Our Journey Across the WORLD!!! (country)

Our Journey began one week ago with our "Plan of Achievement." This was a schedule Kevin and I created that involved all the cleaning and packing we needed to do. I get travel anxiety and it is worse with kids.
Rachel spent the night at our house on Thursday night because our flight was at 8:30am on Friday. We woke up super early, finished all the last minute packing, hit the road, stopping to get Jamba Juice before we got to the airport. Our flight was packed. We did ok for awhile, but then the DVD player died, the toys got boring, and all the books were read... it was time for some serious intervention.... DRUGS!!!! Yes, I am a parent who drugs their children on airplanes in desperate circumstances. Finally, Gavin passed out... we made a bed for him on the floor.

Hannah would not go to sleep! We hit some turbulence on our decent into the Newark Airport. Hannah fell asleep, of course. It was amazing to see the Manhattan skyline and the statue of liberty. I hope to be back there in July if the stars align correctly.
We were the LAST people off the plane... we just had so much junk, not to mention all the crayons we had to gather. We made our way to our connection. We had about an hour to kill. The kids were happy to get off the airplane. Hannah sat so nicely coloring her new Princess coloring book complete with stickers.

Gavin mooched some soda off Kevin, yes first we drug, then we caffeinate... See Gavin's airplanes? Kevin bought those for Gavin, Gavin loves them.

Our layover was a pleasant time of our trip, we were relaxed and our kids were happy. We got onto our flight with one minor problem... Kevin's carry-on was too big for the tiny airplane's tiny over head storage so we had to leave the suitcase at the gate. Rewind to about an hour ago, I consolidated all our carry-on items because we were traveling with too many bags. I put the diapers in the suitcase that was left at the gate. Fast forward to sitting on the plane waiting to take off... There were so many flights taking off from Newark we literally sat in line for 90 minutes baking on the airplane.... then Gavin POOOOOOOD! NOOOO!

At first I didn't realize the predicament I was in until I looked for the suitcase. It was gone. What was I supposed to do? I went to the bath room, scraped off the yuckiness in the diaper and lined it with paper towels. Call it a ghetto, white trash diaper, but I was DESPERATE. Finally after baking in the airplane for 90 minutes we took off. We landed in Norfolk, got our rental car, and drove to our hotel. We were all happy to get some sleep. The next morning we woke up at 8am (5am our time), got breakfast, and was on the road by 9am. Hannah was still a bit sleepy...

We drove 2 hours to the Outerbanks of North Carolina. We made it in one piece.

Last Day of Preschool

Today was Hannah's last day of preschool because we leave for North Carolina tomorrow. I was so sad. I've dropped her off and picked her up a hundred times, now I wish that I cherished every one. I will miss hearing who was the helper and the other preschool gossip I was privileged to hear every Tuesday and Thursday. Today was a day of reflection for me. Realizing how much my sweet baby girl has grown up this school year.
This is Hannah at her birthday party when she first started preschool back in November. (Because we moved to Long Beach in October she started late)

Hannah and Miss Baker on Hannah's last day of school.

Hannah loves Miss Baker. Miss Baker is your quintessential preschool teacher with her kind voice and eternal patience. She makes school magical, exciting, and enriching. She really loved the kids in her class. She is the kind of teacher you obey not for fearing punishment, but because you don't want to disappoint her. Miss Baker is wonderful and we will miss her and preschool, but we have a lot of fun and exciting adventures awaiting us this summer.

Crib Crisis!

Gavin got out of his crib for the first time tonight. He is quite skillful. He manages to flip his legs over the side of the crib.

Then shimmies down the side of the crib...

All while holding his "blah blah" (his blankie). What am I supposed to do?

I Got an A!!!

I got an A in my sociology class. I'm so excited, I feel like all my stressing out was totally worth it. I'm dedicating my A to my husband, my kids, Rachel, and my bowl of cookie dough.

Grandpa's Birthday

Grandpa loves to go fishing, I thought I would make him a "fishing" birthday cake. It made me feel so good when Kevin complimented it. He said it was a great cake.

I forgot my camera so I don't have any pictures of the festivities. I'll ask Rachel to send me some of her pics.

The Coolest Thing EVER

Do you hate it when your hair sticks to you when you run? Or how about when your ponytail gets caught under the bar when you're trying to do squats. Well, if you suffer from the same annoyances I do I just found the coolest thing for you.

They are "sport" rubber bands. They are your regular elastic rubber band, but there are pieces of ouchless rubber around to create more holding power. Totally awesome.

Arrrr Me Maties!

Our family went to an elementary school carnival tonight. Our good family friends, the Patricks, invited us. Julie (mama Patrick) organized the WHOLE thing. It was the most amazing school carnival ever, I didn't expect anything less from Julie. Not to mention her house is spotless. Kevin is good friends with Glen (dada Patrick) and Hannah is friends with Madilyn and McKensie (see 160 nails post).
Julie arranged for these cool face painting ladies to provide their services at the carnival. Hannah got a princess, pink, "parkely" butterfly. Gavin got a pirate face. He was so cute. We didn't get a picture of Hannah's butterfly before her major meltdown tonight, but here is Pirate Gavin.

Why is he so dang cute????