Vacation! (but first we had to get there)

Holy Cow.

Last time I blogged was June 30.

I guess life has been a bit busy.

My mom came to visit last week.

Aleks drove to Ohio and back in a 48 hour time frame.

We've been spending a lot of time at the pool because it's been hot.

Really hot.

And yesterday we traveled to CA!

I'm currently writing this beneath overcast skies and temperatures in the upper 50s.

It's a beautiful thing.

Much better than the hot humidity of Wichita.

The girls had new backpacks for the trip.

And I think that I might have overpacked. 

  

Of course the girls had to have some snacks before we got on the plane.

And they had to have races.

Due to the placement of the extra oxygen mask, I ended up in my own seat without any kids on my lap!

Looks are deceiving, the littlest stinker didn't take a nap all day.

And the middle stinker read books the entire time. 

When she learns to read, my life is going to be sooooo easy.

Layover in Denver.

Which of course meant the girls needed another snack.

(Ruby! Hahaha, look at that face!)

On the second flight we were all seated together.

The girls did great, thanks to Melissa and Doug

and the iPad.

About an hour and a half into the flight Maia started doing her "Maia dance."

By the time we landed in SF, she really had to go.

I took her to the restroom, but she refused.

I understand, it's loud, smelly, and a bit scary.

But she really needed to go.

She can be so stubborn and it was making me mad.

After bribes, threats, pleading, and anything else I could think of, we finally left, unsuccessful in our mission.

On the car ride home, I had to apologize to Maia for getting angry with her.

Thank goodness 3 year olds are so forgiving.

I just hope I haven't scarred her for life.

We made it to Nana's house and the girls got busy playing!

(and Maia finally went potty)

I got busy enjoying the Bay Area views and temperatures.

As we were eating dinner, Aleks and I started giving Maia a pep talk about bedtime and listening to her body and coming to get us if she needed to go potty.

Maia appeared to be listening and then said, "Lola (the dog) told Nana when she had to go potty and Nana took her."

Aleks promptly said, "And do you know how Lola knew to tell Nana? She was listening to her body! Just like you can do tonight."

As I was listening, I was suddenly overcome with gratitude at the dad that Aleks is and comfort in knowing that my girls are going to marry good, kind, thoughtful, interesting men.

With an example like their dad, how could they not?

Maia was up at 4:30 this morning.

Fingers crossed they get adjusted to the new time zone quickly.

Stay tuned for more of our adventures!