So the downside to this licensing thing (which is a dream come true for me) is that I can't show you a sneaky peeky of anything that I'm working on....so instead you get to see some pics from our recent family road trip.
Jace talked me into taking 3 children on a 3200 mile, five day road trip. His family was having a get-together in the Seattle area, and I thought we could squeeze in a quick visit to Portland and Spokane, thus adding 1000 extra miles to the trip. So I guess he really just talked me into a 2200 mile trip. But still...
We survived thanks to the advice of my amazing SIL Janice. I asked "what am I going to do with a 5 yr old, 3yr old, and 7 mo old for 14 hours in a car?" (this was the Orem, UT to Portland, OR leg of the trip). She's a veteran of road trips and her simple response was "portable dvd player". It worked! My children logged more "tv hours" last week than they do in a year. Now that we're home, I'm trying to keep them in the yard as much as possible.
Portland (Troutdale, that is)
First stop. We met my Aunt Elm and Uncle Robert in a park in Troutdale, OR. I'm ready to move! We are Northwest natives and know better than to fall for clear blue skies in June. And yet I keep plotting...how can we relocate to Oregon. :)
The play area in the background was covered with kids. I think they hid right before I took the pic.
There's Robert, Jace, and baby C. We had perfect weather for our perfect lunch. Elm and Robert brought sandwiches and chips. Gideon and Elise ate ALL of the strawberries. We had a wonderful time visiting.
That's me with my aunt and sweet baby Charlotte, who was the easiest of the three on the road. Actually, she's the easiest one at home too. :)
I had a hard time leaving Oregon. It's always hard to say goodbye to family.
Seattle
Just before Charlotte was born, Jace took the kids up to Seattle with his sister and her kids. When they came home, I heard tales of the "scary" masks that they loved at their aunt's house. So I had to get a photo of them. I think she told me she bought them in Mexico years ago. I thought about putting a bikini top on the bug lady before posting.
All of the cousins outside of the Children's Musem. My BIL Jason is a photographer. He's trying to get the kids ready for photos. I'm just clicking my camera hoping to get lucky. I think I took about 20 pics of the group. I've found that if I wait for the perfect photo, the moment is gone (and I'm a terrible photographer).
I'll have to get the "good" one from Jason. I think all of the ones I took the kids are moving around. :)
Whidbey Island, WA
Jace with the kids on the ferry. Aunt Amy gave all the girls sunglasses. Well, Elise only took them off to sleep. So most of the pics of her show her with them on. Just minutes before this was taken, I was up on the deck too with Charlotte. She was cold so I wrapped her in my red jacket. You guessed it...she spit up all over both of us. For some reason, I didn't bring a burp cloth with me upstairs.
Gideon HATES the shirt he is wearing. Sunday morning was the first time he ever saw it and instantly disliked it. He said "That's a girl shirt mommy! I am not wearing that!" He pointed to Elise's blue shirt on the bed (shown in the picnic photos) and emphatically added "See! It's the same color as Elise's shirt. Girls wear light blue, boys wear dark blue!". Later that day when we were heading for Spokane, Gideon threw it into the front seat with a grunt. I threw it back to him, and I could hear the power window button clicking (but we had the lock on!). Jace and I were laughing and hoping he couldn't hear us. So he was ready to throw it out the window on the freeway. I guess I won't be able to get him in that again any time soon.
So there's a peek at our trip. We made a few other stops. It's was a whirlwind tour. We traveled through 5 states in 5 days. Two hours into our trip, Elise was saying "I want to go home". The last night of our trip Gideon was upset we were coming home. He wanted to keep traveling. We visited with family we wish lived closer, and that made coming home hard to do.
