Kaylee and I went on a LONG trip to the great state of Washington to visit my older sister, her husband, and their daughter. It was so much fun, and I wish we all lived closer together so we could spend more time together. My parents came up with me, and my little sister and brother flew in a couple days later. It was so wonderful to have all the family together! I with Robert could have been there, but he was busy working.
The drive there and back is a long 14-15 hrs. We all carpooled, and split the drive into two days for Kaylee's sake. The drive out was pretty good. Kaylee was amazing the first day, not crying once. The second day was hard on her. I was so happy when we finally got there.
My sister and brother-in-law just bought their first house, and it is beautiful! Best of all? They have GRASS!! It was so nice to sit and let Kaylee play on a lawn. She loved it too.
Their daughter Evelyn is only 6 weeks younger than Kaylee and they are so different. Kaylee is farther along in physical development, and Evie is farther along in verbal development. They got along for the most part, with some spats thrown in to add stress to our lives.
Evie and Kaylee on their first day together
The play room, which was Kaylee's room for the week.
They actually played in here very well together most of the time!
Mom and Kathryn cooking something
Jenetta and little Evie
Much of our time there was spent relaxing and getting caught up again with everyone. We also went out to eat a several places, and even went to the American Girl store!! I was super impressed that Kaylee took a good nap every single day there. She did wake up super early every morning (try 5am?), but we figured out a way to stay quiet until everyone else woke up. I would put a movie on the tablet for her, get her some snacks, and the I would try to sleep while she ate and watched in bed with me.
The first day there we decided to go out for Sushi. It was an experience. I am not sure if I like Sushi or not. Both times I have tried it I have been pregnant, and I know that skews my taste of things. Kaylee didn't like it for sure! She gagged so hard after her first bite that I thought she was going to throw up right there in the restaurant.
After Sushi, we went to the mall for the men folks to look at some new thing at the apple store. That is where we saw the American Girl Doll store. It was AMAZING! They had tons of dolls set up, with every accessory you could think of. They even had dolls out in strollers for girls to play with. Kaylee ended up pulling a pair of little twin dolls (so adorable), and Evie had a little girl in a stroller. We walked all over the store looking at everything. I cant imagine how excited my sisters and I would have been had we gone to one of those stores back when we were really in to the whole American Girl Doll thing.
Cold Stone icecream after the american girl store
On one day we decided to go to Pikes Place Market. I have been there before, and thought it would be fun to walk around with the whole family and let Kaylee experience it. Yeah, doing that while growing two babies is NOT fun. It was so hot and exhausting to try to walk around all morning while keeping track of a pretty cranky girl.
I planned to buy some fun things, but the ATM didn't like my card.....or me, so I ended up with no money. My parents graciously offered to pay for some things for me, but I hate borrowing money so I kept my spending to a minimum.
Kaylee had a pretty good time walking around. She was very hungry (chose not to eat breakfast) so walking around a whole ton of fruits and veggies without touching them was hard for her. We got her two little tubs of raspberries, which she promptly ate most of. I think another part of her issue that day was that she wanted some alone time. She wanted to just be left alone, and obviously that isn't going to happen at the market.
You can see her feelings about the day in this picture
These two were NOT getting along that day at all.
We were waiting for the men folks to get some food for everyone, and we stopped to watch these people playing some music. Kaylee LOVED it and was jumping around dancing all by herself. I got some video of it, but turned the stupid camera to get Kaylee in the frame better so they are all sideways :(
I love this shot of her dancing!!
I love the death glare Kaylee is giving Evie in this one. Poor girl!
Later on during the day Kaylee suddenly got super excited because she heard this guy playing music from WAY down the market. When we got there, there were several other little toddler girls dancing, and Kaylee joined right in. Evie even jumped in and danced a little bit. It was adorable, and was probably MY favorite part of the whole day.
