Some trips are easier than others. While I am grateful that I am able to make a trip up to Oregon every year, the eight-to-nine hour plane flights are taxing.
It was the end of October and with it came several ends and beginnings. First, my grandfather passed away. He was well into his nineties and the last time I was able to chat with him I was certain he would break one hundred. read more »
Happy birthday to Paela. She turned two years old this week with much fanfare. While I was impressed with how boisterous our festivities were, Rebecca reminded me that some parents invite 50+ guests, rent a moon-bounce house and buy a pony for the toddler. We didn't spoil Paela, but it has been a long time since I have felt a birthday celebration was so ... celebratory. read more »
You know we've been busy when we skip a week writing. Last week we went to Austin to celebrate my grandpa's birthday and to go to his baptism. It was a good visit and we're glad we were able to be there. We decided to make it a decent length trip, too, since we aren't expecting to want to travel this year for Christmas.
But before that, we spent time preparing for the trip. Prep time didn't take as much effort as we normally need for a Christmas visit. Packing was faster and more condensed. Plus, we had a direct flight this time (yay!) so we didn't need as many things for Paela to survive the traveling, either. There were a couple of complications to spice things up before the trip though. read more »
A chronology.
Travelling with Paela can sometimes be easy and sometimes be an experiment on boundaries of social space. While we are able to arrange ourselves to a position in which she won't kick anyone sitting next to us on the plane, trying to restrain her from offering half-eaten crackers to her neighbor is a bit more of a challenge. read more »
We wanted to share this photo Karl and Angela took of us on the beach. This is probably one of the only images we have of the three of us together, but it's a keeper. Especially since Paela thought that her monkey should be in the photo as well.
Who knows where to even start with such a full trip? We raced here and there and everywhere, all over Germany for an eventful 10 day trip with Karl and Angela and Thomas. Wayne drove the whole time (manual van was fun; lots of snow, not so much; babies loudly protested being buckled into car seats by the end -- or even by the middle).
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Paela and her cousin Thomas both shared a first camping trip this weekend. It started off later than we would have liked, but these things usually do. We went to Lehi Park, which is a little over an hour away towards Santa Cruz.
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It always starts with a double flight, at least for us. Who knows? Maybe someday we will get lucky enough to have a sibling tip us off to a cheap direct flight before we buy tickets, but until then we take double flights. While our flight out of San Jose wasn't originally scheduled terribly early, over the course of six weeks prior it was bumped earlier and earlier. We arrived at 6 am to find a long line for the airline as well as security.
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