Tales of a Hummingbird: June 2012

Thursday, June 28, 2012

deedee & bumpah

well those first few days went fast...off we go to grand bear lodge for our family reunion!

Wednesday, June 27, 2012

very early tuesday morning our journey began as we loaded our family of 5 into the van along with our luggage: 3 carseats, a stroller, 5 carry-on bags and 6 suitcases. a big thanks to charlotte for dropping us curbside - even with that it was fairly logistics intensive getting that amount of stuff shuffled around. and fyi, even at 5:30 in the morning on a tuesday, there are long bag check and security lines. we barely...barely made it to our plane just as they completed family boarding for our southwest flight to chicago. pete and daddy were on an errand so i squeezed ahead of the B boarding pass groups with betsy and curtis and 3 backpacks and the stroller and shuffled on down the jetway to begin bagging up the stroller. once reid arrived, i took all three kids and those three bags (i've got magic powers, i swear) into the plane and crammed us and our gear into the first 4 seats (two window seats one in front of the other) we came across. yes, of course it would be a full flight. peter and daddy sat in front and betsy and i sat behind them with curtis on my lap. what a delight to have a non-stop 4 hour flight with two parents to man all the babes. other than a total of 4 trips to the potty (3 for peter, 1 betsy, all successful) and two diaper changes right there on the seat for curtis, it was an uneventful, albeit bumpy, flight and several people around us congratulated us at the end of the flight on how well-behaved our kids were. it made me beam with pride (even though i know it could have just as easily been a different scenario) and hope that people would comment just as warmly about our childrens' behavior in the future when deplaning in japan! grandma nannen met us in midway with my grandparent's minivan (another thing to be grateful for - renting a van is not affordable) and we proceeded to recreate the circus of loading all our gear into the van. i'm positive my mother-in-law did not believe for one moment that everything would fit. but fit it did, including all the people. hip hip horray. reid and i high-fived for the mission complete and headed down the road to the rest of our adventure. we've spent the last two days with my parents at their new house in bloomington and done some deliciously fun getting-reacquainted with the grandparents. the kids have mostly gotten settled and comfy here now, so of course its time to pack up the van tomorrow and head off to the next part of our journey - reid's family reunion at grand bear lodge - looking forward to some serious play time with all our cousins this weekend and with the crazy heat they are forecasting, it will be easy to pack - swimsuits, sunscreen and pajamas. done and done!

what a cool surprise peter found waiting for him in bumpah's garage!

i *LOVE* that my parents and my in-laws are all amazing and live close to each other and LIKE each other. i appreciate the fact that this is not always the case.

there's a grandparent for everybody! betsy snuggled up with deedee

betsy wanted in on the riding action but her feet didn't reach the pedals of the tractor (and pete wouldn't get off!)

aunt elle arrived and the kids squealed with delight and ran to greet her!

bumpah thought they were playing dominos, pete informed him they were making train tracks

bedtime stories with aunt elle and uncle matt on the back porch.

swinging my boy around the yard. xo

betsy wearing mr. potato-head's glasses

my snuggle bug is getting lots of love

so handsome.

more squeals of delight: aunt briana arrives to say hi to everyone!

bumpah finally getting some time with curtis - we now know who curtis looks like. bumpah! their baby picture likeness is uncanny.

a tiny bit early happy birthday to bumpah celebration! poor pete was so tired he put himself to bed before the festivities. we have found this trip that betsy is our party animal. she likes to sleep in, nap late and stay up much too late. oh, little lady bug.

farewell san diego part one

the past two weeks in san diego have been one big busy blur - but we've been filling some of the time with lovely diversions of time spent with our dearest friends instead of troubling ourselves over logistics and packing. since we were blessed with the gift of "house-sitting" a friend's gorgeous home (really we were vacationing there while they were out of town!), we certainly enjoyed our time there relaxing, playing with new toys, and swimming daily in the pool. as the countdown to our departure to illinois crept up, we suddenly realized how little time was left and crammed in as much time as possible with my bff and her little guy - and enjoyed some incredible time with shan and her fam from virginia as well (so thankful the timing worked out!). our last night in town, our incredible friend who is fostering baxter while we're away joined us for a pizza dinner and saved the day, providing us a blow-up bed for our first adventure (figuring out how to put 3 babes to bed with only a queen sized bed in our room - oops) and delivering us curbside at the airport early the next morning. i really am grateful for the incredible village we've had surrounding us for our time in san diego, everywhere i turned there were loving friends with happy-to-help-out-hearts.

loved ryan's fighter pilot helmet!

fire fighting with bff tommy conks at reuben h. fleet science center - kid city: our last day in sd

steph helping anthony rock the computer games

she had her own version of using the mouse

these two were inseparable and squealing with delight the whole time

a few years ago we were just two ensigns in the navy, sharing a room. so much has changed - love my girl shan and her awesome family. xo

little buddies giving baxter a good run up the bridge before dinner

steph and i - am so grateful for this sister friend of mine.

charlotte and our 4 legged friends baxter and megatron - so grateful these dogs are such buddies. thank you J&C!

saying goodbye to baxter at the hotel. :(

family picture with our boy baxter - curtis is sleeping in the ergo under the blanket and hood

makeshift crib in our hotel on base the night before our flight to illinois. bring on the adventures.

Saturday, June 23, 2012

surprise visitors

my east-coast-bestie called earlier in the week just to catch up. then we realized we'd be in san diego at THE SAME TIME. while we've both lived here and visited here, it seems we always just miss each other. like by 24 hours or less in many cases. lots of jumping and screaming ensued when we realized we'd actually have both of our entire families together. we welcomed home her sister amanda at 32nd street and enjoyed some toddler-induced insanity together at seaport village. lots of running amock and jumping and coin tossing in the fountains. betsy girl got quite a bonk on her noggin when she shuffled her way off the end of the picnic bench - the thought of how it sounded still makes my gizzard quiver, but she was alright in the end. i was glad to have my adult friends there to help tend to my boys while she and i snuggled up with a plastic bag full of ice on her head. phew. more fun today at casa de kelley (thank you jen and travis!!!) while we "house sit" with water play and swimming fun. tonight we will toast up some s'mores and enjoy the starry bright view that ramona offers on a summer's eve. so blessed. so happy. so content. so thankful.