Grandpa Teeters' Birthday Weekend

June 6th was my dad's birthday so we made plans to go to the "west side" for some good ol' fashioned family fun. We had planned on all 5 of us J Crewers making the trip but at the last minute Josh and Jayden got sick. (Well, Jayden was teething and so he had the nasty runny nose plus the irritability that comes along with it. I don't know what Josh's excuse was. hehehehehehe) So the girls and I decided to depart into the wilderness without our men for a little girl bonding time. And Josh and Jayden held down the fort all weekend and bonded as only a father and a 9 month old son can; son waking DAD up at 5:30 a.m. for his morning feeding and son having multiple blow out diapers all weekend for DAD to take care of, and son knocking over a full garbage can all over the kitchen floor so his DAD could clean it up. (Once again, hehehehehehehe)

The picture above was taken just minutes before the girls and I hit the road. They were super excited to get to grandma's house, as demonstrated by Jaclyn's enthusiastic head-banging. The trip was going quite well for an hour or so. Girls had a movie going. I was listening to my grown-up music. (well, how grown up are the Black Eyed Peas?!) And massive amounts of Twizzlers were being consumed by all aboard.

Then things took a turn for the worst. Jaclyn started whining about her tummy hurting. I figured, okay, time to cut her off from the Twizzlers, right? Wrong. She was getting carsick. (My kids get carsick unless they take Dramamine before long trips.) We were coming up on North Bend when I heard the sound no parent ever wants to hear in the car. Huuuurrrrrrl. All over the place projectile style. Ug. Poor thing. She was crying, "I all yucky mom, I all yucky!!" Thank goodness we were near a gas station where I could hose her and her car seat down. Knowing that my kids are prone to motion sickness I always pack towels, washclothes, garbage bags, etc. for just such an occassion. Good thing I came prepared that day!!

Anyway, after all that drama, we pressed on to my parent's house where we were welcomed by their usual warm hospitality. A hot dinner, warm baths, comfy beds, and pop up books for bedtime stories. Oh yeah, and chocolate ice cream in their freezer. ;-)

On Saturday afternoon we (my parents, both my brothers, and I) took the girls to see Pixar's new movie, "Up". If you haven't seen it yet, what are you still doing sitting there?? Get up!!! Go!!! Now!! It was so good. The first 20 minutes will make you cry. Guaranteed. And the girls behaved themselves remarkably well in the theater. So did my brothers.


This is my brother Dylan and the girls right before leaving for the movies.


Here's me and my girls right after the movies.


After we got back to my parent's from the movies, the girls went down for naps. Later that day we celebrated my dad's birthday with a BBQ and cake & ice cream. Sorry this is the only picture I took of my dad blowing his candles out. Not a very good pic. The girls assisted in the blowing. Or in Jaclyn's case, the spitting.



Then on Sunday afternoon we took the girls to Pt. Defiance Zoo & Aquarium in Tacoma. They were in heaven.







Here's my parents with the girls. Jaclyn was letting us (and everyone within a 2 mile radius) know that it was time to see one more exhibit and then go home!!

The last thing we did was take them to the kiddie activity area of the zoo. Kids can play in the sand, climb a roped web like a spider, crawl in and out of huge play sea shells....









It was a fun weekend!!