Road Trip to the OC

I get to see one of my best friends from college annually at the Girls Weekend we attend with our moms but every time we've planned for our families to get together over the last couple of years something has happened and one of us has had to cancel (broken arm, changing schools, horrible flu, and change of jobs to name a few of the reasons). Finally after almost two years of our kids not seeing each other we managed to find a weekend that the boys and I could drive down and visit them. Sarah's husband Dan was out of town for work for most of our time there but we did get to see him for the last day at least. The kids had a blast together. Walker introduced the boys to his favorite show Fireman Sam, we went to the beach, turned their backyard into a water play area, had bike races, played at an amazing park, and on the last night Kieran and Alyson even had a slumber party together. Sarah is a dietician so she's always really understood the hurdles of Reed's food allergies and she even managed to find a couple places to eat out which was amazing!!! We loved our time in Orange County and can't wait to get together again.

Flying the Friendly Skies

Sorry if you're bored with all of these Washington posts, I had so many pictures that I wanted to share, I just kept writing. This is the last one, I promise! I'm very lucky that I work for family and for a company that has a plane. I was able to use it for the flights because there was absolutely no way I was attempting a flight with two young kids by myself. Even though I didn't have to wait in an airport or check luggage I sill had the boys on a plane by myself with no assistance for 3.5 hours on the way there (on the way back Grandma and Grandpa joined us). They were a bit nervous but thought flying was fun for the most part.

Before our flight North Nonna, Pepe, and Dad met us in a park close to the airport. We played, had lunch, and used the restrooms. We took off during their naptime and Kieran was instantly asleep. Reed and I played with stickers and read books. He tried to rest but was just too excited to sleep. Kieran woke up 1.5 hours in and with two hours of flying ahead of us I went straight to the iPad and let them watch Frozen for the first time and eat snacks. Reed had to go to the bathroom towards the end of the flight and even peed out the "pee tube" that is on the plane. Both boys' ears bothered them on the way down, but especially Reed's. There was a lot of crying and eating pretzels, and crying again. I was pretty happy to land to say the least!

The views from the plane were awesome. We saw Yosemite Valley, Lake Tahoe, the Pacific Ocean, and multiple volcanoes. I wasn't able to get pictures of most of it, but it really was a beautiful flight. On the way home I'm so glad Grandma and Grandpa were there for backup. Kieran fell asleep in the car on the way to the airport but wouldn't go back to sleep on the plane. Snacks and the iPad were on a constant rotation for him. Reed sat with Grandma for a long time and finally fell asleep in her lap so Grandpa and I kept sticking things under her legs to keep her supported. Towards the end of the flight the boys both started screaming because of their ears. We couldn't get either one of them to eat but luckily Grandma had some gum we let Reed chew on. While we missed Jon the entire trip I was really glad he wasn't on the flight because small planes and screaming children probably would have, at a minimum, given him a panic attack!!!

Bellingham, WA Day 5

We just had the morning to spend together on Sunday before heading back to California. The kids got to eat and play together including Reed and Annaliese breaking out her dress up box. The two of them ended up fighting over the princess wand and Kieran was the only one that got into "costume." Of course there was a lot of packing, some attempts at group shots, and lots of goodbye hugs (and a few tears). The boys are still talking about our trip and love looking through all of the pictures and telling me about everything they did. Kieran woke up the first few mornings we were back saying "hug anna-yies" over and over again. I get sad when I think of the distance between these cousins but I also saw just how much they love each other and I think their times together will always be very special for them.

 

Bellingham, WA Day 4

Reed had a horrible allergic reaction overnight that involved me giving him a midnight bath, multiple applications of ointment, lotion, and allergy meds, lots of hugging and tears, and watching the entire Frozen movie. Kieran and Reed were sleeping in the same room and the intense screaming woke K and he really struggled the rest of the night as well. I literally got 40 minutes of sleep the entire night, Reed got maybe two hours, and Kieran, Grandma, and Grandpa possibly a few hours more than that. Reed was pretty much inconsolable and the only thing that made him feel better was being distracted (hence the movie) so Grandpa and I hung out with him for a while and Grandma took over Kieran duty. Needless to say we were all exhausted the next day. We attempted to explore Lake Padden but the boys both fell asleep in the car on the way there so Grandpa sat in the car with them for an hour singing songs while Grandma, Aunt Kari, and I got to run around the beautiful lake on a lush tree and fern lined trail.

Luckily the boys took afternoon naps as well and had pretty good energy for the day's big event - meeting Aunt Kari's parents and her Sister's family at Birch Bay Beach for kite flying, sand castle building, a picnic dinner, and s'more roasting. It was so wonderful getting to spend time with them all and to meet Annaliese and Haleigh's other boy cousins Elias and Malachi. The kids got filthy dirty playing in the sand but had a great time playing together.