What Happened to my Poor Camera

 August 15th, 2009

Mom and Dad kept the kids and told Jake and I we could hike up above the fog to get a closer look at Mt. Rainier.  We decided to make a workout of it and hiked at full speed.  It took us about 45 minutes, but finally we were out of the haze and had a clear sky above us.

You can see just how fast the clouds and fog were moving by comparing these 2 pictures.  It would be clear one minute and back to being foggy the next.

Well, on the way down we decided to move quickly so mom and dad wouldn't be stranded with the kids without anything to do at the visitor's center.... once we were almost to the bottom and back on the paved path, the following occurred --

Better get used to this silly little drawings...

Seriously - Who Said Landing on Your Face Wasn't Fun?

The night my mom and dad arrived, the kids were entertained for almost an entire hour, by running back and forth across the room dodging pillows.  Tamsyn took some hard falls that resulted in her crying for a minute than asking if she could do it again.  One time she fell and told grandpa that it wasn't because of the pillow, it was...  "only because I was running way too fast!"

In the drawing you might notice Jake reaching for a cushion... he couldn't resist getting in on the action too.   Luckily there were mostly just lots of giggles, bumps and no major injuries.  

Seriously ... The Trey-cycle

When Mom was here she got to experience the joy of a 2 year old high speed,

 red-head on the go.

Now picture this cycle happening at least 17 more times in the next 3 minutes... 

It makes your head spin.

Grandma is much more patient than I am.  

Seriously - In the Corner

Seriously - Road Trips are AWESOME ...

... Especially with kids!

Coping equals -turning up the music extremely loud and singing along even louder.

Bonus points for anyone who can name the song and artist :)  Definitely in my top 5 favorite songs. I wanted to make it play on the blog, but don't know how this minute... and don't have time to figure it out tonight either.

The trade off for getting to stay an extra week in Meridian to paint with Alyce was that I had to drive the 8.5 hours home by myself with the kids.  I was bracing myself for the worst...I had managed to fit 2 upholstered chairs that Alyce said I could have, and some extra boxes out of storage as well as the kids bikes and our luggage in the van (if you look closely at picture #3 you can see the chair legs sticking up and out). With our crazy load I knew things could get messy... luckily what is in the first 2 pictures is about as bad as it got  --- A miracle really :)

I have always LOVED road trips... but lately the kids have really tried to taint the happy feeling I get driving along and reminiscing .... So after I saw Trey with his hands over his face in the rearview mirror, I thought... "Oh no, it is starting..."  But luckily instead of spiraling into chaos, it turned into a long nap.   Aaaaah, what a relief.

 I was sure I would have more things to draw... like a "MOMMY - I need to go potty" or "Mom, I couldn't hold it anymore"  or "I spilled" or "my tummy hurts --ugh"  or any of the various other headache causing events that happen with kids strapped in car seats for extended periods of time.  Really, it was amazing how well they did this time.  We only had to stop one time for gas and bathroom breaks, and twice to put air in our tires (the kids didn't even get out those times). I was absolutely thrilled, and convinced I could definitely make the drive again.

Note - after making it home so happy -- my happiness quickly changed when I couldn't get Jake to answer his phone, and he wasn't home to let us in the house (my keys were with the gal taking care of our cat)... Luckily he was a slacker at locking the house and we found a way in, so we didn't have to sit on the steps for 20 minutes waiting form him.