The Long Road Home & an Easter Photo Frenzy

For Easter, we loaded up the girls and headed to my Dad's new house in Port Orchard, Washington. You know when parents talk about how much gear it takes to sustain a couple of kids for a weekend, the whole "everything but the kitchen sink" cliche? Well, I'm hear to say that it's true.

It takes a LOT of stuff for a weekend now that we have two little ones. Annika, upon seeing her empty suitcase, announced that she is big enough to pack for herself. I suggested that she select a few books to take. She did, along with her new princess shoes, tutus, dress up clothes, crowns, coloring supplies, ballet slippers, a dolly, and her favorite pink blanket & pillow. Needless to say, her suitcase was full.

I squeezed her clothes into my suitcase, along with Lydia's gear; diapers, wipes, pajamas, Easter dress, back up Easter dress in case she spits up or poops on the original, back up clothes... you get the picture. By the time I attempt packing for myself, I realize that it's time to shop for a new suitcase; my cute O'Neill rolling bag from my surf shop days has been taken over. (I suppose this is as literal as metaphorical.)

Scrambling to find clothes that move beyond yoga pants & hoodies, I throw a few shirts and jeans into Josh's duffel bag, and search for church clothes suitable for breastfeeding. Tricky. Running through a checklist, making sure I have all the baby necessities, I realize that every last binky in the house needs to be sterilized.

Several hours past our targeted departure time, we are on the road, Lydia sleeping in her infant seat and Annika playing fruit ninja on Josh's iphone. With no pit stops, we cross the Tacoma Narrows Bridge, and are now only 20 minutes from our destination. Lydia begins to scream. Unwilling to pull over so close to the end of the journey, I climb to the backseat of our Passat wagon, squeeze between the car seats, buckle my self in, and scoot, lean, and struggle my way close enough to Lydia to breastfeed. It worked!

The next day was filled with egg decorating and exploring.

Lydia decided that puffs are an essential part of every meal.

Easter morning was filled with excitement; the bunny left gifts & candy, and eggs all over the yard and garden. Annika was in her element; wearing her new dress, cameras flashing in her direction all day.

I like how this one looks like Sydney & Annika have morphed into a labraAnnikadoodle.

Dancing Easter Princess.

I worked all morning on those curls. Just kidding, she's a lucky girl.

"Mommy, do you like coyotes?" "Sure I do." "Why?" "Because they're wild & wiley." "But Mommy, do you like coyote poop?" "No sweetie." "Why?" "Well, because it's poop. Try not to step in it, OK?"

After a fun filled and magical day, it was time to hit the pavement. Gear loaded, pulling out of the driveway as the sun set, waving good bye, we hear Lydia grunting in her infant seat... A quick change and we're back on our way. It was smooth sailing until about 95 miles from Astoria. Despite feeding stops, Lydia screamed as if she were being tortured in the backseat.

A friend recently remarked that parenting is the highest of highs, and the lowest of lows. Yes, that was our day. With a baby screaming as I'm trying to focus on the road (where I did see two coyote running across the highway) wishing that the miles between wherever we were and home would vanish, I began to wonder if home was all it was cracked up to be. Could we just start over, Swiss Family Robinson style out here in the woods? After all, we have enough stuff with us.

Eventually, we did make it home. Lydia ceased her rage as we approached the lights of Astoria, no joke. Happy to be home, we carried sweet sleeping Annika into bed. Lydia, ecstatic to be out of her car seat went wild with excitement. She squealed, giggled, wiggled and rallied hard until two in the morning, playing peek a boo and waving to portraits of her sister. Highs and lows...