First family trip

Like the title says, we took our first trip as a family of 5 last week to Seattle. Surprisingly, it was probably the best trip we've had so far! Everything, including all plane travel, went smoothly. There wasn't any travel anxiety, which is usually what happens when we all try to go somewhere that we're not familiar with. I think the key was going without any kind of plan. Here's a few highlights and funny memorable moments from our trip:

1. Briggs got wine spilled on his head on the flight into Seattle. By this time though, Ted had consumed about 3 free drinks, and I had at least 1, so we were feeling pretty relaxed about the whole thing. The flight attendant went ahead and gave Ted another free drink to make up for our clumsiness.

Up early enough to see the sun rise

"Hooked up"

Holding some precious cargo

2.  Beer toured at Pike's and Fremont breweries. We were captivated by Fremont's atmosphere. Super laid-back, kid friendly (they even had a toy box), free pretzels and apples, and enclosed by barrels that were turned into planters. We loved it so much we took home a couple really neat pint glasses and a growler.

They gave us like 20 of these stickers

Belgian Tripel style

3. We got to hang out with old college friends, and really got a feel for what it's like to have a puppy in the house. We also were sold on getting a new couch from Ikea, and plan on doing that the next free weekend that we have. And Portage Bay had an amazing breakfast!

4. Mesmerized with all the green glowing grass and moss. It was refreshing to see things so alive compared to what we have at home.

5. Lucy and I spent an afternoon at the coolest spa ever! I'm so going back again the next time we visit. There were different rooms made entirely out of elements. For instance the Salt room, Mud/Jade room, and the Charcoal room all had properties that were good for the skin, body, mind, etc... Elven stone seemed to line everything in the pool area and shower heads. 4 different temperature pools. A hot steam sauna, and a dry one too. An area where we got our entire bodies scrubbed to perfect cleanliness. And finally, we both got hour-long massages. We both walked out of there feeling fuzzy-brained from all the pampering.

6. Got to play on a cool playground, equipped with a couple zip-lines that the boys and the adults were able to ride on. This Kompan company really knows how to make a playground seem like a challenge course for kids. Very weird ladders, rock-climbing walls, and things to slide on.

7. Hiked 4 miles on Rattlesnake Ridge with the boys, uncle J, and aunt L. I wore Max in the Ergo and he slept most of the hike. Ted wore Finn in the backpack carrier, and Briggs walked by himself. Everyone was completely exhausted by the time we arrived home that night. So we stuffed our faces with pizza and watched Howl's Moving Castle.

Chillin' with 100 other hikers at the top

8. Explored the city on our own the day that L and J had to work. We found several parks that we had never been to. Gasworks was a neat place and also houses all the homeless, as we discovered several "camps" in between the metal sculptures. The sky was so clear that day, and juxtaposed against the bright green grass made for a beautiful picture (see below).

A bunch of metal things

Mardi Gras 2015

I'm feeling like every day we have a full schedule ahead of us. This morning we woke up to a blanket of snow covering everything.Very pretty and super quiet outside this morning! Like usual, we rushed to get Finn ready for school. In addition, I decided that today I was going to start running again, so I had to load up the other boys too. After dropping Finn off, we went to the gym and M and B stayed in the newly remodeled day care. It's nice! I can't remember when exactly I stopped running, but it was at least back in September sometime. I got a (slow) mile in, but I was satisfied with that. I'm going to try to go on morning school days since we're already out anyway.

At noon there was a large group of Lawrencians that made their way down Mass Street for Mardi Gras. Most were wearing wigs, costumes, and playing an instrument of some sort. Others just danced and handed out beads and candy. It was something to see!

My fiddle lesson was cancelled today due to the weather. So instead, I had a relaxing trip to the grocery store to load up on fruits and veggies. All this cold dead weather is really making me crave fresh garden food. Also, I'm really sick of soup...

Ted took the boys swimming this afternoon. Finn swam a little bit without a life jacket on. And Briggs did a running jump into the water. It seems like they are both getting more comfortable.

Today I asked Briggs what he would like to do for a job someday. He told me he wants to make swords that can chop a lot of wood.

Isn't this little dude awesome?

Valentine's Week 2015

It has been a pretty uneventful week so far. It mostly consisted of driving kids back and forth between home and school. We did manage to have an awesome Indian night this week for dinner, and made 2 types of curry and garlic naan.

Yesterday Ted and I were participating in Finn's classroom. It was their Valentine's Day party, so I planned the snack around red and pink colors. Putting the trail mix in separate little baggies for each kid seemed like a good idea...until every single one of them dumped the bags out on the tables, and all of the contents were crunched all over the floor. Giving each one a smoothie in a little dixie cup also seemed like a good idea...until they all squished their cups so hard that somehow it all landed on the floor too. It was a crazy morning, and I came home pretty frazzled and had to lay down for the rest of the afternoon. Surprisingly,  2 1/2 is one of my favorite ages...but managing 18 of them at the same time seems insane to me!

