Disneyland!

It's a right of passage in every child's life to go to Disneyland, and since I had never been as a kid, I was anxious to take the boys so I could experience it too! We left Micah with Grandma & Grandpa Ries and brought Grandma & Grandpa Jones along with us. Lots of fun experiences.

Our young padwons got some Jedi training....

Off on their own adventures

Silas and Titus got very special opportunities over Memorial Day weekend to go on adventures with grandparents. Silas headed off to Ohio with Grandma Joyce & Papa to see grandma's parents. He was beyond spoiled, and I think Grandma & Papa even had a little fun too.

 Reading to Great-Grandma...

Helping great-grandpa on the farm...

Uncle Ryan and Aunt Wendy came up for a visit, too...

And they all went to Reds' game, where I think they bought Silas a food item every inning...

 

Topped it off with a trip to Graeter's ice cream...

...and multiple playgrounds!

Meanwhile, Titus headed to Lakeview with Grandma Kaye & Grandpa Dave to see Grandpa's parents. He was a good helper around the yard and also got to do some fun things...

 

Family adventure - Part 2

On the last day of our family adventure to Tennessee, Aunt Wendy got married! First off, we'll give you Titus' perspective:

Some of the wedding guests

It's Grandma!

The boys' birds-eye view

It was all very exciting having so many people coming over... the boys greeted everyone at the door by saying loudly, "Welcome to the wedding!"

They're married!

Aunt Wendy and her handsome boys

All dad's girls are married now!

New family picture

Sisters

Family adventure - Part 1

For some reason the further I get behind with blogging, the less motivated I get to do it... but I decided that this week it's time to catch up!

Going back to May... we took a family adventure to Tennessee. The boys had not been on a plane in about two and a half years so neither of them remembered it... so this flight was much anticipated!

We ate at the infamous Cracker Barrel!

Visited an amusement park....

(riding the tram)

And the boys went on a 3.5 mile hike!

We spent five days in the Great Smoky Mountains, enjoying the scenery and lovely weather from a 5-bedroom, 6-bathroom cabin that we shared with Grandma & Papa, Aunt Rebekah & Uncle Nathanael, and Aunt Wendy and soon-to-be-uncle Ryan. More on that next :)

An adventure

Last weekend we went on a little three-day adventure--or, as those of you without small children might call it, a vacation--to Washington. (Our definition of vacation requires sleeping past 7am at least once, and dining at a restaurant without getting up three times to take someone to the bathroom. Neither of those happened on this trip.)

Both boys were very excited, and Silas spent two days before we left talking about the "special swimming pool." They did pretty well on the car ride to Great Wolf Lodge, which only took a couple hours.

This is actually the only photographic evidence I have that I was on the trip:

The boys had a total blast at Great Wolf Lodge, which consisted of numerous water slides, a wave pool, a hot tub, and a kiddie pool area, with fountains and water spraying everywhere.

They didn't end up being allowed to use their water wings, but this shows their little "cub den" with bunk beds where they got to sleep:

After one very sleepless night we took two exhausted boys for another short car trip to Seattle. A stop at Seattle's Children's Museum gave them a break from the chlorine while still getting the chance to run out a lot of energy.

We spent the next night visiting our good friends the Dukes, who also have two little boys. Four boys under 4 made for lots of running, jumping, yelling, and pillow fights. It was great to see them again.

On our last day we stopped to see cousin Chase:

Then we made the five hour trip home. They were a little antsy on that one, but I am very proud to report that Titus stayed dry the entire trip--we are diaper-free!