Road Trip

Matthew's penance from a recent confession was to plan a vacation for our family. He must have done something really terrible.

We left for Mirror Lake on Monday morning at 6:30a. At 8a, Nathan got carsick, threw up all over EVERYTHING and we found ourselves at the always hospitable Walmart. We purchased a new outfit, some cleaning supplies for the car, and seriously considered just purchasing a new carseat.

This is the best vacation we have ever been on.

We arrived at our hotel much later than anticpated, but the children were ready to go swimming. They were stripping down in the hallway as Matt was opening the door to our suite.

Nathan, ready for swimming. He couldn't find his other croc, so he ran laps through our rooms calling out "Foo-fops?! Are you?" (Flip flops?! Where are you?)

Thomas, being Thomas, got injured as quickly as possible...doing a long jump off one of the beds and hitting the floor. Hard. When my parents found out we were going on a vacation, they rejoiced for us and went out shopping... for Matt. Go figure. Amongst MANY other things, they dropped off a couple of bags of beef jerky and some Stella Artois, in cans, for easy travel. Stella came in handy after the long car ride and also as simple first aid for my third born. Thanks Mom and Dad, for making our trip that much more awesome!

One of our balconies at the hotel. We watched our first storm roll in over the mountains and settle right over the Olympic Center across the street.

The children saw the hot tub and rainbow trout above it on the hotel website before we left for vacation. This was one of their favorite moments from vacation: getting their picture taken with the Hot Tub Trout.

We had the entire basement of the hotel to ourselves on the first night. This included the hot tub, pool, lounge, pool table, foos ball table, bathrooms and... water cooler.

Chillin' like Bob Dylan

Swimming Sarah!

Love

The basement was sectioned off with heavy glass doors, most  of which needed a room key to get through. Instant playpen.

Nathan is ready to be an engineer.
 He just needs to work on his water cooler conversation...

And etiquette.

Matt and I played pool for the first time together in YEARS! It was hysterical. Matt says he won, but I think it was because of the little elf that hid under the table and kept throwing my striped balls back up into the playing field.

I understand that it seems as though there are a ton of us, but why in the world do hotels make us get suites? This is what bedtime on vacation looks like. All of us, piled together, in one bed.
The kids were wiped after a long trip and some good swimming and games. Everyone slept really well! Not the norm.

Shutdown Begins

There were so many things we wanted to do, and friends we wanted to see and projects we wanted to accomplish over this break. But, very much like our pre-vacation To Do List, we ended up doing very little...and it ended up being perfectly perfect for this third trimester slug.

First Stop: Camping at the Lake.

Meet Peaches. Poor Cat. She happens to love my boys. And they "LOVE" her right back. Thomas and Nathan chased her around the yard taking pictures and "pegging the kiggy".

Uncle Rob, reading one of my favorite books from childhood to the boys.

Getting Ready

Before Matt's vacation this year, we had a long list of chores to get done. We accomplished ONE thing on our list and then ran out of time.

 C'est la vie!

1.) Get the truck ready for our trip.

It took 6 hours more than it should have, what with all the helping hands and such. But, Oh My, we had a great time! 

The Return to "Normalcy"

I mean, normal for us.

It has been a quieter week. Sarah finished up school and took her CAT. "We" are nesting, getting ready for GM's annual shutdown. The children are eager to have their Dad exclusively to themselves for a bit...maybe that is why they aren't sleeping?

Not a lot of major events happening, so I haven't been taking many pictures.

But last night, I realized that I was missing out when I didn't take pictures of the little moments that happen throughout our day. I wasn't being as grateful. I was letting that time pass me by. And Boy! What a time this is!

So right before bed, but after Thomas donned his baseball cap, I grabbed the camera. This is our down-time in the front room before the children get tucked in. Sometimes we watch a video. Sometimes we wrestle. Sometimes we attempt to pray as a family. Some nights Matt gets brave enough to open a book and read over the din.

Last night Sarah and Thomas started off down-time with ballet lessons.

He grew about 7 inches this week.

Sarah was trying to teach Tom some official moves.
Tom wanted to be an airplane.

Nothing makes me laugh quite as hard as Thomas does these days.

"No Tom! Like this!"

Nearly there...

Giving up.

This is his "Uncle Rob" look. The boys surprised me the other day by flipping their hats backwards and fighting over who looked more like my brother, Rob. When we pull in the Wegmans or Target parking lots, they say to one another, "Hey! Let's go in like Uncle Rob!" They turn their hats around and giggle all the way into the store.
Did you hear that Rob? They are WATCHING you!

Little House in the Big Woods was the story that we read last night. Matt got through an entire chapter, and I was just as enthralled hearing it last night as I was when I was a child.

The boys liked all the parts about the wild animals.
Sarah was in dream mode. I will tell you what she was thinking.
"Laura, Mary and Baby Carrie. There were three girls! Three daughters? No sons? Is that possible?"

Ummmmm....YES! He held still. Smiled. Looked at the camera. I had no time to focus or zoom.

Grainy Perfection!

Fresh Faces

Joseph received a PIRATE coloring book from his teacher, Miss Roberta. Now, his newest aspiration is to become a pirate when he grows up. Thanks Roberta!

Thomas has been practicing his ring bearer face for my brother's upcoming wedding. We are still in stage one of trying to convince Thomas that this isn't actually a smile. We are in stage two of trying to convince my brother that it is not too late to back out from having Tom in the wedding.

This is what travel by automobile will look like for us for just a couple more months. This is a Suburban, folks! Tell me where in the world I am supposed to put that 5th car seat! NYS car seat laws are slightly out of control. Since all my children have to be in boosters until they are 12 now, our next vehicle will be a bus.
I am not kidding.

Conversation Heart Tom.
The heart says it all: "Wild Child".
Still, NOT a wedding smile.

The boys are learning how to flex the muscles they inherited from their Dad.

Practicing flower girl stance for aforementioned wedding.

Matt mentioned to me before bed the other night that his phone was no longer working properly.
My response: "Really?!?"

Yesterday got hot and humid enough for Nay Nay to overcome his convenient (read: only at bathtime) fear of water.