long beach...

...the rest of the story.

when jas & the girls got back to the motel they didn't feel like talking (surprising, right?). all i got was that they ended up calling a tow truck and it took him about 2 minutes to get them out of the sand. in the morning (well later that morning) after the girls woke up i heard more of the story.

so they got all comfortable on the beach with chairs, blankets and the dogs. the fire was blazing and they settled in enjoy themselves. jas went to gather some more wood and about that time they realized that the tide was coming in. jas went to move the car while the girls ate chips, played with fire and hung out some more with the dogs. they did start to worry when he was gone for a while a didn't come back. the girls both thought they heard jason whistle but dismissed it as their imaginations, then they heard his whistle again...and still ignored it. once it got REALLY dark they decide to put the fire out and go find jas. he wasn't where he said he would be, instead he was stuck in the sand about 10 feet from the start of the road. and so the girls were told to start digging. they soon discovered that the bottom of the car was resting on a rock. they (kial says SHE) found some big logs to push under the tires to help lift the van.

for hours (4 to be exact) they dug in the sand and moved the car by tiny fractions. ceb told me she was silently weeping because she cold and tired and sore but she was afraid to cry out loud because she knew jason was not in the right frame of mind to deal with it (he in fact said he told her not to say one word to him). jas thought seriously about just letting the ocean claim the van. kial was so tired she almost feel asleep digging...but she kept plodding along.

way after ceb suggested it jas FINALLY called the tow truck. (ceb said she wished i had gone because i would have called a tow truck within the first hour.) they were about 5 feet from the road at that point and he had realized they could not move the car any further. the tow truck driver had a hard time finding them but once he did it took him about 2 minutes (and $80) to get them onto the road.

the next day after a little bit of sleep and breakfast we ventured back to the beach and parked SAFELY on the road. as we sat in our chairs flying our pirate kite and just enjoying the sun, sand and amazing view jas commented that this is all he wanted all along.
he asked me when we were going again. he wants me to plan it and of course we will be avoiding driving on the beach.

good times and family fun...

friday i had an egd, which is basically when they stick a scope down your throat to look around at your stomach. i got it to try and figure out why i keep having random HORRIBLE pain. they gave me a good dose of versed and phenegren which made me sleep all through the rest of friday until about 10am the next day.

so saturday morning just involved me having no desire to do anything more than putz around and read. jason had other ideas…he decided, around 11am, that he wanted to see the beach, i suggested deception pass, but nope he wanted a real ocean beach and determined we should take a trip to long beach (yes a 4+ hour trip). i grumped about, whined, offered other suggestions but was eventually steamrolled into going by my whole family.

i am NOT a spontaneous person. i NEED to plan. i need to know the details (yes, it’s a control issue and i am ok with that). even 24 hours would have been enough time, but no, it had to be right then. jason said i didn’t have to do anything, just sit back while he drove and then read while he and the girls hung out on the beach. we’d worry about where we’d stay the night once we were there, maybe we’d even camp on the beach (can you feel the horror that statement caused me?). we'll bring the dogs, they will love it. well about 12noon we hit the road. the trip there was uneventful other than stopping various times out of necessity (like to get iced-tea). we got to long beach around 5pm and went right to the beach. jason LOVES the idea of driving on the beach so of course he heads right out there with the back of the van open and the girls dangling their feet out (not something i approved of but no one listened to me). eventually he decided to park and drove into the softer dry sand and you guessed it WE GOT STUCK. now in jason's defense there were a bunch of other cars on the dry sand so it could have been doable, but not for our van. so the girls and jas got out, started digging and pushing (with the help of a not to happy with us police officer) and we got back on the wet sand. we drove a bit, parked on the side of the hard sand and everyone but me decided to head over to the water.well, it was really windy outside (yes, very much like the washington coast always is) and the beach ball jas had brought suddenly flew away. i can't say i didn't find it hilarious to watch jas run all the way down the beach trying to catch that ball. he actually caught it once and then it got away again. he eventually caught it in the dunes. i personally would have just let it go, but that's just me.

i, being the wonderful wife i am, decided to follow him with the car and pick him up. he ended up right by an exit from the beach so i headed to that exit...where i promptly got stuck in the dry sand that exists between the wet sand and the road. so with some help (one poor guy got a blast of sand in his face) we got out of the sand AGAIN but i was definitely DONE with being on the beach. jas and the girls wouldn't leave though so we hung out while they played for a little while in the water. the rest of our evening was pretty uneventful with dinner and go-carts. well, except for some some creep trying to kill kial by running her off the go-cart track. still, not super stressful or chaotic.

