Back from Vacation!!! Part One

I have so many pictures to post that I have been delaying this post. I finally decided to update now and put the pics later. I took 5 memory cards worth of pictures. I have one memory card of 148 pictures developed. I have so much to do lately it is making my head hurt!

We woke Ileigh up at 5:30 am on August 2nd to catch a 7am flight to Portland. Good news! There was an extra seat on the plane for her carseat. I figured she would do better if she was strapped into something. They sat us in the last row. The thing that sucked is that A) we had no view and Austin was in tears over this B) The bastards all around us SHUT their window shades (I hate when people do that!) and C) We couldn't hear ourselves think next to those engines. Good News! There were lots of other babies on the plane that were Ileigh's age. Not so good- Ileigh was the only one that squirmed and yelled until we let her crawl around and meet every single one of them.

We arrived in Portland and proceeded to ALAMO. Our car (intermediate sized) was too small and wouldn't fit our loot. I complained about this, as usual, and we got a free upgrade per bob (thanks BOB). We drove around for 2 hours in our rental car so the princess could nap before hotel check in time. We found Vancouver, Washington. Our hotel was cheap, and awesome. It was right on the Columbia river with a view and everything. The next two nights we drank wine out on the balcony with the monitor in tow. We also took Ileigh for a few midnight walks when she would NOT cooperate with sleep in the port-a-crib.

We visited the Japanese gardens in Portland. They were beautiful. The driving conditions were horrible in Portland and I have never crossed so many bridges in my life. Okay I have crossed two bridges before. The one to Coronado Island and the San Francisco bridge. That's it!

On August 4th we drove up to Olympia. We had a hard time finding a hotel there that was decent. Finally, we lfound an excellent Ameritel hotel at 150 a night. It was nice though. Two separate sleeping rooms and a full kitchen. No noise maker for the princess to go to sleep to, though.. so Austin (a quiet sleeper) got the king bedroom Suite.
We had an awful experience at a restaurant in Olympia and ended up leaving. Ileigh was cranky as hell, and I went back to the hotel while A and Austin went to Red Lobster to pick up food. Later Austin and I went down to the indoor pool where I met the nicest lady. She traveled a lot for her job and was there alone. I found out all about her life and her absent husband. She was so sweet, it stinks I didn't ask for her number. But how do you ask a stranger something like that without it seeming weird? Oh well.
That night Ileigh was pretty bad, I got up with her a few times and I know Andy had a horrible time getting her to sleep. She actually at one point was lulled back to sleep on my chest. There is a first for everything!