our Grand adventure

The Grand Canyon is on a lot of lists. For example, it makes the Seven Natural Wonders of the World list, and it's been on my list of places to go for a long time. I can guarantee, however, that it's not on any sort of list of things to do with your toddlers. But we did it, and (spoiler alert) we all survived. Now that we're past the insanity of the idea and the relief of not losing anyone over the rim, here's alllll about it!

Our GC trip was a gift from Jared's parents for all the February birthdays (Jared, his mom Suzanne, and his sister Kristine) + their spouses + 4 toddlers.

On Friday we made the 8 hour drive with Jared's parents and Bethany and Isaac in our glorious minivan and stayed the night in Williams, AZ. I was totally apprehensive about how the kids would do on the drive, but they were great! Hardly a fuss from either one! Of course, borrowing a DVD player and every Disney movie ever made might have had something everything to do with it. Jared's parents drove while Jared & I sat in the way back to take care of the kids. I also got to read my book-- These is My Words, a good choice for the drive through AZ-- vacation has begun!

We drove the 5 hours from Santa Paula to Needles, CA, and made our first stop at Jack Smith park. We were hoping they would have some sort of playground so the kids could go nuts for an hour or two, and Jared's iPhone couldn't have led us to a better place. There was a good playground, and even better than that, a marina on the Colorado River with a tiny waveless beach. As soon as Jared saw it we stripped the kids down and let them go wild. The air was warm and the water was freezing, but they didn't care. True water babies, these two.

We met up with Kristi, Matt, Anna and Scott at the hotel in Williams and went to dinner. Since we'd have three nights together and three birthdays to celebrate, Kristi had the idea that each birthday-ee would get their own night, and another birthday-ee would host and toast that person. The first night was Suzanne's night. Jared gathered stories from Suzanne's other kids and siblings about her amazing qualities. She is such a fabulous mother, grandma and friend, and we love her! Isaac had 6 helpings of soft serve as a tribute.

On Saturday we rode the Grand Canyon Railway from Williams to the South Rim. While the kids were definitely excited to be on the train at first, by the end of the 2.5-hour ride Isaac was frustrated with being basically locked in a big room with places he wasn't allowed to explore and things he wasn't allowed to touch. It's hard being so curious sometimes. But midway through the train ride was one of my favorite moments of the whole trip. A lady with an accordion and lots of eye makeup came through our car to play and sing some songs for us. It was a total flashback to NYC subway performers. She started out with a few old western songs and then when she noticed how into it our kids were, she got into the Itsy Bitsy Spider and other kid favorites. Bethany and Isaac loved it! They did the hand motions and sang along, and surprised me with how many words they knew. They followed the performer up and down the aisle and she called them her little groupies. They danced to If You're Happy and You Know It and made the entire train laugh. It was so cute Jared & I almost cried. It was a moment I don't ever want to forget! By the end, I loved that accordion lady so much that I even did the chicken dance for her when she asked me to (and convinced Suzanne to do it with me). I never liked that dang chicken dance.

If you're happy and you know it shout HOORAY!

(Spot B on the seat, I in the aisle, and smiling faces all around)

When the train stopped we got right onto a bus for a short tour of the South Rim of the Grand Canyon. We were a bundle of nerves each time we got out of the bus to look out into the canyon. Sure, there are some guard rails up here and there, but there are a whole lot of opportunities to fall a few thousand feet if you're not paying attention or if you're 2 and you don't know any better. Of course, we had the death grip on our kids. Isaac, my little explorer, got fed up with that pretty quickly, so I took him to this little island in the middle of the parking lot and we threw rocks and hit trees with sticks until it was time to move on. At another stop we found a patch of snow, and these California/Arizona kids thought it was the best thing ever. They had the world's tiniest snowball fight while the adults circled them in their snow patch that was just 20 feet from the rim. Jared & I let our kids have their binkies and lovies (normally reserved just for sleep) for this stop in hopes that it might subdue them. Hard to say if it worked. I must say though that the weather that day was perfectly sunny and warm, and the glimpses we got of the canyon were absolutely stunning.

