Markers are for coloring on paper... not your face.
Friday, January 27, 2012
Thanksgiving in Seattle - Pics to be added
First of all- We LOVE Seattle! Last year we attempted to make a trip up, but that failed. This year we decided it was a must. Everyone else in Kev's family decided to make the trip up too, so it was a GREAT big Andrus family get together. I LOVED it and so did the girls.
For weeks before we left, I started planning and strategizing on how to keep the girls happy and busy on the LONG car ride. I prepared about 3 bags of games, books, worksheets, videos, dolls, etc. in an effort to prevent whining. Thankfully, it paid off pretty well. The girls traveled like champs! So, here is the play by play...
Saturday: We decided we were going to get up 5am and hit the road. But, Kevin was so excited and couldn't sleep, so we ended up leaving at 3am. We thought for sure that leaving at 3:30 am the girls would crash immediately once we got on the freeway. How wrong we were. Despite being totally dark until 7am, the girls were up and happy for 2 hours! Bismal failure. By the time they fell asleep, it was getting light and they woke up shortly thereafter. We stopped for a potty break, breakfast, and to change out of jammies and hit the road. We tried to only stop for the potty and meals, but had to stop a couple times for puking! Tilly got carsick and we had to stop 2 times along the ride up to get her cleaned up. By the time we arrived in Seattle, we had been on the road for 16 hours. SO very long!
Sunday: We really wanted to have a full day to recover from the road trip and knew Sunday would be the perfect day. We went to church with Kevin's Gparents and Aunt Janice then relaxed and hung out at his Aunt's house the rest of the day. Peter's family came up on Saturday, too, so we had lots of company.
Monday: We went to the Pacific Science Center. My cousin Amy lives in Puyallup and was able to bring her kids to meet up with us. We spent the morning there and had a great time. I highly recommend this place to anyone who has kids or is a kid at heart. I could have spent all day there -- unfortunately, my kids could not. Then we were off to Aunt Janis' house to see Don and Karen who would be arriving.
Tuesday: Our adventure for the day was going to the community center. This place has an indoor water park, climbing wall, gym, etc. We only used the pool (and I used the steam room -LOVED IT). I guess in a climate like Seattle, it helps to have a lot of indoor play/rec activities.
Wednesday: Tilly and Charlie were spent. Kevin wanted time with his Gparents. So, I took Chloe with the others and we rode the ferry to Vashon Island. HEAVEN. Seriously, the pacific northwest is gorgeous. I just kept looking out my window and saying, "I could live there... I could live there..." It was a great day trip.
Thursday: A laid back day. We went to the movies (or tried to- the girls didn't like the 3d glasses!) and went to Black Angus for dinner. Juliet and Scott arrived this morning too. Family pictures together after dinner.
Friday: We headed for home. I called the doctor and was able to confirm it was okay to give the girls dramamine on the ride home - Thank goodness! We made it home in 13 hours and only had 1 puke session - 45 minutes from home. So close.
Overall, it was a GREAT trip full of happy time, lots of memories, lots of time spent together and soaking each other's company up. We can't wait until next time!
For weeks before we left, I started planning and strategizing on how to keep the girls happy and busy on the LONG car ride. I prepared about 3 bags of games, books, worksheets, videos, dolls, etc. in an effort to prevent whining. Thankfully, it paid off pretty well. The girls traveled like champs! So, here is the play by play...
Saturday: We decided we were going to get up 5am and hit the road. But, Kevin was so excited and couldn't sleep, so we ended up leaving at 3am. We thought for sure that leaving at 3:30 am the girls would crash immediately once we got on the freeway. How wrong we were. Despite being totally dark until 7am, the girls were up and happy for 2 hours! Bismal failure. By the time they fell asleep, it was getting light and they woke up shortly thereafter. We stopped for a potty break, breakfast, and to change out of jammies and hit the road. We tried to only stop for the potty and meals, but had to stop a couple times for puking! Tilly got carsick and we had to stop 2 times along the ride up to get her cleaned up. By the time we arrived in Seattle, we had been on the road for 16 hours. SO very long!
