A great summer 2013 - Adventure # 1 - Tour de Arizona and the Grand Canyon with the Shaws

A few days after school ended we headed to Arizona to see our friends the Shaw Family.

Getting to Arizona was a little crazy, as we flew in 2 groups to save money, Addie and Lawrence flew standby.  It was a stressful 8 hrs but when all was said and done, we all arrived within a half hour of each other.  We swam in the pool for a while and then headed over to our friends, Ben and Michelle's house for dinner.  It so happened that some Portland friends were in Phoenix also, so all of us ate well, drank, talked, laughed.  Twas a great first night of vacation.

Father's Day was awesome, we loaded up 8 friends in the Honda Pilot, first stop was a creek on the way to Sedona.  We played in the water, fished for crawfish with bacon, and swung on a rope swing into the river.  What an experience it was for us to play in the water and be refreshed but never cold.  That night we headed to Sedona where Meg's dad lives.  As we rounded the corner and saw the mountains surrounding Sedona, it took our breath away.  And Meg's dad's house was right at the bottom.  Amazing. We had fun, BBQed, laughed and laughed and laughed, and all slept on air mattresses slumber party style.  It was a fantastic day.  (Inside joke, it turns out that the plumbing in Sedona and Joseph are very similar)

The next morning after a yummy breakfast at the world famous Coffee Pot, we were off to the Grand Canyon.

It was beyond our expectations!  Truly!  As we came up to it, walking along the path, my breath caught in my throat and I felt tears in my eyes.  It was bigger and more awesome than I expected and I was simply in awe.

We hiked around, the kids were not as impressed as we expected.  People told us this might happen, but we were all, no not our kids, they are very in to science and they are sure to love it.  They knew all about it, we'd checked out every book in the library.  But they were looking for something more like the mountain in Sedona.  The vastness made it hard for them to see or imagine.  We took exactly one million pictures.  The ones we've seen hundreds of times.  The ones that do not do it justice.  On the way out, the photo hating dads looped around out of the way,  stopped, and unbuckled kids out of the third row just so I could get the picture I said I wanted earlier in the day of my family with the Grand Canyon National Park sign.  People, these are the little big things that make me feel loved.  I had already given up and wasn't planning to ask once we got the car loaded with children.

We drove back through Flagstaff and stopped their for dinner.  OZ talked his way out of speeding ticket by accidentally passing on his military ID along with his driver's license.  All five kids were sleeping.  All five kids woke up.  But no ticket, so we considered it a win, and it was almost time for dinner anyway.

We passed route 66 and Lawrence made Addie think we were in Radiator Springs.  She pointed out Flo's, and Meg convinced them all to climb up on a sign.  It was a high point for Addie for sure, so we were glad to have stopped.

The next day the boys went Golfing.  Meg and I played with the kids in the pool and relaxed.  We must have done other stuff, but I can't remember what two months later.  We did marvel at how glad we were that we did all of our traveling at the beginning of the week.  How great 4 kids did in the packed to the brim car, and how much our families loved each other.  That night we jumped in the pool after golf and went to dinner at Oregano's.  We walked home, and Ben showed Lily dates and other plants along the way.  The kids were enamored.  We loved walking in the dark and in the heat, full and tipsy. I honestly felt a little high on life, but the yummy frozen drinks at dinner didn't hurt I'm sure.

The following two days, OZ had to work.  We went to the Hamilton Aquatic Center both days.  The kids loved it and it was like $11 for our whole family to get in.  There was something for everyone, easy enough for Taylor Poppy and big water slides for Lily (and me!).

Thursday Meg made us a big Salmon dinner and we enjoyed a relaxing evening at home, playing Catan.

Friday we walked to Tempe town lake and Bryson got in a fight with a Cactus.  The kids had matching outfits so it made for some adorable group photos.  We had a great dinner out in downtown Tempe and a nice stroll.  Another evening of warmth and walking.  The night ended with an evening swim which was on Lily's must do list

Saturday was going home day.  Boo.  We decided to go for an early morning hike up A mountain.  We came home and jumped in the pool and headed to the airport.  Lawrence and Addie were hoping for similar luck, getting bumped from their flight.  But no luck, all was easy peasy lemon squeezy.

