time flies by

I'm not sure if time goes faster on the east coast but the past 3 days have just flown by. Here's a quick recap:

We got home Saturday afternoon and had nothing in the fridge so we went out to dinner with the Hancocks and the Corbitts. We ate at la Parrilla and I had the enchilada dish which was delicious. I washed it down with a couple of margaritas. It was a fun evening and I was happy to go out to eat since I didn't feel like being creative to find something to make with an empty fridge and pantry.

Sunday, Matt mowed Ms. Maria's lawn and I made up the weekly menu and grocery list. Matt dropped me off at the grocery store and he and the kids went to Home Depot to pick up a couple of attic fans since ours had rusted up thanks to this muggy climate.

Back home I hurried to put the groceries away and then it was off to Lea's 3rd birthday party. She is Frederick and Maria's daughter and lives 2 houses down from us. It was a fun birthday party with snacks, pasta salad, pizza and homemade sangria. There was also the obligatory birthday cake and ice-cream. Lea's parents went all out and even made up t-shirts for all the guests. Lauren and Tyler have pretty much lived in theirs since they got them. They wore them to bed and then each insisted on wearing them today.

Here are picture from a few minutes ago of them playing in the sandbox with their t-shirts. Later tonight Matt is hosting the Monday night poker game and we are going to have Lauren's friend Tera (Mike's daughter) spend the night since Mike needs me to watch her early in the morning. This will be Lauren's first slumber party and she's really looking forward to it.

Well the kids are starting to act up and Matt is off mowing Mike W's lawn for some poker money so I better stop ignoring them and find something for them to do.

it was pretty cool in retrospect...

The plane ride home was a little exciting so I thought I'd share. We got to the bustling Boise airport about 50 min. before our plane was to leave. We forgot our stroller at G'ma & G'pa's house so although G'ma Jan drove us there we had to wake G'pa Michael back up to bring it to us. They only live 10 min. from the airport so not too big of a deal. We got to the gate just in time to start boarding. (perfect timing if you ask me.)

The kids sat with Daddy on one side of the plane and I sat comfortably across the aisle. The kids enjoyed the take off and were doing great....although Tyler decided to go #2 not long after take off. Sorry to the other nearby passengers if you're reading this. After we reached our cruising altitude there was an announcement over the loud speaker saying there was an emergency on board and is there a Dr. on the plane. Hmmm. Alarming looks all around until we found the emergency. A girl about 4 rows behind me had passed out and seemed to be in some sort of diabetic shock (my own unprofessional assessment.) 4 flight attendents were surrounding her and giving her oxygen and a Dr. on board was taking her blood pressure and trying to revive her. After awhile and a glass of OJ she seemed to recover so the flight carried on as usual. About an hour and a half later I noticed that the girl was again surrounded by flight attendents and I saw her eyes rolling to the back of her head. Yikes. This time I could feel the plane slowly start to descend so I figured we were going to land and she was going to go to the hospital. After a min. later my thoughts were confirmed when the pilot came on and said we were going to make an emergency landing. A flight attendent came on next saying that this was going to be a rapid descent so stow all your carry ons, buckle your seat belts and hang on tight to those lap babies. I was a little surprised because I could feel the descent and it didn't feel like any descent out of the ordinary. Until...all of a sudden it felt like the plane just dove straight down. It was fast, very bumpy, and I couldn't even keep my feet on the floor. I'm not sure if it was due to the quick change in altitude or a panic attack but all of a sudden I felt very hot and that I couldn't breath. I put my head between my legs as well as I could since I only had about 3 inches between me and the seat in front of me. Finally, after what seemed like a long time being in a dive position we came to a safe landing at the Omaha, Nebraska airport. 4 med evac personnel came on and escorted the girl off the plane. She was able to walk off herself so I'm pretty sure she'll be fine.

This was my first emergency landing and now that I'm safe at home (although it caused about an hour delay) it seems kind of cool in retrospect.

the rest of vacation IN A NUTSHELL

it's been so long since I've posted that I think I'll just stick with the day by day picture-descriptions:

7/2

We went back to the Enchanted Forest for more fun. Lauren got brave and went down the slide by herself...quite a few times. Afterwards, we headed back over to Uncle Kevin and Aunt Mili's house for another delicious Peruvian dinner.

7/3

Back to the park at the bottom of Skinner's Butte. This time we brought Matt and we brought along a picnic lunch. The kids had fun playing in water and the sand there. We brought swimsuits this time. Here's a pic of Tyler swinging at the park.

The next day we packed up and caught a flight to Idaho. Grammy went with us for her first trip to the Potato State. Our first stop was at MeMa and Papa's house in Garden Valley.

Cousins Hailey and Cassiday

Tyler playing with cousin Madison

MeMa and Papa reading bedtime stories

Family picture in front yard of the Worley's "cabin"

Next stop: Boise, Idaho. Here we are with cousin Katlin at Grandma Jan and Grandpa Michael's house. (Aunt Carol is in the background.)

playing in the "swimming pool?" in G'ma Jan and G'pa Michaels courtyard

paddle boats at the park in downtown Boise.

Boise Nature Center

BBQ and pool time at cousin Madison's house.

Matt, Christine and Grammy

Big Boy Tyler on the plane ride home.

