6th Annual Spokane Trip

This past weekend we traveled to Spokane for our Annual Spokane Trip. This is another of our many yearly traditions & is an absolute blast! This year it was Ray & I, Tom & Tonia Jones, Jeremy & Sarah Wimer, Eric & Alea Wassmuth, and Amy Schumacher that made the journey out of town. We always start the weekend off by saying good-bye to the kids. They get to have a wonderful night staying with grandparents while us parents go Christmas shopping. Nicholas & Sean stayed with Grandma Judy & Papa Ray. They had a blast playing StarWars with Chris, jumping on the trampoline, and helping Papa hang Christmas lights. Anyway, after we drop kids off, we head to Spokane where we all meet up at the Oxford Suites at the Valley Mall. Lunch is the first item on the agenda and we have found that Hooters is a great place to go. It's close to the mall & there is entertainment for the hubby's. After lunch is done, the girls say good-by to the husbands, leaving them at Hooters to drink beer, watch football, and gamble. Ray worked hard this year and made $85 on the black jack tables. Us girls head to the mall and get started on that Christmas shopping. It's a blast! No kids or husbands, just us girls checking out stores without the rush. The guys usually meet us at the Azteca in the mall, where they munch on Chips & Salsa & hold our bags while us girls finish up. That evening we head back to the motel where we enjoy appetizers & a couple of drinks (free for staying at the Oxford Suites) and get ready for dinner. This year, we drove out to Olive Garden in CDA and had a great time laughing and enjoying a meal where the parents got to be waited on instead of the parents waiting on the kids. We also got to eat an actual meal without interruptions or nagging on the kids to eat more dinner, sit up in the chair, use your fork, etc. It was wonderful. Sunday morning we head downstairs to the complimentary breakfast where we enjoy fresh fruit, pancakes, sausage, potatoes and more. After breakfast we headed over to Toys R' Us. This year, we finished the boys over the weekend. We have one thing left to get Sean however, other than that they are done! It's a wonderful feeling! I always look forward to our November weekend in Spokane. There is so much laughter, relaxation & just having fun with great friends. We are so blessed to have this tradition in our lives that we can share with such great friends. It's such a blessing also to have our wonderful family who supports us in helping with the boys so that we may do things like this. Overall, it was a great weekend. Ray & I had a great time with our friends & the boys had a great time with Grandma & Papa. Everybody was so pooped when we got home that it took us a couple of days to get caught up.