Friday, July 19, 2013

First Family Vacation: Colorado!


In my former life I visited my parents in Pagosa Springs at least twice a year, I LOVE going there!  But with all this baby business I hadn't been in 2 years.  Way too long!  Dave and I wanted to bring the babies and my parents were up for a visit, but we knew we would need help along the road.  Enter 3 very very good (and brave) friends who agreed to go with us and help with the kids as needed.  And guess what??  They're still our friends!  We took both of our vehicles to have enough storage space and walkie talkies to communicate between the two- Dave was the ultimate tour guide.  The drive typically takes us 16 hours; with the babies and 3 friends it took between 17 and 17 1/2 hours both ways.  We left at 4am and drove straight through, so the babies got their first pajama days!  I had pre-made breakfast (pancakes/eggos), lunch (grilled cheese), and snacks (squeeze fruit, mum mums, puffs) for everyone so we could feed in the car which took up a good chunk of time.  Both ways we stopped 3 times for diaper changes, quick play time, gas, etc.  and got fast food dinner- another first for the kids.  Only once were we approached by an on-looker to ask what was the deal with so many babies.  I had a bag of car toys for emergency entertainment, but really didn't even use half of them.  They were so good in the car!  Honestly, I was surprised at how well they did.  Not much fussing at all and it was easily diffused with a book, peek a boo, songs, playing one of their obnoxious kid song cds, finger puppets, or extra snacks.  We did learn that Caroline gets car sick, I won't give the details on that!  

It worked out well that my parents have a big finished basement with a bedroom and bathroom.  It became baby central.  My mom was able to scrounge up 6 pack n plays and a couple booster seats from her fellow grandma friends so we didn't have to pack those.  All 8 of us shared the basement bedroom.  I did my fair share of sneaking to get things during their naps and hiding under the covers if someone woke up at night or too early in the morning- if they saw me it was bad news bears x6.  So, I'd be ok if they had their own room next time :)  They did well eating at the card table in boosters.  They hated the inflatable bathtub, but were able to tolerate it by the end of the trip.  They absolutely loved having free reign of the basement!  We learned that Andrew can climb stairs pretty quickly.    

We split the adults by boys and girls and alternated who got to go out for a fun activity and who was on baby duty.  This worked out really well and we all got to do several different activities.  The one day we all went for a hike and my parents babysat a bear was in their backyard!  The stinkin 1 year olds got to see a bear and we didn't!  The only other wildlife we saw were deer and chipmunks- boring.  I will say pushing the stroller (yes, we took the stroller strapped to the back of the van) in Colorado is MUCH harder than in Texas and I needed another person to help push up the hills.  We did take the babies out to watch the town's 4th of July parade (we got more attention than the parade floats) and to my parents' outdoor club picnic.  

New skills we picked up while we were away- Caroline and Allison really walking; Ben and Levi taking a string of steps; Levi, Allison, Caroline waving; rolling/throwing balls- sometimes reciprocally  

http://youtu.be/C1jIz8DVKoU - Levi and Allison waving

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F3A-wU1eFfE- Caroline's broken leg crawl- this is how she always crawls

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jU98-E3qD8Q - Andrew and Allison's ride

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RcXhJ8nF6OQ- Caroline walking

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lbkgRQdcKLE - Caroline and Allison walking

Below is a sample of pictures from the trip:

Allison taking over

Feed us!

The adult girls about town

Watching that crazy Gammy

Good Morning Pagosa!  Get me first!

Hiking day :)
That's it!  I don't know if everyone back home missed us or was glad for a break, but the ice cream van man (yes, it's an ice cream van) was glad to see us out walking around!  He even stopped neighborhood  traffic to tell me so.  

Wednesday, July 17, 2013

Play Date!

One of my friends wanted to come visit and get some social interaction with new kids for her son.  Well, if nothing else, my family provides social interaction for others!  Also, I thought it would be good to branch our friend list from just the kids who live on our street.  So we're up to 4 friends now :)

Little Thomas came over to play for a couple of hours one morning.  He seemed a little overwhelmed by so many kids, but mine thought he was so cool!  Allison just kept getting close to him and smiling and Thomas looked at her like she was a weirdo.  Thomas is 7 months older so he can run around which my kids thought was hilarious/fascinating.  We thought it would be a great idea to feed Thomas in the feeding table with my kids, but he was definitely not a fan!  Andrew (used to having an empty seat next to him) looked over at Thomas and started crying!  I think he was confused as to who that boy was and why was he sitting there.  We ended the play date with a group picture of everyone lined up on the couch.  I love how Thomas looks like he just wants to get away.  We would have never gotten the picture without Baby Einstein on!  Anyway, it actually went better than I expected and we're all looking forward to another play date soon :)