On Wednesday a few weeks ago our boss emailed Waldo and offered to fly us all to Montana for the weekend so we could attend the office Christmas party. He offered last year but we couldn’t accept because the party was the same weekend as Lily’s birthday party and I had worked too hard on that party to give it up. This year we had no reason not to take Fred up on his offer and we also couldn’t turn down a chance to see our friends.  Lily hadn’t flown before so I was a little concerned about how she’d do on the plane. Neither Waldo or I were excited about the security crap at the airport, but we have missed the little family we made for ourselves in Montana so we put our fears aside and took the leap. We had a free place to stay, free airfare and we found a good price on a rental car, we were set.

Thursday night we worked like mad getting ready. I made sure that I had a lot of snacks for Lily, luckily I had just dehydrated a bunch of apples, pears and bananas the day before so we were set. We ran to Target and got Lily a little travel drawing thing to keep her occupied and we made sure her netbook was packed with her favorite movies and tv shows.

I laminated a free internet coloring page and she used her dry erase crayons on it and had a blast. I wish I would have thought of doing this before we bought the $10 travel dry erase board. I would have just bought the $4.00 dry erase crayons and been done with it.

I had her look out the window when we were above the clouds once. She thought it was neat, but wasn’t nearly as excited as I had expected her to be.  This was pretty much the first and last time she looked out the window.

We got off the plane and Lil was still in a wonderful mood even without a nap.  Waldo called the rental car guy and he drove over to pick us up and take us back to his office.  When Lil saw us putting her car seat into a strange car, with a strange man driving, she lost it.  She just melted into a puddle of sad Lilyness right there in the snow she had been so excited about.  We had to force her into her seat and after a while she fell asleep while we drove to the rental office. I felt bad for the rental car guy, but he said that he has a 3 year old so his ears are used to the high pitch scream.

When we got to the place we were staying Lil woke up and the meltdown continued. For a little while we weren’t sure if I’d be able to go to the office Christmas party, which was the whole reason we were flown to Montana.   We tried everything we could think of, but nothing worked until I used my magic bullet.  I nursed her for about 5 minutes and she calmed right down.  Lil wasn’t completely over it, if we said the wrong thing or tried too hard to get her to do something she would melt a little again, but we were able to calm her.  Once she was mostly calm we all got ready and somehow got her back in her car seat and off to the party we went.  It was at a restaurant that we weren’t familiar with so we got a little lost.  That was embarrassing, but we got there eventually and it just became a joke pretty soon.  Lily was great at the party, her normal shy, but super cute self.  We kept her up way too late, but even on the drive back to the house we were staying at she did great.

The next morning we got down to the real business of why Waldo and I wanted to go back so badly.  We went to breakfast with our chosen family.  We picked Jack and Becky up at their house and drove to the Buffalo Cafe, our favorite place to eat in Whitefish.  Some of our other friends met us there for breakfast: Malcolm, Gil, and Gil’s new girlfriend Rachael.

While I was getting Lily’s bib and highchair cover out of the trunk Becky asked Lil if she could pick her up.  Lil said yes and Becky carried her most of the way to the restaurant.  This is huge for our reserved, shy girl.  She never lets anyone pick her up, but Lily and Becky go way back and even if we haven’t seen Becky for a year and a half, we talk about her all the time.  Becky is my best friend and it’s perfect that she’s dating Waldo’s best friend (and hetero life mate) Jack.

I had to grab a picture of downtown Whitefish.  A better version of this picture is on postcards all over the place.  It’s so beautiful; the boughs and bells, Big Mountain in the background.  This is one of the thing that is so nice about living in a tourist heavy city, the city really makes an effort to be beautiful.

Lily was the star of the show at breakfast, and she ate just about everybody’s orange slices.

Gil tried on Lil’s sunglasses.  It was really, really bright in that corner.

