Washington Trip

We went to Washington with the kids and had a pretty wonderful time, despite having to fly with a 16 month old and dealing with a pretty horrid stomach bug in the middle.

People complimented Eleanor on her cute dress and I'm hopeful they didn't understand her haughtily correcting them and telling them it's a NIGHTgown.

Thank goodness for tablets. Two out of three children on the flight were champions. 

Patrick took a 25 min nap in the middle of the flight and that was it. There was a lot of tired screaming and crying. Usually we are congratulated by strangers when we land on how well our children behaved on the flight. That did NOT occur on this particular flight.

We think the big kids may have been tired as well. There were a lot of car naps on this trip.

But it was all worth it to see our Washington family! Pictured below is the moment Patrick realized that his favorite person on this trip was going to be his Great Grandpa Ray.

All three kids with their great grandparents. I made everyone pose for pictures later.

Patrick spent most of this trip playing outside with Grandpa Steve. The apple tree was a huge hit because did you know apples are basically like edible balls, thus combining Patrick's two great loves. 

Bradley likes apples too

Okay, and Patrick loves rough housing too. Grandpa Steve got a ton of Patrick time on this trip. He would take him when he woke at ungodly hours because of the time change and he even helped out in the night time. Thank you, Dad, for being a LOT of the reason this ended up being a good trip for us.

One of the big hits of the trip, unsurprisingly enough, was the beach that was within walking distance of my parents' house. 

 Is there anything better than collecting shells and throwing rocks?

Please note how my Dad is carrying Patrick back to the group in the photo below and Patrick is just trying to get back down to the ground and back at the rocks. 

My parents also provided childcare while I got to catch up with friends. This worked out well for all involved. Kids were happy, grandparents were happy, and I got to talk to people without simultaneously chasing after small children which is very much a treat for me. 

We also got a lot of pool time in at my grandparents' community pool. Really this would have been about the best trip ever if we all hadn't come with the horrible stomach bug in the middle.

Bradley liked spitting water at everyone. He's lucky his grandparents and great grandparents tolerate it better than I do.

Sighhhhhh

Patrick loved the pool, especially when he discovered the baby pool that was just the right depth for him.

Bradley's goal was to jump in and get people wet

Eleanor's goal was to keep her head as dry as possible. 

But things took a turn towards amazing for Bradley when his Daddy and Grandpa started tossing him in the air back and forth.

The higher the better. The kid is a maniac.

Eleanor, on the other hand, got a bit chilly and ended up with the best seat in the house when she snuggled up in a blanket on her Great Grandma Marian. 

And Patrick most wanted his Great Grandpa. He was such a fan. 

We left the kids in the care of the grandparents while we got to go to a wedding child free!

Patrick took care of Grandpa while we were gone by sharing his goldfish with him.

And then snatching a piece back and eating it while laughing like the little imp he is. 

Going to a wedding without children may have made Nathan and I a little giddy. We assume my brother Daniel's wedding a couple years ago was fun but we don't know because we spent the entire thing chasing around a one and two year old. 

 We got to take awkward prom pic style photos together

 And hang out with friends that apparently I'm six inches taller than.

The next day we spent a fun morning picking berries and smelling flowers and playing around in my parents' front yard. 

This answers the question of whether or not we'll end up getting a dog in a few years. Patrick loves them so much.

And our Christmas card photo this year! Don't I look nice in it? 

That afternoon we went to meet all of the children our Seattle friends had after we moved. It was a lot of fun. Which is good because it's certainly when we got exposed to the plague that would make Bradley throw up more than I thought was possible for a boy his size and took out everyone in the house, even my poor parents. At least our friends' kids are cute and we had fun while spending time with them.

The group picture. Taking a photo of 11 kids ages 4 and under is as easy as it sounds.

The next day Bradley and I drove Nathan down to Seattle for work and I got to spend some solo time with my sweet boy meeting up with some other friends. Here we are at the Ballard Locks. Bradley enjoyed not sharing his bagel with me. 

Sculpture art with friends at the Locks

I carried Bradley for a lot of the time we were in Seattle because he was whiny. A foreshadowing of the sickness that was to come. We're mostly just really grateful he didn't get sick while we were away from my parents' house and that he didn't get anyone else sick that we saw on this day!

 Hanging out in a tree with one of his best friends from the baby days.

Lots of baby friends together in a tree!

Eleanor and Patrick didn't exactly suffer when they were left alone with grandparents for the day. Eleanor got to help Grandma make some pies.

