Thanksgiving in Spokane

Since Kara didn't have any recollection of where her grandparents lived, I decided we should go to Spokane for Thanksgiving. The kids had the whole week off of school, and Kyle had just submitted 2 papers, so the time was right! We had a grand time in the state of Washington. Now that Kate is 3 and travels well, I'm sure we'll visit there more often. I don't think my parents will come to Eugene as often as they did when my sister Shauna lived here as well. Now that she's moved north, it's not as convenient.

Anyway, we left for Washington on Tuesday and spent the night in Ellensburg with friends from Michigan. Our kids love their kids, and J and J are some of our best friends, so we try to meet up once or twice a year. It was fun to see their new house and J's office. He even made me a new retainer.

Then we were off to Spokane. My sister from Montana came with her family on Thanksgiving. Shauna's family was there too, staying with her in-laws, but they came down with a stomach bug, so we didn't get to see them much. I felt so bad for them! We see them quite often, but my other sister does not. Being sick while traveling is no fun for sure.

My mom did an amazing job on Thanksgiving dinner. It was delicious. This was the first time in a very long time I've been at my parents' house for a holiday. It was very weird not to have much to do. I loved it. We did shopping, swimming, game playing, shooting, movie-watching, a temple trip, and a dinner out. It was a nice few days that went by very fast. It even snowed.

Photos:

Look at these two hot guys Jillian and her friend met in Ellensburg!

Still Alive

Whew! Life is busy. I think since I write 10 articles a month for a FamilyShare (search Amy Peterson if you want to see what I've written), I don't do the blog as much. I still like blogging, so I guess I'll keep doing it. I noticed I've hardly posted this year, so I might try to make up for it in December.

I said "yes" to a few too many things this month, including grading papers for Jillian's English teacher. Somehow it's all getting done, but I am feeling stressed. I am determined, however, not to feel so stressed in December. I am going to enjoy the Christmas season!

We are headed to Washington for Thanksgiving. I am looking forward to relaxing with my family and feeling thankful. I am so blessed. I have everything I need and much, much more. I hope I can bless others with my abundance.

One thing I am very thankful for is healthy little veggie children. Bean, Pea, Asparagus, and Sprout are all growing like weeds (Does that metaphor work?) and are strong and healthy. No cavities either! They are eating me out of house and home, so I am thankful for Costco, Winco, and Trader Joe's to restock on healthy food and plenty of produce. Our grocery budget is a little out of control, but I just say it's cancer prevention.

Remember Halloween? It was almost a month ago, but I want to document their costumes somehow. I was kind of a slacker this year. Our trip to California made Halloween come more quickly. And I don't like Halloween much, so it's hard for me to try to do awesome costumes. Maybe next year? Don't I say that every year?

 Jillian has a social at her school, but didn't want to wear a costume. Instead, we did a spider bun. It was cute! I mean scary.

 I carved a pumpkin this year! It was tiny. I think mini pumpkins are better to carve than big ones. All the fun in 10 minutes. Perfect for me and my OCD.

 Jillian went as herself. I mean, a nerd.

 Kate went as Minnie Mouse. Darling!

 Hayden was a secret service agent. Or a spy. Or something like that.

 I put on a scarf and went as myself.

 Kara was Elsa from the new Disney movie Frozen. But no one knew that. She looked so gorgeous in this costume with her blue eyes and blond hair.

 Since Jillian will be in high school next year, this was her last year trick-or-treating. Here's her "nerd herd." They had great fun.

 Here's our practice snapshots to see if we like our family picture outfits. And then the weather turned bad and now we have to wait until spring to get more professional shots. Kyle does not like my bird sweater. Any opinions?

Kateisms

Three year-olds are adorable. Or terrifying. Sometimes both. Kate has her challenging moments, but she's also so dang cute I want to eat her up. Because she's pretty verbal, we have some funny conversations. Here is my attempt to recreate two of them. I hope they translate.

