Summer-time

I'm such an awesome blogger anymore...

But let's be real.  Other than those people who actually have popular blogs and, usually, lucrative ones, not that many people seem to be doing the blogging thing much anymore.  It's all about the facebook and twitter and instagram.  Of those 3, I think I'm signed up for two.  And I only use one.  Sort of...  I've gotten out of the habit of sharing a ton on facebook lately. 

But since I've grown tired of getting anonymous comments (that are sales pitches for ridiculous products I can learn about by following their link -- no thanks) on my most recent post (though, if I counted, I'm pretty sure I'd learn that it was one of my most commented on posts...), I've decided to write a new one ;).

So what gives with my 1.5 month hiatus? 

Well, we went on vacation.  More on that below.

And I've been reading a ton.  I tend to go in phases.  Currently I'm in my "all I want to do is read" phase, and I've largely been doing just that.  I've read over 10 books since the end of May, and since some of those were 500+ pages and not the most engaging books ever, I'd say that's quite an accomplishment for me. 

And I'm totally using the pregnancy card.  Because it's true.  And exhausting.  I feel lots better than I did during weeks 6 through 10.  But I'm still really tired and take a nap almost every. single. day.  It's sort of ridiculous.  And it also means I lose out on that really productive time when the kids are down for a nap -- because now I'm napping also ;).  Growing a human is no joke.

Speaking of which, I'm a little over 17 weeks.  Starting to feel the baby move.  Going to listen to a heartbeat tomorrow.  And then the next appointment will be the ultrasound.  And I'm seriously thinking about finding out gender.  We already think we know.  But if I can get confirmation on that, we can down-size some of our baby stuff.  Because I'm pretty sure this will be our last one.  Granted, Heavenly Father may have other plans for us, and that's fine.  But this will be our last intended pregnancy (at least as of this moment...).  Because, for the record, this doesn't get any easier as you age ;).

So anyway, that's what life has been like these last several weeks. 

And now, to re-cap our vacation.

We flew out of Atlanta.  And we'll never do that again.  Too crowded and too much extra hassle.  But we survived.  Then we rented a car at SeaTac.  Something else we'll never do again.  Let's just say this trip was all about trying out new things -- and learning what we won't do again.  LOL.

The first full day at Jeremy's parents' house, the kids got lots of farm life experience.  Corbin loved the chickens.

 Then we went to one of Jeremy's brother's house and they have rabbits, goats, chickens, and ducks.  The kids loved petting the bunnies.  AND both the goats gave birth while we were there (on two separate days), so Lynnaea loved "herding" the baby goats.  She also learned that a goat does not lay an egg.  Which was her previous supposition.  I wish I'd have taken some pictures of her with the baby goats.  But, true to June and early July in Washington, my allergies acted up something fierce, so I tried to stay inside a lot. 

 I did a lot of napping.  And most days this cutie was my nap partner.  He is pretty much the cutest sleeper ever.

 We attended my friend's daughter's wedding near Bainbridge Island.  It was a beautiful day and a beautiful venue.  And a very beautiful wedding. 

 So I snapped a picture of us waiting for dinner.  Much to Lynnaea's chagrin, we had to leave before the dancing, because it was getting too late, and we had over an hour drive back to my in-laws'.  But we really enjoyed being there for such a special time.

 Corbin felt quite overwhelmed at times.  He kind of made my in-laws' house his "new normal" and preferred to be there.  This was Saturday when I took the kids to Bremerton to stay with my mom.  He pretty much clung to me most of that night.

 We enjoyed seeing a lot of the family on the 4th of July.  But I didn't take any pictures.  I was pretty lame about that this trip.  And then, since getting the pictures off my phone isn't always the quickest process, I was pretty selective about the ones I chose.  So now you get to see Corbin sleeping on Jeremy on the way home in the airplane.

 Which leads me to say this about our return:  that was the most horrific beginning to a travel day ever.  We left my in-laws' at 3:10 in the morning.  Lynnaea had eaten a piece of pumpkin pie for breakfast.  And then puked it all up all over the rental about 15 minutes before we reached the car rental facility.  So we had to stop to get gas and spent 15 minutes changing her and trying to clean out the car as much as possible. 

We returned the car, had to haul 2 car seats, 2 backpacks, 2 pieces of luggage, and 2 kids (one of whom smelled like puke) to the shuttle for the airport from the car rental facility.  We got to the Southwest line (which was loooong) and mid-line, Lynnaea said she had to throw up again.  Which she did -- in my hand.  So we frantically ran around trying to find a bathroom while Jeremy stayed in line with all our bags to check in, because hey -- we got there about 45 minutes before our flight was to leave and hadn't gotten anything checked in yet as far as bags go.  So I changed Lynnaea again and tried to wipe her down as much as possible.  Get back to the ticket counter and Jeremy is up at the front.  30 minutes to flight departure and we still haven't gotten through security.  I really didn't think we'd make the flight.  All our stuff was late-checked. 

Tender mercy of the trip:  the sniffer dogs were out at the security lines which seems to mean it's a lot easier to go through security.  Jeremy's bag was flagged (a bunch of electronics mixed with the squeezie pouches apparently looks suspicious), but even with that small bump, we arrived at our gate just after family boarding had ended (we were A boarding group, but we'd missed that too).  But the kind lady at the beginning of B let us go first (bless her). 

Once on the first flight, Lynnaea puked in the puke bag one more time.  And then she slept.  And so did Corbin.  Sadly, our first flight was the short flight -- to Oakland, CA.  Corbin was still in his pajamas, so we changed him in Oakland.  And pretty much it was time to board there.  On the second flight, Lynnaea had more tummy troubles (but on the other end), and we visited the potty twice during the "fasten seat belts sign" is on phase :/...  But I think they understand with kids.  Lynnaea pushed the flight attendant button in the bathroom as I was washing my hands, so I had to hurry and open the door to assure them we were fine.  And then, after that, I made Jeremy take her the last time.  And then, thankfully, the rest of the flight was pretty uneventful.  Just long. 

We made it to Atlanta, and the other tender mercy of the day:  so did all our late-checked bags.  We finally got to our car and started the 3 hour drive home.  But we stopped at Cracker Barrel to eat, so we didn't get home until 10.  By that time, Corbin had cried himself to sleep. We still had to throw Lynnaea into the shower so we could get all the vomit smell off of her.  AND, we had to strip down her car seat and wash all that PLUS all the vomit clothes. 

For now, I've pretty sworn off flying.  My current plan is to drive out next summer and see how I like that.

Life back home has been fun.  Several pool days out back.  Enjoying popsicles, S'mores, and hot dogs.  Trying to "cook" in a home-made solar oven.  Looking forward to cousins arriving soon and having snow cones. 

So now I'm somewhat caught up.  And it's getting close to my bed-time ;).  Oh!  We signed Lynnaea up for dance.  She's super excited.  I have to learn how to make a tight bun.  Hair is not my forte.