I guess I'll write about Christmas and Elena's birthday later because I am using Dan's laptop right now while he sleeps in the room where my computer is. These are the only photos I have available.
A few factors led me to decide to take a trip with the kiddos: #1 Jonah is finally old enough to make traveling easier (nursing less, eating non-baby foods, actually interested in toys), #2 Elena had no school on Friday, and #3 Dan had to work Saturday and Sunday. We wanted to visit friends on the way and then go back to the city where we lived during medical school. It was my first time returning since we moved 18 months ago. We've missed it so much!
I actually packed Thursday night (snacks and everything!), so we got on the road on Friday early enough to miss almost all of the winter weather that the east coast experienced that day. We arrived safely at the Condons (they live part-way between here and our final destination) and had a great time. Anne plays peek-a-boo! It's adorable.
The kids played, the babies crawled around, and Shelby and I talked. I love Shelby. :)
We went to their nearby Children's Museum Saturday and it was fantastic. The kids had a ball and I was very impressed with the variety of exhibits and things for the kids to play and enjoy. Warning: There are a lot of museum pictures.
There was a fish tank in the baby area. I love how it looks like he's "in" it.
Trying on costumes on stage.
Cooking in the kitchen.
Giant water table with waterproof aprons. Thankyouverymuch.
Kevin and Elena both loved putting on the flippers. It was so hard to get Kevin away from this ship in order to keep checking out different rooms in the museum.
Laurel first met Elena when she and Shelby came to the hospital to say hi when Elena was 1 day old. It's amazing how much they have in common and how well they play together. It's a shame that we no longer live in the same area.
The pink feet at the top of the photo belong to a huge piggy bank. When it gets full of the green balls, it dumps them out on the kids' heads. Then the kids gather them up in buckets and run them to the "bank" and the cycle continues.
In the exercise room
Elena (by the goal) and Kevin (second from the right) had a lot of fun slipping in their socks on the "ice". As you can imagine, Kevin especially enjoyed falling down over and over and over.
Saturday night we arrived at the Hiatts. We loved going to our old
branch for church on Sunday and the kids were able to have several
playdates on Sunday and Monday while I got to catch up with some good
friends (but not everyone I would have loved to have seen for sure). All 4 of us were exhausted Monday night, so we had a leisurely evening and slept well before returning home Tuesday.
We visited with Yvette and her family after church.
Reese and Elena dressed up as "fancy ladies". I'm bummed that I didn't get a picture of Presley too. The girls had fun together and Kevin had fun getting into trouble...
Becky and Skye
Haha. I bet Tyler and Andrea didn't know that they were in the picture too. What a great family!
Sister and Brother Hiatt could not have been sweeter to the kids. They played with them nonstop while we were there. Their granddaughter is a lucky girl. :) I think
Kevin's favorite part of the trip was staying with the Hiatts. He has
asked to go back and he has told me that he wants to spend days here at
our house, but sleep at theirs every night. So cute!
I'm not sure how this happened. I tucked them in their beds, but I guess the sleeping bags that they insisted on bringing were too slippery and they slipped right out of bed in the middle of the night. This pic was taken at 2 am.
Sadie and Elena had a lot of fun. Kevin had a liked driving cars down the stairs.
We drove past our old house. It looks so small from the front. I hope that the new owner loves it like we did!
We always stop at the state border when driving this way. The welcome center rest stop has a playground. Lucky for us it was a beautiful January day (65 degrees).
Both of the families that we stayed with were so hospitable and sweet! I
am truly blessed to have such good friends. Dan was happy to see us
Tuesday afternoon. He was actually home when we arrived instead of being at work because he came home early due to illness. Poor thing.
The kids were super excited to go to Granny's house as soon as we were back in town. In this picture they are excavating Egyptian artifacts that are inside a pyramid. It's some fun little thing that my mom won at a museum.
I love this boy! He is so happy and sweet and good. And he looks so much like Dan.