Frogs

Kate: I have a frog in my throat. (Said with a scratchy voice.)
Mom: How did it get in there?
Kate: It hopped in while I was sleeping.
Mom: Will it come out?
Kate: Yes. It will hop out.
Mom: Do you ever see the frog?
Kate: No, I was sleeping.

Later.

Mom: You know you don't really have a frog in your throat, right? That's just something we say when we have a scratchy voice. You just have a cold.

Kate: Yes I do. It hopped in there. It's a tiny frog.

Today.

(Kate is pulling on her ear and saying "ow.")

Mom: Does your ear hurt?
Kate: I have a frog in my ear.
Mom: How did it get in there?
Kate: It hopped in.
Mom: No you don't. There's no frog.
Kate: Yes there is. Ow.

Fat Mommy

Kate: Mommy, you are fat.
Mom: I am?
Kate: Yes, you are.
Mom: That's not very nice. I don't think I am fat.
Kate: You are fat right there (points to my chest).

Mom: Oh, yes, you are looking at my chest. You will get one when you are older.
Kate: I will have a fat chest when I am 61.
Mom: You are a girl, so you will have a chest.
Kate: I am not a boy.
Mom: No, you are not a boy. Boys have something called a penis. You do not.
Kate: I do not have a penis bum. They are so gross. 

Later.

Kate: Maybe when you are older you will not have that fat chest.  

Thanks for that, Miss Kate

SoCal, so cool

We got back from our trip to SoCal a week ago. Even though I wasn't sure I wanted to do, it ended up being a great week. I don't think I'll take the kids out of school for a week anytime soon, and particularly not in October, but it all worked out. Each of the kids missed 4 days of school and 3 sporting events each. I do feel bad about them not being their for team commitments, but since none of them is destined to be a professional athlete, it really doesn't matter.

The kids have been asking to go to Disneyland for a few years. We decided to take them once Kate was 3 and potty-trained. If we had waited until she'd grown 1 more inch, she would have been able to ride a lot more things.

Disney tip #1:  Measure your kids and plan accordingly. They don't fudge on stated heights and are always checking kids, so don't think you're going to get past them if your child is more than a half inch shorter than the minimum height to ride. Kate was okay and still had plenty to do, but she wasn't scared of rides and would have probably done a lot more. Our next Disney adventure will be Disney World and Universal Studios (Harry Potter World!) when Kate is 48 inches tall. No sooner. She will probably be 6 or 7 then.

Kara's 6 and was scared of many rides. She didn't know what to expect and was kind of timid. Which brings me to Disney tip #2: Don't push your kids too hard to ride things they don't want to. I encouraged her to ride things I knew would not scare her, like the story rides (Little Mermaid), but we skipped anything intense, like Pirates of the Caribbean. She was okay with the Haunted Mansion because it was The Nightmare Before Christmas and kind of silly. I don't see any reason to force kids to do something that might traumatize them. That takes the fun out of going.

Disney tip #3: Expect to spend money and don't think "Is this worth it?" If you do, you'll make yourself crazy! Yes, that churro did cost $3.75. I know, it's $1 at Costco. If your budget is too tight, you won't have as much fun. We decided we didn't want to haul in a bunch of food (which you're not really supposed to do anyway) and we didn't want hungry crabby kids, so we spent about $125/day eating at the park. We ate a free breakfast at the hotel most mornings and filled in the gaps with snacks we bought at Target. The kids all had souvenir budgets of at least $50/kid (mostly earned at our yard sale), and it all worked out great. Disneyland is not a cheap vacation. There are ways to cut corners, but you will have to spend money.

What made the trip fun for me was being with my family, people-watching, riding rides, experiencing the fun of Disney, seeing dear friends, being at the ocean, sleeping well each night, watching Kara and Kate meet all the characters, having big kids who enjoyed big rides and helping their sisters enjoy little rides, and not cooking for a week!

Some snaps, of course:

 The surf was up at Crystal Cove! The kids wanted to boogie board, but I was secretly glad we didn't rent any. These waves weren't fooling around!

