Now this is a vacation...

Heather has been one of my best friends since 8th grade. We both have literally traveled across the country to see each other. She traveled to Utah to be in my wedding and to New York when we were living out there. Of course she couldn't have chosen a farther place for me to travel to when she got married in Hawaii and we were in NY. Aside from a couple visits we made out to California, most of our communication has been via phone. We finally decided it was time to plan a getaway by ourselves somewhere far enough to feel like a true get-a-way but not so far that it would take too long to get to so last Thursday as Jack was flying from Oakland back to Salt Lake where we've been vacationing for the past several weeks, I flew from Salt Lake to Oakland. You know you're in need of a vacation when you are so excited about being able to whiz through the "expert traveler" security line at the airport instead of the "family-friendly" line.

Our sleeping quarters and various forms of transportation:




Pier 39, Golden Gate, and Alcatraz







Favorite things:

-Me having my first pedicure ever!!! How did I manage this long without one?



-Hanging off the trolley as we traveled across town not having to worry about my kids attempting the same thing. I'll spare you the ugly photo Heather captured of me doing this.

-Enjoying a nice warm dinner at Mortons. Keyword being "warm" as rarely do I enjoy a warm meal after getting my kids' plates all chopped up into bit sized pieces...

-Shopping. Highlight being, not for groceries but instead spending time trying on a dozen pairs of jeans without a care in the world!

-Laughing and laughing. Heather and I have so many memories that to this day just make us laugh. How much fun we had staying up till all hours of the night laughing. Just the thought of what we found in our Hotel room closet is enough to make me laugh for a good long time.

- Enjoying clam chowder in a sour dough bread bowl at Pier 39!!!! So good that we had to treat ourselves twice to the San Francisco favorite. So much for rice-a-roni being the San Fran treat!



-Knowing I could sleep in even though for some reason I wasn't able to (sorry Heather). What is up with that? I think the bags under my eyes were worse after the trip...

-Lombard Street. We had to do it. It had been over a decade since I traveled down that cute, curvy road and nothing makes me think of San Fran more than steep streets and peel outs.



What a great trip. Heather, thanks for being the sister I never had. Time to start planning next year's!!!

S is for swimming, snorkeling, skiing, and SKYDIVING...

So, my brother Paul called a couple weeks before we were coming out to Utah asking if Jack would be interested in going skydiving with him. I guess it was always something he wanted to do for his 30th birthday. Without hesitating Jack agreed. By the time we had gotten to Utah, the group had grown to include my dad also. So this past Saturday, dad decides he's not quite up for it. Good thing I hadn't planned on going before we arrived that afternoon as I'm sure in the past couple weeks I would have lost 10 lbs. just thinking about it. It was clear from the clothes I arrived in that I wasn't dressed for the occasion with flip flops and a shirt that my camera man thought reminded him of someone looking to go dancing more than someone going skydiving...

Here we are picking out our flashy attire. Of course Paul thought he was too cool to join in and wear the suit. Sage was not happy about the whole thing which kind of spooked me since she was clueless to what we were actually doing.



Our ride up. It took us about 20 minutes to get up to altitude and about 8 minutes to get down.




From freefalling to parachuting to landing. I don't know what's worse, being the first to jump or the last. I was the last!

Here's Paul:



Next is Jack:



And finally me. You'll notice what great form I had as I exited the plane with my legs kicking and us tumbling into a back flip. I made up for it with my graceful landing. :)




What's not to like about the cone head I had to wear?



The View from below:

Summer Vacation!

Hello from Utah! A few hours after arriving last Saturday we were greeted by this. Here is Ty playing out in the river that ran across my parents front yard. It came down in buckets for about an 1/2 hr. If you look carefully you can see it was up to his mid calf within minutes. Gotta love Utah summer storms! Thankfully we haven't seen an ounce of rain since that night.

Just call him Hugh for short: So before leaving on our journey to Utah, the boys packed their spider man suitcases with all their snacks, toys, and who knows what else. I neglected to go through it beforehand since we were driving. Apparently Ty was worried that dad would miss out on watching 'The Girls Next Door' at Grandma and Grandpa's house when he packed his silky red robe. You'll also notice it's about 3 sizes too small!



