falling in love pt. 3

i fell in love with this little girl, all over again

her self portrait checking her hair on my phone

again, this is not the kind of twitterpated love that we associate with love, but love nonetheless. it's amazing to me how kids change not just over time, but in different settings or when given individual attention.
princess grace spent 7 1/2 days with me and no brothers. there were cousins to play with, but she got undivided mom time. that's not really all that unusual for a home preschooler, but this was different.
she was amazing!
this 5 year old got 5-6 hours of sleep each night in a new place with new people and new things and she rocked it.
at the wedding she stayed out of the way. never really whined or complained. found cousins to hang out with and made it special for her.

probably her favorite thing of the whole trip was hanging out with her cousins. look at these girls. could they be any cuter?

when she had downtime, which she had plenty of, she occupied herself with doing things her own way. she loved jumping on the trampoline and became a champ at jumping off the "tower". 

when she wasn't jumping on the trampoline she was in the backyard or front yard searching for, finding and collecting potato bugs aka rolly polly's. pretty sure she collected over 200 of them over the course of several days. i learned she has very limited fear of her own abilities.

one of the funnier moments was at a pool party on memorial day. we crashed a party with my sister and princess grace swam the whole time. typical right, except not really. there were about 10-12 boys between 12-16 in the pool playing chicken, marco polo and doing crazy dives off the  board. then there's this crazy girl jumping off the board right along with them. they were totally respectful and it was totally funny. wish i had a picture of her, but you can enjoy a pic of the ladies chatting it up moments after we were splashed by aforementioned boys. 

falling in love is about gaining appreciation for a person and what the can and do add to your life. i learned during this great adventure with this little girl that she is fabulous and i totally fell in love with her all over again. i will remember to read this again during the days surely to come where she tells me how much she hates me and i'm ruining her life. i'll still love her then.

falling in love pt. 2

while maybe not the same kind of love as previously posted i fell in love all the same.  in love with california.

don't get me wrong i am an east coast girl through and through. i would never make it there. i talk too fast, i walk too fast, i'm too uptight and i have an uptight east coast sense of style. all that aside i love northern california.

 first thing princess grace and i did was hop off the plane in oakland into our ford edge (which i also fell in love with, despite the obvious error in spelling) and headed into san fran. we went over the bay bridge and over the san francisco bay.

i loved!

we hit the piers, shopped, ate ice cream and got messy hair from the wind. 

i loved!

we drove the amazing streets. we don't have straight streets here. all streets dead end, go one way or randomly change name, directions or close. these streets while at crazy angles were straight. two cars could drive by each other. what a concept.  i drove lombard

i loved!

 we saw the gorgeous architecture of row after row after row of brownstones. amazing colors, and more architectural details than i ever remember seeing before.

i loved!

as we headed east back toward oakland and the clayton valley area the hills and mountains struck me. they were amazing. they were not green, but covered in sage like bushes so you could see all the bumps and crevices. we talked a lot about sledding, or skate boarding down those hills. or living on the edge.

i loved!

then there was the one thing i will miss unexpectedly. the food. you'd think in such a large urban are we would have amazing food here. the truth is that small authentic restaurants are few and far between. those you find are not necessarily savory to visit (pun intended).

princess grace and i had awesome mexican food and some amazing dessert.

i loved!

ok, virginia i still love you, but i can have a bit on the side with no regrets.

earthquake

as if the impending hurricane, financial downfall, and school starting wasn't enough let's add earthquake to the list of things happenin' in DC these days. yep, we had a minor earthquake. although if you lived here you would understand that nothing that happens here is minor. everything is about the drama....hence the political state we are in now.....sigh. moderation people!!

anyway, off topic. so where were we during the great quake?

great falls. gorgeous right? we had a great time. climbing rocks and playing with friends. oh yeah, and the earthquake. meh

i tell you the kids remember the trip more than the shake

sniff, sniff...

there are some moments in time that we all wish we could freeze. this is two of them.
my sweet jp just walked into my room, glassy eyed when he was supposed to be in bed. i reminded him to get back into bed. he told me that he couldn't sleep because was thinking of how much he enjoyed the beach this summer. he was so sincere and started tearing up. he said that it was the best part of his entire life, even when he was a little baby. he wants to do it again, every year, with all the same people, doing the exact same thing.

i could not agree more jp.

i wish i could freeze this time, when this sweet little spirit walked into my room at night in tears telling me that a vacation with family 2 months previously was the greatest thing ever. this little boy, who normally talks and talks and talk was sincerely expressing love. i want a freeze frame. i wish i could do it again too my boy.