We have sat at this table before in any number of combinations of these people and it was just as wonderful as I remembered and had expected it to be. It was so nice to get to be ourselves with these people who love us for just who we are.  We don’t have to wear any masks.  Even Rachel who I met minutes earlier got to see more of me then anyone in California or Idaho has with the exception of Waldo of course.  Rachael and I chatted and made small-talk over scrambled eggs, I hate small-talk normally, but it was pretty easy with Rachael.  With everyone else it was like being home again.  The conversations flowed just like they have for the last 14 or so years.  Jack, Malcolm and Becky were on the left of Lily and I; reminiscing about the previous nights laughs and shenanigans.  Waldo, Gil and Rachael on the right of Lily and me, talking about servers and end users suckage and I chatted with this group or that.  Everyones conversations overlapping, a friend tossing more info in the other conversation and then back to your own.  It was great. It was home.

A little tid-bit of knowledge: I lived in the apartment above the store on Becky’s right (that you can’t see) for 8 years when we first moved to Montana.

After breakfast Lily, Waldo, Jack, Becky and I went back to Jack and Becky’s house.  Lily dropped her sunglasses in the snow and wasn’t at all happy with the snow on her glasses and shirt.

Lil is still reserved around Jack and he was trying hard to get her on his side.  I can’t describe how much this picture melts my heart.  Jack may be Waldo’s hetero life mate, but Jack and I have a great friendship ourselves and seeing this rather sweet moment just makes me so happy.

A different view of Big Mountain.

Lily really, really, really wanted to play in the snow so I took her outside and Becky came out, but didn’t plan on staying.  Lily asked her to play and she couldn’t turn her down of course.  I took the chance to take a ton of pictures.

Lily made a couple of snow angles.  The snow angles even had the puff balls from her hat, they were so cute.  Unfortunately the pictures without Lil didn’t turn out great.

Becky was helping Lil make a little snowman.

After a while Waldo, Lily and I made a quick trip to visit one of my former co-workers and friend Starr.  When we got back Jack, Becky, Waldo, Lily and I all went to lunch and had a great time just being together.

Jack doesn’t like getting his picture taken.  Honestly Becky doesn’t either, but I like the pictures I have of them.  Since we only get to see them once in a great while I like having the reminders of what their hats faces look like.

I had Becky take a picture of us. I don’t like just about any picture I’m in either, but I try to get over it so there’s a few pictures of me with Lil or our whole family together.

Becky has a thing for Legos.  And by thing I mean full-blown obsession.  Here’s Lil with Becky’s Lego-man lantern.  Sorry about the weird picture, the light wasn’t great in the house and my phone doesn’t take very good low light pictures.

We finally made ourselves leave Becky and Jack’s much later then we had planned, but we just couldn’t pull ourselves away any sooner.

The next morning we had breakfast with our friends Anthony, Maggie and their 2 1/2 year old Conrad, and Jesse, Jamison and their 9 month old daughter Teagen. We all had a great breakfast at a place that Waldo and I had never been to, but I can tell you that we will visit that place again.  Jesse and Jamison had plans for the day so they left after breakfast and the rest of us went back to Anthony and Maggie’s.  It was really nice, we hung out and caught up on old times.  I can’t believe that I didn’t get a single picture.  Later that afternoon we headed back to the airport.  Lily had just as good a flight on the way home as she did on the way to Montana.  I really couldn’t have asked for more.

I have to say that we had a great time and I miss all of our fiends in Montana, but I was so glad to get home and back to our bed.  Hopefully we will get to see them all again sooner rather then later.

Well this is going to end up as Mostly wordless.

One of my best friends from high school came to California to visit this summer and we got together at a park so the kids could play. This was the first time Suzanne and I had seen each other since right after high school graduation. I know that 17 (gulp) years have passed and we both have kids of our own, but I still feel like a kid myself and like we were in school together yesterday.

We wanted to go to the zoo one last time before we moved and we wanted to take Olivia again because of how much fun Lily and Livi have been having together.  I started to worry that we weren’t going to be able to go because Waldo couldn’t take the time off of work, but Jolene (my Sister) could.  Yay.

I don’t think Livi gets why Lily loves the statues so much.

We timed it just right so that we could feed the giraffes again.

I really thought she was going to do it, she’s done it before.

Lil was NOT into it this time.

We saw a peacock time time. Because the peacocks roam freely around the zoo it’s very hit and miss whether or not you see them.

Jolene and Olivia

The Grizzly Bear usually just sleeps the whole time, but today he was almost putting on a show for us.

