Family Tour

A couple of weeks ago, I headed with my mom and kids on a mini family tour. We first drove to Denver, hitting the Denver zoo the first day we were there. We enjoyed seeing family (my aunt, uncle and cousins all live in the Denver area.) However, we managed to be there when everyone was sick! The whole group was never together, so I didn't end up with pics of everyone.

My cousin Dawn, with her husband, Brad.

Fortunately, the kids weren't sick, so Ashlyn and Christopher were able to enjoy playing with my cousin, Janelle's daughter, Paige.

Next on our tour, was a stop in the big city of Syliva, KS to see my grandparents.

Grandpa was a good sport when Christopher would say, "Play ball with me."

Grandma gave my kids all of her hats.

Next, we drove to Newton, KS to see more cousins, Kim and Kylene.

Kim gave birth the next day to Derek James, younger brother to Emma. Kylene has twin 3 year old boys and a one year old boy. Here she is with Wyatt.

The group: Emma, Ashlyn, Christopher, Wyatt, Colton, and Brody.

Emma and Christopher, hugging bye. They are just a couple of months apart.

After leaving cousins, we stopped at the Brockway home in Wichita, where we ended up swimming and eating pizza.

Ethan, Sydney, Ashlyn, and Joshua.

Santa Fe

Ashlyn's Point of View

Hoover Dam

Grand Canyon

Santa Fe

Grand Canyon

Conversation from this morning:
Christopher: I want to go
Me: Daddy will get right back inside, and then we'll go.
Christopher: NO, I want to go. kicking and thrashing
Me: As soon as Daddy gets in the car, we're going to the Grand Canyon. Yay!
Ashlyn: YAY!
Christopher: NO, I want to go HOME.
Me: Christopher, we're going to get a new house, with a yard. Won't that be fun?
Christopher: NO, I want to go HOME. tears.

At the Grand Canyon:
Ashlyn: It's cold. It's too windy. I want to go HOME. I want it to be summer. I want to go home.

And this is where I am done with Allen trying to get a picture of the children and me, with the two wiggle worms who seem to want to careen off the edge.

Despite the whining, we still enjoyed the little bit of time we had there. BEAUTIFUL!

As mentioned in the last post, we got a bit of a late start from California. Plus, we are starting over with house hunting. Not a huge deal, really. Just the slow trip I'd imagined has become a bit faster. I am still enjoying what we are seeing of the beautiful Southwest.

Goodbye California!

It's always a bit sad to say goodbye.

Our plans were to leave California on Friday, which turned into Saturday and then Sunday.

Now we are on our way, with our first stop in Vegas.

Parks, freakouts, museums, and family

We'd had several rainy, cool days. So a beautiful day Sunday definitely called for a trip to the park. Ashlyn was trying to pretend that she was pregnant. Somehow, she just looks a bit chesty.

Monday was just about the worst parenting day for me. I was "that mom" at the library. The kids kept running in circles and shrieking while we were waiting in line. I tried to separate them. I put them in time out. I moved them away from each other to sit in time out. I knew that everyone was looking at me, and had just told the kids that we were no longer going to the park after the library. I was also thinking that I would probably just have to leave. Then, a librarian walked up to me. She said,"Can you keep your children quiet? This is a library." Allen suggested that my response should have been along the lines of "this is a library?" Instead, I told her that I was trying. Then, I grabbed the wrists of both kids and left. Christopher started screaming on the way out the door. Ashlyn just kept laughing. I was so embarrassed and mad.

It was free day at both the de Young and SFMOMA on Tuesday. After our day Monday, I just knew that taking these two to museums was going to be difficult. They were great! They had a tendency to want to touch stuff while walking, so I really had to be on top of them. Once they were in the stroller, they were fine.

Ashlyn saw this carousel on the way to the SFMOMA. Of course, during most of the visit, she kept asking if we could leave to go back.

Christopher would not smile for me, but he did have fun.

 

My aunt, uncle, and two cousins also live in the bay area. I emailed my uncle right after we moved here about getting together. I didn't keep reminding him or anything, and now I really regret that. We hadn't seen any of them since Christmas 1996.

Uncle Steve reads

Silly photos with Steve and Donna

I told Ashlyn that my cousin Maya was 17, but had only been 4 the last time I saw her. I think Ashlyn was expecting a 4 year old. As a bonus, Haile was home from college this weekend, too.

My baby cousins are all grown up.

Oh, questions from the last post. We are moving to Tulsa, OK. We do not know about the house yet, but don't really have a second choice. Just waiting...

Visiting

Last week, the kids and I traveled to Washington to see one of my dearest friends, Jamie. We had a great time, just hanging out with our kids. I kept Jamie up too late talking. My kids got everyone up too early, because that it what they do.

Wilson, Ashlyn and Christopher had so much fun playing together.

They danced around

and rode Wilson's bikes.

Ashlyn wanted to cook for everyone.

We also looked at crabs

and contemplated the waves.

Jamie has a cute baby bump (and that's her stinker husband's foot.)

Chris works many hours, but he did have one full day to spend with us. Somehow, the above photo is the closest I got to a photo of the two of them together.

We hadn't seen Jamie and Chris since they moved from Alaska over 3 years ago. It had been too long for sure.

More pictures on Jamie's blog, too. Oh, and flickr