- Road trip! Last week we piled in the van and took a road trip to Grand Targee for my family reunion. We had a great time. Nearly everyone from my Dad's side of the family was able to come---including a few of my relatives that Reed had never even met! Some of my cousins have changed so much since the last time I saw them that I didn't even recognize them, and they probably had no clue who I was. Anyway, road trip + 3 little kids = LONG time in the car! Thank goodness for a DVD player and several rentals from the library. How did my parents ever survive road trips to California with 6 screaming kids in the back of the van? I seriously would never have left my house---ever. (Not to mention that if I ever have 6 children, you'll have to commit me to an institution.) The following conversation pretty much sums up our time spent in the car:
Michael: I have to go to the bathroom!
Me: You'll have to hold on for a few minutes until we can find a place to stop.
2 seconds later
Michael: I have to go NOW! I can't hold it!
Michael hyperventilating and jumping up and down until we stop.
30 minutes later
Michael: I have to go to the bathroom!
Repeat for 7 hours. . .
At one point we stopped and I took the boys in for a bathroom break, and I had to drag the kids past the vending machines that have toys and candy at the front of the store---both on the way in, and on the way out. By the time I got everyone back in their seats and ready to go, Michael said he had to go to the bathroom again. So I hauled him back in and dragged him past the vending machines again. Through this entire ordeal there was a man standing in front of the store taking a break. This man took pity on Michael and emptied all the change in his pocket so that Michael and Ty could have a treat from the machine. I tried to explain to him that we had plenty of treats in the car, but he wouldn't hear anything of it. He said someone had bought him a treat when he was a kid, and he never forgot it. I hope Michael remembers this act of kindness and looks for ways to treat others with generosity.
These are the Tetons. It was a beautiful place for a vacation.
2. This is my family. My parents and siblings shared a condo with us. Everyone was so nice to help with the kids. The kids are early risers and I was worried about them waking everyone up super early every day. The boys had an especially rough night the first night. I got out of bed at least 4 times that night, trying to hush the offending kid before they woke everyone up. I WISH I had brought a night light, because it was so hard to settle the kids (and find a binki) in pitch darkness! We discovered that Michael is still a sleep walker/talker. Holy Smokes, I had to put him back on his mattress and in his sleeping bag at least once every single night. The first night he woke up screaming at someone to get out of his way because he couldn't see. . . then he fell off his mattress and hit his head on the blinds. What a racket! Those kids are lucky they survived until morning. Lucky for all of us, things got much better after the first night.
3. One of the main things we did was sit around and watch the Olympics. This crowd went nuts when Michael Phelps just barely won his 7th gold medal in the 100 meter butterfly.
4. In the movie What About Bob, Bob explains his divorce away by saying, "There are two kinds of people in this world: Those who like Neil Diamond, and those who don't." While I'm not happy about the fact that Reed is one of those people who likes Neil Diamond, it's not nearly as important to me as the fact that he hates playing in the pool. Seriously?! Who hates the pool? Not Blake. He was in heaven for a good 2 hours straight. He LOVED it! So did Michael and Ty. Although, I forgot to bring Michael's earplugs, so I hope this little jaunt to the pool doesn't result in another expensive surgery for him. We hit the pool two days in a row. . . except for Reed who decided he would rather not. . .
5. This is Ty with my cute cousin Ellie. I think Ty developed a crush on Ellie while we were playing in the pool on Wednesday, and he followed her around all night!
6. We ate really great food while we were away, but after so many "vacations" and "special occasions" I think I am officially sick of junk food. . . almost! By the way, my Mom made Tang one night, and I helped myself to some thinking, "Alright! Tang. I love Tang! I haven't had that since I lived at home." After one swig I was thinking, "Nasty! Tang. Where's the real Orange juice?" Not sure when I became a food snob, but I am definitely headed that direction!
7. So, now we're home, and it's back to real life. I went out to boot camp for the first time in a couple of weeks and I couldn't believe how dark it was outside. Please, someone tell me it's not going to start snowing anytime soon! I think I'm ready for the chaos of summer to wind down, but I'm not anywhere near ready for cold weather.
8. Tonight Michael had his first practice with his new soccer team. Soccer? Already? Didn't we just do this? It's actually pretty fun to watch, but I'm still glad I don't have to go twice a week like we did with t-ball.
9. Funny story: A couple of weeks ago Reed got the idea that he wanted me to start cutting his hair so that he doesn't have to pay for his haircuts anymore. I was a little bit less than excited, but agreed to do it. I cut it right before trek so that he would have a couple of weeks to let it grow out before he had to go back to work in case anything went wrong. Anyway, I had cut most of it, but toward the end I "accidentally" dropped the buzzers and they jammed up and stopped working. "Oops!" That will teach him to ask me for a haircut! Just kidding. It really was an accident, but it made for a better story that way. . . So, if you notice Reed's hair doesn't look quite right, and if you're wondering why my boys look so shaggy, it's because the clippers are broken and I haven't had a chance to buy new ones yet.
10. Overheard at our house:
Michael: "Ty! Give Ben the book! Ty! Ben is the guest!"
Shocker! Does Michael actually listen to me when I say things like that?
7 comments:
Those mountains are beautiful! Looks like a fun vacation. Your family is darling.
That looks like a lot of fun. Your road trip story made me feel like I should be grateful to change diapers everyday! And I hear ya on the night light thing. I feel like I need 2 night lights when we go on vacation because the rooms always seem so dark and you don't know your way around.
Sounds like a lot of fun! I hear you on the sleeping issues. It's never fun to put three kids plus parents in the same bedroom for multiple nights. I've learned lots of new things about Brett's patience level in the middle of the night!
The family reunion looked like a lot of fun. So sorry about not getting very much sleep. Hopefully they have let you catch up by now.
It sounds like you have had one busy, busy summer. I laughed when I read about Reed trying to convince you to cut his hair. It took Russ five years to convince me to cut his hair. I finally decided to give it a try. It took an hour the first time I did it, but now I can do it in 10 minutes. The problem now is we are trying to convince Haydn to let us cut his mop of hair. He HATES the clippers.
What a fun vacation! You've had a very busy summer Jess. :) Great story about Michael teaching Ty what to do when guests are over. LOL!
Your post had me laughing. I just want to know if Michael actually peed everytime he said he had to! I totally relate to the whole vacaction in the car and sleeping arrangements. I'm currently at Natalie's house in Boise and am not looking forward to the 5 hour car ride home tomorrow!
Post a Comment