Week(s) In Review...Middle of September

There really are too many pictures to choose from, but here are a few of the things we did on our trip to Washington...

We ate at "Yummy Mongolian Grill".  It tasted good, but be careful how much oil you put on your creation.  I was on the toilet quite a lot after this one.

We went to Kid's Club - best invention ever, and I'd like one for my backyard, thankyouverymuch.

We went to the courthouse for Robel's adoption, (naturalization?), and also sealing at the temple.  Sadly, no picture of that one.  Doh.

Andrew and Todd went on a kick-butt bike ride.  Andrew's favorite part of the trip, so says he.

We chilled.  With bike helmets on.  Safety first.

We swam in Grandma's tub.

And met Juliana.  To-die-for cute. And she loved me.

So we cuddled.

And we went to the zoo.  Tommy and Michael both yelled at me for taking their picture.  Apparently they are not as big attention whores as my kids are.

We saw some Norman relatives.

And went to the beach.  Swings on the beach - awesome.

And to the Rose Gardens in Portland.  I love that place so very, very much.

We caught fish...(and criminal records...doh again)...

and snakes!

And we visited.  Mostly at decibels that prevented any actual communication.

And we finally took that group shot I've been meaning to get.  

And in spite of everything that kinda sucked and/or went wrong, we had a good time visiting with everyone. 

It's Cold Here

I never dreamed that this is how my kids would spend their spring break.

What to do?

Andrew told me tonight that we need to do something amazing for our 10th Anniversary, which is coming up in April. While I would love to take the trip to Italy that I have been dreaming of since I was 16, that particular trip won't be in the cards until our bank account is a little fatter and our kids a little older.

So! We came up with a few ideas...

#1 - re-create a part of our honeymoon and spend a day or two in California, hit Disneyland, like we did back in the day, maybe San Francisco... But I don't know if I could do Disneyland without the kids. I would feel like the most horrible person in the world.

#2 - a cruise. A short, cheap cruise, mind you. But, while that would be nice, I just can't help but feel like I would be paranoid about the water the whole time. I don't swim... And I don't get overly excited about being forced to mingle with strangers. Maybe I have the wrong idea. I think the sunsets and the views would be amazing, but I don't feel like I'm a cruise kind of girl. Plus, that could get spendy with airfare, etc...

#3 - Hop a flight to New York and see Phantom of the Opera on Broadway. I've seen it once, but Andrew hasn't yet had the privilege. I've wanted to go to New York for as long as I can remember, (though not as desperately as Italy). How cool would that be? And we'd only have to sucker someone into watching our kids for two days and one night, so, better odds of this becoming reality.

#4 - Anyone seen Yes Man? Jim Carrey? Ever since I saw that movie I have wanted to walk into an airport and catch the next available flight to wherever it might be going and let fate have it's way with me. It has the potential to be a huge bummer, but if you went into it with an attitude of having an unprecedented adventure with the love of your life, it could be flippin' incredible! Hawaii would have to be off limits, along with anything international because that's just too big an undertaking. Seriously though? We're talking surprises and fun around every corner. But what if our destination became Bismark, North Dakota? Yikes!

So, do any of these ideas sound like fun to anyone else? Care to contribute an idea of your own? I'm excited just thinking about it!

Abnormalities Such as Giant Body Parts

Here's another picture from our trip. This one was taken when we pulled up to Natalie's house after a long and glorious day at the zoo. We wore the kids right out, and in fact, there is a picture where you can see all four of my boys sleeping in the car at the same time, but I wanted to use this one due to it's disturbing nature. I believe that if you double click on the image above, you will be better able to see that both Cameron and Ethan are sleeping with their eyes open. Ethan more than Cameron, but still creepy. All of my kids happen to sleep with their eyes open, at least occasionally. They get that from me. My, (our), eyes are so big that to keep the eyelids shut completely actually requires conscious effort. Thus, when sleeping, completely out of our heads relaxed, we can no longer hold them shut, and they sit in whatever fractionally open position is naturally comfortable. Disturbing, I know. It also causes painfully dry eyes on the mornings when I have spent most of the night totally knocked out with exhaustion, staring, blankly, straight ahead.


(And speaking of large body parts, Trent weighed in at exactly 24 pounds at his check-up yesterday, but Drew has jumped up to a solid 28 pounds, so he's got a nice lead on his brother who is 18 months younger than him. Way to go, Drew! And Trent, it turns out, is more abnormally tall than he is abnormally chubby - shocking, isn't it?)

Here's some more zoo pictures... I know it's always more fun to go to the zoo than to look at pictures of other people at the zoo, but I'm documenting my life, here, so just suffer through it, and try not to jump out of your seats with excitement!


My second favorite stop at the zoo - the sea lions!


Lazy male. Typical.


Rumor has it that there are two female lions at the zoo. We only saw one. She was trying to decide which child to hunt down for lunch.