pardon the lack of posting. i've been buried. :)

riverbend

gma and papa took us all to riverbend park to see the bluebells. the bluebells were beautiful, but the walk and river view were even moreso. we did not do the full 2.5 mile walk, but enough that princess grace saw "whales" and "sharks". we saw a tree that had been gnawed on by beavers, tracks left by birds and other wildlife, and tons of little seashells that made their way home to be counted over and over again.




if you ever doubt the power of disney, this is a picture of princess grace standing over the frog pond for 20 minutes telling the frog to "come here, frog and let me kiss you" "i be a princess!!".

harper's ferry

I suggest a trip to harper's ferry. i do not however suggest visiting the wax museum with small children. it's a story for a different day.

i'm going there someday

the children from church went to the dc lds temple on saturday. this is the group our kids were with. they learned about the seagull on the flagpole, how big the angel moroni is, and how our family can be together forever.it was a great activity.
the best part was princess grace walking around say "ten bull"

kirtland weekend

we took off for kirtland thursday morning. it's a 6 hours drive and the kids were awesome. we arrived at our friend's house and it was playtime. the kids got into a water fight, and played hard. we got up friday morning and went into kirtland. it has changed quite a bit since i have visited and hubby has never been. again, the kids were great. it's an amazing place to be. i think the kids liked the sawmill the best.
we then dialed in the gps to see what else was around. i chose a submarine in downtown cleaveland. on the way there i got freaked out by f-16's flying around. i have lived in dc too long. i assumed that someone had flown into restricted airspace and were being "chased down". i never even thought of an air show. traffic literally crawled as we made our way to the air strip where the air force thundercats were practicing for the next day's air show. it was awesome!! these pilots are undeniably the best in the world. crazy!!!
we found the submarine and the kids had a blast shooting the boats in the lake down at the stern. lake erie was gorgeous and quite clean when compared to my recent visit to the potomac river.
we headed back to k&r's house for a night of food and fun. we headed out to watch the sunset on lake erie. wow! so much fun. we stood on the beach throwing and skipping rocks. so serene and calm.
it was an awesome weekend. no fighting between siblings. the friends all got along, and hopefully we got out before we wore out our welcome. it's nice to have such kind friends who allow us to crash their calm house for a few days. thank you!!!

downtown

gravelly park is a plot of land on the potomac river at the end of the runway at reagan national airport. you watch planes take off, or bike, or play soccer, or as my kids do pick up trash and pretend to make science experiments.




we then headed over to iwo jima and read all the names of the conflicts listed on the memorial and walked over to arlington cemetery and talked about all the men and women who died for our freedoms. we talked about gratitude and service on the way home, and had a great discussion about how we can show gratitude for those that serve our country. the boys are going to send letters and pictures to military members serving overseas, along with the cub scout pack i work with. It was quite uplifting. these three do keep me on my toes.

monticello and luray

i dont plan trips very well. i usually think about it for a day and never say anything to the kids for fear of opinions. i woke up and asked kids if they wanted to go to thomas jefferson's house. they were indifferent...so we went. it took about 2 hours to get to charlotesville. we bought tickets and rode the bus up. the kids were stoked about the bus. we started tour with the tour guide showing me where the exit was. i smiled and said thank you. she then proceeded to remind me where the exit was every room we went into. the boys were angels, and princess grace was pointing at things. nothing noisy or annoying. by the third room when she reminded me, i grabbed the boys and headed for the exit. she stood in front of me blocking the exit, and said "you dont have to go". ha. apparently i do. i ran over her foot trying to get out. i felt better, and hoped i hurt the corns on her nasty crusty feet. they have a new kids discovery center, which more than compensated for tour drama.


after monticello it was only 2pm, and i thought we could do more, so we headed an hour north west to luray (pronounced lew ray by locals). the caves are wicked cool. they now do a self guided tour with head sets with a tour for kids and a tour for adults. the boys did the kids tour and were enthralled. it was so worth the time.



an easy day trip for me with well behaved kids and fun things to do in the great commonwealth we live in.

a favorite summer memory

one night i got wanderlust. i needed to get out of the house. i needed to explore. 2 of the boys did not want to go so at 8:00 at night baby e, princess grace and i took off for sights unknown. we headed to downtown dc, and baby e wanted to go to the lincoln memorial. we couldn't find parking so we ended up at the jefferson. we walked along the river and went up to the jefferson. baby e was intrigued by everything. asking questions and genuinely interested in everything. it was so much fun. it was a very sweet moment for me. no whining, no complaining, no demanding, just calm, quiet and fun!

as we left baby e wanted me to take this picture of him by this giant urn. he thought it was awesome.