Saturday night we ate pizza in the hotel room and celebrated Kristine's birthday. Suzanne did a cute tribute to Kristi with pictures from her childhood. It's crazy to think that I've known her since she was 14, and now she's turning 28. From the beginning, she made me feel so welcomed into the family and has been a great friend, sister, and example of a wife and mother. I'm so glad our kids are so close in age-- Anna's just 16 months older than B&I, Scott is 1 month older, and their next little boy is on the way. It wouldn't be a birthday without dessert, and Jared, knowing his children very well, suggested we let them eat cake... in the tub. Another favorite moment.

A friend had told me that I absolutely had to see the Grand Canyon at sunrise. On Sunday morning, Jared & I woke up a few minutes before the kids and the sun, so he told me to run over to the rim to see it. I threw on my boots and coat and opened the door to this instead:

A snowy Sunday was spent seeing a really beautiful movie about the GC at the visitors center, getting some really foggy views at the rim, and going to an hour of church at the Grand Canyon Community Church, a cool little pine and stone building where they held LDS meetings as well as meetings for other denominations. Church started at naptime, which to be honest made me really not want to go when we would likely be out in the hallway the entire time anyway, but we went and the kids proved me wrong by being complete angels. Bethany played quietly with her cousins, and Isaac slept in Jared's arms for maybe the 3rd time ever. (One of our twin survival tactics was to not train them to fall asleep in our arms. It has occasionally backfired, but it is great how they've always fallen asleep on their own in their cribs.) It was definitely one of Jared's favorite moments.

We rode the train back to Williams on Sunday afternoon, and apparently no wild west train ride is complete without a hold up. So, "robbers" (actors) came up on horseback and walked through the train. Bethany surrendered a couple coins but Isaac was too afraid, so afraid he was shaking in my arms. I've never seen him scared like that! Kinda sad, kinda cute.

Sunday night was Jared's birthday celebration night, and Kristi's turn to host. She read some stories from his sister Johanna, about following in her legendary brother's footsteps in high school; Johanna's husband Talmage, about being nervous to meet his girlfriend's big brother and realizing they would be friends; from Matt, about Jared's confidence in Matt that he would get into dental school (and he did!); and from Brian, about walking in with Jared on Brian's first day of high school and being awestruck by his big brother's coolness. Kristi gave him a set of hillbilly braces teeth (the perfect gift for an orthodontist!) and passed out mustaches, which we all wore while I read Jared's famous mustache poem. (He wrote/performed it before I started blogging and deserves its own post, maybe on his actual birthday? Hee hee.) Favorite!

Monday morning we took the kids for a swim in the hotel pool before heading home. No pictures, just fun. We stopped in lovely Barstow, CA, where we ate at Chipotle and the kids had the time of their lives at a Burger King play space. We made one more stop to play at Grandma & Grandpa's house and change the kids into pajamas, and then at bedtime we got back in the car and went home.

Going into the weekend, I was most excited to see the big ol' canyon and thought that if we all merely survived the trip (and the canyon) it would be a success. I was so wrong, it was so much better than just the Grand Canyon! Dancing kids, generous grandparents, silly mustaches, sleepy snuggles, cake in the bathtub... The very best moments were all the moments in between.

these two

It feels like every day that the twins do and say new things that show their personalities a little bit more. I'll share just a couple recent ones.

* One morning, Isaac was holding a book, and that was for some reason bothering Bethany. She followed after him saying No no. No no. No no. After a minute, Isaac put the book down and patted her on the back and said, You OK?

* Bethany's current most commonly heard phrase is I do dis. She especially loves putting on her own shoes, but when we're in a rush I have her work on one shoe while I put on the other.

