A Glimpse into the Future

Oh Lord help us in a few years...

~I don't remember signing up for teenagers~

Our Upcoming Trip

To break up this really long, boring, wet winter, we have decided to take our annual vacation a little early. Plus, I don't want to be driving on a long road trip when I'm 20 months pregnant. So...we figured we will just take it a little early. Another change is that my sister and her family are going with us, as well as our good family friend. This way, the kids will have playmates and there will always be someone to go on rides with. This year, we have decided to visit Disneyland again...yay!! We went last time when Rylee was 2 and she hasn't stopped talking about it since then.

We've decided to leave when I get off work at 4 pm and drive straight through to San Diego where we will stay the night and go to Sea World the next morning. My family has never been to Sea World and I must say that I am very excited to go! Right now, I'm excited to go anywhere that the sun is shining :) From there, we will drive back to Anaheim and stay the week there. We're also planning on visiting California Adventure this time around. We didn't go last time because Rylee was too small to be able to go on hardly any of the rides which in turn would mean I wouldn't be able to go on anything. I don't really mind this fact (since I won't this year either) because I'm not much of a "ride" person. I send myself into a panic attack and freeze on the spot. The most I can do is the Ferris Wheel and a roller coaster as long as it doesn't go upside down or in a loop. There are a few in between, but I have been known to wait in line for an hour and then walk away when it's my turn. My poor family! This is another reason why I am glad there are several of us going. I'm also hoping for splendid sunny weather so we can go on water rides as well. Can you tell I'm excited? Now if I can only wait until the end of February....

My mom's family is from southern California and it was so much fun last time when we found my grandmother's old house and pulled off the side of the road for pictures. So many childhood memories came flooding back of walking down those streets and all of the smells from different shops everywhere. We didn't get to visit too often but when we did, it stuck with me for a long time. Maybe one of these days I'll look up one of my cousins or aunts and stop by for a visit.

I'm hoping that my morning sickness will be gone by then so I can enjoy everything. I'll be 4 months by then so I'm planning on it going on vacation (forever) as well. I had my first real appointment this morning besides the ultrasound I had a couple of weeks ago. It was the fun one where they poke and prod everywhere (sorry if that was TMI). Anyway, I got to hear the peanut's heartbeat and my midwife said that everything looks perfect. She said the word "perfect" about 6 or 7 times so I'm guessing that's a good thing :) Even though this was a huge oops and surprise, I find myself getting past that finally and looking forward to what is to come. I still can't believe I will have 4 children when all of this is said and done. I always saw myself with only 3 so I'm a little nervous. Obviously God had other things in mind. Luckily my two older ones love love love babies and I know they will be a tremendous help.

So, we're really looking forward to our trip and hope that time flies until we get to leave. Until then, is a little sunshine too much to ask for? I need to move to a sunnier state!!

Snow in Western Washington??

This past weekend, we took a trip up to Mt. Rainier. I don't think we've been there in at least six or seven years and it has changed quite a bit in that time. There is a new visitor's center and a really cool sledding area. Our party included ourselves, and Mike's two sisters and their kids. We had quite a large sledding team!

The parking lot was full at the top, so we headed down a level and parked there. It was a short trek back up to the top but it was so worth it. It was snowing and really cold but the kids were so excited because we haven't had any snow this year and after last year's 24 inch dump, it's been quite disappointing. So, this snow trip was very much appreciated. We stayed for about 5 1/2 hours and ate lunch in the center. I didn't get a chance to sled because the ride looked very bumpy and fast and I was a little weary of bouncing a baby right out of it's happy home! Everyone else took full advantage of the race track sledding slopes.

I hope to not wait so long for the next trip! Lots of fun was had by all...

Moving Forward

It sure has been a long time since I have last blogged. So many things have happened but I just haven't had the energy or patience to write about them. I took many pictures with witty captions planned but they just never made it onto cyber paper. It would just be kind of weird if I started posting Christmas pictures now...so I will just move forward!

One reason for my absence could be due to feeling so poorly lately. The Thanksgiving/Christmas/New Year holidays are normally my favorite time of the entire year but this year was kind of a disappointing blur. Family and festivities and presents and all of that fun stuff was still wonderful but my normal excitement was absent. Hopefully next year will be better. I know it will definitely be more chaotic as we will have an extra family member by then. That's right... I've joined the bandwagon of pregnant people. Talk about a surprise! So, what is three for now, will soon be 4. I'm hoping the sickness will end soon as I'm almost 10 weeks because the whole "morning sickness" is a bunch of bunk. It should be re-named "all the time sickness." Must have been a male that made that name up :)

Anyway, hopefully my energy and writing abilities will soon return and I can start posting pictures again. Here's to the new year!