Thanksgiving - The Roadtrip

I spent my birthday weekend driving through Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and Utah to reach St. George where to meet up with family for the Thanksgiving Holiday. The deserts of the southwest are so vast and beautiful!! My mom also gave me the best present ever in coming along as my co-pilot to help with the kids and the drive since Dave wouldn't be able to join us until the following week. We love Grandmari!! 

We made our drive from Amarillo to St. George over two days, stopping in Albuquerque for the night. This was our first time driving this route and we found some fun stops along the way to break up the trip. Highlights included a 66 diner, the Explora science museum, the Navajo Nation Zoo, a field of dinosaur tracks and the bridge over Marble Canyon. The kids were troopers!!

A few notable memories:

- We checked the kids out of school early to begin our drive. In class, Sophie made a huge I Spy list for us to play along the way with random items like necklaces and rabbits and we surprisingly found both! 

- Grandmari brought a giant box of jellybeans to meter out along the way for morale and we had to guess the flavor

- Coming out of the Kaibab forest was an experience. We were behind two old trucks towing a carts of logs down a windy, single lane highway. They were going incredibly slow, but it was so tricky finding a safe place to pass both the trucks and the other cars that were stuck and it felt so amazing when we finally broke free of the backup. 

- At one point Davey needed to use the bathroom and gave me about a 10 second warning, while we were on a cliff, before it was too late. 

- Speaking of bathrooms, they were almost impossible to find in Navajo Nation! At one stop it took us trying 4 gas stations to find one with working restrooms

- The really hero of the trip, besides Grandmari, was Bubble Guppies. I think Griffin watched it for the last 4 hours on repeat. We had the episodes almost memorized by the time we got there. 

Grandmari visited for lunch at school the day before we left

A few fun activities at Explora Science Museum. They had so many hands on stations. Mask mandates were still in effect, but we cheated a little. 

Dinner at a cute diner - they had a huge Pez dispenser collection all around the ceiling, hopscotch on the floor, and great milkshakes

Grandmari and Charlie had matching blue camo shirts

The kids and Grandmari toilet papered the hotel room for my birthday - happy 36 to me!

We had a great pit stop at the Navajo zoo - free entry! They had a nice collection of local wildlife like cougars, bears, and eagles as well as a fun playground and picnic tables for lunch.

Somewhere in Arizona we stopped to see possibly real, possibly fake dino tracks

If you look closely, you can see a bee in these photos by Griffin's head. He had a ham sandwich from Subway and that bee followed him all over while we were looking for the tracks.

Found some!!

Bridge over Marble Canyon - almost there, only 2.5 hours to go. Unfortunately the last chunk was done in the dark as the sun sets so early this time of year.

Thanks for making the trip easier for me!!

Double the Grandparents is Double the Fun!

We were blessed with visits from both grandparents in March. They came for Sophie's baptism, but were also able to spend lots of time with the kids and be here to have a group birthday celebration for them! The kids were so spoiled all week, not just with presents, but with all the time and energy their grandparents always give them when they come. And with three grandparents here all at the same time, it meant each kid could have one-on-one attention almost whenever they wanted it!

Grandmari arrived on Tuesday and was here to see the kids do two swim lessons, watch Davey at track practice, host Letter Group with me, and help decorate two of our bathrooms! She also was a huge help with our never ending loads of dishes and laundry. Every time she comes I get more projects taken care of in one week than I normally do in a year. 

The Howes, including Liz, arrived Friday evening just in time for a delicious steak fajita dinner. We are always so grateful for their visits and the time off work they take to come see us and the kids. While they were here we enjoyed lots of games, long walks, and good food. Grandma was also kind enough to take Sophie's pile of worn out pants while she was here to transform into shorts, which worked out perfectly because warmer weather is on the way. 

Sophie on her baptism with the Lamberts and the Howes - we really missed you Paco!!

Sophie in a grandma sandwich at Tokyo, the hibachi restaurant we ate lunch at following her baptism. Sophie loves her grandmas and was so happy to have them both here for her special day!

