Home sweet home

Our trip started out fabulously. We didn't leave our house until about 3:00 in the afternoon, the kids watched movies, and played when we stopped to have a little break. We arrived at our friends' house in Oregon about 1:00 a.m. their time. The kids stayed awake nearly the entire drive (not our intention-we had thought they'd sleep) but were amazingly calm. I don't think we had one screaming fit from anyone. They even slept well once put into they're play yards at our friends' house. 

The entire trip, however, was a whirlwind of activity. The kids handled it really well. I, however, not so much. I think we just had too many things to do in too few days. We had people to see every day, plus a trip to the zoo and the beach. We did it all, the kids LOVED it, but I feel like I've been run over by a train. I don't care to ever see the inside of our suburban again. 

It's so good to be home! I have some pictures I'd like to get posted soon. The kids were so cute at the zoo. Caden loved every single animal we looked at, and would have stayed watching each one for hours had we not moved him along to the next one. He especially liked the monkeys, making monkey noises at them while grinning non-stop. Avery really only liked the giraffe, which I would assume is because of her stuffed giraffe Jeffrey that is attached to her 24/7. Cece really had no interest in any of it. She was, however, more than happy to clean the zoo's entire grounds of any stray food, rocks, dirt and leaves that she could stuff into her mouth before she was stopped. 

The beach was a typical Oregon Coast day - cloudy, gray, and windy. Still gorgeous and packed with people, but it was only about 50 degrees and even cooler with the wind so we let the kids run for 30 minutes or so and then went into Mo's for some yummy seafood. Caden hated the sand on his feet, and the girls loved it but kept getting it into they're eyes. Lots of screaming ensued until we finally packed them up and decided that they are not beach children. That's fine with me, I am not really all that crazy about it either. I think it's gorgeous, but there isn't much you can really do on the Oregon coast, and the few things you can do are limited to practically none with three toddlers! We got a few cute pictures of them though, so that made it worth it for me. 

We were able to visit my dad's parents and my mom's mother, who actually came home to stay with them for a month or so. I haven't seen my dad's parents for 4 or 5 years, so it was nice to have a visit with them. They were glad to finally meet Carl and the kids, even if my children did try to destroy their entire house in about 5 minutes. 

All in all we had a good time, the busyness was worth it as a trade off for visiting people we haven't seen in forever. But next time we travel somewhere I now know a few things I'd do differently, so that I wouldn't be so incredibly stressed out. 

Aahhh, home. The fifteen plus loads of laundry look beautiful compared to the inside of a car!