Sleepy boy Tyler on the plane ride home.

lotsa pictures, notamany words

6/23
We made it to the Portland airport! (l-r Lauren, Mommy Christine, Tyler, Aunt Mili)



6/24
Pizza Party in Junction City, OR. In attendance, (my) Uncle Butchy, Aunt Charlotte, Cousins Kelly & Kyle, cousin David and brother Brian, Mom - Gloria and Grandpa Barley (the kids's great grandpa)

Here is a pic of the kids and I with Uncle Brian. Lauren was quite aware the picture was being taken and chose to offer her profile to the camera.

6/25
Enchanted Forrest

"there was a crooked man who walked a crooked mile he had a crooked... ... ..." anyway - this was his house we visited.

Alice in Wonderland roller coaster. Such fun!!

down the roller coaster with Uncle Brian and Aunt Mili

back home at Uncle Kevin's and Aunt Mili's house. Uncle Kevin is winning the kids' affection.

We came back to their house for dinner and to spend time with Uncle Kevin after he finished working. The kids are really enjoying their Uncles (Brian & Kevin) and Aunt Mili and Grammy.

6/26
we took it easy today

6/27
Matt flew into town. Brad, Uncle Brian and I picked him up at the airport.

6/28
family get together at GG's house (Grandma Great.) We had fun visiting with all the cousins and uncles. It was pretty hot so we had fun in the bird bath and later in the mini swimming pool.

Isabella, Lauren and Tyler play in the bird bath.

fun in the mini pool

6/29
Barley family get together in Halsey, OR. Another fun fun day. Food inside, trucks and ball games outside and a pool and horse shoe tournament for the adults.

Tyler plays ball.

Uncle Kevin broke a Barley family record by winning both the pool tournament and also the horseshoe tournament. Here he is posing with his trophies.

6/30
Matt and I went wine tasting near Portland with Kevin and Mili while the kids went with Grammy to GG's house. Cousins Isabella and Conner (and mom ShaLee) came over to play too.

Here the kids are having a snack at GGs house.

7/1
Today Matt helped Brad at work. Our good friend ventured out on his own and is the proud owner of Brad's Car Tunes. Check him out here to get all of car audio and video needs met.

While Matt worked the day away the kids, Grammy and I went to a pretty cool park. It had lots of toys, sand and even water. That's a dangerous combination (sand & water) but luckily the kids stayed fairly clean.

playing in the sand

playing in the water

After the park we went to the 5th Street Public Market to eat lunch and also to visit the Elephant's Trunk toy store. Grammy bought each of the kids Thomas trains. Percy for Tyler and Molly for Lauren. As I type the kids are playing with these trains. I'm going to have to sign off now to get them settled into bed.

Have a good evening y'all.

enchanted day

Today we went to the Enchanted Forest. I used to love coming here as a child and it was even cooler to bring my kids there. Lauren and Tyler both really enjoyed the fairy tale themed houses and they even rode together on a train/roller coaster. I would have included pictures but I still can't figure out how to resize them so they are smaller (and won't take up a big chunk of my allowed picture space on blogger.)

After the Enchanted Forest we went on up to Woodburn to see Aunt Mili and Uncle Kevin's house. I hadn't been there since there has been a woman's touch to it. It looks very inviting and clean! now. It definitely looks like a home now. Mili made us a delicious Peruvian dinner. Adobo chicken, mashed potatoes and rice with aji salsa. It was similar to this recipe but different and I'm sure better. =) I'm pretty sure I could live off of white rice and the aji salsa.

After dinner the kids played with Uncle Brian and Aunt Mili while we waited for Uncle Kevin to get home from work. We all visited and played for another couple of hours. Lauren kept asking where "Aunt Meewee" was whenever she wasn't in the same room together. She really took to her and loved to play chase and trains with her.

Later and already past the kids bedtime, we headed for home and bed. I'm still getting over my jet lag and lack of sleep since the kids aren't sleeping in so I'm headed off to bed very soon now.

you have to read this!

http://granolasdodallas.blogspot.com/2008/06/chain-reaction.html

Eat at your own risk and have plenty of tissues handy for the tears that sneak out from laughing so hard. (I wish my blog was as well written as hers!)

Lauren says it's cold here!

It was about 65 degrees last night when we finally got into Portland. Despite the frigid temps (ha ha) it was an uneventful and pretty smooth plane ride. We had time for drinks, snacks and one Thomas video and then it was time for our descent. The kids love going fast during take off and landing. And Tyler is so psyched about planes right now.

After we got off the plane Grammy and Mili (my sister-in-law) met us and helped us get our luggage and get into the car. We were all starving so we met up with my brother Kevin at a Shari's in Woodburn for a late dinner. On the way to dinner Mili taught Lauren to count in spanish. Lauren kept saying "hola, dos, tres...." I'm sure she'll learn eventually, especially if Aunt Mili keeps working with her. The kids were so tired at dinner they were giddy. Especially Tyler. He was delirious and laughing at everything. They both slept the whole way home but were ready to play and read books with Uncle Brian and Grammy when we got home.

This morning the kids were up bright and early...6am early!! I'm not enjoying this time change. They had enough new toys in their bedroom so I was able to snooze for another hour while they played. Once we got downstairs the kids had so much fun playing with uncle Brian. He set up his old train track and they played and played. I let them play together and took a job (jog, oops)around the old neighborhood. The houses and streets sure look smaller than what I remember.

Back home I made BLTs for lunch. This was Uncle Brian's request but he doesn't know how to make them. (He still doesn't but that's okay)

Currently the kids are napping and I'm watching Uncle Brian and my favorite soap.... It's on an hour early here. Later we're meeting Great Grandpa Bob and my Aunt and Uncle for pizza.

I did take some pictures but I can't figure out how to resize them but once I figure it out I'll post 'em.