Time Warp in Idaho

A-O RIVER! Reporting live (not live) from MOM VAN #1. This is my cousin, Carrie, and me at the beginning of an all day trip on the road from Wenatchee, WA to Twin Falls, ID. Carrie was the driver and I was the package opener, face wiper, snack getter, GoGurt cleaner-upper, threat follow-upper (Carrie would threaten, I would follow up), toy fetcher, seat belt Nazi (no, that'd be Carrie again), and semi-navigator (that'd be Carrie, actually). We are nothing if not multi-taskers. All that done while talking over all the important news and gossip of our lives. 

 The kids were packed like sardines, snug as bugs in a wug.

 Break time! We did 6 straight hours before stopping to let the wild ones out. We changed from jammies to civilian clothing, ordered some Chester Fried chicken and Subway and chocolate milk. Noah threw a huge tantrum. Aaaaaand back in the car for another 2.5 hours.

 Woot! Arrival at Heather's, where we were greeted by the hostess with the mostess and given a meal of watermelon and quesadillas.

 The kids were happy to be moving their little bodies once again.

 Carrie carried on to Utah and I stayed at Heather's house. Owen visited for a day. We went to Dierkes Lake.

 Owen made us try to recreate the photo shoot from our Florida trip about 15 years ago when Heather and I did simultaneous toe-touches in front of the ocean. We got pretty close.

 Nope. Settling for X's.

 Will Birdie smile?

 Kind of.

 Mermaid on a rock.

 We took a day trip to SLC. On the way we stopped into the Ogden temple open house. My parents were married here....or not really here, but the other building that used to stand here on the same foundation. This temple is completely different than the original. Pity, kind of. Anyway, we made the mistake of taking the kids pre-lunch and they were pretty cranky. We didn't know if we'd all hold it together. Noah burst into tears when they tried to put the white booties on his feet and said repeatedly, "I don't WANT to go to the temple!" while we were inside.

 Good times! At least they liked the baptismal font. "WATER!" Kids love water.

The moms survived. Barely.

 We spent the rest of the afternoon at Mark's place. Wendy, Heather and I got in plenty of girl talk plus pedicures and the kids loved playing with Bella and her bunny.

 Back in Twin Falls, we were treated to many beautiful cloudy days and some rain and thunder! This sunset was especially lovely. I love Idaho. We were there a week and it felt like a month.

 RAR!

SeaFair Blue Angels

This is the second time we've been to see the Blue Angel jets fly over Lake Washington. We are hoping to make it an annual tradition from here on out. We love it sooooo much. The kids? Eh. Too loud.




Here are some more pictures from the day. It was hot and we were all cranky but we tried to smile our way through the frustration.

It's Batman!

This girl loves ice cream, can you tell?

Waiting, waiting, waiting...

Noah's reaction to some loud planes.

Ahhhh, they are just amazing, aren't they?

Water Woes

We were so spoiled in Phoenix when it came to pools. So much selection, so much heat. Here in Seattle? There are two pools to choose from. TWO. Two outdoor pools, that is. There are plenty of indoor pools. But when it's hot and you need the sun on your skin, you need an outdoor pool. The various wading pools around the city worked well during previous summers, but Sienna is now old enough to know what she wants, and she does not want wading pools. It has been a struggle to figure out what will work for these blessed hot, sunny days.

We tried the Colman Pool in West Seattle. It's in a really awesome location. You see the water behind the glass wall here? That's the Puget Sound. 

Sienna was allowed to go off the diving board but not the slide.

I'm sorry, that is just not going to cut it for this girl.

Another downside to this pool is that it's 1/3 mile walk from the parking lot. Sure, the view along the walk is spectacular, but cranky kids are not spectacular.

We had to stop and throw rocks on the way home to blow off some steam.

On another day, I needed something to fill the afternoon and so we rode bikes around Green Lake because Sienna refused to go to the wading pool at Green Lake. Well, Noah wanted to go to the wading pool at Green Lake but refused to ride his bike around Green Lake. I CANNOT WIN, I tell you. So, Sienna rode her bike and Noah held my hand while we walked.

The views were beautiful, but man were we cranky!

I made them play in the lake for awhile and Sienna said, "I want my swim suit." With smoke coming out of my ears, I informed her that I did not bring her swim suit because we were not going to the wading pool, we were biking.

We tried the second outdoor pool in Seattle, the Mounger Pool in Magnolia. We've been here before but the kids didn't remember it. Sienna was allowed to go down the slide and she was so happy she exclaimed, "I'm going to go down the slide 100 times!" Noah went down the little kid slide and was also having a great time.

Add popsicles to the pool and ding, ding, ding, we have a winner!

Ragnar Relay 2014

After I finished last year's Ragnar, I thought NEVER AGAIN. To quote somebody, "Ragnar is really fun, except for the running." It's true. It's a crazy time and totally unforgettable and unlike anything I do in my normal everyday life....but I felt like I needed a couple years at least to recuperate. I just didn't think I had another Ragnar in me for awhile. 

Skip ahead a few months, Adam and I moved into a house that we bought in Seattle. A few doors down is an old friend from our previous ward, Julie, who is a very active lady. And she happened to be looking for fellow Ragnarians to run her race come July. I hemmed and hawed and shrugged it off. I just wasn't interested in being awake for 36 hours, and running at odd times during the day and night, and sweating, and stinking, and sleeping on hard floors in high school gyms, and driving and navigating through various terrain, and LIVING IN A VAN around other sweaty, sleep-deprived individuals. WELL. You can see how that turned out.

I ended up saying YES, and the rest is history. I am hooked on Ragnar. That doesn't mean I'll sign up for another one today, but I know for sure another one or two or ten are in my future. They are so fun and I'm here to tell you I'm a converted Ragnar evangelist. 

Our team name this year was The Runbelievables. Here I am before the start! Ready to go with my "rock on" hands in position.

 

 Here's our dear Layla, icing her swollen ankle. She and Krystal had foot/ankle problems they ran with and they were total troopers.

 I didn't take nearly enough photos, but here are a few scenery shots. The whole 196 route from Blaine, WA to Langley, WA was incredible. Gorgeous views all around.

 Laura, Emily, Layla at one of our cheer stops. I cannot believe I didn't get a photo of our cow bell and mega phone. They. Were. So. Funny. I don't want to brag, but we were really good at cheering runners on.

 Aaaaand suddenly, I'm done. What you didn't see was me running 19.6 miles plus a couple more when I got lost on a golf course. Oops. My favorite leg of the run was in the middle of the night at 2 am when I ran on a board walk over Fidalgo Bay. The first half of the run was near casinos and refineries, which was stinky, and the last half of the run was over the bay, which smelled glorious. That misty salt water spookiness I will never forget. It was so beautiful and serene. I was having a major moment with just me, my boardwalk, my sports beans, and my This American Life podcast. Try running 8 miles at 2 am sometime. It's transcendent.

 Here's our lovely Van #2 at the finish: me, Krystal, Julie, Emily, Layla, and Laura. We crossed paths with Van #1 a few times but they had to get home before we could all cross the finish line together.

We are awesome.

 Last but not least, Emily shared these pouches of almond butter. I DIE.

Good work, Team Runbelievables. I had a runbelievable time.