Marchant Mountain Retreat

The Marchant family reunion just concluded today. We are sad to see everyone leave the Park City cabin where we stayed together for nearly a full week, but we are glad to be home to our beds and routine. We had a great time. I would be lying if I didn't say it was a rough start for me. There were not one but TWO sets of stairs and E&S were drawn to them the entire trip. They had their fare share of spills and tumbles as well as tears, but for the most part were great travelers. Ethan was in heaven--there was always someone willing to take him outside. Doug and I think we should just move a crib outside and sent up some sort of tarp for shelter. He's just like his dad and his love of fresh air.

There was a small bassinet in our room that Doug thought one of our kids could sleep in. I quickly reminded them that can stand up and vetoed the idea.  We used it for some run rocking instead. Syd loved it.

Ethan just thought it was great to touch his sister and cuddle with her.

Our mountain retreat was made brighter by Amanda's creativity. She hosted a Foosball tournament with prizes and all!  First place: a painted rock (a soccer ball she painted herself) and a full body massage. Second place came with a painted rock as well as a ear, foot, back, head, and leg massage (minus the shoulders--poor Heather).  :-)

E&S met their cousin, Jackson, (in red) for the first time. Jacob (who is showing off his muscles) warmed up to them the last 24 hours we were together.

A few victories of the week:
E&S learned to crawl down the stairs! We still had to keep eyes on them, but they were pretty speedy. I was just happy they were carpeted. 

Their cousin, Maren, had this really cute dog stuffed animal and they both learned the word "doggie" and Syd even got the "woof, woof" down. It seems like they are learning 3-4 new words everyday.

There was some good quality boy-bonding time at the sandbox.

And we had some good story time. I love Jackson's face in this one. The book is just messy babies faces with food all over them--I am sure he was thinking it was rather nasty.

We had lots of EARLY mornins with Ethan. He was just ready to play or something...or maybe it was his sunburned scalp...

On Friday, we went up to Park City Mountain Resort to enjoy the Alpine Slide. I won't lie--I was a little nervous because I heard a few stories about how dangerous it was, so I let everyone go while I hung back with E&S and Annette (thanks for your company Annette!)

But, Doug purchased a ticket for me and we went down together. I thought I was cruisin' until I heard Doug behind me. I was yelling at him not to hit me...

Ethan thought it was awesome to just sit in the sled in preparation for his big debut in at least 1 year.

We skipped over to the Olympic Park and caught a glimpse of some ski jumping lessons in session. It was amazing to watch kids doing tricks off the jumps into a huge pool! We were mesmerized.

So mesmerized that we completely missed an afternoon nap for E&S. They were so tired. Thanks for all the helping hands we had for the entire week!

We spotted a few jumpers going down some turf and sliding into the grass. Our future Olympians.

We found out there was a show happening Saturday afternoon at the same location and decided we would go back. We found out it was $10 to get in for a 40 minute show and were a bit deflated. We decided to up to the 2nd floor of a free museum exhibit to see if we could catch a glimpse and found we could go right outside. After 5 minutes, we were kindly asked to pay or go back inside...we chose inside. We had heard the show was free in just 5 minutes and I was told it would be over by then. We took our chances and waited in the museum for 5 minutes and got to see about 10 more minutes of the show for free! (love it!)

These are really short videos and I wish they conveyed how high these skiers were jumping...

We had a great time! With this many kids, a decent photo was tough. It was still worth it to get one of almost everyone together.

The Marchants know how to vacation!

Until next time...

Splash Pad

My friends, Erin and Karl, are in town, so we thought it would be a blast to take our kids to the splash pad. Erin snapped a few photos of their first experience with ice-cold water shooting up out of the ground. It was priceless. Ethan cried most of the time, while Sydney loved it. She had to warm up to the idea at first and they both needed a few breaks from the cold water. They spent their breaks eating rocks (don't worry--they were large enough that they couldn't swallow them...)

In true Syd style, the thumb in the mouth while doing most activities.

Thanks for the idea Erin! We've already been back (with the same results for Ethan).

Is the phase over?

I am told there is a phase that toddlers go through where they don't like strangers--or anyone other than their parents. Well, we've arrived at that stage with Sydney and have been there for months. It's lame.  Don't get me wrong, I LOVE that she loves to be with me and Doug, that's okay with me.  It's just tough when she sobs when someone else is close to her. 

We've seen glimpses of this phase drawing to a close every once in a while. Meg and Tom joined us for dinner and Sydney loved Meg right away. We were delighted! Either Meg has the touch or Sydney may be branching out just a little. (Meg does have the touch either way, I am sure.)

Friday night picnic

Last Friday night, Doug and I really wanted to go on a date. I was still getting over my two-week cold, so at the last minute, we hunted for a babysitter. We're starting to wonder if girls in our neighborhood are nervous about babysitting two one-year old babies...I would've told someone I was polishing my shoes when I was a pre-teen to get out of it myself!  In an effort to not feel defeated on our date quest, we made a picnic and headed to our backyard with pasta salad and some black bean burgers we found on a great sale.

Needless to say, Ethan and Sydney weren't in line with our date picnic.  They were extremely irritated to be outside but stuck in their Bumbo seats unable to run around.  Our backyard is a bit treacherous these days with 2 open window wells they could fall into and lots of stairs they do not know how to climb down.  It has become an aerobic workout to be outside with them alone! I don't know why I workout when I sweat chasing them around outside.

Doug and I decided that we would have date night picnics alone or when E&S aren't grumpy. I ended up with food all over my capris and absorbed some of the grumpies myself. Yikes!

Happy Birthday Chad!

Ethan and Sydney's friend, Chad, celebrated his 2nd birthday with a fantastic party upstairs. We ran upstairs after their nap (Ethan took an extra long one today) to join them for the festivities. We arrived just in time for the 'horsey ride' on Apache.  He lives outside our house and we see him all the time.  Ethan kept his smiles to himself.

I love where we live

When I took Ethan and Sydney outside for a little sunshine today, I just felt such an overwhelming feeling of gratitude for where we live. Tess (the grey horse) was galloping through the field and Sydney was squeeling with excitement. They were just staring in amazement and I was loving every second of it.

Sydney was glued to the fence for about 20 minutes. She's a little dare devil.