A little adventure

Last fall we drove from Oklahoma to Oregon to pick up a 1978 Argosy Airstream from my dad. We traveled through Denver, Yellowstone, beautiful Pacific beaches, downtown San Fran at rush hour hauling the airstream and Disneyland. We pushed hard on the way back to just get back in time and stayed extra at Disney so we missed The Grand Canyon. We crammed a lot in, which simply made us hungry for staying in one place and really exploring on our next little adventure. 

We visited Yellowstone and saw Old Faithful while basking in the most beautiful smell of real pine trees. The kids saw the ocean for the first time. My ocean, with cool water on a wonderfully cloudy and foggy day (in true Northern California/Oregon style). My kids got to see part of the not so little town I grew up in just north of the Bay in San Fran. I really missed mom when I was there, something fierce.We went to Disneyland and managed to surprise the kids. It was magical and I can't wait to go back and really spend some time in each place. Now we are busy remodeling our little Airstream to get it ready for our next adventure. 

I will really introduce our Airstream in the next post. Since she really wasn't stay ready we used her as a giant portable bathroom for us in the middle of nowhere. I highly recommend keeping those training potties...it came in so handy! Take lots of snacks but in lots of varieties, have packs of wipes and plastic grocery sacks for trash. Take a cooler so that you can save money on drinks (crystal light and water bottles y'all). Plan out stops and expect to have an accident. Pack your kids extra clothes for the car, some gallon ziplock bags in case they have one. You'll be prepared so you won't get upset and it will be less stressful, oh and some extra towels.

I planned out our Disney trip knowing we only had 2 days at the park. I studied the maps until I knew it nearly by heart. I chose one must do ride for each kid and then we were free to explore the things that were neat and caught our eye. We did do a character lunch at Ariel's Grotto...worth every penny. We also got the photo pass and we will get it every time we go from now on. I have great pictures of ALL of us. The photographers are really great and really do know how to get the best shot wherever you are. It was truly two days of magic!

I could have stayed at Yellowstone for forever. Breathtakingly beautiful. I cannot wait to take our Airstream and have some awesome little adventures with the kids. We stayed at The Yellowstone Hotel. It has been beautifully restored in the lobby and dining areas, and they are working on the rooms. It was a little Shining-esque, but only for Dale and I :). I want to really camp next time. I spotted lots of animals and it was fun looking for them while we drove. 

It was fun and exhausting...worth every second!

Halloween 2012-The most original title ever.

Halloween is one of my favorite holidays and it also happens to be Dale and Ellie's birthday so the house is always hopping on October 31st.  This year I am back at work so I bought (gasp, this was really hard for me for some reason) Ethan and Jack's Spiderman costumes.  Although if you can make a homemade Spiderman you are one bad ass Momma!  Regan was going to be a pumpkin and I had plans of making one of those super cute orange tutus that are floating around Pinterest.  However a few weeks ago she did a 180 and wanted demanded to be a ballerina AND she wanted to wear stuff we already had...super bonus.  Regan is the winner.  Ellie wanted to be Barbie originally, until I brought up being a zombie and she was begging to be a "walker".  I watched a lot of YouTube stuff on The Walking Dead make-up, which was pretty awesome and I probably would have watched them all anyways because I'm slightly obsessed with the show.  The fake blood was super fun and I did her make-up in about 10 minutes.  We practiced doing it last week which really helped and if you are going to do makeup I highly suggest doing a practice run.  Oh and it was fun to boot.  I got her dress at Goodwill so that we could tear it up, dirty it up and blood it up and then toss it.

I think I'm going to start taking blog pictures with my phone from now on so excuse the lack of quality.  They go straight to my Picasa Web Album and at this point I'm too lazy to put that memory stick into my computer at home, when I'm there.  And I miss you guys, I miss writing and that web connection to the rest of the world, so from here on out its phone quality okay?  So take a look at my cutie pies.  Oh my how I love them!

This was their stash.

Spiderman plays with Barbie.  Love it.

Jack flexing his muscles.  He does it to the front and not to the sides!

I didn't even have to tell her to put her feet that way!

Oh my how I love that this is what they did when I told them to pose together.

Cheese for Mommy!  Ethan's muscles are adorable.

Mom lets go the candy is out there!

Ellie post blood.  Nevermind the mess in the back.  Yes that is a beer can, I'm pretty sure  you need one before and at least one after taking 4 kids trick or treating.

I used tattoos, fake blood and make-up.

This head wound was my favorite.

We did some claw marks on her back too.

Ellie was the only one that went through the haunted house in our neighborhood.  It was pretty scary.  She got really scared by the zombie at the end, but he was a cool teenager and said "oh we're bro's lets go eat them together!" and she laughed and told him how great his makeup was.  Oh my do I love her and how brave she is, my little Halloween baby!

Ten on Ten on the 12th of October

I'm getting there.  Eventually I'll get my working mom rhythm but until then just bear with me :).  The tenth was a fun day.  I picked my oldest up from running club and came home to find my sweet girls curling their hair with my mom.  Good memories.  I love that she was doing something my Gram did with me.  So here is my ten on ten on the twelfth.  Head on over to Rebekah's blog, a bit of sunshine, if you haven't yet and check out her amazing work and the other entries which are amazing too!

6am- My breakfast buddy and Tom Jones.  Love this kid even early in the morning.

7am- I'm out the door, but they are all chowing down still.  Love these cuties.

8am- Already on the second cup.  

9am- Time to moisturize.  I'm a bit obsessed with all things L'Occitane

10am- Beautiful organization. By year and date beautiful!

11am- Smile on work buddy.

12pm- Sometimes I eat lunch at my desk just so I can get some Pinterest in.

1pm- Unfortunately there wasn't an express line.

2pm- The view from my office.  Well, someone's office.  The view of a picture from my office.

4pm- Good gracious she's mine.  Her curls had given up about 30 minutes later, just like mine used to do.

 So there it is.  I really love my new job, I'm just still working out the balancing act of how to keep it all together, remain sane and be 100% present with my kids when we are together.  Well the 100% present part I'm loving and love being that way for my kids, its trying to get my laundry routine down that I'm struggling with!

July 2012 Ten on Ten

So today is the tenth and I haven't blogged since forever.  More about that tomorrow.  If you haven't done a ten on ten before you can read more about it at a little bit of sunshine.  Rebekah's blog is lovely to say the least, beware, you will stay awhile!  I just downloaded Instagram and today is my first day ever of using it, so all of today's ten are from my phone and Instagrammed!  I get all the hype now.

9am-Playing doctor in the exam room.

10am- Tough guy didn't cry when he got a shot.

11am- Waiting for lunch.

12pm- Frying pans, who knew right?

1pm- Our first ripe strawberry, it may be our only one if some small people keep picking the green ones!

2pm- Daily summer math time.  School is cool.

3pm- Today's art themes included self portraits and design a house.

4pm- Swinging with Mom

5pm- Snuggling on the couch.  Okay so I was the only one for most of the time.

6pm- Laughing at Jack.  

I think I like this Instagram thing.  Happy Ten on Ten and thanks for dropping by!