Videos:
By the end of the day, I was miserable. I wanted nothing more than to just go home and sleep for days. My back and belly were killing me. We were walking back to the car and almost everyone else went to go look at the wall of gum. Basically it is just a really gross wall where thousands of people have put their chewed gum. I really wanted to go see it, but It was back up two 2 sets of stairs.....so I decided I would see it next time I am there.
I did steal these picture from my Dad though!
Daniel and Kathryn, my little brother and sister
Another day we went to a wonderful park
I was so impressed that my little girl could do this bridge thing with her grandma's help
There was a pathway for walking that was SO much fun! The little girls ran ahead looking for water over the sides, and we all were able to walk along and chat and laugh.
I think I am the one in the purple on the left
The girls LOVED looking at the water on the sides. They would look for bugs and flowers and all sorts of things in it. Kaylee even thought about tasting it at one point bleh!
The weather was wonderful while we were there. It was even sunny for a couple days! The cooler weather made pregnancy so much more manageable. Seriously, if I lived in cooler weather, I would totally do this twins pregnancy again!
One day we went on a little morning trip to a beach. We decided to ride the ferry over, because I knew Kaylee would love it. She DID! She could have ridden that thing all day long.
The whole family except Dad, who was taking the picture, and James (my brother-in-law)
The beach was a big hit. Kaylee wanted to go swimming, but after I let her wade in up to her knees she changed her mind. It was just too cold for her.
The girls getting a look at the water
My wonderful little sister Kathryn
Daniel trying to move the biggest log on the beach.
The girls spent much of the time throwing rocks into the ocean
Digging in the sand
I wanted to give Kaylee some time alone (to avoid meltdowns) so we went for a walk on the peer/dock
She loved it, and really wanted to go swimming. This was before I let her wade
Her awesome uncle Daniel came to play with her on the dock
Then she snuggled with Grandpa for a little bit
We all ended up sitting on the beach, eating snacks and letting the girls (and Daniel) dig in the sand
I love my family!
The tide started going out more and we ended up finding a dead star-fish. It was gross, especially after I accidently tore one of its legs off, but Kaylee was brave enough to touch it.
Then she found this little tide pool!
She jumped into it time and time again until almost all the water was jumped out
We put both girls in the same car for the drive home, and they were hilarious! Laughing and talking together as they ate snacks. It was a wonderful day!
That evening was a big party with all Jame's family. There were tons of people, which is not something Kaylee does well with. I was impressed that she did interact with a few people, but for the most part, I kept her outside so she could play while most everyone else stayed inside.
Jenetta has these two little rainbow chairs that were perfect for the girls to sit on.
Kaylee loved the ring of rocks around this huge pine tree. I think she went around about 20 times in the few minutes I was out taking pictures.
It was a fabulous trip! It ended kind of rough for me though. The last night we were there I started feeling pretty gross. I thought I had just eaten too much food, but I ended up throwing up every 15-20 minutes for about 5 hours during the night. The next morning I was so dehydrated my bladder and kidneys hurt because they were so empty. I felt like someone had beat me all over with a bat. And I still had a 14 hr drive over two days ahead of me. I almost decided to just stay an extra day and fly home. It would have cost too much, so I sucked it up and drove home with the family. The first day was kind of a blur I tried to drink water because I knew I desperately needed it, but even that made me nauseous. Looking back, I probably should have gone to the hospital to be re hydrated because it was that bad.
By the end of the day we had stopped at a hotel for the night and I got enough of an appetite back to eat about half a piece of pizza. I tried to drink more water, but only got through about 40 oz for the whole day. I have been drinking about 3 liters every day, so 40oz was definitely not enough. After a good night sleep, I slept SO well that night, I felt a little more human in the morning. I drank a ton of water on the way home, and was feeling more like my old self by the time we got there.
Kaylee handled the drive home so much better than the drive out! I think it's because we drove longer the first day and shorter the second. She had a few moments of meltdowns, but was over-all a amazing little traveler.
I can't wait to see them all again for Christmas this year! And we will have two new little babies to love on and cuddle.