i'm half redneck

i might be more than half redneck. i love demolition derbies! i laughed for the whole 2 hours. if you've never gone to one i highly suggest it. it's a great cultural experience that should not be missed. for example: this was the family in front of us, wife beater and all!



the kids had a blast. princess grace had her ears covered the first hour and loved the second hour. the boys were completely unsure what to make of it when the first 2 minutes the firemen had to use the jaws of life to pull a man out of his car (hitting the drivers side door is a big no-no in derby land), they quickly got over the fear of the noise and had a great time.




going to these fairs is a lot cheaper than visiting todd's family for the very same experience. :)

alright....now thanksgiving

i have no pictures of us staying in the middle of nowhere, besides getting my camera lost there are only so many pictures you can take of dead grass and mini ranches.

let's get to the crazy stuff.....and i do mean crazy. we got to lehi on wednesday night and were greeted by 4 of my sibling and there collective 16 kids. holy cow! as the grinch would say (who i seem to have been channeling this week) oh the noise, noise, noise, noise. my boys were in hog heaven when they found the 2 ginormous buckets of legos', and i was happy that my patron saint tom found my cell phone. hallelujah!
sarah got to play with the baby cousins closest to her in age



now.....thanksgiving dinner.
19 / 22 grandchildren
10 / 12 children / spouses
4 adopted hoskings
gramps & pat
gladys & leeann
did i forget anyone?

here's where we ate



we all got harry potter names. well, james was thomas the tank engine, i was gilderoy lockhart,todd was grawp and sarah was dobby. funny!



the grandkids put on 2 seperate plays during the recovery period, and games, fun and pie was had by all! some male spouses went "home" and rested some hung out. it was so much fun, and it was a great thanksgiving!

travelogue days 4-7

saturday morning came very early for todd. he woke up early and drove back to las vegas to drop off our rental car and took the shuttle back to saint george. marla and tom were generous enough to drive down to saint george to pick us up so they picked todd up at the shuttle drop off and came to get the rest of us to head out to lehi.
that's about a 4 hour drive, so before we took off we stopped off and saw gramps and pat (where i lost my cell phone and therefore my camera), and we of course had to stop off at:



the only in-n-out location is utah. it was good! bonus point to those who can tell me what's printed on all their cups and container!

we drove the 4 hours to lehi...phew...sat down for 20 minutes then tom drove us to salt lake to pick up our rental car. tom....you are a saint!
my side note: never rent from advantage rent a car. we had a reservation but ended up renting from dollar. they were awesome. they even gave us a free upgrade and got us as close to our reservation cost at advantage within $75...which was a steal! go dollar!

we loaded the kids.....again....and headed to:



home....heber city
where we stayed with uncle chris. the boys were thrilled with all of the boy toys that chris had. atv's big trucks, snow mobiles, big dogs, trampolines and unopened hot wheels cars from forever ago. it was fun to stay with chris and the girls for the night. it gave us a chance to prepare for our drive to the middle of nowhere.

i had no camera, but needless to say it was a fascinating stay!

travelogue days 2 & 3

days 2 and 3 were spent being very cautious and careful in saint george. i've posted some pictures in a previous post, but here are some more.

we went to the jacob hamblin house one afternoon, and learned fascinating facts about the relationship between mormon pioneers and the native american's)



i know.....james looks thrilled, but he really did have a great time.



sarah on the other hand was developing an ear infection, and was not as thrilled.


the highlight of our trip was on friday afternoon when we drove up to zion's national park where we went to this little wild animal farm that grandma joyce had found. the kids got a kick out of feeding the animals. (hand sanitizer and baby wipes were used liberally so as to avoid any number of childhood diseases that children can get..snicker, snicker)




friday morning we had made a quick trip to tuachan and looking at the crazy cool houses in saint george.



friday night we saw aunt julie and todd's cousin amanda (we are hooked up on facebook now), and packed up for our next adventure.

trip out west

we have been out west since wednesday, and enjoying our time in the warmth. we flew into vegas and drove to saint george. here's some pictures.

hubby, and the kids with grandma rasband on top of airport bluff in saint george



eli, the only one brave enough to go outside in front of the st. george temple in pajamas' and no shoes!

white's ferry

now that glamma and pappa are finished at the temple they were able to play with us in between their car shopping. white's ferry crosses the potomac north of us on the border of leesburg, va and point of rocks maryland. it's a 5 minute ride on a ferry, but the kids thought it was so cool. it was a beautiful drive with beautiful properties and lovely fall colors. while on the ferry the driver pointed out two bald eagles flying off the bank of the river. i only had my cell phone camera and didn't get a shot of them. that was another first!