At Abuelito & Abuelita's (Part 1)

We're in Pasco!  After a church potluck on Sunday, Aimee, the kids and I packed up the car and headed to Abuelito & Abuelita's (my parents) house.  Somehow, we always leave with more stuff than what we brought when we visit either of our parents.  

It's about a 2.5 hour drive from Oakesdale to Pasco. 

Oakesdale is in the Palouse Hills region of Washington, with rolling hills covered in wheat fields as far as the eye can see.  One of the most prominent terrain features of the area is Steptoe Butte. 

 

We didn't see any this day, but you can often see paragliders taking off from the Butte.  Below you can see a succession of photos as we drove west.

   

Moving further west, the landscape gets dryer and more rocky.

 

 

 

Grape vines are a sure sign that you've reached the Columbia Basin.

Once at Abuelito and Abuelita's, Eli wasted no time jumping on the trampoline Abuelita bought just for our visit.

Judah (the second of my four nephews) jumped in to teach Eli how to bounce.

More kids joined in.

Heidi explored the yard.

Eli's favorite part of Abuelito and Abuelita's house, though, is the mud pit.

Uncle Jake played with Eli and Jer-Bear and a Lego Thomas the Tank Engine train set that's been passed down from his boys (my nephews).

Abuelita made one of my favorite Nicaraguan dishes - bigoron!  It's yuca, cabbage salad and chicharrones (pork rinds), but she also added fried platanos (plantains) and fried cheese.  Yum!

After dinner, the little kids went right back out for more trampoline fun.

This morning (Monday), Eli went right back to the mud pit.  This kid loves dirt! 

My mom's friend, Dianne, joined us for lunch.  Jer-Bear loves dirt as much as his big brother!

The rest of the kids, however, enjoy the trampoline the most.

Eli's other favorite activity is helping Abuelito water his garden.

See you next time!

At Gamma & Gampa's House (Part 4)

This will be the last post from Gamma & Gampa's.  We went back to Benewah Lake for one last time.  The weather was a little cooler, so we didn't stay as long.  The kids were freezing after a couple hours of swimming.

 

 

The little boys were the first to want out of the water.  Fortunately, there's a playground near the beach. 

 

Aimee shot some photos, so I'm in some of them for a change. 

Jer-Bear loves playgrounds, but he's not quite stable enough on his feet yet. 

Yes, I'm a nerd and I wear Vibrams.  A clear sign that you've spent too much time in the Middle East is that you're more comfortable in the Afghan squat than on one knee. 

 

Jer-Bear doesn't quite get slides yet. 

 

 

As I mentioned earlier, Eli is compelled to throw things into water.  Even when he's at a playground. 

Here are a couple long distance shots of the kids taken from the playground. 

I tried to teach Jer-Bear how to slide. 

He just wants to climb back up the slides. 

On the way back to Gamma and Gampa's, we fueled up in Plummer, ID. 

Ouch!  $3.899/gallon is no joke!  However, our mileage improved again.

20.7 mpg is excellent for such a large vehicle.  I assume it improved so much because we've been driving at about 55 mph, as opposed to 75 mph.  Air resistance is a huge factor in fuel mileage, and air resistance increases exponentially with increasing velocity.  The Sprinter van has a coefficient of drag roughly equal to that of a barn, so it's conceivable that a 20 mph change in driving speed would result in a 2 mpg change in mileage.  We'll see how we do with the next tank.