Honorable mentions: Playing Trains, Cheating at Catan, Being spotted by Mike's elk scope, My kids discovered their love for Gatorade,

Vacation Photo Book 2010

Click here to view this photo book larger

At the end of vacation last week I got an email from Shutterfly to create a free photo book. I have done this once before, after our last vacation to the Outer Banks of North Carolina in 2008 - our last family vacation with Lawrence's family.

This time, I only had about 3 days to create the free book but I decided to do it, because I thought it would be a neat record keeping tradition, and as you know I am ALL about record keeping AND trying to do it the same a second time around - I love comparing things side by side in a similar fashion :). It's a little more thrown together and less organized than the previous time, but even so, I was happy to finish it and get it for free + 7.99 for shipping and handling (even if I did have to miss girls' night out last night to do so).

So the link above is the book that I created from our Sunriver vacation, outlined a few blog posts below. I don't use Shutterfly for the majority of my photo saving, only for times when they have awesome gift deals or something. While I was in my account, saving my book, I noticed that they had the book I made 2 years ago saved in my projects. While of course I have the actual book, I was pleased to have the electronic copy!

Click here to see it, or just go to the below post. It was fun to compare the kids, what a difference two years makes. I love that after creating this, it allows you to share the book as well.

Creating this book make me think of two things:

1. Thank God we are not in North Carolina this year for vacation, as Hurricane Earl wreaks havoc. This is the week that we vacationed there, and returned home the day before Labor Day. Oh, how I loved that vacation. I loved it. I really like this one two, but that one 2 years ago gave me true belief that vacation after children and with children can in fact be fun. And I LOVE the ocean. Of course, I really did love not flying this time around - I'm imagining the nightmare of getting through security and the things that would be in mouths on the plan and off - from both Addie and Bryson. Anyway, I'm imagining that my whole feel of that trip would have been different had it been now and we were evacuated from the islands! Sorry for whoever has that awesome beach house this week (and I'm not sure I've ever said that before!)

2. I created this book last time with a broken foot. In fact, since I broke my foot upon returning on vacation last time, I've been grateful for a non broken foot a lot this last week. Even though it was hard for me to get back in the work groove, and least I GOT to go to work. Last time I had to call my boss after a week's vacation to say I would be working from home for the next month and then another 4 weeks of no driving after that. Let's just say that crutches and public transportation do not mix. So making this book reminded me to be happy about my healthy working body. Hope you enjoy looking at these, I know I have, and I'm also glad to have these links, not to be lost in an unused Shutterfly account!

Vacation 2008 Photo Book

Click here to view this photo book larger

Family vacation in Sunriver

Our Family Vacation - East and West Coast Herman's

the recap - it's a long one

All of us!

Jayme, Cassidy, Lily, Addie, Tyler

Lily & Bryson with cousin Jayme

The Herman Family

I always get hung up blogging after a trip because it feels a little overwhelming to write a post that does the trip justice. But if there is one thing I have learned as a not professional blogger, it is that it is better to post a post not doing an event justice than to wait, or not post at all (ahem, Lily's 5th birthday party!).

Lawrence's parents and his brother arrived with the twins in tow on Friday afternoon, my sister-in-law and oldest neice arrived on Friday night and we picked up 2 rental cars for our caravan to Sunriver. Saturday morning (Day 1) after loading a trailer (and I do mean TRAILER)full of stuff, a quick trip to VooDoo Donuts, and packing up coolers of food, we were off. When we were pulling out of our driveway, Addie said, "Okay, evwebody, weddy to wok and wool". Very funny, little girl, who desperately needed a nap yet only slept for 30 minutes of the 4 hour drive.

We all arrived at the house a little before check in, about 3:30pm. The kids got on the bikes straight away, and we all unloaded and claimed bedrooms. The house had 5 master bedrooms and we figured out sleeping arrangements that worked for everyone. Bryson was happy in the closet of our master, and the girls were thrilled to sleep in the kids bunk room with their cousins.
Tyler was thrilled to finally have a boy to hang out with. Though I think a year from now he will love it even more. He was hoping to teach Bryson how to pee standing up. We got half way there, Bryson DID learn to pull himself up fully to a standing position this trip! We couldn't resist getting cute boy cousin pictures in matching clothing. Bryson was even happy about it!

