Christmas Vacation Part III - Bainbridge Island!

So after a whirlwind few days at my parents' house, we headed up to Washington on the train. Andy's parents recently moved to Bainbridge Island from Port Angeles and we were so excited to see their new house and happy that they are in a much more accessible location!

The train ride was so pleasant! We asked if there were any open seats to put the car seat on and the lady told us we'd have plenty of leg room.  This seemed pretty doubtful to me, but look! 

Shortly after we left, this was my view...she was such a trooper, but clearly under the weather.  Poor baby.

After settling in for a day or so, we took a trip out to Bloedel Reserve on the island.  It was a great way to get some fresh air and enjoy the beautiful (but cold!) weather.

Grandpa Dave bought Olive a new hat.  How cute is she?!

 Team purple coat!

It's amazing how tall the trees are in WA.  After just two and a half years in Alaska I feel like they should all be stubby spruces!

The reserve is beautiful.  Mostly wild, but then it has some really pretty manicured areas.

I guess the Bloedel family was big in timber in Canada.  This was their summer house.  BUMMER.

Inside we grabbed some cider and checked out the Christmas decorations.  I love the little villages!

This one had a train that puffed little smoke rings.

The details in the houses were pretty impressive.

Olive found them pretty entertaining.

Family picture!

After the house, we walked up to the Japanese Garden and tea house.

As we were walking through the woods we came upon a little surprise.  Silly camellia...don't you know it's winter?!

The rest of the trip we stuck close to home as Olive's cold got worse.  Here she is on New Year's Eve (WAY past her bedtime) not wanting to sleep, but just wanting to be held.

And after a too-brief visit with Andy's folks (I didn't take enough pictures.  Naylors - next time make me take pictures!!), we had to head back home.  An adventure in itself! First stop, ferry ride!

And then the airport before our three hour flight home.  Olive was in desperate need of a nap, but was too distracted by Papa's beard.

And then, after the ferry, and the airport, and a three hour plan ride, and the drive home, we got home late in the evening of the first.  Note she is in different clothes (what's a trip without an airplane blowout?!) and totally OVER IT.  Poor baby.

The next day, I headed off to work and Andy took Olive to the doctor where we found out she had two ear infections.  We're lucky she was as good as she was on the trip.  We had a fantastic time with our families, even if it was a totally crazy trip.  We're now a couple weeks out and we still aren't all completely healthy, but it was worth it! Happy 2015 everyone!!

Christmas Vacation (Part II...and another birthday!)

...The fun continues!! 

After the Christmas insanity, we had a quiet day around the house.  The Naylors and the Davises took the kids to the park to get muddy play and work out some energy. 

Throwing rocks in the river...

We got on the merry go round and rode it a bit.  These things used to be in parks all over the place and now they seem like a special  deathtrap treat that you can't always find.  Abby thought it was pretty fun, and so did Olive, who I was wearing in the ergo at the time.

Mike setting a good example.  Yes, Julian is lying in the mud down below.  So fun!

Back home, the babies went about 20 rounds together...

Isn't she the cutest? I know, I'm biased...

Check out her tooth! She now has TWO of them.

I don't really know that there are words for this picture, but it's hilarious.

Elizabeth has something to say about my cutest baby comment.  I admit it! She's also the cutest!

The 27th was Bryan's birthday.  Time for more cake and 20 more people in the house! The Gadekens and McCullochs drove all the way down from Seattle just to hang out for the evening and have brunch the next day.  What awesome friends we have!

On our last day at my parents, we headed out to check out the animal attractions.  Julian went to feed the chickens and look for eggs.

Unfortunately, this year's batch of chicks came with some roosters.  At least they're pretty!

Goats!

Checking out the goats!

He found eggs! Notice how blinged up the coop is with xmas lights.  Mom went a little nuts with them this year :)

And this...this is the face of a baby who didn't sleep after 11 pm the night before.  We thought it was just her teeth, but it turned out to be yet another cold.  Little did she know that ahead of us we had a long train ride to WA.  She was such a trooper.

Next stop, the Naylors!! 

Christmas Vacation (Part I)

I'm going to have to break this one up - I took a lot of pictures while we were down visiting our families in Oregon and Washington! 

We left on Christmas Eve, which I figured would be a pretty dead time for travel, but the airport was busy and our plane was full.  

All strapped in and hanging out at the airport

Alaska Airlines, who I normally love, messed up our seats and we ended up with a window and middle seat instead of an aisle/middle combo, which was extra frustrating.  Because we didn't have easy access to get up and walk around when Olive got fussy, we resorted to taking funny-face selfies, which she enjoys.

The empty water bottle was a more popular toy than pretty much anything we brought.

Finally made it to PDX, where I took an obligatory picture of Olive with the infamous carpet.  Did you know they're tearing it out?

After a two hour drive to my parents' house, we pretty much crashed for the night.  The next morning - CHRISTMAS!!

At points during our time there, we had something like 20 people in the house.  This trip marked the first time that my brother, sister, and I had been together in something like three years. In the time since I'd last seen Kelly, she had two kids!

Christmas morning we woke up and the kids opened stockings while we waited for Bryan and his family to drive down to our parents' house.   It was basically the last calm(ish) moment we had in our visit there.

Abby and Julian had a ball opening their stockings.  Every item was loudly announced to the crowd - "I got band-aids! Look! Look!"  It was pretty awesome.

We mostly spent the morning hanging out in our PJs.

Grandma snuggles! 

Olive got a new teether in her stocking.  Anything that goes in her mouth is pretty much a hit these days.  Then again, EVERYTHING goes in her mouth, so I can't say the teether was really that special.  Let's just pretend it was her favorite thing ever, okay? 

We got cleaned up before the masses arrived and then the chaos ensued.  Olive and I watched from a safe distance on the couch where I helped her open her presents.  

Most of my Christmas morning pictures are blurry.  Not because the shutter speed wasn't set high enough, but because of the chaos.  It was awesome.

This is Julian and his new sleeping bag.  I feel like this blurry picture exemplifies him.  He's a total ball of energy.

Remember when I mentioned my craft project for Christmas? Here is Grace, modeling hers! I made felt flower crowns for the girls and flower headbands for the babies.  I think they were a hit!

Cousins! They wore those princess dresses ALL DAY

Grace was happy to model for me.  If I ever decide to go sell these online, I'm going to use this for advertising.  She is so beautiful! 

Abby, also beautiful, however, not a fan of me with the camera.  This is her face that says "Over. It." I have a feeling this will be a common expression in about 10 years when she's a teenager.

Kelly was nice enough to model Abby's for me.  I think this is a good look for her!

More hanging out.  Despite the chaos, there were some nice quiet moments.  It was so nice to all be together on Christmas!

Hair pulling. Typical. 

I caught this awesome cousin moment between Abby and Grace.  Aren't they so cute?!

Olive also got to spend a lot of quality time with her little cousin, Elizabeth.  Olive is a whole 13 days older than Elizabeth, so she tried to exert her dominance on her cousin through numerous baby wrestling sessions.  Elizabeth, being born into a house of chaos, can definitely hold her own!

And then, to add to the insanity, it was time for my birthday!!

We only put one candle on the cake because it was ice cream and I think 33 candles would have melted it.

I had a wonderful helper while I opened presents.  She mostly just ate the wrapping paper.

I can't believe this was all one day! More vacation adventures to come!