Happy Thanksgiving

Side note: I thought about starting this on Thanksgiving and given my current rate, I'll be complete by December!

Back in Chapel Hill after a fabulous trip away. We flew out of Maui at 5pm after a tasty Hawaiian turkey dinner and got home Friday at noon. The best part of the trip was that I had an entire row on the flight...never have I been so thankful for the perk of taking a chartered flight with the team.  I slept about 3 total hours (trip from LA to Chapel hill was only 4 hours traveling east) and that was enough to sustain me until I crashed with the kids at 8pm on Friday night. 

The kids did well in our absence, I think.  I also think we owe Erics parents a very nice Christmas gift that doesn't include uninterrupted time with their grandkids. Grandma, who took the brunt of the middle-of-the-night shenanigans, looked like she needed a 24 hour nap when we returned.

As for our trip, highlights included doing whatever the heck I wanted. Unfortunately, I was never able to sleep in past 7am, but not being forced to wake up was magical. 

Eric had told me our room was not ocean facing.  But when this is the "bad" view out of your hotel balcony, life is good.

 

We did have some ocean sightings. Like all day.

 

Eric had two slow days, Sunday and Thursday. Sunday we had a lot of beach/pool time and Thursday we chartered a boat for the morning and went snorkeling. 

 

 

 

Obviously, this is not me flipping off the boat....though I did, sorry mom. My mom said she "did not appreciate" seeing the videos of my diving off of a cliff and jumping off of a waterfall. Both were incrediblely fun.

When we were driving back to shore, the team had a welcoming crowd on the beach. Here's a cute picture with some of the sign-holders.

 

One of my favorite days was the day we went hiking in the rain forest. It was probably good that Eric did not join me because within 10 minutes we were fording a river up to our knees wearing our tennis shoes. Needless to say, at the end of the hike, I had very muddy shoes and very prune-y feet.

 

We at guavas and passion fruit from the trees and enjoyed the beautiful scenery. 

 

 Grace is pregnant and was disappointed not to be able to jump in the waterfall like the rest of us, so here's here taking a dip. Note for my mom: the waterfall we jumped off of was not this high.

Here are some horizontal and vertical panoramic views. Our guide had some photographic skills.

 

 

Farewell Maui! Until we meet again...

 

 

Flying by and flying high

November is here! Wait, it's almost over? How did that happen! It's cliche to say, but seriously, this month has flown. Speaking of flying, I am currently at cruising altitude en route to Maui. 12 hours on a plane? No problem, because NO KIDS.  Eric flew out to Honolulu with the team on Wednesday and by this morning, I was ready to pass off the kids! 

Erics cousin and her husband are the first lucky victims recipients of our children's love and attention. I've already got one update...this is Cole drawing up plays with Brady.

 

Avery is the X factor and I'm praying for a good showing from her!   Avery got sick on Tuesday night and I was super thankful not to be scheduled to fly out the next day. I mean, look at those sad eyes?

 

But she is great now and there were no tears upon leaving, though Brady did give me the guilt trip. When I told him I didn't have to leave, he said, "So you want to leave us?" #nocomment

While I have you here and have nothing distracting me, here's a few things we've been up to. 

 

We go to a weekly playgroup that I have gone to since Brady has 3 months old (he didn't do much playing back then). He has now aged out and the newest crop is starting to play.

And my boys continue to amaze me with their sleeping habits.

 

 

 

Kindergarten is pretty rough.

Basketball season is in full swing and the kids went to their first game. Avery did awesome and even did some aisle dancing.

 

 

I've been doing a lot of painting to prepare for Christmas and Avery has proven a quality model.

 

 

Off to do some important things on this flight...like read, sleep and relax! 

Election hangover

In case you just awoke from a coma and you went straight to my blog before entering the real world, thanks for your loyalty and sorry to be bearer of bad news, but Donald J. Trump will be your next president. Nope, it's November, not April Fools. No, there's not a wall you'll need to scale to move to Canada.

Ok, so the election hangover is still lingering (I fear it will last four years), but since we've all had election overload, here is a (mostly) non-political update.

I lied! Here's voting day!

I was proud to bring all my kids along as I voted for the first female candidate! (Here's what blissfully unaware looks like).

 

Eric and I were watching election coverage, and I heard a thump from upstairs as someone fell out of the bee. This is what I saw when I went up to check on them. They continue to amaze me with their sleeping situation.

 

Brady is in to coloring and comes home from school asking me to print him out something. This time, I printed out a family of five, and he filled in the color. This is our family, apparently.

 

He has my hair color right, at least. And that is confetti raining down if you were wondering.

Avery continues to be Avery. I love this girl to pieces.

 

 I told my dad to days ago however he was sleeping so much better. Typical to Avery, she then woke up five times last night. In general, she is doing great and I'm getting more sleep. I'm leaving for Maui in a week so I have been very motivated to get her sleeping better.

I'll leave you with a video that sums Avery up pretty well.