 We walked into Disneyland on our first day just as the parade started. Minnie was one of the first and waved to Kate. It was magical! She was hooked. 

 Nice Hayden danced with Kate and Phineas and Ferb.

 Cars Land was very cool and very crowded. I loved the Radiator Springs Racers ride. Worth the wait and hard to get fast passes for!

 

 Kate's money went to this outfit. So cute! She was happy all day.

 Sisters on the teacups. Kyle only rode this one once. His least favorite.

 I splurged and bought the girls these nightgowns. Saw similar ones (not quite as nice) for $15 less at Target this week. Oh well!

 We did one class at Animation Academy. It was so fun. Here's Kyle's Goofy. Do you see the resemblance?

 We tried to see Merida 3 times, and finally the wait was short enough! Her wig is amazing. Do you see her brother popping up to photobomb us?

 Kate finally found a roller coaster she could ride. She put her hands up. So cute!

The fam from Eugene with Rapunzel and Eugene!

I'm not giving up on summer

Never mind that it's rained 3 inches in the last 3 days and I've worn my rain boots more in September than I did in February. Speaking of rain boots, I highly, highly recommend these wellies from LL Bean. Excellent quality and comfort for a reasonable price if you wear rain boots as much as I do.Which is too much, by the way.

But back to summer! I just don't want to say goodbye this year. Usually I look forward to apples and pumpkins, leaves and cooler nights, but not this year. Lucky for me we're headed to California for a trip to Disneyland on Saturday. A week of sunshine and 80 degree weather might be just what I need to keep summer going. When we get back it will be October 12th, so I think I can embrace fall then.

I do feel slightly guilty about taking my kids out of school for 4 days (the 5th day is a furlough day and we don't have school) since I complain about the short school year here all the time. But we've been wanting to take the kids for a while now, and I don't want to go when it's crowded. Kyle bought tickets in April and I haven't really thought much about it. Usually I'm excited for trips for weeks, and now we're just 5 days away and I'm just starting to prepare.

The thing I'm most looking forward to about this trip, besides the sunshine, is being with my family, just the 6 of us. Our two trips this summer we got to see almost every member of our extended families, which was great, but we haven't spend time together on vacation for a long time. It will be good to be able to listen to the kids and enjoy being with them. I'm determined to get Kara swimming and show Jillian and Hayden I can be fun and relaxed.

As a bonus, we're going to see two families from our Michigan days while we are there. Can't wait to catch up! We might also see my niece and her husband. It's going to be a great trip!

South Sister Hike

Kyle and I climbed a mountain together in August. It was fun and not as hard as I thought it would be. We went with two other couples and had a good time. Oregon is such a beautiful state. I think I'd like to climb a peak in Oregon, Washington, or California every year.

South Sister is one of the Three Sisters mountains. It's a 12-mile hike round trip. Part of it is very easy, but the last 2.5 miles to the top are pretty strenuous. I thought down was harder than up, and my legs felt like they do after a marathon the next day.

Kyle took his GoPro camera and had fun taking photos. Here are some of the best ones from our adventure. It felt good to leave the kids behind for a day and do something adventurous. I really love the outdoors. I can't wait to spend more time hiking, camping, and exploring with my family.

 We are about 2.5 miles in here. Easy going. We were watching the summit because there was a potential for rain and snow.

 We passed Moraine Lake. Some people hike in and camp here and summit the next day.

 Putting on our gaiters at the false summit before attempting the last mile or so.

 We made it to the top! And it was beautiful.

 At the tippy tippy top. 10,300ish feet in elevation.

 Kyle's GoPro selfie.

 Walking back across the glacier at the summit. That was kind of cool.

 Watching the wind swirl around the summit. The weather changed so rapidly up there.

 Stopping for a snack. It was a perfect day for hiking.

 Views to the West of Middle and North Sisters. We also saw Mt. Jefferson, Mt. Hood, and Mt. Bachelor, to name a few.

We've decided to conquer Middle Sister next year. Can't wait!