Summer Bliss

Summer is here folks. Weather wise we are enjoying some randomly cloudy days with 80 degrees. In a word: Perfection. So we do lots of walks. And thanks to Clarks new-to-him awesome pink balance bike (thanks Isla!) we are walking in style.

Ps we randomly had a guy at El Porton stop us all excited about Clark's jersey. We got it as a hand me down from Sarah and thought the name was "James". Apparently it's pronounced Hah-me-knees. Good to know. 

What else? Char is loving new foods like Rice Cakes. And Clark loves dressing her up in his sunglasses which are cute but make her look like she's 13. 

People are always surprised when I tell them Clark still naps but nap he does and sometimes he naps hard. This is his hair after one particularly delightful session. 

We are changing up the living room so a lot of boxes have been available for forts and such.

Oh and Char got upgraded to a new carseat. She is thrilled!

Last Saturday while Dana had to do an emergency trip to Seattle for his Dad (loooong story, but all good now), we visited the Washburns for a strange outdoor all inclusive work party...at a company neither of them works at. Whatever. Free food. Free cotton candy. Free bounce houses. We're in.

The grand finale was the ultra sturdy pinata suspended from a crane (topped of course with an American flag folks). Clark was quite enthusiastic when it was his turn to give it a smack but he was too scared to take the candy. 

 Char and Natalie enjoyed the sandbox immensely. And Char found another food she loves to eat:)

 And Clark could have stayed here all day but I was surprised that he did venture into the bounce houses all by himself. Not pictured is the balloon sword we had for all of 10 minutes before Char misplaced it.

Our garden is coming along nicely. Clark loves picking the cherry tomatos and then not eating them:)

 Our friend, Trish, rented this awesome waterslide bouncy thing over the 4th of July and got to keep it an extra day so she invited us over for some fun. Char enjoyed the grass and Clark was wary at first but obviously warmed up!

 Loving this summer!!

Touch a Truck - Take 2

If you remember from an earlier post, Mr. Clark is a bit of a weeny when it comes to loud noises. So although he adores anything truckesque, he spent most of the Tri-Cities truck day crying in the car seat with his hands over his ears. We figured a smaller Ellensburg size touch a truck might be better. And it was. And it wasn't:)

Thankfully, the "wasn't" was at the beginning. We had tears. We had hand earmuffs. We had a refusal to eat a free 7-11 hot dog. Good grief. But somewhere along the way he warmed up and we had a great (and HOT!) rest of the day, topped off with snow cones.

The babies enjoyed a nice ride.

The first brave adventure. We're pretty sure we cut the line but oh well. 

 In a SWAT vehicle and hey holding a cool construction rubber ducky because we can.

 All the kids in a prisoner transport vehicle. Hmmm....appropriate?

We shall keep trying. PS don't you love his tie dye Galapagos turtle shirt? 

Your Momma's Not a Llama...but Grandma might be

Side trip tacked on to the Utah adventure was an afternoon/night with Grandma Tina and Grandpa Pat. It's rare that my kids gets focused G&G time so this was pretty priceless.

Clark got into the groove of the fountains at City Creek. It was a hot night so this was perfect. And Charlotte is at perfect Grandpa carrying age so she was in heaven touching all the water and trees we passed.

 Even though they were beat from their trip to Machu Picchu, Mom and Dad still spent the whole night with the kiddos. Dad must have stood out on the balcony for an hour with Clark watching buses, cars and (his favorite) trains drive by. They live on a very exciting street!

 And this little guy may haunt me in my dreams but he sure was fluffy and impossible not to touch. Llama Llama.

Mother of Six - Utah Style

A few months back my sister, Sarah, asked if I wanted an insane adventure - single mother of 6 for 12 days. Naturally, I laughed. Then I totally rocked it.

Yes, for 12 days this month, I was a single parent to my two kiddos plus Sarah's four in Utah while they were exploring the Galapagos and Machu Picchu. Honestly, so much happened it could fill a book. So here are just the highlights:

1 - The drives. Probably the thing that stressed me out the most. Driving by myself for 10 hours with two kids, one of whom is turned backwards and kind of offended by that fact. It was rough sometimes but Char slept a LOT and Clark watched a LOT of Lightning McQueen. (Don't ask me how much. It's embarassing). The kicker was when Charlotte's impromptu "rattle" (AKA a bottle of Acetamenophin) popped open in her lap and I got to swerve fast and furious style to the shoulder to save my poor infant from overdosing. Oh, and the cashier in Pendelton who was smoking while ringing up my soda. Classy all the way.

2 - Boise. This deserves it's own number. We stopped for a night on the way down. It started pouring the second we got out of the car. The hotel was repaving their parking lot and didn't have enough spots. Char refused to sleep in the death trap that was her crib (which took me 20 minutes to get up) so she slept on my bed. Then Clark got jealous and joined us. Three Gailans in a double bed. Ahhh luxury.

3 - The adventures. We did it all!

     A) Hogle Zoo - rode the train. Found out Clark LOVES zebras. Lost Ethan for 10 minutes. Wait, does Sarah still read this? Had a blast but we wore Char out!

B) House activities - Sarah planned for down days which was good since it thunderstormed a lot. We did dance parties and just hung around the house. Yay for electronics, am I right boys?

C) Lemonade stands - Ethan the Entreprenuer wanted to raise some money so we did 3 different lemonade days. He made bank. Too bad it poured rain 30 minutes after he set up EACH TIME. Cursed? Maybe. Delicious? Definitely.

E) The Library - why are Utah libraries so stinking awesome? Anyway. Great activity and Isaac and Clark made this sweet tour which Char knocked over five minutes later. Babies. What can I say man?

 F) Parks - see comment on the library. We went to five different ones and they all rocked. Especially the part where Clark got stuck in this perpetual motion chair and I got him out but I'm not gonna say I wasn't busting a gut laughing.

4 - The kiddos. I have the best neices and nephews. They were spectacular with Clark and Charlotte. Isaac and Miles built pillow forts for Char and showed Clark how to put together his McQueen legos. Isla and Clark spent several days in the basement doing I have no idea but it sounded fun and was really messy. Ethan was my co-pilot and held Clark's hand the whole time we were at the zoo and would hoist him up to see the animals.

5 - Favorite activity. The temple square trip had to be my favorite. Beautiful day. Minimal fights. And watching kids get drawn in by interactive Book of Mormon stations and cutaways of the Temple is just touching.

It was a LOOONG 12 days and I'm not sure I'd do it again without Dana to help but man am I glad I was brave enough this time. It's rare that an Aunt gets so much one on one time with her neices and nephews at this age. I hope it means lasting relationships for years to come!