The Great "West Side" Adventure.

Soooo as most of you already know....

I went to visit this really fun girl and her family:

And we had a lot of fun!

To give you on a background on how this all came about, my big brother was heading to the West Side for a wedding, and it occurred to me that if I came along I could go and visit Rebekah Eddy. Rebekah and I have been penpals for a year or so now, so I asked my brother if I could go on the trip with him. He said yes, so I got in contact with the Eddys and asked if I could come visit them. 

And it worked out!

Cascade mountains.

We loaded are things in my brother's truck and took off for the West Side, as I informed the Eddys later on is our Eastern Washingtonian's lingo for their side of the state. My other sister Melissa, the artist, also came along, and we began the six hour drive to visit the Eddys and my Grandma.

The drive was fun! On our way through the cascades we played Lord of the Rings music to get us in the mood. In Tacoma, the truck was sounding funny so my brother had to get out and spend half an hour fixing it. I of course took the opportunity to take very strange and dramatic pictures of myself for story reference. Yes, quite fun but rather useless. 

Myself being very helpful while the truck was being
fixed. ;)

We arrived in the Eddy's area right around five-thirty, and I spent the evening with them at their Grandparents and then at their house. It was a blast! I think the moment of awkwardness lasted a minute when we first met, then I felt like the Eddys made me a part of their family. I became an honorary Eddy for a day, which was sooo much fun. :) When we went back to their house, the younger kids showed me their animals, then the older girls and I discussed history, stories and languages (my FAVORITE topics in the world.) ;D. After spending some time looking at Mornelly character pictures I'd brought to show Rebekah, I went to bed in the study.

The next morning we got ready for church, which was also very fun. Rebekah showed me her character drawings (which, you readers of Rebekah's blog, need to see! They're really cool, so ask her about them! ;D) To my surprise, when we arrived at the church and attended the Sunday School class, the man who lead the class preached on the same topic we'd been covering at our church- being in the word of God every day. Then when Mr. Eddy began his message a little bit later, I was shocked to hear his message was on the topic of trust- what our church was covering! I felt very much at home in their church and had a blast meeting Rebekah's friends, who also love to talk about languages. :)

One of the younger Eddy girls and her
white rabbit, Gandulf.

When we went back to the house, we had apple cider, apples and roasted hot dogs on a fire. Then I got a tour of the house and the property, before my older brother arrived to take me to Grandma's house. Rebekah and I didn't feel like we had enough time to cover everything we were going to talk about before my brother came, but we had a blast spending time together. I enjoyed the whole family and can't thank them enough for the fun I had there! It truly was a huge blessing to me.

Grandma, myself and her dog Teddy.

Off to my Grandma's house we went next. After the excitement at the Eddys, visiting with my Grandma was very quiet but peaceful. It was wonderful to catch up with her, I hadn't seen her in almost two years. We had a great time visiting at that night we watched Castle. That evening I heard the Naval base play taps, and in the morning I got to listen to them play the Star Spangled Banner, which was great to hear! We took off that morning to head back home, saying goodbye to our Grandma and the West side.

Myself, Grandma, Melissa and Teddy.

Grandma, my older brother, Teddy and I.

On the ferry to Seattle, we followed the U.S.S. John Stennis out of the port and watched them head out to sea, which was sooooo cool! It's an aircraft carrier, and boy howdy is it huge! Also, we saw an orca whale, the very first whale I have ever seen in my life! I felt so blessed I got to see a whale and a aircraft carrier head out to sea all in the same day.

You can tell in this photo I am just sooo excited about the ship. What you can't see is the orca whale to the left- we hadn't realized it was there until after we turned the camera off. Sorry!

The train is coming! ;D

On the way home the truck broke down in Ellensburg, so we sent several hours in Ellensburg exploring the town before the tow truck showed up and took us home. That was an interesting ride- I sat between the tow truck driver and my older brother in the huge truck, and I couldn't help but imagine myself in an army truck riding along with foreign enemy soldiers. B-) (Jesseca Dawn will understand why- she knows about my book Free.) ;)

We stuck a quarter on the tracks....

And this is what happened to it. ;)

Walkin' down the tracks.

The tow truck ride.

Overall it was a wonderful three day weekend and I was so glad to be able go! I thank God that the trip worked out and we had a safe and fun time, and I'm so happy to have met the Eddys and see my Grandma again.