Of course we had to get some of matching girl cousins too!

Day 2, since the temperature was forecast to be a high of 69, included a trip to the High Desert Museum. It wasn't exactly what I was expecting, but it was cool. Lily really enjoyed the presentation about the Birds of Prey and was taking a million pictures with her camera. There were a bunch of neat interactive type exhibits and I was impressed with the types of questions she was asking. We ran into some friends from Portland, which was funny and unexpected. The kids ran and played and got dirty. They also enjoyed an exhibit where they got to scrub the wood floor of an old farm house. Go Figure.We tried to push Addie through her nap without luck, she fell asleep in the stroller for a few minutes only to wake up a screaming monster version of her self. Good thing we were on our way out of the museum as it was. She screamed the rest of the way back to the house, (about 20 minutes) and when we got there, I took advantage of her overtiredness to give us both a much needed nap, cuddling together. I guess Lawrence, Julia, and the in-laws had the rest of the kids, but I was so busy snoring and drooling in Addie's hair that I couldn't say for sure. At around 5:30 pm I knew I needed to wake her or she'd never go to bed that night. So I took the opportunity to take some sleeping photos of her. Lawrence came in to wake us both and found me awake, standing on the bed snapping photos. :)

That night before bed, Lawrence, Lily, Julia, Addie, and I took a long bike ride. It was nice. I hadn't ridden a bike for a while. Fun. Addie rode in the trailer, Lily rode on her own (still with training wheels) and Bryson stayed with Grandma while we relived bike riding childhood memories with our girls.
Lawrence and I managed to have a lot of fun together on this trip. We got along awesome and were both in a very good frame of mind with a relaxed attitude. See what taking away work does for the soul?!

Day 3 started like most others, Uncle Mark making yummy breakfast sausage for everyone while I fumbled with my coffee, and dripped vanilla creamer all over the floor due to a mutilated lid. :) Then we bathed the children, who managed to get dirtier and dirtier earlier and earlier as the week went on. A surefire sign that fun is being had. It was COLD in the mornings, as low as 29 degrees one night, so the coffee and fireplace in the morning was great. Lawrence even went for a run and then jumped in the hot tub after that day. Something I planning to do each night but was collapsing with exhaustion after kids were in bed, so didn't. Exhaustion and dry skin! I was, we all were, very under packed in the lotion requirement department. High dessert. Cold and dry. A few times I spilled water on the kitchen floor and Lawrence was able to just mop it up with his dry feet. His joke, not mine. Anyway, that day, we also went to the park, sans our two little napping guys who stayed with Julia, and had sports fun with Lily.Jayme and I beat Lawrence and his dad in a soccer scrimmage (and that is REALLY sad considering I was wearing flip flops)! We played track ball, did the parachute, and once the little guys were awake, Julia call and we all packed up and went to the North Pool in the afternoon, Came home, had dinner and then did S'Mores that night.Bryson reading books with Grandpa before bed

Day 4. Tuesday. Overtired Addie asked to take a nap at 10:30am. Since we didn't want to see the screaming monster inside our 25 pound blondie, we let her and I stayed home with her (can you say quiet house!) then she and I met the rest of the fam at the pool (we discovered the much better and WARMER South pool this time) after a solid two hours of sleep. Bryson again LOVED the pool, when I arrived he was just falling asleep and took a nap, wet, in his bathing suit, wrapped in towels in the stroller. Man, he was cute. When we got back to the house, we all got showered and ready for family pictures. Devin Miller arrived a few minutes early and we had 2 hours of photos taken. They were good, especially considering we had 6 kids and 7 adults, and it was hot and kids were tired and hungry. She had her work cut out for her, and everyone was rewarded for sort of smiling pretty with more S'Mores that night back home. Uncle Mark also found an old style popcorn popper with a big pot/crank and made some home made popcorn. It was yummy and we all agreed popcorn just tastes better when it's made that way!
Day 5 - Bikes, Pool, Picnics, Bikes, Pool, and not much else. We had a very good day. And that night, Mark, Laureen, Lawrence, and I had a night out. THANKS JULIA! It was fun to have some kidless time with them, and to be able to sit and talk uninterrupted. It's been 2 years since we had that with Lawrence's brother and his wife. Way too long. I think Day 5, Wednesday was my favorite day of the whole vacation. No plans, beautiful weather, good family, I thoroughly enjoyed it. We aren't at a stage of life where vacation is relaxing.
It's fun, but it is not restful. This would be the day that was the most restful day if there was one.

