Uncle Daniel Wedding in Spokane

We had a pretty great time in Spokane for Uncle Daniel's wedding. The plane flight there went better than expected, mostly thanks to videos on the Kindle for Bradley and stickers for Eleanor.

Most important parts of the trip: Bradley's love for his cousin Emmett is deep and profound and in your face, Grandma has risen to new heights of popularity, and everyone adores Eleanor. My parents rented a house so we could all stay together for a few days before the wedding so we got to have a lot of quality family time!

The view from the front step. Not too shabby! (We called this "Grandma's House)

The first meeting of all the cousins. If you look behind Eleanor you can see Bradley messing with Emmett's trucks. Poor Emmett.

Following Emmett around some more

Does Emmett want to go here? Me too, me too!

Grandpa cuddles/rough housing! The best of times!

Ultimately, what really brought the boys together was the aftermath of our trip to visit some of Nathan's relatives that live in the Couer d'Alene area.

First Aunt Abby came to visit us. Eleanor LOVES Abby.

And then we went over to Nathan's Aunt Jeanne and Uncle Larry's house.

Cousin Robin and cousin Jenna were there too, such fun!

Uncle Larry was the master at riling up Bradley and Bradley had a blast roughhousing and reading with him.

Cute kids on a porch swing

The kids loved Jenna

Eleanor gives Cousin Randy the eye

We went on a little walk and Bradley insisted that he summit a hill of dirt and rock that was next to the construction of a little community center for the neighborhood. He would try to run down the steep hill repeatedly until Nathan and I drug him away. He was covered in dirt and he got a small scrape on his knee. 

So of course he needed a bandaid and lucky for Bradley, cousin Emmett just happens to be an expert in bandaid application!

I believe I'm telling Emmett about Bradley's grave injury here

Eleanor is getting ointment for the wound, just in case

It goes right here

Great success! Sad story though, turns out Emmett had a wound no one knew about and he needed a bandaid too. Poor suffering child.

Unfortunately, Bradley's bandaid did fall off eventually and the next day the process had to be repeated. 

I don't know why I buy "real" toys when I could just get bandaids and everyone would be happier. 

The kids also bonded over tv shows.

They did hit a bit of a rough patch when Bradley was playing one of his favorite games, where he pretends to eat "Grandma cookies" out of a little cup and he wouldn't share an imaginary cookie with Emmett even though Emmett really really wanted one. I tried to feed Emmett one of the imaginary cookies but apparently it didn't count unless it came from Bradley ... is this really what I've signed on for? Squabbles over imaginary cookies? These kids are lucky they are so cute. 

SO cute. Uncle Ryan loves Eleanor too.

We got to go play in a nearby lake and go to the park too.

Fun story, at the lake I told Bradley he could just get his feet wet and that was it.

Soon the shorts were off 

And quite soon after that we were down to diaper. It's like I don't even know my own son. 

Park outings are our bread and butter. I put Eleanor down this slide about 5 times on her own until she bumped her head on the side while wildly bouncing down and we realized that maybe the one year old should start on a smaller slide.

Bradley was fine, a maniac as always

Here you see Eleanor with her absolute favorite toy from the whole trip, Daddy's cane.

With Uncle Bill

I hope you can see my look of resignation in this photo. When Bradley was left to his own devices a few minutes before this he climbed those steps and got over on the play structure solo. He's two ...

Uncle Thomas proved himself over and over again to be amazing with all of his nephews and little niece.

Bradley later flew off of this teeter totter when he went on it with a big kid and laughed hysterically whenever he almost fell off, which caused the big kid to oblige by trying really hard to knock him off. It ended in tears but no lessons learned, Bradley ran over to a giant slide immediately after this. 

Eleanor learning from the master.

We got to go to the Silverwood theme park too. Bradley is a fiend when it comes to the rides, no surprise there.

Bradley was obsessed with the kiddie roller coaster, which I was in the middle of saying I thought might be too scary for him when he spotted it and started shrieking with glee and running towards the ride. 

This picture is taken when we're measuring to make sure he's tall enough and he's sobbing and pointing towards the ride

He was so little for such a big ride

He LOVED it. I could hear him shrieking when it started going and I was listening carefully (while chasing Eleanor around) to make sure he was okay. More than okay, he cried when the ride was over and we let him go on it one more time before convincing him that there were perhaps other rides in the park worth his time.

