July went by fast and furious! There were lots of swimming lessons and learning to dive off the high dive. Wow!
And then there was the trip to Washington. 16 Beykirchs in 1 house for a whole week! It was crazy/fun!
We wanted to take our bikes (more on that later), so we drove the 11 hours, stopping in Missoula on the way there to spend the night. What a cool town! If you ever go, you must see the downtown carousel (unless you don’t have kids with you and then I guess you can skip it) and eat a pizza and salad at Biga Pizza downtown. It’s the best pizza we’ve ever, ever had!
Here is the salad. It was amazing. All those flowers are edible!
Exhibit A
Exhibit B
So yummy!
The carousel animals are all hand carved and painted in the attached woodworking shop at the carousel. It really was amazing to see the work that goes into those! The kids loved it!
The next day it was back in the car. This was our last stop before arrival. A cute park at a fire station…strange. Calla loved Clifford, and they both had obviously been in the car way too long at this point! They did a great job and we now know that we have graduated into that next phase of parenthood where you can actually consider going in the car for extended periods of time with your children and live to tell about it!
Once we all arrived and were accounted for, we needed a family photo to prove we were all in the same state at the same time. So, here we are at our best, or whatever we can best manage…you know how extended family photo shoots go!
The rest of the week was filled with fun and festivities.
We were there for the 4th of July, so we got to join in the neighborhood kids bike parade and festivities. Very fun! Our kids and cousins are in that photo somewhere!
The biggest activity (aside from the baptism, which was really the reason for the trip, and for which I have no pictures—oops) was the Hiawatha Bike Trail. If you are ever out that way, you really ought to do it! It was 16 miles with numerous tunnels, some of which required head lamps. We were all 16 of us on or behind bikes and it was an adventure! The first tunnel is the longest and darkest. It’s 2ish miles and freezing cold. Really weird to ride your bike through, but fun! The rest of the ride was filled with tunnels, tressels and views. It’s all a very gentle downhill slope, which made it doable for all.
You take a shuttle bus back up the mountain to your car when you are done. Well, almost to your car. You have to go back through the first dark 2 mile tunnel again. By that point we had split into families, so our little foursome took the tunnel pretty fast. Calla was COVERED in mud splatters that were 4 different colors!
We had other small adventures.
This was our first time at a sushi restaurant. It had a conveyer belt that circulated the restaurant with food. Fun!
Chris’ brother’s house is surrounded by golf courses. I lost track at 3. When they bought their house, it came with a golf cart! I can’t believe I don’t have a picture of it. We drove it everywhere. There are cart paths through the neighborhoods. People really drive their golf carts everywhere. It’s hilarious! We went to a concert in the park on the 4th and there was grass seating and then cart seating behind that. :)
Finally on our way home and tuckered out!
Don’t worry, the Cheetos got us through!!!!