Day 6 - Played in PJs all morning with cousins. Addie and Tyler still have a really cute special bond and they can't get enough of each other. I found them playing school and reading books together in the loft, just the two of them. After naps, McMenimans's Francis School for happy hour in Bend. I might have given Bryson his first tater tot, and he might have really liked it. Before bed Addie asked me how many more nights left, I said, 2 counting tonight. She said, "But I tot we have a whole week". The boys smoked cigars after bed time and tried to soak it off in the hot tub.

Day 7 - Celebrated our niece's 10th birthday a day early. Happy 10th Birthday Jayme!! In the morning, she went with her dad on a horse back ride, and our nephew gave everyone a scare with what ended in an urgent care trip for what turned out to be an asthma attack caused by partially by altitude sickness. Otherwise, the day was awesome. We played games, rode bikes, pulled the wagon, played ping pong (Lawrence REALLY enjoyed playing with his mom), foosball, and finally ate birthday cake and MORE S'MORES!! Before bed, I told Addie it was the last night, and she said, "But I still have one more pull up left". Ha! That was her Advent Calendar of the 7 nights of vacation. But she didn't bargain for us bringing an extra.
On the last day, we packed up - headed to Sunriver Lodge to take some pictures and then hit the road for the 4 hr drive home. We had one more dinner with Lawrence's family before they got on the red eye back to NJ.

At around 9pm that night I was beat, and I certainly was not jealous of the rest of the family who was just boarding, 4 tired adults with 3 tired kids. We were glad to have Sunday to clean up, do laundry, and regroup for the week ahead.

Thank you so much to Lawrence's parents. As the family grows and life gets busier and more expensive, time passes and it is difficult to see each other. We truly appreciate what they do to put a trip like this together for us all to see each other. Lily and Addie were broken hearted on Saturday night. Goodbyes have been plentiful as of late, and this one wasn't easy for them. They've looked forward to it all year and they loved the time with their cousins so much.

7 blogs in 7 days...day 1

Our sweet family of 5!

Loving Grandpa's Convertible!

I saw this on another mom's blog and I thought it was also a great idea for my blogging. I have A LOT I am behind on blogging. Probably more than 7. But right now I'm going to commit to writing a blog a day for 7 days. Let's see how this goes, even if it doesn't catch me up, it does get 7 of the most important blogs out there. Comments might help motivate me (hint, hint!). All you lurkers out there who have never left a comment, now is your chance. Also if you are behind on your blogs, I challenge you to do 7 blogs for 7 days. Let's get caught up on our blogs together! :)

First up, our trip to NJ - longest blog ever!

We left at the crack of dawn on Saturday, 9/5 to get to the airport in time for our 7:30am flight which arrived at Newark at 4pmish. Sabine drove us and we were relieved to get a text from her at 7:05am saying she had arrived home. It is funny how we often feel like we have another child, and adult child to worry about. But in a good way.

First Lawrence and I decided to TRY and scam the system. We have done this before and it has worked out wonderful. We book our flights for the aisle and window seat on both sides of the plane, then if someone gets seated between us, we ask that person to trade the MIDDLE seat for the aisle. Great. Then we have more seats than people which sounded like it could be very helpful when traveling with 2 small children, a man with big shoulders who will fight to the death over an arm rest, and a 6 mth pregnant lady. Well, both flights were oversold so no chance on getting lucky with an extra seat, or two. Boo. Oh well, I traded with the middle so I could keep trapped in by the window and Lawrence opted for the aisle to guarantee both armrests were his. I sat next to Addie because she would have wanted me anyway and would try to crawl across strangers laps to get there. Screaming "mama" full force. Both kids wanted to sit with me.