jas and the girls wanted to have a fire on the beach. i wanted to go to the motel. nothing about freezing to death on the cold beach sounded appealing to me. so they dropped me off at around 10pm and headed out for their pyrofest. i figured they'd be back around midnight. i was rereading twilight so i didn't really start to worry until about 1am. i tried calling jas but i kept getting his voicemail. by 2am i was in a complete panic. rationally i knew they were probably stuck again (because after getting stuck twice who wouldn't want to drive on the beach AGAIN), but in my mind some crazy murderer had snuck up on them and killed my whole family. FINALLY about 3am i got a text message from jas saying they were stuck and it shouldn't be long because they were only 5 feet from the road. they didn't get back to the motel until around 4am.

in case you thought this was the end of the story you are sadly mistaken! i still want to tell you what happened on the beach according to the girls, with a little commentary from jas.
...to be continued!

indoor summer fun...

i honestly love going to the movie theater. i love the popcorn, the diet coke, the previews, the amazing super loud sound and whatever story we are seeing bigger that life on a gigantic screen.

it takes a lot for me to chose to watch a movie at home. i am not sure why, but jas almost has to strong arm me (maybe that's a tiny exaggeration) into watching the movies he rents. something i even go with him, on his 5 hour trips to the video store, and pick out movies i am interested in (while he touches and looks at EVERYTHING on the walls), but 9 times out of 10 i won't watch it because i just can't work up the gumption. but tell me i can go see something at the movie theater and i am almost always THERE!

well this summer i have seen quite a few movies in the theater! and most of them i have truly loved.
iron man-saw it twice and LOVED it even more the 2nd time, i wouldn't mind paying to see it again!
indiana jones and the kingdom of the crystal skull-seriously enjoyed the old indie feel and LOVED the addition of "mutt" played by shia labeouf. i had some trouble accepting the alien thing, but all and all enjoyed it. i also saw this one twice and liked in much more the 2nd time.
prince caspian-totally enjoyed this movie. i didn't read the book, but kial did so she was disappointed, but i thought it was great.
kung fu panda-started off awesomely hilarious and ended with a nice moral. i'd go again.
get smart-we did not stop laughing through this WHOLE movie. perfect family film...at least for our family!
wanted-hands down my FAVORITE movie so far this summer. and i can't imagine anything will top it. james mcavoy was seriously delectable! i really like action movies that are filled with humor and this one really delivered.
made of honor-i saw this will kelly and amy for my birthday and i really liked it. it was the classic formula romantic comedy, but i really fall for that formula.
hancock-i expected more from this movie. i really love will smith and he usually delivers for me, but this time it kind of fell flat. i am not saying i hated it or anything and i think it delivered with the plot twist, but it was less than stellar and not one i'd need to see again.
wall.e-it was AWESOME! i loved this movie. it was funny and sweet and cute and beautiful. i will definitely be seeing this again.
baby mama- kial and i just went and saw this at the crest and we really liked it. it was no where near as hokey as i expected it to be. in fact it was funny, sweet and endearing.
nim's island-i just saw this one last night (also at the crest with kial). i liked it, but it's pretty slow and even the action seemed a little cautious. i liked the story though and i'm thinking of reading the book.

since we are only about halfway through the summer i have plenty more movies to see. i am looking forward to hell boy 2 (what can i say), journey to the center of the earth, the mummy 3 (i like brendan fraiser), kit kittridge (i will probably wait til this one is at the crest), harold, dark knight (mostly for heath ledger, what a waste), mamma mia (the previews look wonderful), step brothers (i'm hoping this is as funny as the previews have been), swing vote, pineapple express (yeah, i know but i am sure it will be hilarious), sisterhood of the traveling pants 2, tropic thunder (ben stiller, jack black, robert downey jr...need i say more), death race (because jason statham is HOT), the longshots and the house bunny (because i adore anna farris). there may be more, but i can't think of them right now (plus, i am sure you feel this is MORE than enough).

so i have a nice list of movies to see and i am sure i will work out the time to see them between, work, the kids activites, enjoying the GOOD weather, jumping on the trampoline and our various get-aways!

there are a lot of good books coming out also, but i'll save that for another day!!

i was spoiled rotten...

i had a whole extended weekend of fun, friends and happiness. from friday to monday i was spoiled in some wonderful way. how lucky am i to have such great freinds and a great hubby!
i guess my brother can stuff it with his comment about why even celebrate when your so close to 40! yep, he really said that, but in a funny teasing way because he's the BABY!

the girls just came back from montana and now they are headed to the church ranch to camp. jas and i will join them for the day tomorrow to celebrate the 4th, but in the meantime we will be seeing hancock tonight! i hope it's good, i LOVE will smith!

have a wonderful and safe 4th!