Bumps, bruises and scars aside

We HaD aN aWeSoMe VaCaTiOn!!!!

I posted a handful of pictures and a couple videos on here while I was on vacation, but I never really talked about what we did, plane flight post excluded of course! And naturally I have MORE photos to share.


One of the greatest things my kids enjoyed while in Oregon was the trampoline. Ethan just liked the new attention he received by being outside with brother as well as simply being outside. He was the bounc-ee for Ayden, the bouncer. :) Ayden jumps just enough for him to not go flying all over the place. The Kunz's also have a trampoline and even though I don't have any photos of us on their trampoline I want to share this story anyway. Naturally when this happened in real life it only took about 10 or less seconds, but I wouldn't do the event justice if I didn't fully describe it. 

I was out on trampoline laying down while Grandpa Kunz was on the ground making sure Ethan didn't crawl off. Ayden and I were bouncing together, or more like he was hanging onto me for dear life while we bounced. Laughing and loving it by the way, BUT after doing that for about 10 minutes I was wiped out and layed down. Much to the protest of the munchkin I was just playing with. After Ayden finally accepted that I was done-- mind it took him a couple swings at me to do this, he continued to bounce on his own. Ethan then noticed that I was on the trampoline floor and squirmed out of Grandpa Kunz's hands, making a B-line for my face. He gave it a few good slaps before I moved him onto my belly, so that he could ConTiNuE the face pulling, slapping and sucking. You think I'd learn! It was about two minutes of Ethan laying on my belly and Ayden jumping around AND me distracted and talking to Grandpa Kunz when I noticed out of the corner of my eye something massive flying through the air at me. A split second before I realized what it was I put my hand up to guard Ethan and caught Ayden on the lower half of my stomach. HE CAME OUT OF NOWHERE! If I could have slowed it down it would have looked like he was swimming through the air. All I could see was this big smiling face with flailing arms and legs rocketing toward my body and I MEAN rocketing!.... right to Ethan and I.

You need to remember that this collision was not in the least graceful. If it were a flock of birds colliding there would have been feathers sprayed all over the place. If you've ever done a race in track then you'll understand that when you're so focused on something that all other sound is drowned out beside the sound of the wind in your ears or the very faint sound of the screaming crowd. In my case, I heard the faint noise of Grandpa Kunz in the background. Something probably like "whoa!" or "stop!!" or simply "AHhhhHH!!!" One of those. After things had settled down, Ayden just simply got up, looked at the both of us with a 'what the big deal?' face and continued to bouce. It was pretty hilarious!

We also had the opportunity to go to the beach while on our vacation. I'm going to make this portion of the entry short only because I've already posted pictures with us there. First thing. IF you've ever gone to the beach in Oregon you should understand that- no you really don't ever get in the water. It's like that pretty decoration on the Christmas tree that you want to touch oh so badly, but you'll be severely punished if you. In this case getting in the water means you'll most likely and most instantaneously freeze your tooshie off! Jackets are a norm and unpleasant wind to make it even more chilly *cough* miserable! is common as well. BUT about once every decade you get lucky! We won the Coast lottery! Finally made it to the end of the rainbow to the pot of gold! It was a beautiful day! Ayden was able to stay in the water up to his chest without me worrying that he would turn into a blueberry. So... naturally that is where he basically lived the entire time we were there. There was barely enough wind to fly a kite. TOo bad for the kite flyers out there, but the rest of us were loving it! I haven't actually gotten into the water in years, so I didn't bother to bring my bathing suit. But this time I got into just below my chest. It was a beautiful thing. When we were ready to go I had to pry Ayden off the sand as well as Ethan. Ethan took to eating the sand instead of playing in the water. Both were equally satisfied as far as I'm concerned. Ok- so that is a bit long, but considering HOW long it could be, this was a short entry. And onto other things now!

 The Zoo! Boy do I ever love the zoo.... BUT it would also be awesome if when we went to the zoo that the animals actually came out to say hi! We got to see a lot of cool creatures, but we also missed out on a lot too. No lions, tigers or bears. Oh my. :) Polar bears that is. My kids didn't care though. They still had a lot of fun.

Ayden got to come into a bird sanctuary full of these little colorful guys and they would fly onto your arms and let you get really close to them. Ayden was entranced. You could pay a $1 for this sweet liquid and then you were guaranteed a birdie friend. We opted to just stand embarrassingly and awkwardly close to those individuals willing to fork out the dollar.

Ayden was observing the monkeys here and I'm sure he was thinking that he could possibly be related to some of those guys down there. Uncanny likeness and all.

They also had a couple of petting zoos open for the children to pet the animals. I remember those being so much more exciting when I was younger. Ayden didn't seem all that thrilled with petting the animals. he was more interested in the terrain they dwelled in and crawled all over the place.

But yes I did get one photo of him petting the lively goat.

Ethan was a very good boy the entire time. He sat pretty much in that spot for the entire trip. After a bit my dad noticed that he was tossing his head back and forth and asked if he could be bored. We picked him up and he was so ecstatic to get out that he tried to climb up my body to my shoulders. His little legs and arms were kicking fast enough to power a small boat.

I'll admit though- I didn't mind holding him and neither did my Dad when my arms started to go dead from his weight. He's only about 15 lbs, but he's a very wiggly and busy 15 lbs!

 My Dad loves being a grandpa and Ayden loves his grandpa. I think they'll be good buddies even when they both get older. :)

Happy to be alive!

These last few photos are post vacation, before I post them. I want to mention that the plane flight home was about as busy as the flight in. I even gave them Benadryl, it did NOT work! Higher dosage next time. :P A woman told me how brave I was to do that... I was thinking more along the lines of crazy and stupid. Those two seem to fit better.

The house was clean when we got home.

It did not stay like that for long.

 

Ethan is much more mobile now and found this little cubby hole. I was trying to get a picture of him all the way in there....because YES his entire body was stuffed into that hole. What he was doing in there? I have no idea, but he was happy.

If you look close enough at this photo you can see a little bruise by his left eye or right side of the photo. This is what happens when babies get out of sorts and try to follow you around the house. In Ethan's case he tried to climb up my chair and the chair ate his face. Poor guy. As you can see he was truly upset for a very long time. :P

 

All in all-we were very glad to be home in our own element and also very sad to go home. Ayden still asks me, "Where's damma? Where's gammpa?" As well as all of my siblings. I am sure if we had spend more time with the Kunz family he would have been asking where they were too. :)