Later we went swimming and Bradley went down waterslides with Nathan that would leave Bradley covered in water at the bottom and he'd get up sputtering and demand to go down again. Later I asked Bradley about the water slide and he cheerfully said "water go up nose". I'm in for it.

Food break. Sort of. Aiming is tough after a long day.

I walked away with Bradley to put away the food trays at the park and Eleanor started sobbing and acting like the world was ending ... until she got Bradley back! I thought she wanted me but nope, it was the Bradley boy she wanted and needed. There's was a joyful celebration complete with several hugs and head whacks after our thirty second separation.

We tried to find some mellow time at the house for our overstimulated children. It wasn't too hard, because they didn't really adjust to the time change until the last day so we typically got up at 4:30 or 5:00 with them. Bradley is so fun to watch now when he plays on his own, it's really a glimpse into the "Bradley psyche". I enjoy the 40 second mark in this video when he starts to do some evil laughter.

There was so much great family time on this trip.

Grandpa kisses!

Uncle Bill cuddles

Mommy time with the little sweeties

So much Uncle Thomas time

 

Both of my kids were just adorable with their little cousin Finn, who is just 8 months old. I'd never seen Eleanor demand to hug a baby before.

 

Nathan got in on the Finn cuddles

 Eleanor is SO cute.

Eleanor was so good on this trip, even though she was mostly exhausted from losing sleep at night and taking shorter naps. Later on, I had her dolled up at the wedding and was fussing with the bow in her hair and Thomas told me that he didn't like all that stuff on her and thought she was cutest when was covered in yogurt at the dinner table. 

I can't really argue with him

 Uncle Daniel and Aunt Stephanie's wedding was a lot of fun. But it was not without its tough moments for our little sweethearts.

We love our Great Grandma. Weddings just make us cry, okay?

 My children swiftly found the entertainment that had been provided for small children in attendance.

A wheelbarrow for Bradley ...

And ice for Eleanor! Such fun!

Bradley and Emmett had a blast as Aunt Diana and Uncle Thomas proved themselves to be the best and most fun of all the people.

Soon Eleanor joined in on the wheelbarrow fun, which was beyond adorable.

Seriously, I need to send a gold medal to Aunt Diana for her wheelbarrow work and help in general throughout the wedding.

Cousins!

The wedding was great for us beside the ceremony and the very long toasts aka the times where children should be sweet and quiet. Mine are always sweet but rarely quiet so we roamed free at these periods.

And made new friends!

Fun moments during the wedding: Nathan has both kids off to the side by the reception area so I can see my little brother get married. But soon I start hearing "Mommy! Mommmmyyyyyyyy!!" so I get to leave mid-ceremony and spend time with the little boy who promptly loses interest in me as soon as I'm accessible. Later, at the end of the ceremony this scene is repeated except with Bradley yelling "Grandma! Grandmaaaaaaaaaa!!" I let him run up to her after the newlyweds had already gone down the aisle and a delighted Grandma got to carry the Bradley boy down the aisle with her after the ceremony. 

Neither of my children would be reasonable and sit still and be afraid of new people at the wedding/reception. If they weren't running around on the stage they were wandering around making new friends.

Eleanor got to play fun games with her Great Grandpa (who was too nice about her thinking it was hilarious to stick her finger in his mouth)

And she got quality time with her new Aunt Stephanie! We are so happy to welcome her to the family!

Here my children are with the groom and my mom. Never ... stood ... still.

Apparently Emmett decided to share candy with Bradley during the toasts and then Bradley gave Emmett a flower. Nathan said there were a lot of melting hearts watching this little exchange.

It wouldn't have been too big of a deal to be chasing our children all over the place but Nathan is still using a cane after his hip surgery and isn't supposed to be walking while carrying a child and I wore heels that would have been fine if I hadn't been running all over in them before, during, and after the wedding. And then my backup flip flops broke so I got to run around barefoot in gravel.

Nathan and I were pretty exhausted by the time we decided we should leave. Lucky for us we had someone to handle the hour drive back to the house for us. 

Just kidding, both of these children were in their carseats and fast asleep about five minutes after this picture was taken.

