Home Sweet Home (Ode to the 'Burban)

(Mike in the Burb on the Mt. Shasta Pass)

We made it home safetly! Thanks to the trusty Suburban (The Burb) we rented for the road trip. We didn't want to tax our trusty mini-van by taking it on this road trip because we really need our "sliver bullet" to last us at least another year or so. So we decided to use that great tax rebate to rent the Burb to take us to SoCal. That's how we rolled.

Here's my review of the Burb: Wow--it drives nice. There is no shortage of power in this ride. This particular vehicle had lots of bells and whistles including trip computer and vehicle information. The front and middle row seats are very comfortable, but the leg room is not so great in the third row. The trunk space is cavernous and wonderful, but the third and middle rows are lacking in storage. (In the mini-van we can store stuff under the seats and in lots of nooks and crannies.)

This is a great vehicle for families with older children as it proved to be difficult for both Mike and I to get Josie and Colette out of their car seats. The gas mileage was impressive for the size of the vehicle, proving to be no worse than what we would have gotten with our mini-van. I think we averaged about 18 mpg on the highway.

I did miss our automatic doors and not needing a ladder to climb into the vehicle. It was also tough to have regular doors, as opposed to sliding doors since the vehicle is wide and proved challenging to enter/exit in tight parking spaces.

All in all, great SUV for families with older children. We're not ready for this and definitely know that the mini-van is the best vehicle for us at this stage in our lives. It was fun to drive and I am so happy that we were able to rent it for our trip.

I can't believe we have been home for 3 days already--how fast regular life takes over once you return from vacation. We are blessed to have been able to swing this trip--thanks to Uncle Sam. We're hoping for another one of those rebates every year so we can spend some quality time with each other and take a break from the rat race.

Thanks for following us on our journey!

Balboa Park (Road Trip Day 8 & Last Day in San Diego)

We decided to spend our last day in San Diego enjoying Balboa Park www.balboapark.org. Balboa Park is home to the San Diego Zoo and many very nice museums, gardens and amazing Spanish architecture. www.balboapark.org/maps/BalboaParkMap.pdf
It is vast and a great place to take the kids and stroll on a nice summer day. There is lots to see even if you do not go into any museums and very child-friendly. We even brought the dogs!

We walked around the Spanish Village Art Center where Vanessa and Josie bought beautiful gemstone necklaces. The town was decorated in bright colors and beautiful landscaping, and the stores had interesting Spanish-themed art work for sale.


Inside the park, the kids enjoyed walking around the fountain and we had a delightful lunch just outside the San Diego Museum of Art. Of course, we tried to take advantage of any photo op and also capture the interesting architecture in the park.

At last, for the dogs, we visited a great dog park just across the bridge from Balboa Park. I think Fletcher and Sassy both enjoyed time to let loose and socialize with K9s.

After leaving Balboa Park, Mike, Colette, Josie and I headed to Pacific Beach boardwalk to pick up a few souvenirs. Just a few shots of us by the beach.

While we are very pooped from all our activities, we are very sad to see our vacation end. We had been looking forward to this trip for months and to have it whiz by so quickly is hard!

We absolutely LOVED meeting sweet little Alex Dutton and spending some really nice quality time with Kris and Mike. They were the perfect hosts and were such great sports when we just kept going and going and going. We will miss them very much and can't wait until they come up to Portland in July for little Alex's baptism! Thank you, Aunt Kris, Uncle Mike and Baby Alex! We love you!

So tomorrow, we embark on our 2-day trip back to the Pacific Northwest. We are going to try to get to Corning, California--just South of Red Bluff, CA and just North of Sacramento. The drive home will be tough, but knowing that we will be arriving home by Friday and sleeping in our own beds will be motivation enough. The kids have been amazing and, although they each had their moments, were very well-behaved all things considered. Mike and I really couldn't ask for more. I'm proud of them and am glad that they, for the most part, are troopers and travel so well.

If there is something worth posting about our trip back home I'll do so! I'm sure, as always, it will be an adventure for our traveling circus.

Much love, hugs and thanks to Kris, Mike, Baby Alex and Fletcher for letting us invade their home for a whole week!

Portrait Day & Mission Bay (Road Trip Day 7)

We started today with some portraits of Kris & Alex--they came out so cute!

Then Alex solo (isn't he beautiful?):

Any resemblance to Elvis?

