddos on their dates to celebrate the birthdays and Christmas that we missed. It's pretty special for us and them to have the one on one time. We had a lot of slurpees from 7-11, a lot of Subway, and a lot of time at the park. It's pretty fun to see how different they all are and watch them grow up each year. We managed to let Destiny and Thomas go on a date, and with the help of my mom, we got all four kids and Anna to the movies for a grand finale date. It was pretty special and I hang tight to those memories.

Micah and Juliet in from California

The big date

My dear elementary friend, Alise, is now a doula- a very passionate doula. I love watching her embrace this role. She is energized and inspired by it! Her energy is contagious. Anyway, she did a birthing class with Jake and I, which was pretty fun. She knew I was pregnant for a while and had been coaching me via text message for months. It is incredibly reassuring to have her to ask questions to. She is always positive, upbeat, and encouraging. She is something special, let me tell you. I am back in Doha now, still studying up on some of the materials, videos, books, she shared with us. So grateful for her and her friendship.

Jake, myself, Alex, Andy, Leslie, and Rachael

The next road trip was to Couer 'dAlene, Idaho. We dropped Daniel in Spokane on the way, and picked up Dave and Dan in Pullman on the way home. But in Couer 'dAlene we got to see and stay with some of our friends from Doha. Leslie was my Learning Support Coordinator my first year in Qatar. Her husband Andy, and her, are a riot, and we would spend many of our Thursday evenings laughing with them, and Alex and Rachael, back in the desert. We represent WA, OR, and ID. It was so refreshing and lovely to come together in Couer 'dAlene- which is gorgeous! I don't think I had ever been there but I just loved it. We went out on the lake, did some paddle boarding, explored in town a little bit, and laughed and laughed around their dinner table at home. We all had so much fun we joked (or not?) about doing that every summer. It was a lovely trip!

Walk along the Orting River with Annie and crew

We grabbed David and Daniel on the way home and made memories by fitting three 200 pound men and one pregnant lady in the Kia Rio, which has no AC, and driving five hours across the state, in the hottest hours of the day. Oh man. Good memories! We love any time we get with Dave and Dan- the conversations, music, laughs. Dave had been in Italy for a few weeks so our time with him was short this summer, but we saw him as much as we could.

Perfect summer days

My dad and Kim rented a couple camp sites at Alder Lake for all of the kids to go hang. Camping might be one of the things I miss most about the NW. It's not like we used to go all that often, but it's something I would love to do more of if we lived there. We've tried to go as much as possible in Qatar, which just gets me excited about going in the Northwest. Anyway, we set up three huge tents and went out on the boat, enjoyed the views, ate well, watched the stars....everything but a fire, really. There was a ban! Bummer. But what a fun trip! Nothing better for me than being outside with the family, laughing and shooting the shit. Anyway, great memories. 

Beautiful days on the lake

Destiny hosted her first big shin dig in the Ostrander Family Barn- our baby shower! So nice of her and Lacey and my mom, and everyone else who helped. Thomas and David slaved away while Jake sat on the couch sick :( It was a group effort as always, and turned out just perfectly! Lacey flew in just in time to spend about a week with us, after her tour of the world for the last year. So it was nice to have time with her and now in just a month, she'll be in Doha to meet baby Curtis! Big surprise- Jeanne, Ginger, Emily, and Maggie, flew in from the corners of the US to be at the shower! That was so special!!! And I love that they came! Quite a few other people came that I hadn't gotten to see yet so it was a great time for catching up. We had wine and desserts and mostly just chatted and explored the Ostrander Family Barn. Everyone was rightfully impressed!

Jake embracing his new role

All the siblings that made it to the shower!

And well, that sums up the big trips in the Northwest this summer, but certainly not everything. Turns out it wasn't at short as I anticipated. But we were able to see many other dear friends that we miss all year long. As well as spend days at home hanging out with the kids and siblings. Like I said in the Texas post, we live for the summers! We anticipate them all year long and they never disappoint. So many people, so much beauty to be thankful for. Home is a happy place. And we're nearly halfway through the school year- which means we can start getting excited about Summer 2017!

Adding #7 to this bunch! AH!

Home.