* I don't know if he's intentionally hiding things or not, but Isaac has picked up this terrible habit of putting things away where they don't belong. It might not be that big of a deal if they weren't such high stakes items. Once it was my house keys-- one of our little neighbor girls miraculously found them a week later, tucked them under the wooden walkway in our backyard. Once it was his blanket, and we had to delay naptime by a good 20 or 30 minutes for the search party-- I finally found it in the cupboard of his toy kitchen. And my least favorite is when he hides/misplaces his milk-- I've found his sippy cup outside in one of his toy cars, under our bed, and in cabinet of the fold-down table where the chairs go. I always notice right away that they've gone missing, but each time they've taken a few days to find. 

So gross.

 

* Whether she's counting to 3, 8, 11, or any number in between, Bethany always ends with an enthusiastic TWENTYYYY!!! It's like it's the highest number in the universe and she's pretty proud of herself for getting there, no matter how many other numbers she skipped.

* Isaac's answer to what color? is always blue. Even when I try to make it obvious: What color is this ORANGE? Blue!

* One day they were sitting next to each other in the backyard, drawing in their notebooks, when Bethany looked over at Isaac's drawing and said, Great!! That moment was even caught on camera...

* Isaac's prayer: Father... food... nuts... Isaac... Isaac... Benany... Mama... Dada... AMEN!!

* Bethany now says, Oh my goodness! in the cutest way possible.

Never a dull moment with these two that are two.

back on the train

Last week we had a bout of weather, and by "weather" I mean nearly 2 days straight of rain, so we gave that indoor mall train another go. Last time, Bethany did her heartbreakingly adorable nervous face the whole ride. That was actually the first time I'd seen the nervous face. She has since done it on occasion, like when she's watching a scene in a show that makes her anxious or a new person gets a little too in her face.

This time the train ride was a different story.

The kids had their pick of cars and immediately agreed on blue. The conductor handed them each a yellow ticket and they scrambled in. Both were all smiles for the whole ride. Bethany's been saying all aboard! (sounds more like ahhboard!) ever since, and if you say it to her, she smiles and nods approvingly.

Seems like many (most? all?) kids go through a trains phase. I know my nephew Carter was ob-sessed with Thomas the Train for a good while. My kids love watching Thomas (which I'm sure is why they chose the blue car) and playing with their little train set. I'm just very pleased with the timing, since we'll be taking a very big deal kind of train trip-- not the mall kind this time-- in a couple weeks! Kids, hold onto your hats!

T.G.I. trash day!

Friday is a special day at our house, but not for the normal reasons Friday is special-- these kids couldn't care less about work days or weekends (Jared's schedule is a bit random), and "sleeping in" means 7:10 instead of 6:50 whether it's Saturday or not. We love Friday because it's trash day.

The garbage truck comes 3 times to get the trash, recycling, and trimmings, so we usually catch at least one of the trips. And since we live near the end of the street and a little intersection, we get to see a lot of backing up action. The kids always run to the window to watch, and if they happen to be wearing pants, we enjoy from the driveway.

The drivers always get a wave from the kids, and if it's not too early, the kids get a honk from the truck. One of the drivers will even stop and pull out two pre-packaged Rice Krispie treats from his lunch to give to the twins. So sweet!

Waving at the truck or possibly Isaac, who usually tries to

run along the sidewalk as the truck goes down the street.

Perhaps because of all the garbage truck excitement, the kids-- the boy in particular-- have been really into helping with the trash, especially if it means taking things out to the big cans outside. He gets most excited about the blue can, which makes me happy because that's for recycling.

NY side note: Did you know that in New York City, they don't use city-issued trash cans but just pile up bags along the sidewalk? Therefore, the trucks don't have those automatic pick up forks, so real live actual garbage men (and women) get out to pick up the bags. But, the cars are still parked along all the streets, so the garbage personnel toss the trash bags over the cars and into the streets, where other garbage personnel throw the bags into the back of the truck! Not just once, but twice a week! It's kind of crazy! I mean, when you think about it. And yes, it smells. Especially in the hot and humid summer. Especially if you're pregnant. But man, my kids would have loved the show.

