7 Quick Take Friday vol 20

I can't believe I missed hanging out with Jen last week (cyberly speaking of course), but I have a good excuse! 

--1--

We hauled  gracefully escorted our entire family to the airport with a few of the essentials to visit Oregon for a week.  

My favorite part of the journey was waiting for the many shuttles we ended up have to load and unload our light baggage onto while friendly bystanders stared, gawked and inquired if we knew we had our hands full? 

--2--

Once on the plane I couldn't help but notice one of the adults in this family was sitting with significantly more children...

If the look on my face didn't tip you off on how I was feeling about the whole set up then you must be my husband.

Excuse me for waking you, Dear.  I know you had your hands full with Lelo The Stuffed Lion, Bash and the window seat that kept him entertained until he napped the rest of the flight with you.  I was hoping you could keep one eye open to watch the majority of our children for a second while I empty my bladder so Sam can continue jumping on it the rest of the flight?

--3--

  

We landed!  Safe and meltdownless!  We did have to  get to load and unload all of our not so light baggage onto another shuttle to pick up our rental car.  I love all my children equally and recognize their different gifts.  Jonah has a gift for being slightly more challenging under times of high stress.  Is that a gift?  Let's call it that so I don't sound like an ungrateful mother.  Well, guess who demanded the prime lap real estate for all these shuttle rides?  

I braced for the worst.  Aimless complaining.  Stinky, sweaty Croc toes rubbing up and down my legs.  Endless chattering on my nearly fried last nerve.

And then this debbie downer ate her words!  It was fun having my little big man stuck to my lap for an extended period of time to snuggle, tickle and make silly faces with.  Sometimes his passionate furry actually makes me laugh.  He took the sour out of my grapes and I was feeling better by the time we got there.  Sorry Jonah, I should've never doubted your mood after hours of traveling.  You'll never cease to surprise me will you??

--4--

We arrived to the arms of the much more fun version of Daddy.

He has a snazzy ride-on mower that I'm pretty sure would make even yours truly excited about yard work.

--5--

Grandma and Grandpa's house is the paradise every grandparents' house ought to be in our eyes!  Beautiful wide open spaces to roam...

A delicious garden the size of a grocery store to snack off...

A grandma who rarely says no to baking her famous fresh berry pie at a moment's notice...

And little furry friends for Sienna to torture beg us to keep forever and ever...

--6--

Every time we visit there's a debate about how long to stay.  It goes something like this:

Me:  Let's stay for 2 weeks.
In Laws:  How about 5 days.
Husband: How about a weekend.
Me:  How about 10 days.
In Laws:  *quiver with fear*
Husband:  How about a long weekend.
Me:  Ok, fine, one full week final offer.
In Laws: Perfect!  That's plenty long enough for you to destroy our house, eat all our food, let your kids pick every carefully tended flower in our garden and require us to completely stop our busy schedules to sit around with you.
Husband:  Uh, oh, ok, yeah, one week.

And then once we leave the conversation goes something like this:

In Laws:  It's so hard to say goodbye!  We can't stand you living so far away...
Husband:  We gotta find a way to spend the summer months here and the rest of the year in Arizona.
In Laws:   We would love that. 
Husband:  It feels like we just got here.    
In Laws: The trip goes by too fast.
Me:  Can I record this conversation for when we plan how long our next trip will be?  

--7--

Fortunately, one thing I don't get fought on while visiting Oregon is taking a family picture.  This is really a miracle.  I fear for my life suggesting such things anywhere else in the world.   

  

Thank you, Sienna, for the hideous fake smiling.  Without your disruption we might have actually had a good family picture... and that... that my friends, is never allowed in big families.

If you can't beat 'em, join 'em.