Beautiful, beautiful animal.


This was as close as we got to any nature channel education. Seems like the animals are always feeling frisky when I'm at the zoo. Mr. Lizard is irritated with me taking his picture. "Do you mind?"


Hams.


HELLO!


This just cracked me up. Peaceful with many cattle and children? Is that possible?


Tommy was not happy about being carted all over, but he was game for some play time!


Blurry Michael.


Andrew working hard.


This baby elephant is almost as hairy as Cameron was when he was a baby.


The result of being told "no" when they asked for a quarter for the candy machine. Aren't they lovely?


Tommy, red; Michael, blue. Yes, I'm sure. I called and asked. I'm ashamed.


If my rear were that pretty, I wouldn't wear pants, either.


My favorite animal at the zoo - the Mandrill. Sometime I'll have to tell the story of the school class that came through and was asked by their teacher if they could tell her which was the male? Well, those of us who had been standing there for a while could have told them exactly which one was the male without resorting to boring references to size or aggression.


That just makes me sad. Hang on! Your new habitat is almost done!!


Trent loves him some string cheese.


"Hey! There's Aunt Kellie!"





Cameron and Ethan's favorite - the crocodile. Or is it an alligator? I can't remember.

I'm Back. And I'm tired.

Today I spent 12 hours in a very uncomfortable minivan.  My backside aches like crazy, I am exhausted and I have to get up in exactly 6 hours.  So here I am blogging.  We had a great time on our trip.  Lots of fun.  (There might have been exclamation points there if I weren't so tried.)  But the thought of actually writing about it makes me so bored that I would almost rather get back in the car and drive all the way across Idaho again with nothing to do but look at brown grass and play "Name That Roadkill".  Also, it might take all week to upload all my pictures and video from my camera.  Perhaps I am just cranky and fatigued?  I'll highlight some of the better parts, but not tonight.  


Tonight, I will just say that I have a promise from Andrew that he will not complain about Utah for 8 solid months.  Why 8 months?  I have no idea, but that's the time I was promised.  I suppose that catching 21 salmon is the equivalent of 8 months of peace.

One more week!

In case you ever wondered what happened here, we made the decision to go to Washington as a family, rather than just Andrew.  It would have been nice to go in October so that we could see all the people we love from Maryland, but Andrew's boss will be out of  town half the month of October, leaving Andrew in charge of the store, and the other half, the big-wigs from Portland will be here in the Salt Lake store, and my man needs to be there to impress them with his general awesomeness. 

While there were a few little factors contributing to our decision - Cameron and Ethan will have 3 full weeks in school, rather than the one or two we originally thought, before we pull them out - the main issue is that I decided that our kids need every chance they can get to visit with their grandmother.  One never knows how long their grandparents will be around, and to miss an opportunity to spend time with one is like inviting Regret to be your constant companion. 

While we're on the subject, did you know that Cameron had 13 living grandparents when he was born??  How amazing is that?  My kids are now down to 8, which is still an incredible blessing, but it shows just exactly how that can change in 8 years.

At any rate, Cameron and Ethan are both doing quite well so far in school.  Cameron seems to feel comfortable in his class and looks forward to walking out the door every morning, and he comes home with news and smiles, and that is all I want.  Ethan could use a break.  He's having a hard time adjusting to the full day of a first grader.  He liked school a lot more when it only lasted 3 hours a day.  He's a good kid, though.

So we are leaving here in just one week, and will be gone for a week.  Andrew and I are both foaming at the mouth thinking about Moe's at Cannon Beach and their fish and chips, the kids are falling all over themselves with excitement to see cousins and the new exhibit at the Oregon Zoo.  I am going to force Sandy to let me interview her for hours on end for her personal history.  Andrew is losing sleep due to adrenaline overload.  Fishing really gets him going, but he's also looking forward to the Second Annual Cousin Football Throwdown Smear, or whatever it's being called.  I get to visit the Rose Gardens, one of my favorite places in the world, see my sister and her family, laugh at her just for being the mother of twins - all that good stuff.  Trent will get to show off his 6 teeth and massive thighs which are now being measured by the quarter-ton, and demonstrate what we are sure will by then be crawling.  Right now it's a weird thrusty-scoot thing.  And we're all just very excited to see family.  Strangely, I am very much looking forward to the actual drive.  I love spending time with Andrew, and we have 750 miles to fill with fascinating conversation.  Hopefully not about work or the salmon run.  (I live in a dream world.)

A bonus for all of you is that you won't have to suffer through my rambling blog posts for 9 whole days!  Unless I decide to write some before I leave and schedule them to post at random times while I'm gone.  I just learned that trick and may choose to employ it!  I often have too many thoughts and feel like a freak for posting them one right after another.  I can't help myself.  Sorry.  Also, new blog editor does not have spell check.  What's up with that??  I NEED it!