august 13

life is busy this month!  we're all finally home and reunited, and this afternoon we welcomed the hulays to town.  they've been on a road trip from toronto to florida and back, and we're lucky enough to have them stay with us for a couple days on their stop in cincinnati.  we were all happy to see each other again, and owen, max, brooke and gavin had lots of fun playing together.  we enjoyed a nice dinner together before kevin and dave had to rush out the dinner and race to the airport so dave could catch his flight (which had unexpectedly been moved up!).

august 12

kevin and i had a few hours to relax this morning before our afternoon flight.  i worked out, and then we went to the pool.  it was hot and beautiful and relaxing.  it's a great place to visit, but not necessarily where we see ourselves living.  kevin has a day to make a yes/no decision.  it's stressful, but i know if we follow our hearts we will end up in a great place.

august 11

lake buena vista, florida.  a beautiful rainbow out our window after an afternoon rainstorm.  the luxury of the ritz.  the pressure of evaluating a potential job, a potential new home.  neighborhoods.  houses.  more houses.  and then finally, time for fun...  wine in the room.  a fabulous dinner with old friends.  great conversation.  lots of laughter.  a great end to the day.

august 10

a hectic day turned relaxing evening...  the biggest problem in getting stranded in detroit last night was that i missed my flight to orlando with kevin this morning.  we were squeezing in a quick weekend trip to florida to check out a job opportunity for kevin.  so kevin took a flight this morning.  i flew into cvg with the kids.  bob and kaye picked us up at the airport.  we drove straight to brooke's elementary school for a kindergarten reading assessment, where we dropped brooke and kaye off.  bob drove gavin and i home where i had less than 30 minutes to open up my suitcase, throw a few things into a bag and take off again for the airport (on my own this time).  it was a lot... but we made it work.

it felt surreal to be in the airport (again!) by myself after traveling with the kids for the past 12 days.  i couldn't help but feel like i was missing something!  but i welcomed the moments to myself to decompress and do a little reading.  after a short flight, i was finally reunited with kevin!  i completed underestimated what it was going to be like to be separated from him for 12 days.  it was too long!  lucky for us, we have a short weekend together at the ritz in orlando :)

august 9

i had one final request before leaving town - george's!!!  we got all packed up and ready to go this morning, and then we drove down the street to north bend to have the best donuts in the country :)  they were running a little low on their selection of donuts, but we thoroughly enjoyed every bite and even got a couple donuts "to go" for daddy!  i have so many great memories of this place, and i was happy to add this visit to the memory bank.

after quickly dropping hanna & hudson off at camp, anastasia drove us to the airport for our flight.  it was a tearful goodbye.  it always is.  we had such a wonderful time with the bakers!  it was great to be back in a place we love so much with people we love.

the kids and i had a good flight to detroit, but i was a little shocked when i pulled up our connecting flight status on my iphone during landing and saw that our flight was cancelled!  i kept thinking it must be a mistake... unfortunately, it was no mistake.  long story short, the kids and i were stranded in detroit for the night with no way (other than driving) to make it home.  after a very stressful hour or so figuring everything out, grabbing dinner and retrieving our luggage, we were lucky enough to get one of the last rooms at the westin.  even luckier was that the westin was IN the airport, and we used starwood points to stay for free.  the kids were thrilled to snuggle into the big king-size bed with me.  it was super late (eastern time) by the time we were in bed, but we stayed awake to watch a few minutes of the olympics, happy to find the silver lining in the unexpected disruption to our travel plans.

august 8

our last full day in snoqualmie...  we had a great morning at fox hollow farm in issaquah.  it's one of my favorite places in the area.  hanna, brooke & gavin rode horses and a little train.  they saw animals and swung from ropes up in the attic of the barn.  we had a delicious lunch in the garden and enjoyed the peacefulness of the morning on the farm.  it was laid-back and low-key and a great way to wind down our long visit.

this evening anastasia invited the neighborhood ladies over for wine & dessert after we enjoyed an al fresco dinner with the kids.  lisa alteo, lisa connors and jen barnes all made it, and i enjoyed catching up with everyone.  it was a great evening, and ryan was kind enough to get the kids bathed and ready for bed so i could enjoy an uninterrupted evening with friends.  we are so blessed to have friends who feel like family... friends who welcome us into their home, feed us, take care of our kids and go out of their way to make us happy.  how lucky we are!

august 7

oh, the joy i got to experience today when brooke was reunited with her preschool friends (and me with their mommas).  we had a late afternoon play date and pizza at the park.  anastasia was sweet enough to make us a delicious dessert, and i took some wine to make it a full-blown celebration.  ms. april & ms. maxine came to see brooke, and we got to meet maxine's little girl, gwen.  almost all of our closest friends were there, and it was great to catch up with them.  i love the group of preschool moms that i got to know while living in snoqualmie.  they are a bunch of special ladies.  i was in awe of how each of the kids had changed and how much older everyone seemed!  i loved that brooke fell right back into step with the girls.  they had fun being silly together.  just look at those smiles!