I witnessed a very heart-melting moment this morning. We were driving home from the grocery store when I looked in the rear view mirror, only to discover all three boys were sound asleep in their carseats:) Which is why I decided to keep Briggs home from school this afternoon so that he could take a proper nap. We're going to stop by the school after he's awake so that he can drop off his Valentine's, and collect his envelope of cards.

I still need to get some fiddle practice in today, so that is what I have on my next to do list.

Fare Thee Well,
jaylyn

Friday night

Today I made a breakthrough with my fiddle playing. I adjusted my left thumb and it made all the difference:) I still have a long way to go, obviously, but being able to get that clear tone because my fingers were on the strings better really made me feel good. I am also playing around with adding fun little "fiddle sounds" at the end of songs...you know, the little diddy that sounds like 'brrrrring' at the end of a song? Okay, so maybe I just need to demonstrate with a video...if I get a chance I will upload my video I made today.

Max is sound asleep in his crib. He's trying out a sleep sack tonight. He looks ridiculous, but also cute! Ted and the other boys are watching NASA channel after Briggs got his first dose of Star Trek Next Generation earlier this evening. Did I mention that we considered the name Ryker when we were making baby name lists? Haha, I'm glad we went with Max:)

I finished a new needle felted tapestry this week. It is a picture of a gnome on a swing.

I'm enjoying a Lugene's Chocolate Milk Stout, and thinking about heading to bed shortly. This weekend we have no plans. Hopefully it will be relaxing.

Fare Thee Well,
jaylyn

Feb. 2/Groundhog Day

Just now getting around to my weekly blog that I had intended to write before the weekend, but our days ended up being kinda busy. I have a little time now while 2 of them are down for naps, and the other one is at school.

We were finally feeling the effects of having a newborn last week. Maybe because everyone including Max was fighting a nasty cold, or maybe because, well...we have a newborn. Either way, we were a tad bit sleep deprived and grouchy. 

Ted had some successful rocket engines turn out well with his new technique he's using for pouring the propellant. Also, if anyone is reading this and would like to nerd out with him and talk all things rockets, that would really make his day!

I had 2 art shows over the weekend that I had submitted pieces for. The Love gnome in the picture from the last post is on display at the Lawrence Percolator, which I haven't even been down to see yet. It will be up until the end of February sometime. And then I had all my needle felted gnome tapestries on display (or in pictures) at the Lawrence Creates Makerspace Final Friday event. I decided to stay for the party at the event, and I met a ton of new fiber artists from the community. It was inspiring to say the least. I even talked with a lady who uses Spoonflower, to create her own fabric. That's definitely something that I would like to get into. Ted and I have several doodles that we've kept in a binder that I think would make some fantastic gift wrap!

My aunt Bev, uncle Gordon, and  my parents came to visit us Saturday afternoon. They all swooned over Max, and I played them some songs on the fiddle. I learned the D scale this week, so I'm able to play a few "harder" songs now. Practice is going well, but it seems like whenever I master one thing, I neglect something else that I'm suppose to be doing. Like this week, I was doing much better with playing a clearer tone, but instead having trouble keeping my bow in the middle of the strings (in between the string adjusters and bridge) so the notes were sounding extremely off. Ugh, so much to think about at the same time! My teacher said that the fiddle/violin is the hardest instrument to learn after the organ. I'm starting to believe her.

I had an epic haircutting experience this weekend. Nevermind the embarrassing part about waiting in line at a barber shop forever and then being told they don't usually cut women's hair...that's a story for another time! But more importantly a whole 2 inches was chopped off! It needed to be done though.. all of my split ends were very uneven, and it was making it hard to "mess" with. I suppose after going 3 years without a haircut, I would eventually need to do some maintenance, but it was still a little sad for me.

Ted and I are trying to stay social, and we managed to go on a date...got a babysitter for all 3 kids, and went out for 4 hours with some friends this week. Oh Merchants...how I've missed you! If you didn't know, Merchants is one of our favorite craft beer serving places in this town. We also hosted a wing night on Saturday, and after putting the kiddos to bed we had a great game of Settler's of Catan.

Oh, and get this...we watched the Super Bowl last night. Ted was able to stream our computer to the t.v. so we could see it live. We made popcorn, ordered a pizza, and drank beers. We're so American!

It sounds like Finn is waking up from his nap. I'm going downtown to Doodlebugs and A.T.C. before picking up Briggs so I better get to it. Laterz ya'll.

Ooops... I mean Fare Thee Well,

jaylyn