Patrick was pretty sure he was good at making pies too.

And playing with Grandpa on the deck. These kids had a blast, I heard a lot of complaints when it was the end of the trip and it was time to get on a plane to head home.

Meanwhile, I took Bradley to the waterfront with my wonderful friend Serena and her cute little boy Calvin.

 We all went up in the giant ferris wheel together.

 Bradley really appreciated the views and thought nature was beautiful and he loved it so much.

Pretending to be asleep due to boredom on our last lap of the ride.

Top Pot doughnuts was met with a higher level of approval.

And then we got back to Camano Island and everyone was horribly sick for about three days and we mostly watched shows.

Except for Patrick who barely got sick and helped tend to us by taking temperatures and begging for someone to run around outside with him.

There was a lot of napping with tired and sick kids. Luckily, Daddy is always ready for a cozy nap with one of his sweet children.

I got the night shift with Bradley on a blow up mattress for two nights in a row. On the second night he left me so little space on the mattress that I left and tried to get back in my regular bed with Nathan. That lasted for about 30 minutes until Bradley woke up and flipped out until his cozy Mommy cuddle buddy returned.

Bradley had a great time sleeping on this trip and has been complaining about sleeping alone ever since we got back. His normal setup in Washington was sharing a bed with Eleanor.

I don't know why we put them in a king sized bed when they would have easily fit into a twin together.

We all got better and resumed our fun. My parents have a great park that's just a 10 minute drive from their house.

Here Eleanor is telling me about items on her list. Did you know if something is on a list you have to do it? You can even ask her if it's really necessary and she'll say to you "Sooooorry, I have to, it's on my list."

Orca sculpture made out of junk. Park art is fun.

We also took them to the state park that's close by and got them out in a rowboat. Bradley did fall in but he liked it and begged to spend more time in the water so I'm calling it a success.

Yet another beautiful family picture

Patrick loves pictures

My friend Jennifer drove up with her two kids for the Cama Beach outing. Her two kids are almost exactly the same age as Eleanor and Patrick, we had a lot of fun.

Patrick didn't fall for the obvious trick that was the invitation to touch a live crab. Good job, little buddy.

However he was ready to touch a live lizard that kept trying to get some shade on my parents' front step. Bradley was interested but was unsure about touching the lizard and was very happy to let Patrick have the first crack at it.

(As he shoved Patrick closer to the lizard) "You can touch it, don't worry ..."

We got plenty of pool time and my mom only fell in once while fully dressed. She was trying to save Patrick from trying to drown himself by throwing himself in the big pool and I don't want to say anything about how big Patrick is and how tiny my mom is but he pulled hard while she was a little off balance and that's how she fell in. So she ended up mostly cuddling Eleanor on the side, a much better arrangement for all involved.

Patrick cuddled with his Great Grandpa and tried to tell him important stories. 

Later we go to go to a friend's pool with a diving board and Bradley spent most of his time trying to splash the 20 year old girls. They were very nice and he is very much a menace.

Patrick saw the big kids jumping in and was pretty sure he was supposed to do the same thing.

And he even found a dog to make friends with. Best pool ever.

My friend Yoonmi and her family also drove up to Camano for some beach time. We are so happy we got as much friend time as we did on this trip!

Some guys came in with fresh crab which they cracked open on a rock and shelled right there on the beach. The kids were very interested in the entire process and there were many questions about death.
On this note, Bradley has become very concerned about the prospect of growing up and tells us that he wants to drink a lot of coffee in order to stay small. (I don't know who told him drinking coffee stunts your growth). He became inconsolable after reading a Berenstain Bears book about Sister Bear having a birthday and turning five because it made him think about growing older and how his Mommy and Daddy were going to grow older and die and leave him. We try our best to comfort him and tell him it will be a long long time until we die and we're all going to heaven anyway but that just leads to conversations about whether or not you have to poop or pee in heaven and I'll be honest, I just don't have the answers. 

The kids had a blast when we just hung around the house too.

Patrick liked to run laps through Grandma's legs

One day it was close to bedtime and Bradley wanted to race Grandpa so Grandpa said "We can't do anything wild right before bedtime, Bradley." Bradley wisely suggested a slow motion race which worked out well for all involved.

Grandpa did a moderately good job at keeping things calm before bedtime.

Patrick's favorite game in the whole world was throwing small balls off the deck into the bushes below and have people retrieve them for him. Eventually he was only given big balls on the deck so he couldn't throw them off.