But then she is this cute and how can you not want to sit by her?

The flight was relatively uneventful, besides somehow almost missing the boarding while slowly eating our breakfast at PDX. Addie shrieked a few times before her 45 nap and she also watched Elmo loves you on my laptop (aka heaviest portable dvd player ever without the password for wireless internet at my in-laws) for 45 minutes. Since that flight is 5 hrs long it left me 3.5 hrs to entertain her doing different things in 5 minute (at best) increments. It also meant me bending over my stomach 7 million times to the "backpack of tricks". The landing was pretty rough so at one point the plane totally dropped and Addie looked at me terrified and said "DOWN!". I was actually a little scared too, it was a rough landing. All in all she was pretty good, just a typical 2 year old. If you asked Lawrence, the kids were "awesome" on the first flight, as he colored with Lil watched the in flight movie and read 2 magazines cover to cover (repeat on the way home minus the in flight movie since it cost $6 this time).

When we got to Lawrence's parents house, the kids were happy to explore the grounds, find out what toys were what, learn the rules of "touch" or "no-touch", etc." I was dying to get out of my velour sweatsuit since it was an unexpected 86 degrees, hoping a friendly neighbor wasn't watching out the window wating to say hello as I knocked them over on my way in to the house stripping my sweaty sweatpants and hoodie. I got lucky and was in a tank top and skirt before the first guest arrived.

Sitting backward eating together (Lily, Tyler, Cassie, & Addie)Uncle Lawrence and Cassie (Uncle Jenny not pictured)

The cousins arrived shortly and the kids had a great time getting reaquainted. Addie was mostly loving her cousing Tyler ("Ty-ty"), much to the chagrin of her older cousin, Jayme. Lily on the other hand was so thrilled to see Jayme, and that she could show off Addie, often dragging her around. We ate a yummy dinner made by my mother-in-law ("Grandma, how did you make these YUMMY carrots?" "I bought them at Shop-Rite, Peeled them, Cut them, Cooked them") Lily ate all her carrots and Addie made all the kids laugh by turning her chair backwards to eat. It was especially great to see Laureen and the kids again (everyone else we've seen since April), and I felt a little teary eyed saying hello to them all. Time passes so quickly and lives are so busy that sometimes it takes seeing someone to realize how much you miss them.

The next day we had bagels for breakfast and talked about how they don't know how to make bagels on the West Coast. We had a BBQ had Lawrence's brother's hous and we invited everyone over. It was awesome, we saw some friends and family that we were expecting to see and several that we didn't know for sure if they would make it. Besides, Mark, Laureen, & Kids, and Carol and Steve, we saw the Curtis's, the Schwartzbergs, the Mirros, the Dutka, the Levines, the Finkelsteins, Eric Moon Daniels, the Kleins, Morgan & Elliot, and Weslowskis. I know I have butchered the spelling in those names, but listen, do you want this blog to get published or not? Also sorry if I forgot someone. Hey, I know, leave that as a comment!! It was really so much fun, more fun than I was expecting - and I was expecting fun. Many of those people we haven't seen in 3+ years and a few even longer. It was really great. Again, I didn't realize how happy it would make me to see everyone until I saw them. And the kids are all HUGE. Really, most of the "oldest" kids in the family were born while we lived in NJ over 7 years ago and most we haven't seen for 3-4+ years. They are all big kids. Mine are the youngest, except for Stacy and Rich's little girl Ava (10 mths old).

R to L Lawrence, Moon, Tommy, Me, Addie, & Chris...our friends!Risa, Alyx, & Lily (Alyx was Addie's age when we met, such a sweet young lady now!)

Monday we played at Grandma and Grandpa's house in the morning and met more of their friends while Mark and Laureen ran errands and then decided to BBQ again at Mark and Laureen's and invited friends who had a wedding the night before and couldn't make it, the Gawrons. About half way through the afternoon we all decided to go to Jersey Freeze, one of Lawrence's favorite Ice Cream places from childhood which has rumored to be shutting down. Did you know they don't know how to make Ice Cream on the West...OH COME ON, Ice Cream we can do!!! :) We got a quick family photo there, and said good byes to the cousins who had shopping to do, work and school the next day. Jayme and Lily couldn't let go of each other, and again it was so sweet it brought tears to my eyes.Our kids with their Aunt Laureen and Uncle Mark and Jayme and Lily never ever wanting to let go of each other promising to skype every day. Which we realistically promised to them Fridays.