The next day was our packing up and leaving day, but thanks mainly to Uncle Thomas we still managed to get in a little fun.

Where's Bradley? I can't find him!

Eleanor copies Bradley all the time now. It's super cute.

I think this right here is why Bradley asked for Uncle Thomas repeatedly the morning after we got back home.

Uncle Thomas also made Eleanor's lifelong dream of getting to hold a remote control come true.

And one last snuggle with Grandpa before hitting the road

Exhausted

We had a pretty nice time on the flights home, mostly because Eleanor was so tired and slept for the most of the first leg of our trip.

 

And on our second plane Bradley decided to go left instead of right when he was walking in front of me to go on the plane and the nice flight crew asked if he wanted to go up and sit in the cockpit. I said "yes!" and immediately passed off Eleanor and a couple bags to poor Nathan and Bradley and I got to get the star treatment in the front of the plane!

"Emergency" they said. "Does anyone onboard know how to fly a plane?" Captain Bradley to the rescue, once again!

And now we're home and getting back into the swing of things. No more trips for the rest of the summer, we're honestly a little relieved to get to relax a bit!

Getting back onto our own time zone has been a little tougher for some of us

But we're managing it, one day at a time.

Eleanor's personality is coming through and I cannot believe I thought this was going to be my mellow child.

Impish gleam in her eyes as she summits Mt. Couch

Girlfriend knows how to get what she wants whether it's popcorn, my phone (forbidden for Bradley), or getting up on a piece of furniture.

Before when I heard squeals of protest from the other room I knew it meant Bradley was stealing a toy or pushing Eleanor over and now it's just as likely that she's just mad because she can't climb up onto a chair.

The Eleanor "want it" pose

I WILL get this cap off of this marker

So cute and smiley, yes? Try to take the hose away from her and see what happens.

Grandpa Dan and Grandma Kati got Eleanor a wonderful princess toy chest for her birthday, which has been a big hit! Lucky Daddy even got some assistance during assembly.

And here is the finished product! Eleanor did manage to fall in face first tonight at bedtime (requiring a somewhat hilarious rescue as her little legs waved around in the air until I pulled her back out) but even that has not diminished her great love for her very own toy chest, just like Bradley's!

I had some time the other day so I decided to paint her toenails. Super cute! But I'm probably not doing it again until she's at least two because she couldn't care less about them and was very squirrely while I was putting on the polish. But it was great when sweet Bradley noticed she had pink toenails and I explained that she had pink toes now, just like Mommy! Bradley quickly said "have NO pink toes" and pointed at his own feet in disappointment. Really the whole world of girly things is a fascinating mystery to Bradley. Eleanor has a new little dress up doll with magnetic clothes that Grandma got for us and Bradley put a fashionable hat on it and started calling it his bunny and having it go "hop hop hop!" Fashion is indeed tough to understand at times.

Pink toes!

This one I simply call "good parenting" (Don't worry, she couldn't get any lotion out)

More good parenting. We had a strangely cold morning and I had neglected to bring a sweatshirt to the park with us, so after her nose turned pink Eleanor got to wear Mommy's flannel shirt for a bit.

Eleanor is so obsessed with Bradley. Things have escalated a bit and she can't seem to leave him alone when he's a tv show zombie. But really the best is when Bradley is having is diaper changed and she repeatedly insists on trying to step on his face. No idea why. She's testing even the Bradley limits of patience which are quite large when it comes to roughhousing.

But Bradley gets his revenge. Lately Eleanor has been insisting on getting to try to climb up slides like Bradley. Both are laughing at the end of this video, so it's okay.

Here is more outdoor Bradley. He's so cute whenever Nathan does yardwork, he demands to have his own rake and then joins in!

And you'll be happy to hear that our kitties are not being ignored midst all of this Eleanor and Bradley time. Nay, the kitties are being included in all of the Eleanor and Bradley time! You'd think they'd be more grateful instead of looking so surly in all of the pictures of the children giving them loves.

Eleanor loves the kitties so much. She was pretty tired at bedtime tonight and there were a lot of tears ... until I pointed out Sookie on the bed. I placed Eleanor next to Sookie and there was a love fest (not mutual) and Eleanor was so happy. It's an instant happy fix for our little animal lover.

Sookie loves

Layla loves

Meg loves

 Our cats are far too nice.