Playing a new game called Ready, Set, Sloth! with grandma and Liz

Papa helped Davey build his new Mario lego sets

Davey gets very sad whenever it's time to say goodbye and had a good cry about people leaving, even though it wouldn't happen until the next day. Luckily grandma and Liz had brought some Dilly Bars from DQ to cheer everyone up again!

While Grandmari was here she did lots of puzzles and read countless books with the kids

The book about the shark who couldn't smile was a favorite

It's good my mom likes shopping because in just a few days we made trips to Kohls, Walmart, Hobby Lobby, TJ Maxx, Ross, Target and JC Penney to find stuff to redecorate the kids and guest bathrooms. We only made changes to towels, rugs, and a couple decor items, but they both look so much better!!

We did a southwest/cactus theme in the kids bathroom. It was fun, but not too cute, good for both boys and girls, and it matched the black & white tile floors.

All four kids towels were hanging on one hook on the back of the door and always falling off onto the ground. We found this cute metal towel bar for just $6 at Hobby Lobby!

We also got a framed cactus print, a metal gecko, and some new decorative towels to replace the old purple and yellow ones. 

I let Sophie stay home on Monday morning so she could have some extra time with grandparents before they had to leave. Poor Davey was getting weepy again, but pulled it together enough to take a picture with Grandmari before driving her to the airport.

Mel & Boys Trip Seattle Christmas Trip

The boys and I flew to Seattle again at the beginning of December to make one last use of our Southwest Companion pass before it expired at the end of the year. It was a crazy time of year to plan a last minute trip and our itinerary was brutal (10 hours with 2 layovers), but it was worth it! There are so many fun things to do this time of year and we loved being able to do it all with grandparents!

We were lucky to get an empty middle seat on all three flights. The Dallas to San Jose leg was a really close call, and I was so relieved to not have to hold Charlie on my lap for 4 hours while pregnant.

Charlie loved this drumming Santa decoration. He's been entertaining grand kids for the last 10 years and will hopefully live on for 10 years more.

My mom found some of the famous Trader Joes melting snowmen at her local store! I had her get me a few to take back home as gifts, and of course we let Davey test one to just make sure they were good and he loved it!

My puzzle helper

The Bellevue Festival of the Nativity takes place the first week of December and we have always wanted to go, but are never in town that early. I was so glad that our visit this time was during the Festival! They set up an amazing display of over 500 nativities from all around the world. 

Davey in the dress up room as one of the wisemen

Davey liked this nativity because it was blue

We also enjoyed the lights at the Botanical Gardens and then drove over to Bellevue Square for the Snowflake Lane parade. We tried to go to the parade last year just a few days before Christmas and the crowds were crazy! This time we had great seats and the boys loved all the  music, dancers, and floats. 

We also made a visit to Redmond Town Square's Winter Wonderland Village. We rode the carousel (lucky Davey got the dragon) and the little train.

I saw this with my dad while my mom watched the boys. It was so good! The guy was changing back and forth between Daniel and Mrs. Doubtfire right on stage, just like the movie.

Poor Charlie came down with a double ear infection in the middle of our trip. We were able to find an Urgent Care and start antibiotics that night, which helped so much.

We went up to the cabin one night with my parents and brother's family for a delicious dinner, games, and football. There was not enough snow to play in, but the boys still had fun with all the toys. Hopefully next year there will be lots of snow when we come so we can ski!

We drove from the cabin to downtown Seattle to see the gingerbread display at the Sheraton and the Teddy Bear Suite at the Fairmont. My dad dropped us off at the door both times so wouldn't have to find parking and walk with the boys through the city. They loved both displays!

There was a life size gingerbread house you could walk through at the Fairmont. It smelled so good!

Davey loved this giant bear in the Teddy Bear Suite

On our last morning Paco took the boys down to the lake to throw rocks. Davey was having a hard time understanding why we couldn't also swim or go on the boat. 

Thanks for having us Grandmari and Paco - we can't wait to come back with the rest of the family next Christmas!!

Seattle December Trip Videos