The whole Herman Family - that's all of us!Addie gives Ty-Ty a kiss and says WAKE UP!Dairy free table enjoys some "ices"Me and my Lils

Addie was mad when we got back to Grandma and Granpas house because they had told her to tell Tyler that she was going on an airplane (in hopes to wake him up from his car ride nap), so she did and said good bye. She thought that meant we'd be going directly to the airport. She was NOT happy to be back at G&Gs when she said her goodbyes to Ty-Ty and was giong to go on the Airplane. We ordered pizza, and talked about how people on the West Coast do not know how to eat. Lily thought it tasted the same, but liked learning to fold her pizza and the fact that she got pizza RIGHT before bedtime.

To quote Addie before bedtime "MY WANT TO AIRPANE, NOW!"

Tuesday our flight was not until 6 pm so we decided to go to the Jersey Shore Lawrence and Addie at Martell's

Sandcastles

and play on the boardwalk and the sand for a while. Lily said that it was better than our beach because it has rides, AND sand. And really what more can you ask for in life. The kids enjoyed playing games and claiming tickets and earning prizzes. They went on the carousel and an alligator ride and Lily went on a caravan ride while Addie headed back for another trip on the Carousel. Lily looked upset during her Caravan ride and I was annoyed at her for spending her last ride acting like a brat. Then. I found out that the little boy next to her had spit in her face. Then. I was the guiltiest mom ever and I wanted to kill that kid! This is the boy who spit in her face, look how happy she was before that. Damn kids!

Then I couldn't find him and we decided to play in the sand. Normally NJ beaches cost to get on them to play in the sand, but not today. Free! After we built a sandcastle and had lunch at Martell's Tiki Bar (a place, I noticed on the way out, I had never before left sober...oh the memories), and after my 6th trip to the bathroom since we arrived in Point Pleasant without anything to drink, Lily got 1500 tickets from a lady at one of the arcades.Showing me the sand on their toes and VERY happy about it!Seeing that YAY Addie is old enoughOn the carousel (see video below to hear the belly laughs!)Lily and Dad on his old stompin grounds - Jenkinsons

Lawrence wanted to get me a mug, no thanks, my bag was heavy enough thanks to the heaviest 10-key DVD player on earth. I traded that in for a whoopie cushion. Now for those of you who know me that probably doesn't sound very typical. But I just saw a FaceBook post recently where someone wrote that they couldn't believe the amount of fun a whoopie cushion was for a 3 year old, and I thought, why not?

This was by far the funniest part of our trip.

First off, Lily called it a a whooshie cushie. Secondly, after Lawrence blew it up for her and told her to squeeze it, she did and then said "It makes an elephant noise". Then things like "What do you think the elephants at the zoo would do if I brought my whooshie cushie to the zoo?" She laughed her head off each time and then thought it was still an elephant noise. We laughed so hard. On the plane ride home, I had it in my purse folded up. I mouthed accross the aisle and 2 strangers to Lawrence, "We have only been on this plane for 4 hrs, and that means 2.5hrs left, do you want the whooshie cushie for Lily?" For some reason both of us thought that was so funny that we laughted and laughed and laughed until tears rolled down our faces.

So that brings us to the worst part of the trip. 6.5 hrs on the plane home. Seriously tailwinds, an HOUR AND A HALF LONGER???? Why? I had Addie again and Lily begged Lawrence to get a window like Addie. Lily got the bright idea that maybe she could trade with Addie and Lawrence quickly (seeing the prospect of getting stuck with Addie) decided they would also trade MIDDLE seat for aisle rather than window. A BIG mistake the guy on the aisle did not know he was getting into.

(If you are reading this far, God Bless you, and also I'm either about to make you laugh hysterically or puke...not sure which one, I haven't written the events that followed yet).

