7*1*2011

On Thursday night as soon as Brian got done with Pack Meeting we were on the road to Portland. It worked out really well I thought, because we were supposed to meet up with Brian's family on Friday morning sometime at the Mt. St. Helens Visitors Center. We were the very last ones to leave. But Heidi, Jeremy, Eric, and Dom were only a couple hours ahead of us, and they were driving through the night to get there as well. I think that Both girls were awake until about 9 and then they were out. I stayed awake talking to Brian and then took the wheel in Twin Falls. As we were pulling into the gas station Annika shot awake and said "I was just going to tell you we are almost to Abe and Henry's house" (Can you tell she was excited to get there) Earlier in the day I was packing and she was sitting on my bed, and she said "This is the best day ever, I can't wait to see Abe and Henry!" Well Annika stayed awake through Boise, and was saying look at that pretty purple star mom, oh you missed it. I guess it was good, laughing at her kept me awake. I drove until about 4:00 and then I made Brian take the wheel again. We made it through the night and we were not to far outside of Portland, which can I just say if you have never driven to Portland, it was beautiful. You drive along the Columbia River, and it is so pretty. Then we got a phone call from Heidi saying that they ran out of gas and were along the side of the road. So we stopped and got them some gas, went to their rescue and then followed them to breakfast.


This is my happy girls after our long drive all night.


(Scott, Allison, Brian, and the kids looking at what we have to climb the next day!)

After breakfast we headed up to the Mt. St. Helens Visitors Center. It was interesting listening to them talk about it blowing up. We met up with the whole family and enjoyed some lunch. After lunch we headed farther up the canyon to a lookout. You could look up into the crater. It is just amazing to see all the ash and dirt, and the huge trees that were knocked over. Any picture that I had ever seen did not do it justice. It was huge and amazing and so pretty!
(Ady and me in front of the Mt.)
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(Ady loved to kick her leg up, and she was incredibly happy for almost all of the drive.)

Annika enjoying dinner with her favorite cousins Abe and Henry!

After we headed to the lodge that we had rented for the night. Seriously the lodge that Allison reserved us for the night could have slept probably 50 people. We only had 14. So we all had our own room. The room that Brian and our family slept in had at least 12 beds in it. Needless to say there was more than enough room for all of us. Allison had made us a wonderful dinner, and we hung out for a while and then we all headed to bed after setting our alarms for 3:30 am.