Catching Up

Summer is in full swing and I thought I'd update on what we've been up to so far...you know...before the snow starts. We've been having a ton of fun, traveling like crazy, and I'm one exhausted mama. I think that once upon a time I used to be able to stay up past 10 pm and not feel it, but those days are so 10 years ago. First up was a girls weekend in Austin for FOUR whole days by myself. My sister Ash recently abandoned me out here in the midwest and moved to Texas. I was having some serious issues/withdrawals/tantrums thinking about being here in Chicago while they got to be so close together, so my parents took pity and flew me down. I guess there are some perks to being the only one not in driving distance. This was the first time since I had a child over 4 years ago that I flew by myself. Alone. Who knew that you could get through security that quick? Or that you could get through a flight without having a drink spilled on you or peanuts stuck to your face? Thanks a ton Mom and Dad for the priceless experience! Here are all of us girls after a weekend of chick flicks, massages, 2 (okay maybe 3) dozen donuts, shopping, and lots of time spent chatting and laughing. Don't I look relaxed? (I stole the pic from your blog Valerie - hope that's okay!) Next up was a trip to California. Evan's sister got married at the end of June and we figured as long as we were flying all four of us out there (it physically pains me that we have to buy Cade a ticket now too) we might as well make a vacation out of it too. I have to mention that I tried my best to remember everything but when you're packing for three, some things slip through the cracks. When we showed up in LA, I had 2 sets of fully charged batteries but NO camera. Thanks to everyone who did take pictures and let me have copies! So here we are at Disneyland at the end of the day. Evan might have choked as we paid to get in, but it's the happiest place on earth and we were going to make memories darn it! So we pushed the kids till 10:30 pm and only had to survive 2 (okay maybe 3) of Cade's award winning tantrums. Memories were made (good ones too!) so mission accomplished.

Colt on a ride. Funny that the picture we got was of the carousel because this boy was fearless and went on everything.

Cade on a ride. He wasn't quite as fearless.

One tuckered out two year old.

We also checked out a cute little family farm that had animals to feed, tractors to ride, and haystacks to climb. Cade was trying to keep up with Colt and his cousin all week. Here he is working hard to catch up. Almost there...

Made it!

We kept having to remind Colt that the carrots he's holding were for the animals. The boy is a rabbit and the poor donkeys were getting the shaft.

I'm not caught up yet but the kiddos are begging for dinner and once they've decided they're hungry, there's no changing their minds. I wonder where they learned that from? Until next time (or next month...who am I kidding?)