About 5 minutes (or so we thought) to take off, Addie said, "poo poo mama". I checked her and sure enough, she'd gone. We were already pulled back from the gate so there was no way I was going to the bathroom. I didn't want to get in trouble for taking her seat belt off, and when I peaked in, it was already seeping up her back, past the diaper line. I put an airline pillow on her back and buckled her up tight, trying to ensure that she didn't kick her leg which sent wafting stink air around the plane. I tried to cover it up by opening a package of fruity fruit snacks. No go. The guy sitting next to me had already introducted himself, and he smelled of liquor. His name was John and he was moving to Portland for a job in Health Care Reform. He was originally from Point Pleasant and had never been West of Ohio, even for a visit. He went to Momouth University in Long Branch and was half way through his masters. He would be living near Lloyd Center with his new boss and wanted to know what I thought of that area and why. All this I learned before take off, while I was holding Addie'd legs down and feeding her fruit snacks, and keeping the poopy pillow which was soaking up the seepage into place. He was cute and single. He didn't notice I was pregnant. Or apparently that my daughter was leaking d-rea in our row. FINALLY cruising altitude, and I promised Lawrence anything, ANYTHING he wanted if he would take care of this. When he changed her she had a terrible diaper rash. This happened TWO more times. He changed them all. I still can't imagine the favors I'm in for over the next few days. He also took Lily potty once. Oh, and each time, the guy next to him (the aisle guy) was asleep. AND he was hogging the armreast. The other guy, so Lawrence actually had the nerve to complain about this guy. Once we were all in line for the bathroom and Lily was still in the seat and she started to cry and this poor guys wasn't sure what to do! Except help Lawrence and I hand snacks and toys back and forth to each other! :) Finally after bouncing off the walls, Addie fell asleep with an hour and a half left in the flight, Stinking but sleeping...finally

but she kept waking up in 10 minute increments because her diaper area was so red and painful. And of course I had no diaper cream on the plane. So was dilerious and asleep and inconsolable so once I'd get her back to sleep, I'd try hard not to move. When we landed my feet and legs were so swollen and painful I couldn't get my shoes back on. Somehow we convinced our sleepy children, both crying to walk to the front of the plane so we could regroup with a stroller. Again, Lawrence was my hero carrying way more than 2 arms should be able, leaving me with only the heaviest back pack on the planet.

The stink free fun on the other side of the aisle, and the sleeping Asian who was woken 1 million times

Sabine was so happy to see us. And Lily and Addie were so happy to see her, they talked her ear off the whole ride home. When Addie got home, she went straight to her room and got her "nammies" (PJs) out of the drawer. We changed her diaper and wiped her down with water and put cream on. She walked bow-legged to brush her teeth and didn't want her milk for bedtime. I felt so bad for her that I gave her Tylenol to try to ease the pain. She seemed so happy to crawl into her own bed with her princess blankie and two bear bears. Neither girl made a peep. Of course it was 11pm by this point, or 2am in NJ and with only a 4 day trip including flights who knows what time zone they were on. It didn't really matter. This morning she was really red again when she got up at 6:30a.

And that is the long detailed story of our trip to NJ. We had a blast, and are glad we don't have to do that flight again tomorrow. People talk about how hard it is to travel with out kids. Yes, it is difficult to sit cramped for 6 hrs on a plane no matter who you are, but it is not AS HARD. I looked around at all the people annoyed and complaining kidless on the flight and thought, you know EXACTLY what this flight has in store for you and it is entirely in your control. You knew before you got in which seating arrangement you'd want, you picked it, you brought what you wanted to read, you read it, you went pee when you had to, you slept when you wanted to, and you watched the $6 in flight tv/sitcoms/movies and it was worth every penny, because you saw 6.5 HOURS worth of TV. So while I wouldn't make the flight every day kidless, I'd definitely make it more often. We shudder at the thought of doing it next time with 3 kids, and there is no way we are leaving Sabine behind when that time comes! Of course it's only one day later, up for work bright and early, but you forget how hard it is as time passes. No matter how hard, it's all worth it to see those cousins hug or the smile of a friend or sister or brother you haven't seen in far to long. Thanks Mom and Dad and to Mark and Laureen for a really wonderful trip! :)