Highlights of the week:
-Having a great book to read on the drive to Utah. (Thanks to Sommer and Rachel, I am now officially addicted to the Stephanie Meyers Vampire books. URRRRR. Vacation is supposed to be about rest but it's kind of hard when you're up till obscene hours of the night reading.)
-Spending time with Grandma and Grandpa.
-Afternoons at our favorite pool ever. (Scera)
-A game of dodge ball with all the cousins, aunts, and uncles. (minus Steve, bummer!)
-Swim lessons.
-Taking a guided raft tour down the Provo River. (Sage was either going to scream to death with the life preserver on or drowned to death with it off. We hedged that we had a smaller chance of the latter happening.)

The cost of kids...

So this week sets a record for the most amount of stuff broken in one week. Items: 1. Karoke Machine. One of the three menaces this week managed to stuff a few cd's into the karoke machine cd rom. I finally had to perform unsuccessful surgery on it which completely broke the it. Cost: $200 2. Spiderman Walkie Talkies. Sage decides to rip off the little microphone that attaches to the headpiece. Cost: $25 3. Battery operated styrofoam airplane. Connor, trying to grab the airplane back from Ty rips it in half. Cost: $20 4. The Amazing String Machine: Apparently left on for too long burning out the engine. Cost: $25 Is there anyone else out there that experiences such destruction? Sadly, I can't even blame it on the fact I'm raising boys...Sage is just as guilty!

We bought a boat...

Now that I got your attention, I guess it's actually considered a "raft" but it serves the same purpose. It gets us on the water and the kids love it. It even has towing capacity so it's great that we can dangle the boys in their tube 20 ft. away and enjoy the peace. Since Jack was home this week we spent four different days going to four different lakes. Many of the lakes don't allow motorized boats so you see a lot of kayaks, canoes, sail boats, and rafts.



PHOTO BELOW: Eye sore of the week- What's up with this? How could I have not noticed "big blue" in the background while I was taking this photo? Gotta love her. Feel free to click on the photo for a more up close and personal view. :)



Have I said how much I love summers in Seattle? :) Beaver Lake had these gorgeous areas of lilly pads on the lake with these beautiful water lillies. I can always count on Ty to pick me flowers. There isn't a day we go to the park that he doesn't pick me a flower. The lake was no exception.


Below are a few photos from week including a glimpse into our fearless Sage who loves the water a bit too much. Thankfully this week we were able to keep the swim suit on.




I couldn't figure out why she was looking at me so funny as I was trying to take her picture. Apparently she feels something warm trickling down her leg. You can see how the expression changed to joy once she was done. Glad we had just gotten off the raft.

Summer!!!

Highlights of the week:

Bachelorette ends! Ok, I'm guilty of participating in a weekly girls night that consists of a bunch of us getting together at my house, snacking on junk, and cringing during most of the show as we watch some poor girl continue to express her love for multiple men at the same time while in the end choosing the one that you're certain the producers asked her to choose for "shock effect". The highlight is not that it has ended as I will greatly miss those fun evenings but rather that I won't have to hear Connor ask me in the morning "mom, I was nervous last night when I heard you say in the TV room that some boy was cute. I thought you didn't love dad anymore."

Ty has a play date. The play date was nothing new but who it was with was. I also got a glimpse of what lies ahead in my future raising twin boys when I hear Ty say, "Connor, when Camille comes over can you just stay up in the big TV room while we play outside in the backyard?." I had no idea that the competition for girls started at such a young age...

Summer in Seattle. Nothing beats our crystal clear bright blue skies, temperatures that are warm enough you can swim but cool enough you can seek comfort in the shade if need be. Now I remember why I love this place so much. The week was full of play dates, swimming, going to the lake, and hitting up parks. (No comments please about Sage's beach attire.) Between her being topless (because her brothers were and she has do to everything they do) and playing in the water with a 10 lb diaper attached to her bottom (thanks to me forgetting her swimming diaper) she was quite the sight.




Girls night OUT (keyword being "out"). Can't remember the last time I left the house to do dinner with friends and stay up late laughing until my stomach hurt. I may have "most outrageous kid stories" but someone else definitely claims the prize for "most outrageous husband stories". Mara, you know who you are. :)

The nest is gone! After learning we have a basketball size hornet nest up in one of our pine trees Jack decides it's time to take it out. I failed to get the picture of him all geared up as if he was straight out of Antarctica but I did capture the nest moments before he super soaked it with a pressure washer. NASTY!!!