That was enough. Nap time.

The girls were watching the camel.  After they walked away the camel got in his little watering hole and splashed himself.  It was kind of neat.

Our Mom meet us at the zoo after a while.

I think Lily was tired of smiling.

We stopped by the elephant and orangutang before we headed out.

See the baby?  He’s getting so big.

This is the first time we’ve ever seen the baby venturing out on his own.

Mama wasn’t far behind.

Grandma Gail (GG) kissing Lily bye bye.

I’m so glad that we were able to go to the zoo one last time and I’m definitely glad I was able to spend time with my sister, niece and Mom before we left.  It wasn’t enough time, but it was a lot of fun. I miss you all so much!

I uploaded a bunch of stuff from my camera the other day and found this from when I was watching Olivia. The girls are using food bag clips to shave with. Such great imaginations.

I talked about watching my niece and how the girls and I made playdough, but I didn’t get a change to write about the rest of the day.

There was a lot of “working” going on.

It's Livi's turn to work rigth now. I think Lily is telling Livi how it's her turn next.

There was a lot of checking out toes. I don’t get what it is about a toddler and their toes, but both Lily and Livi spent a very strange amount of time checking out their toes.

Lily is thinking about her toes. She hasn't touched them in at least a hour.

Got em!

We had a few moments of super sweetness. Livi was signing “twinkle twinkle” to Lily to help her fall asleep.

They took turns “falling asleep” and I think you will agree after watching the video that no one was actually going to go to sleep.

And the thing that is most looked forward to, the thing that is most talked about, the thing that is the most fun; jumping on Lily’s bed. There was a lot of that.

Jumping Beans

These two certainly know how to have a good time.  They wear me out.

We really miss Olivia.  She turned 3 yesterday.  Happy birthday Livi!

I’ve watched my niece Olivia once day a week for the last couple of weeks and it’s been so much fun, with a few meltdowns thrown in, but mostly a lot of fun.  I was very a little nervous about keeping Livi because I wasn’t sure how Lily would do.  I’ve watched Livi before a number of times, but this time I’m keeping her at our house rather than at my Grandma’s house and I wasn’t sure how Lily would take someone else on her turf.  Livi’s been here twice now and for the most part Lily LOVES it.  Lil talks about “her new friend OliviWa” for days after and is quite unhappy when Livi leaves.  I don’t get nearly as much work done as I normally do, but I make up for it after she leaves or the next day.  It’s so worth it and again this one of the biggest reasons I’m sad about moving (I promise there’s a post about this in my drafts).  I grew up really close to my cousins and have always wanted that for Lily.  It’s taken her a year, but she and Livi are friends now, I don’t want her to loose that.  Anyway back on track.

The last time that Livi was over Lily slept terribly the week night before and (my sister) Jolene brought donuts for breakfast, Lily and Livi shared one.  I should stop here and remind anyone that doesn’t know, that we limit Lily’s sugar intake to almost nonexistent. About a hour and a half after the donut Lily had a meltdown of epic portions, it took me a few minutes to figure it out, but as soon as I took her in the kitchen and gave her something to eat (toast) she was fine again.  While we were in the kitchen I decided that we should make some playdough and have some fun.

I pulled Lil’s Learning Tower up to the counter and showed Livi what it was for.  I let each of them dump one of the major dry ingredients into the pan, Lily is a pro at this.  Then let them each take a turn at stirring before I put the hot water in.

Livi wants a turn so badly

Score!

While the playdough was cooling we set the dining room up for messy playing with my standard crafting covers. I put a leftover birthday party, cheap, plastic tablecloth on the table, and my old t-shirts on the girls. Because they are my t-shirts of course they are WAY too big so I gather up some of the excess material at the back of the neck and twist it a little and clip it with a pampered chef clip. It works great.

Rolling worms

Squishing flat circles

At first they just used their hands and the one play kitchen item they each had for some reason with the playdough. After a while Lily started asking for our normal playdough mashing devises.

Lily's knife = dull butter spreader

I also give them a potato masher and a old garlic press.  Lil loves the garlic press and had the first go with it.  As soon as Livi saw the neat sketti noodles it produced she had to try it.  It took  her a little trying to figure out the right ratio of dough and force, but she LOVED it.

