We made it!!!

Wow, i can't believe it's been 6 days since i last updated on here! Everything has been so busy and crazy, that i just haven't had any time to get on the internet for anything other than just a quick post on facebook. So, to update.... My mom and i finally made it out to my friend's house in Renton (a suburb of Seattle) on Tues afternoon. We stopped for a third night at another Super 8 on monday night. I wasn't really tired and could have pushed straight thru, but we would have gotten there at 3am and i just didn't want that to be my reception. :) Anyway, we got there and it was just Coltin, Kara, Coltin II, Alyssa, and Jada at home (i know, just 5 of them right? LOL). So we unpacked my car right away and since it was 58 degrees and sunny and just gorgeous, my mom and i decided that we would head out to downtown Seattle and go up to the top of the Space Needle. It was beautiful up there! So sunny and such a great view, but it was very windy. Did you know that the observation deck does not rotate? Only the level that the restaurant is on rotates, and that is just below the observation deck. After we did that, we went down to the street along the waterfront and looked at some of the shops and had dinner at a restaurant. We sampled some local beer and had this FANTASTIC appetizer. Then we found our way to the REI flagship store and checked that out; I had heard so many people tell me that the flagship store was so awesome! Finally we went back to Kara and Coltin's house and saw the rest of the family :) We hung out for a while and then went to sleep. :) Surprisingly, my mom and i both found it very easy to sleep late here (even with babies crying and 5 other kids running around or getting ready for school). But we did eventually get up and get out on Wed. We decided to go out and check out Pikes Place Fish Market. It was super fun! If parking wasn't so expensive, and if the driving in Seattle wasn't so terrible, I'd go down there to hang out every day! We also went to the International District and China Town. It wasn't anything special, but i ordered us some chinese food to take home. Thursday was a really great day. Mom slept in until almost 11am and then we went on a boat cruise to tour Union Lake, and thru the locks and dam, and then down Puget Sound to the Harbor in downtown Seattle. It was 2.5 hrs and was narrated by this nice girl who moved to Seattle from the east coast last year in February. A lot of the tour was about the history of Seattle, or the buildings/neighborhoods that we passed by as the tour went along. It was very interesting. After that, we made our way up to Capitol Hill and found the shop that my mom's cousin Annie owns. We walked in the store and right away saw my great-aunt Barb. She was so excited to see that we showed up! It was great to see her again. She was always so nice and interesting to talk to the few times i've met her. I was introduced to Annie and we spent the next 2 hours catching up and chatting about the store and all of Annie's beautiful clothing and the artistic alterations she makes. It was so nice. And Barb gave me her phone number and Annie told me to stop in or call anytime that I needed advise. It was a great idea to meet up. Mom and I spent all day on friday shopping and organizing my things in my new room. And then all of us went out for dinner and when we got home, Kara, Coltin, Mom and I stayed up late talking and drinking yummy Arbor Mist! I had to bring my mom to the airport early saturday morning. It was really hard to have her leave. But she told me to be strong and have fun :) While she was here, it was like a vacation. I'm really glad she was able to stay for a few days. I'm not sure that i would have had the confidence or even desire to go out and see so much of the touristy things that we did. I am still really nervous about this whole thing (sometimes it's most prevalent when the baby is crying and all the other kids are talking loudly over each other trying to get my attention and Kara and Coltin are both busy with something else... I just feel like i'm swimming in chaos). I think i will have to start retreating to my bedroom area once in a while to stay sane :) I think i could adapt, and i think i could kind of like living here with everyone- as long as i have a job and am not maybe around ALL day :) Love you Kara!!!! and i love your kids too :) and i know you will understand exactly what i mean. It's late, and i'm pretty tired, so i'm gonna go to bed, but i will upload some pics in the morning.