Bedtime Stories

Brad and I realized the other day that Tenley doesn't quite know how to tie her shoes. I went and bought her shoes with laces today and she practiced after school. She did a pretty good job and got one of them tied by herself! She's excited to keep getting better.

Luke stayed up later than normal so he got to read bedtimes stories with Tenley, Ryder, and me. Ryder chose If You Give a Mouse a Cookie. I love reading the kids stories at night. They're quiet, attentive, and so adorable! It's one of the best parts of the day.

Sunset Walks

And just like that Spring Break is over and we’re back to a routine. It’s pretty crazy how fast it went by. Our simple, slow days are back. Keena and I got out for a little walk at sunset tonight. Normally it would be dark by the time I get him out for a walk, but luckily the sun is staying up later.

Unpredictable Weather

We woke up to a blizzard this morning! It was snowing with 35 mph winds for over three hours. The visibility was awful to and from church and the roads were slick! It’s hard to picture the sunny skies we just came from a few days ago. But drastic weather changes definitely keeps life interesting! 
Ryder wanted to drink hot chocolate by the fire place so I figured we better do that for hopefully the last time this season!

Kade was having a hard time getting the ranch out of the bottle. As he was hitting the side of the bottle he lifted it up over his head to peak inside and see how close he was to getting some out. He learned he was really close...

Vacation

"There is more to life than increasing its speed." -Gandhi

It may not seem like we took things slow over our vacation, but in a lot of ways we did. Forgetting all our adult responsibilities and just enjoying our trip with our kids was taking it slow for us. It was wonderful. It's fun to think back on all the fun memories we made. 

We all slept in until 10 am this morning. Even the baby! It was amazing. But we quickly got going because we had a lot to catch up on today. It was fun to pickup Keena. He was so excited to be home. He ran around like crazy and gave us a lot of loves. The kids were all happy to see him. 

I forgot to write about the countless times that we lost track of Ryder! He's such a little guy that he'd often get lost in the crowd.Usually it would only be a few seconds that we were without him but at the Safari Park we lost him for a few minutes. We had all stopped to look at animals and he kept walking. A park worker found him and held his hand as he walked him back to us. 🤦‍♀️Then at the airport last night he walked all the way off the airplane with the crowd of people even though we had all stopped to get the stroller. Luckily he realized it eventually and he walked back to us. I’m so glad we made it home with all of us safely!

Bike Rides, First Class

After cleaning the house and getting packed up we still had some time to play before we needed to head to the airport. We headed to Coronado Island to rent a surrey bike and see the hotel. We got a lot of looks with all six of us in the bike and Luke in front! It was a fun ride. The hotel was really neat and we had a yummy picnic lunch there. We will miss San Diego!

Our first airplane ride to Seattle wasn’t too bad. We had dinner in the plane which made it go by much faster and Luke was really good.

Our second flight didn’t take off until 10 PM but it was the best flight with kids ever! Luke fell asleep in his car seat in the airport and since the flight wasn’t full I was able to take the car seat in with me and he slept the whole time! Another huge perk with the lack of passengers was the fact that they had no one in first class.

They came up with a riddle and said that whomever solved it could sit in first class. Kade got the answer correct along with several others and he moved on up to the comfy seats! He even got pampered with all the first class treatment and snacks that go along with it! He loved it. It was pretty awesome. 

The Zoo

I really love the San Diego Zoo! I love seeing the animals but I also really love all the beautiful plants and trees. I want my backyard to look a little bit like that! But Brad reminded me that they’d probably all die with the first frost. 

Our bodies were all pretty tired after our long and busy week, but we still managed to get around the whole zoo and stay just about to closing. 

Kade loved seeing the reptiles and Tenley was excited to see a koala. Ryder thought the orangutans were pretty cool. 

We picked up some New York style pizza on the way home and finished watching a Netflix movie, “The Boy Who Harnessed The Wind” that we had started a few days ago. It felt good to relax!

Sea World

We had Sea World on our agenda today and luckily we were able to sleep in because we’re staying so close to it and it doesn’t open until 10. Kade was really excited about Sea World! He couldn’t wait to see the shark aquarium and apart from not seeing a Great White Shark, he was not disappointed! Tenley was in heaven watching the dolphin show. She was really hoping she’d be able to touch one but it didn’t work out. She says that she wants to be a dolphin trainer now instead of a teacher.

Kade also loved the Orca show. Those animals are big and so cool! The sea lion show was really impressive and funny.

Ryder loved the rides. Those have been his favorite part at every park and he’s always disappointed when he’s too short for the fast and cool rides. 

Kade and Tenley begged me to go on the big roller  coaster ride with them and it was pretty fun. They laughed at me while I screamed the whole time.

It was such a super fun day. We stopped by the cliffs on the way home. Our trip is coming to an end and we’re getting sad about that! It’s been amazing.