And that is the end of my post about trash.

PS I miss New York.

an Ojai morning

One day last week, Jared was supposed to be working from home but I convinced him to do something fun with us instead. So, we took a little morning trip to Ojai. It's only about 20 minutes away, but I had never been. I fell in love!

We drove until we found a park, played until the kids started to wander, wandered until we found an ice cream shop, and went home in time for naps. I'm already making my list of things to do next time.

I also saw this poster for a jewelry line, that at first glance I thought was a picture of me, haha...

The only disappointment of the day was that I didn't see Reese Witherspoon. Another reason to go back!

guess who's 2? guess who else?

We celebrated Isaac & Bethany's 2nd birthday with a party fit for a princess... and pirate! 

We didn't want to go overboard (really, we didn't, and I think we were fairly successful), so we invited just a few local friends and the grandparents, and held it in the morning so as to not interrupt the royal naptime. We kept it to just two simple activities: decorating crowns or pirate hats, and a treasure hunt. We had bandanas and sparkly headbands made from fabric scraps for parents who tried to not come in costume. Jared made pasta with sauce and meatballs for lunch. We had pink and chocolate cupcakes. And that was pretty much it. We just let the kids play and eat and play and play. The little planning we did was almost entirely by google and blogger.

Grandma & Grandpa won the Best Dressed, Most Spirited, and Coolest Grandparents in California awards. They showed up early to help out, and when they rang the doorbell the kids started yelling Grandma! Grandpa! We opened the door to find them in FULL pirate and princess attire, and then we looked back to see Bethany and Isaac in complete silence with their jaws on the floor. Grandpa's outfit had knee-high pirate boots and a floor length cape-- amazing-- and Grandma was wearing a renaissance princess gown and a gold crown-- amazing! It made me feel like the ultimate hostess with my hired entertainment, and like nothing could go wrong because they were there. It was very Cowboy Gil. Amazing!

Begin photo dump:

Isaac is very curious about what is (or isn't) under that patch.

Princesses!

More princesses!

Dread Pirate Jared and his lady.

Shiver me timbers!

The captain and the first mate.

The pirate shamelessly plundering the princess.

Her royal highness.

All the princesses and pirates (almost).

Cute lil matey.

Princess party animals.

Little ladies.

Hooray for pre-made flags that made cupcake decorating easy.

The twins went to blow out the candles, but were
beaten to it by a 3-year-old Snow White.
Better luck next year.

Remember last year? Isaac and Bethany couldn't have been more opposite in their approach to birthday cupcake demolishing/eating:

Well, not much has changed...

This went on for several minutes. The more he tried to lick the frosting off his sleeve, the messier he got. Meanwhile, Bethany stayed clean as a whistle as she carefully savored her cupcake.

Thanks to everyone who made it such a happy birthday!

new year's eve, y'all

Jared & I have been thinking back on our previous New Year's Eves, since we've had a few (10+) together, and this year ranked among the best. We went country line dancing! (Have we been fully converted or what? I mean really... it was only 6 months ago that we left New York City, and now look at us. Farms, ranches, and holiday parties at Carriage houses are all I ever talk about anymore.)

We went to a place in Thousand Oaks called Borderline, after a family-style dinner at Buca di Beppo. No one in our group really knew the line dances, but we danced our boots off anyway. They also played a bunch of non-country music that was fun to dance to. Jared & I love getting out there and being goofballs, and it was great to learn that our new friends get goofy too. Plus, when you look up and see a bedazzled saddle hanging from the middle of a gigantic metal/ropelight cowboy hat, it just makes you want to giddy up.

Elvis came out to do a few numbers just before the countdown to 2012. He went on so long that our countdown was only 5 seconds instead of 10. At first I thought it was kinda dumb to have him there, but then we got to take our picture with Elvis, and suddenly it felt like a great idea after all.

Happy New Year!