Wednesday, July 15, 2009

Trip

Here's a little recap of our trip so far:

Plane ride. Leg one: misery. Layover: breaking up the family so one of us can take a baby and run to nearly-missed flight plotting some sort of delay while the other gathers up the rest of the children and gear and hopes to catch up; one split lip, and scavenging children begging food off of unsuspecting passengers waiting at the gate (flight ended up being delayed, of course). I wasn't quite fast enough to catch up with Ashton as he bee-lined to some man with a banana and started begging for some "nana." The man broke off a little piece to give to him at which point Ashton starts yelling at him and pointing to the larger remaining piece. About a minute later I caught up to him as some woman was giving him potato chips. Seriously. Because that poor little belly is just wasting away?

Leg two: thank heavens for the ipod touch, Benadryl, a few open seats, and convincing people they really didn't want to sit by us.
























Of course with all the announcements the naps didn't last as long as I would have liked, but it was still a first for napping on the plane!







Family reunions: so much fun! We went to Kangaroo Zoo (full of bounce houses and mini-golf)



































(Getting a little too close sometimes!)














Rented the infamous karaoke machine (lucky for you I'll spare you the videos. :)
















(Isn't that little Cash stinking cute? I don't think he ever opened his mouth, but he sure looked cute trying to karaoke to BINGO!)


Had family pictures - seriously the woman didn't really even want to bother with our little family! She tried a few of our boys and was like - "yeah, this age is hard," and stopped. We asked if we could try some family ones again and she was like, "maybe you could come back for a sitting another day." I was sort of like, um yeah, our kids will still not like to hold still tomorrow either, and are you kidding me that we might try to go through this again?? But hopefully we got some good ones. I'm pretty sure none of the kids were smiling, I think if we manage all looking in the same direction we'll be lucky. My fingers are crossed.

Then family reunions continued with renting out the Eccles ice skating rink in Logan. That was a first for our kids! The babies mostly entertained themselves opening boxes of pizza and running away with two or three pieces at a time, but everyone also enjoyed taking a spin or two on the ice (seriously - stroller on the ice? Awesome. Can you do that during regular ice skating hours? Even Cash loved it.)























Then we went up to Bear Lake to see a really cute play. We also visited some old friends in Wellsville. Man, the drive up to Bear Lake and the view from our friends amazing house in Wellsville are really to die for. Imagine lots of this, lots of mountains and rolling hills... wow.

















Our kids were pretty much cranky the whole weekend but at least had lots of cousins to share the distraction. I kept wanting to tell everyone it's not normal, it's just because we're on vacation and they're all out of whack, but well - it sort of is normal. :)

Walking to church and attempting a picture after:
















In other thoughts - I've realized that life really does work out for the best sometimes. It's actually a good thing Ryan has kept us poor this long. :) Because we have a small place to keep track of these babies in. There aren't doors leading to the outside everywhere you look with concrete steps leading to rivers of water or yards that drop off out back. There are only two toilets to keep track of rather than six, everything is baby-proofed so I don't have to run the second anyone is out of my sight, I can change a diaper without worrying that someone is falling down a flight of stairs (again), and there are NO stairways! So yes, I'm realizing that it is actually really hard to watch my kids out here and some things are really blessings in disguise!

12 comments:

Sharon said...

Bear Lake is amazing! Your trip sounds like it has really been great! Have fun!!! Miami (and I) miss you!!

Mumsy said...

Amen about the bigger living quarters. We got to UT and moved into our tiny house (which feels smaller now that the kids are a year older) and it felt HUGE. Huge to clean. Huge to get lost in. I had to yell to find where the kids were hiding. Did I say HUGE to clean? And Fritz found the two toilets first and splashed in them every single day until the charm wore off.

Anyway....

Looks like a lot of fun even with cranky kids. :) Kids, I have found, are never delightful when you travel. They're all against us.

Are you still in UT? I would love to see you if you had a day open.

Marci said...

Seriously, what's with strangers offering food (or giving in to the begging) to kids?!? Don't they know the mantra "never take candy from strangers!" Then I have to be the mean mom, or rude lady, that says "no." I'm glad you're having fun in Utah, we're heading out there next week. We get to go camping at Flaming Gorge, our family's favorite spot! Our flight leaves WI at 6:00 am!!! I'm either very crazy, or it will be wonderful. I'm hoping that the kids will sleep the whole time, and it's a direct so we won't have to haul butt through the airport with 3 kids and a monster stroller :) Good luck on your return trip!

Safire said...

Seriously...you never know how good your child proofed house is until you leave it. :)

Krista said...

I wish I was going to be here to hang out on Monday...have fun! and I love the previous post picture, You are hilarious. Thanks for always making twins sound hard (because they are) but also for loving every hard part about it.

Winnie said...

Looks like fun...except the plane ride. At least it was over.

Jenilee said...

We saw the Fjeldsteds also. They are such amazing people. We loved their house and their view. I am so glad you were able to see them. Sounds like you are having a fun trip.

Jess said...

Those pictures are amazing.
So peaceful looking.

I love my teeny, tiny apartment.
I can shut all the doors to bedrooms and bathrooms, gate off the kitchen and bam...only half the amount of trouble is possible!

Anonymous said...

How funny! I was with you all day and didn't know you guys went ice skating in Logan. So how come there aren't any pictures of you skating? Did you go? Maybe you should take beginning ice skating with me while you are here. Although I am 4 lessons ahead of you!

Your boys are SO CUTE! So ENERGETIC! And I'm SO IMPRESSED with you and that you take care of them each and every day! You are awesome!

Julie

AnnaMarie said...

Amen about the tiny apartment. That is one thing I love...I always know where Katie is and what she's playing with because I can hear her from wherever I am...:)

Anonymous said...

Fun! I know what you mean about trying to chase toddlers around unlimited spaces. Stress times two.

So, did I mention the picture of you doing karaoke from your last post was AWESOME?!! You really know how to let loose!

Tania said...

Jen, you are looking smoking hot!! Maybe I'll get inspired and try to get back in shape (or maybe not....)