I'm pretty sure she's using "the force" to make this bend to her will.

I'm sure she's wondering why I keep taking pictures.

Just look at all that sketti!

They had such a good time that they played for almost a hour.  Anyone that has ever babysat while keeping their own kid alive would appreciate just how exciting it is when you find something to keep them both alive, not fighting, sharing nicely and mostly clean for almost a hour. It was bliss.

Yes we went to the zoo again.  In fact it was less than a week after the last time.  What can I say, we love the zoo and are trying to get our moneys worth out of the annual membership.  This time we took my niece Olivia with us.  I was a little worried about having two toddlers at the zoo, but Waldo was there to help and they are both pretty well behaved.

We picked Livi up and headed out.

Lily was a little specious.

She got over it pretty quickly.

Lily showed Livi some of her favorite things.

We bought two little water spraying fans because we knew how hot it was from the last time we were there. The girls spent the first 45 minutes or so watering the zoo.

Looking at the prairie dogs.

He's suspicious.

"What you looking at, foo?"

Livi's watering the camel.

You get the idea.  Lots of water being sprayed at the zoo, very little of it being used to cool anyone off.

Livi's trying to get the llama to come to the fence so she could water him.

How fricking sweet is this? They were watching the ant eater, but seriously who cares about the animal, look at those girls.

We tried something we hadn’t done before at the zoo. We went to the bird show. We were sure the girls would have a blast.

They couldn’t have cared less.

Waldo and I thought it was awesome!

This guy wasn't part of the show, but he didn't want to be forgotten. He stood like this for probably 10 minutes. It was really cool.

We walked through the petting zoo, but only Livi was interested. I think Lily was too tired to care. We stopped at the kangaroos right before the petting zoo and Lily laid down on the ground. When I asked her if she was ok, she told me “I’m very tired”. I wish I had gotten a picture of it.

Next we hit up the rainforest hopping to get cooled off a bit.  We didn’t.

A porcupine. They are uglier than I expected.

On our way to the tiger Livi sat down to mess with her shoe. Lily thought it was a good idea.

I did not.

We stopped by the elephants on the way out.

We were spent

Livi was asleep before we left the parking lot and Lily was asleep just before we got home. Thankfully they both survived the transfer to the house and stayed asleep for another hour or two.

Then we went swimming at my Aunt’s house.

We had a great day with both girls. They were so cute together and it is one of the biggest reasons that I’m sad that we are moving again (post coming soon). I’m trying to plan another trip to the zoo with Livi and her Mama before we go.

For those of you keeping score, we’ve been to the zoo 7 times this year. I think if we go once more we will have paid for our membership. I’m pretty happy about it.

A few weekends ago we took a quick and unexpected although very nice trip to visit some of Waldo’s family by the coast. We never made it to the ocean, but we had a great time. I have met his Aunt Shelby and cousin Keri once or twice before, but haven’t really had a chance to sit and chat. We stayed with Keri and after we got our respective kids to bed we sat outside for hours chatting, it was really nice. I hope to do it again before we move (that’s another post, to be made very soon).

For a while we have been planning on buying Lily a tricycle, but haven’t felt in too big of a hurry until now. She had a blast on Waldo’s cousin’s son’s tricycle.

Daddy's helping Lily go! go! go!

Just look at that concentration. She means business.

These truly are random.

I have started letting Lily blow bubbles while she takes a bath. She loves it and if she spills it’s no big deal.

I made Flan a few weeks ago and gave Lily some. She wasn’t too sure of it at first (she wasn’t the only one), but she realized it was really yummy.

I try to do some kind of art or sensory play pretty often (not as often as I’d like, but I’m working on that). Here’s Lily playing with toys in shaving cream.

My Father-in-Law has some fruit trees in the back yard and every year he has to fight birds because they eat his cherries. He put nets over the trees and they word pretty well, but birds still eat the cherries that are against the net. I made him some foil covered tubes that I hung from twine to help scare the birds. I don’t think they helped much, but Lily and I had fun making them.

Lily and her cousin Jude, I think they were watching Thomas the Train on a netbook.

Here are some random shots from one day Lily and I were at my Dad’s with Livi.