Hey Babies lets go to Vegas!

We went to Grandma's House for Superbowl weekend and had so much fun!

Traffic was horrible, but I have to say, our little guys are fantastic in the car.  They both did amazing.   We are so lucky!

We took some rockets out to launch.  I thought Colin would love it, but he was underwhelmed.  Daddy did get some pretty cool pictures!

And of course there was football.

 I much preferred watching the boys to the game.  What a good big brother!

Grandma and Colin also spent some of the game decorating cookies!

We had so much fun, thank you Grandma and Grandpa for a fun trip!

In Illinois

I love where we live.  I love the weather, I love our home.  I (usually) love my job, our pets, our proximity to the beach, the mountains, the desert.  I even like being called a Californian.  I love our neighbors and the awesome people I've met in Ladera.

I miss being closer to family.

Our trip was fun because we got to spend so much time cuddling and playing with our family.

Aunt Faith and Uncle Craig

Aunt Cheryl

A very well attended bath

Swinging with Cousins

Reading with cousins and Buma

Playing

Baking with Buma

Sink Baths with Buma and Bupa

Bos with Buma

My favorite part of the trip was Colin with his cousins.  Several times a day he still tells me "Cousins, fun!"  Our trip renewed my commitment to making sure that Colin and Alex know about their family members who live far away and aren't seen often enough.

Come Fly with me!

Colin was very excited for our trip to Chicago.  He was especially excited about going on an airplane.  Mommy was slightly less excited about loading up the family for a plane trip, but I made a plan and we were off!

My preperation for the flight was pretty much all about Colin.  I assuemd Alex would either eat, sleep or cry and there wasn't really much else I could do.

I choose Sleep.

 For Colin, I had a list of twenty activities and I estimated that I could hope for about 15 mins from each (some more, and some less, obviously).  I bought a bunch of stuff  at Target and put it in bags to be pulled out one at a time.

I didn't have a great plan for the airport, but we did fine.  We ate and walked around and looked at the planes.

For this flight, we purchased Colin his own seat.  Colin in his big guy seat!

Colin ate and then fell asleep!!  It was awesome!  Meanwhile, super mom did it all. (If you can't tell in this picture, I have like an inch or two of my seat... oh well.

The flight was super easy.  We just kind of went along with Colin.  We also loaded up some shows on the iPad and I downloaded a few new apps.  I know it sounds crazy, but the flight was actually fun!

So I suppose I should have expected that our return flight (in the morning instead of during nap time) would be a wreck, but honestly, I just kind of went with it, and the boys did AWESOME!

 We had to wake up super early for our 8:30 am flight, but Auntie Cheryl went with us to the airport and through security.  Always grateful for a few more hands!

Colin fell asleep again!  It was fantastic!!  Infact, it was so peacefull, that I took a nap!  Pause and let the amazingness of that sink in... I was flying with two little people and I was able to take a brief nap.  Seriously, magical.

 I was nervous about the flight, and I know they might not all go so smoothly, but it was so great that the boys did so well.  I love my little guys!

Hey Bab(ies) let's go to Vegas!!

When you think of the best place to tkae a 5 week old baby, you know what's always on the top of the list?  Vegas! :)  Just kidding, but Grandma's house is, and since daddy needed to work in Vegas, we decided to take the whole family out for some time with our grandparents.

Going to see Grandma!

I'd been planning for the trip since before Alex was born.  Just making a mental list of what we would do and how we would best get there with sanity intact.  Of course, daddy's injury sent that plan a bit out of whack, but we adjusted.  The travel went much better than expected.  The boys did fantastic.  

We packed up the car before we headed to the 4th of July party.  Boy do these kids need alot of stuff...  When Alex woke up for his 3 am feeding, we loaded everyone up in the car and headed out.  As we'd hoped, the boys slept almost the entire way.  Outside of Baker we stopped to feed Alex and let Colin stretch.

Mom needs a break, I'll drive for a while.

It was a huge improvement over Colin's first road trip. Gavin and I regularly debate if Alex really is that much easier than Colin or if 19 months of parenthood have just softened our sense of what's difficult. :)  

New car Toy! "Should I tell you...."

Paci for the ride.

For the drive home, we left at night and both boys slept all the way home! Including a gas stop!!  But even if the drive had been difficult, it would have been worth it!  

Most excitingly, Alex got to meet his godmother Auntie Cheryl!!

 Colin got lots of fun pool play time.

Alex 'saw' his first rainbow.

Colin helped mommy feed Alex!

Our biggest outing of the trip, was a trip to Bass Pro Shop.

Colin still finds racks of clothing almost as much fun as displays of giant stuffed animals, so it was an exciting trip!

Mommy's favorite is the acquarium.  Colin was fascinated by the scuba diver inside.

I love the wonder and fascination in Colin's eyes as he discovers things around him.  He loved watching the fish.

The trip also meant some much needed rest for our family. Mommy even had her first real outting without Alex!

I didn't photograph it, but I snuck away and had a lovely lunch with my friend Jennifer who is moving miles and miles away (we'll miss you !!!)  It was nice to have a break when there were so many people who love the boys around to take care of them.

Sadly, the main catalyst for the trip, the World Series of Poker, didn't amount to much this year, but it was still a great time to spend time as a family.  Thanks to Grandma and Grandpa for spoiling all of us for a week!

Life is good at Grandma's!