Sunday: We really wanted to have a full day to recover from the road trip and knew Sunday would be the perfect day. We went to church with Kevin's Gparents and Aunt Janice then relaxed and hung out at his Aunt's house the rest of the day. Peter's family came up on Saturday, too, so we had lots of company.
Monday: We went to the Pacific Science Center. My cousin Amy lives in Puyallup and was able to bring her kids to meet up with us. We spent the morning there and had a great time. I highly recommend this place to anyone who has kids or is a kid at heart. I could have spent all day there -- unfortunately, my kids could not. Then we were off to Aunt Janis' house to see Don and Karen who would be arriving.
Tuesday: Our adventure for the day was going to the community center. This place has an indoor water park, climbing wall, gym, etc. We only used the pool (and I used the steam room -LOVED IT). I guess in a climate like Seattle, it helps to have a lot of indoor play/rec activities.
Wednesday: Tilly and Charlie were spent. Kevin wanted time with his Gparents. So, I took Chloe with the others and we rode the ferry to Vashon Island. HEAVEN. Seriously, the pacific northwest is gorgeous. I just kept looking out my window and saying, "I could live there... I could live there..." It was a great day trip.
Thursday: A laid back day. We went to the movies (or tried to- the girls didn't like the 3d glasses!) and went to Black Angus for dinner. Juliet and Scott arrived this morning too. Family pictures together after dinner.
Friday: We headed for home. I called the doctor and was able to confirm it was okay to give the girls dramamine on the ride home - Thank goodness! We made it home in 13 hours and only had 1 puke session - 45 minutes from home. So close.
Overall, it was a GREAT trip full of happy time, lots of memories, lots of time spent together and soaking each other's company up. We can't wait until next time!
Big Girl Bed
After all the attempts to keep Tilly in her crib, we finally gave up. Over the Labor Day weekend, there were some great sales on mattresses. We had a twin headboard already, so we just needed the actual bed. I can't believe my baby is in a big bed! Time flies!!
Quilting
I only post this because this is a first: I finally quilted a blanket. One of my BFF's, Elizabeth, had a baby boy and I had these blue/brown fabrics and decided this would be for her. I LOVE the way it turned out, but have a LOT of room for improvement. Like all things, the more I do it, the better I will get. Now to just find some free time...
Christmas Morning
I really enjoyed having Christmas on Sunday this year. I think it helped us focus on what Christmas is really about. We kept it simple this year. In fact, I am thinking I always want to keep it simple and low key and few presents (mostly because I think it is disgusting how glutenous people have become.. black friday, injuries at stores, etc. totally disgusting.... anyway). We had Christmas day with my parents this year so we decided to attend my sister's ward that met in the morning so we could have a long relaxing day. We opened our stockings and our the gifst from Santa and mommy and daddy before we headed to church.
After church, we went back to my parents for brunch. Only Shannon and my family were there as Jon's and Brian's family went to church w/ their in-laws after spending the night with them. As the famlies arrived, we all opened the presents from the cousins. It was a lot of fun having several different sessions of present opening... kind of like making it last all day. We enjoyed a lot of game playing, relaxing, and eating with the family. Ahhh.. I love days like that!
Decorating the Tree
I love decorating the tree. We have adopted the tradition of purchasing the tree on a Saturday and waiting until Sunday for family time to decorate it. We have a little lesson on Christmas, song, etc., and then decorate the tree. The tree started about 7' and ended up about 6'.... just goes to show you measure twice- cut once. I love fresh trees and decorating listening to Christmas music!
Merry Christmas!
Photo Blocks
Because we went to Seattle for Thanksgiving, we kept Christmas low key. Kevin agreed (not willingly at first) to a homemade gift to each other that cost $10 or less in supplies. I made him photo blocks and they turned out great. He made me an end table for our room. I love it. Sadly, I don't have a picture, but I love the pics I took of the girls and me. Fun and silly!
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