We are also ready to sign Patrick up for a toddler version of the Scottish Highland Games after he drug a giant sack of potatoes out to the deck with some pretty impeccable strong man form.

Here's a video Nathan took that pretty accurately depicts time at Grandma and Grandpa's house.

In the video you can hear Bradley call Patrick a "snuggle" a couple of times. Bradley started calling Patrick his "Snuggle Wuggle" a few weeks ago and now both he and Eleanor call Patrick that whenever they are feeling particularly affectionate towards their little brother. Eleanor even mimics the special cooing voice Bradley uses when he says Snuggle Wuggle. It's ridiculously sweet and adorable.

Tablets were huge on this trip as well. We normally don't get them out for the kids, they require a bit of assistance when they use them and the whole purpose of screen time as far as I'm concerned is to give me a chance to get something done around the house. But there was plenty of grandparent assistance and Bradley now loves playing Angry Birds which he calls "Scaredy Birds."

Eleanor enjoyed sewing with Grandma and has us all fearing for our lives with the impish looks she gives us.

 Patrick mostly stayed out of trouble in the house that was moderately baby proofed.

He thought it was great when we left him unsupervised by an interesting drawer for a few minutes.

And when Grandma got out circuits to play with aka scary cords to whip around and throw at people.

We got our act together and got a picture with the great grandparents on our last night.

Family pictures are so much fun for everyone.

Sunset view from my parents' deck. Not too shabby.

And we got a group shot at the breakfast table of kids with grandparents right before we left for the airport. Pro tip: to get a smile from cranky small children you place a bowl of your food near them and tell them NOT to eat any with a big smile on your face so they know that it was "forbidden." Big smiles as they snuck handfuls of my cheerios.

We said our goodbyes even as Bradley and Eleanor were adamant that they did NOT want to leave Grandma and Grandpa's house. It helped a lot to be able to lure them away with tablets and anything they wanted to eat for the plane trip home.

We had a much better plane flight home, mostly because the flight attendants gave us food and snacks for Patrick and really tried to help out and we sat by nice people who played peekaboo with Patrick for a bit.  

Nathan said the subtitle for this picture of me should be "Traveling with Three Kids is Tough"

And here he is with all the children. Lucky Daddy!

Side note: Bradley had some trouble with his ears for the landing on the way to Washington so we got some gum for him on the return trip. This was extremely exciting business and Eleanor insisted on getting a piece too which she promptly swallowed. A few days after we got back we told Bradley he could practice blowing bubbles with Daddy during his solo time with a parent after Patrick went to sleep. Eleanor got wind of this and said to me "Can I have bubble gum? I know how to bubble."

She swallowed it again almost immediately. I don't think she knows how to bubble just yet.

And in my defense for the amount of games I played on my phone during the flight, Nathan was catching a flight for a work trip two hours after we landed so I got to take all the exhausted kids home solo and deal with trip and grandparent hangover for the next two days all on my own. Yes children, I just said "no" to you. Here is a food item that is not fruit or a dessert. And you're sleeping alone again. On Kansas time, not Washington time. 

Eleanor is cute but has been embracing three year old angst lately so the other day I told her she was being very whiny and she needed to talk nicer. She responded vehemently "I NOT whiny, I being crabby." Can't argue with perfect logic.

 Patrick helped me unpack, which was very considerate.

And he helped me love up the kitties who were very lonesome while we were gone. So lonesome that they were willing to endure some very serious Patrick cuddles.

The 30 lb toddler's favorite thing to do is to lay across the kitties and kind of bounce up and down in joy. It's a lot of love to endure, even for our extraordinarily nice and patient kitties.

But things are mostly back to normal now, and it's nice to get our routine back.

Patrick smiles at Bradley at the very last second of this video, so I know he actually was enjoying himself.

Fun fact: when you tell a toddler not to step on books he runs over and steps on them repeatedly and then jumps off and then runs around to do it all over again. 

We even got in a trip to Deanna Rose to play with some goats because the weather is finally not horribly hot. A Washington trip in early August was a well timed decision.

And now we get to potty train Eleanor finally because school starts in three weeks and she needs to be fully trained before she gets to go! Little girl is still not particularly interested but she's doing reasonably well and Bradley is loving all the bribes he's getting in on in the meantime. Today she only made one accident in the morning so we took the kids out for frozen yogurt after dinner. Hopefully this will all work out, Bradley gets more upset than Nathan or I do when Eleanor has an accident because it means he doesn't get a treat and doesn't she understand how important treats are??? Wish us luck!