Trip to Washington

Growing up, our closest relatives with kids our ages lived in Marquette, MI- about 700 miles from our house in Ohio. It's amazing really. Our parents somehow warped our minds into thinking that they lived close- we saw them for everything! Every baptism, missionary farewell, wedding reception etc was shared with their family. Even if it meant pitching tents in our backyard just to hold everybody. (an event we did quite often during their visits)

I never really appreciated the effort my parents and Aunt and Uncle must have put into maintaining that relationship until I became the far away family member as an adult.

Doug and I are lucky to live close to his family- which is something we both really enjoy. But my side of the family is a different story. My closest sibling is in Olympia, WA which seems SO far away to me! I was a little dissappointed with myself when I looked up the distance and found it was only 900 miles away. Not too different than the distance between our really 'close' relatives growing up. How in the world did my parents find a way to make it all the way up to Michigan so often? I really have no idea- but it's something I'm determined to figure out!

So, in the spirit of warping my mind into thinking 900 miles really isn't that far- I planned a trip up to Washington for some quality time with my sister, Marika's family. (the decision was greatly helped by the fact that South West was having a '50% off all tickets to Seattle' deal). It was so great to see them for a week and get to know her kids a little better. (I've seen them often, but it's almost always when our whole family is together and it's hard to really get to know each niece and nephew's personality with so many kids running around the same house.)

We spent the week doing projects. Projects with the kids while they were awake (I taught the girls how make these puppets that are great for kids- you make them completely with a stapler so they can do it all themselves) and projects with just us after they went to bed (mostly creating all the parts of Amber's upcoming 'fairy hunt' birthday party).

I'm so glad I got to go! I hope I keep up this idea that 900 miles isn't greater than my desire to really be close to family.