Here's Fletcher and his baby boy. So much love, so little time...

Here's Colette with Alex--she dwarfs him, but a sweet picture nonetheless.

Look at those chubby legs on Colette and look at Alex's skinny little chicken legs! Can you stand it? Don't you just want to dip them in chocolate and nibble your worries away?

Here are the kiddos all together--I really am speechless as I am filled with so much love for each and every one of them. I see a wonderful future for these cousins and their great relationships already developing.


So we headed to Mission Bay park for a picnic lunch and a group photo. Not bad! What a beautiful day it was.


Here's the Jack-man doing his best imitation of a "cling-on" and giving love to his Uncle Mike.
It was a lazy day for us today, and we enjoyed just hanging around Mission Bay and having a wonderful dinner with Aunt Kris and Uncle Mike yet again. Our trip is winding down, but we have one more day with them. We will likely go to Balboa Park to enjoy our last day in San Diego. Wow! Did it go fast!

Vanessa's Birthday at Seaworld (Road trip day 6)

Sweet Moment of the Day:

Colette really loves our pets, Sassy and Latte. Every time they walk by they bring a huge smile to her face. This morning was no exception as Colette scooched her way over to Sassy to give her some cuddles.

Happy Birthday, Vanessa, Seaworld style!

Today was Vanessa's 9th birthday and we celebrated by taking a trip to Seaworld. The day was great--we started it out at the Dolphin Show (which hasn't changed much since we were last here in 2005, but still entertaining, nonetheless):

Next on the agenda was viewing the sharks, since they were inside and cool!

It was hot again, so we had to take it easy and try to pick activities that involved water. Vanessa is an adventurous soul and "dragged" her Uncle Mike and Dad to go on the "Journey to Atlantis" rollercoaster/water ride while Aunt Kris, Jack, Josie, Colette and I waited for their big splash. I got some great pictures of us waiting:

I get the "Mother of the Year" award for feeding my kids ice cream sandwiches (before lunch) and buying them a toy out of the gift shop while we waiting for Mike, Mike and Vanessa to come down the big water hill. It kept them happy and sitting while we waited and it made it more bearable for them. It's hard to wait!

Alex slept peacefully, so I took a shot of him without pulling the canapy back so I wouldn't wake him.

Colette and all her wonderful rolls relaxed and napped as well while we waited...

Finally we got to see them round the corner and down the BIG HILL!

After the Journey to Atlantis, we headed over to the Shipwreak Reef Cafe for a delightful lunch. Since we were over there, after lunch Aunt Kris, Mike, Jack and Vanessa attempted to get on the Shipwreak Rapids ride to cool off, but the ride BROKE before they could get on it! BUMMER! So we headed over to the aquarium to see some fish.

After a while we headed back over to the Shipwreak Rapids and it was fixed! This time, Jack, Vanessa and I decided to go it alone while Dad sat back with Josie and Colette. Uncle Mike, Aunt Kris stayed behind to feed little Alex. They, too were able to get good shots of us as we got SOAKED!

This was Jack's first real "adult" ride where he was tall enough to ride. He waited patiently while we waited in line and snaked around in all the different switchbacks and stairs and people. He laughed hysterically the whole time during the ride and when it was all finished, he said (or screamed) "let's do it again, again, again!" You will see from this next picture, that we got SOAKED. It's a great ride and lots of fun without too much scariness. I'd love to do it again, again, again!

Tough to tell from the picture, but if I had been wearing a white T-shirt, I would be a contender to win the wet-t-shirt contest in the "Lactating category for Most Soaked Breast Pads.

After the Shipwreak ride, we were all pretty spent. We took some time to take in the killer whales since we missed the "Shamu Show" and a few minutes to decompress.

Here's the birthday girl at the end of the day, happy and soaked.

After Seaworld, we dried off and headed back over to dinner central at Uncle Mike and Aunt Kris' house. We had a "Vanessa-picked" meal: Spaghetti, with bread and salad. For dessert we had chocolate fudge cake after she opened her gifts from Aunt Kris and Uncle Mike and a box sent by Lolo and Lola.

Earings from Aunt Kris & Uncle Mike

Lots of pretty dresses from Lolo & Lola

Happy Birthday, our little peanut. You will always be our first baby. Try to slow down growing up just a little bit, so Daddy and I can catch up.

We love you all the way to the moon and back...