Evelyn Joy

On July 30th, 2014 we welcomed Baby girl Evelyn Joy into our family and we couldn’t be happier. After multiple complications, she was born via c-section (my first) at 37 weeks. Good thing too because she was already 9 and 1/2 lbs! Everything went smooth and we were thrilled to find out the baby was a little girl with more than a head full of hair. Lily had been begging for a sister and we were happy to finally let her know that her wish had come true. Both kids were in love at first sight and were constantly fighting over who got to hold her and who got to help when she cried. We had been worried about Miles being jealous of her but luckily there was no problem there. Evelyn might have been unexpected but now we can’t imagine our family without her!

 

Road trip!

 

When Clark and I got married almost 8 years ago he moved to California with one condition- that we would leave after 5 years. Max. I was pretty sure I would be able to get around that and I actually did for a few years, but the time has finally come for us to move on. Though I don’t think anything could have made me as excited to leave California as spending the last 5 of those years managing apartments while Clark was in school and we were raising our first 2 children. Aside from saying goodbye to my family that lived close by I can honestly say there were no tears shed about this move. After looking in to a few different options we decided that Austin Texas would be the best place for us right now. We took a big leap of faith and planned everything way in advance. Knowing that Clark didn’t yet have a job, knowing that I would be 7-8 months pregnant with no definite health insurance at the time of our move, not knowing where we would live, we still set a date and planned on leaving no matter what. Luckily, literally 1 week before we planned to leave, Clark got a job offer, we were able to secure an apartment, and get health insurance for me (minus the month or so it would take for me to get enrolled). We have been truly blessed that things have worked out so well!

Anyway, on Monday May 26th we loaded up our truck and said “see ya!” to the apartment job (I don’t think I’ve ever been so happy in my whole life!) and headed out. We grabbed one last lunch at In N Out (not knowing that they just came to Austin, yay!) and we were on our way. The total trip was about 1800 miles, pretty much halfway across the country, and was supposed to take around 27 hours total. Not something you look forward to with 2 small children.

The first day we drove 6-ish hours down to Anaheim so we could spend the next day at Disneyland. Miles decided it would be a good idea to throw up twice that first day in the car and we figured we’d be in for a long, stinky trip if that were to continue.

After a great day at Disney we drove another 6 hours to Mesa Arizona and stayed with some good friends who used to live near us. During this drive through Arizona we stopped for some Subway and as soon as we opened the car door the heat hit us like a ton of bricks! We have been so spoiled with the moderate bay area temperature that it was quite a shock getting out of the car.

The next day we drove from Mesa to El Paso (7-8 hours) and again got to deal with some lovely heat. We kept promising Lily we’d swim at the hotels but, as usual with kids, we never ended up leaving early enough in the day to do so once we arrived for the night. Lil was kind of bummed but what can you do?

We had planned on visiting Carlsbad Caverns on the last morning of our drive but with another 8+ hours ahead of us we knew we couldn’t squeeze it in if we wanted to pick up the keys to our apartment that evening. Texas is pretty huge and it was a long final stretch but we finally made it to Austin! Miles commemorated the occasion by throwing up just as we were getting off the freeway and trying to find our way to our apartment but we got so distracted by him that we took a wrong turn and got a little lost. Luckily that was the only other time he got carsick on the whole trip.

The kids actually did really well for the amount of time we were in the car (thankfully!) and only fussed a little bit. One thing that really helped them was listening to the Frozen soundtrack in the car. Let me tell you, you haven’t lived until you’ve heard that soundtrack played entirely on the kazoo by a 4 year old. It’s quite the experience

 

 

 

Lil at a particularly windy rest stop in New Mexico. She got out of the car and shouted- “Look Mom! I see New Mexico!”

We’re so grateful the trip went so smooth and we hope to never spend that much time in the car again!

Graduation

 

I still can’t believe that Clark finally finished school and that we are done managing apartments! He has worked so hard and for so long and I am so proud of him and all he has accomplished. He is such a hard worker and I honestly could probably count on my fingers the number of times he has complained about everything he had to do these past few years (very unlike myself). In between packing up our things and preparing to transfer our apartment managing job to someone else we got to take a little break and celebrate his accomplishments. Both sets of our parents came for graduation, along with my aunt and uncle. I will admit I cried when he walked in the the auditorium, when he got his fake diploma, and when the ceremony was done. Unfortunately Miles was pretty stressed out by the packing so I spent the rest of the 3 hour ceremony carrying him and walking around with him to keep him happy. Lots of fun when you’re already exhausted and carrying another human being around inside of you! In any case it was a great day to celebrate. We finished it off with dinner at The Cheesecake Factory, which would have been perfect except for the fact that we had to end the night with goodbyes to my parents and aunt and uncle. Lots of hugs and tears but it was great to be all together before our move to Texas.

Did I mention how grateful and proud I am of this guy?

Disneyland

It seems like I’ve been waiting forever to take Lily to Disneyland! Having gone there many times growing up it is a very special place to me and I couldn’t wait to take Lily, especially since she’s at an age where everything is magical and the characters are real to her. We decided to wait until Clark graduated and we were driving halfway across country on our move to Texas, so poor Lil asked Clark every day if he was done with school yet so we could go. (Ask Clark and he will refer to the trip as his punishment for graduating ).

We got up early and it was great to finally tell Lil that, yes, we were going to Disneyland today.

We arrived when the park opened at 9:00 am and headed off to our character breakfast reservation. I’ve never done this before but we figured we could save time and not stand in line later in the day to meet different characters. Miles was terrified of either Chip or Dale (how are you supposed to tell which is which?) but was comforted by the Fairy God Mother until I returned from getting my food.

After that Miles warmed up considerably and he especially loved Minnie Mouse.

Now I had made the mistake of telling Lil about the most important attraction of all prior to our visit which was, of course, meeting Anna and Elsa from Frozen. We headed over that way right after breakfast but I figured that we could get away with skipping it once I saw the line (which I already knew would be horrendous). Clark, being the great dad that he is, said he would sacrifice himself and would wait in line with Miles while Lil and I went on a few rides. I gave him an out but he wanted to do it for Lily. So off we girls went to ride some rides. Lily loved it and luckily we got on quite a few during that time, including the Tea Cups 3 times in a row… Though I know Clark was happy he wasn’t with us for that one!

After a few more rides I grabbed Miles from Clark and the kids and I occupied ourselves while Clark continued to wait in line. Miles especially loved riding the train.

Finally, after 2 and 1/2 hours of waiting in line it was our turn to go meet Anna and Elsa. I can’t even tell you how excited Lily was! We got a quick photo with Olaf (up on the roof) before going in but Lily was sad that he didn’t come down so meet her too

We finally got to go in and Lil was awe struck. She was so excited she just clammed right up and barely said a word to them. It was unfortunate that after all that time in line she didn’t end up talking with them for long (she could have stayed longer if she would have been more chatty) but I could tell that she was over the moon and I can’t thank Clark enough for making sure she got in to see them. It really was one of Lily’s dreams come true!

After that we headed out for more rides and seeing the sights of the park. I must admit I was jealous of Clark since, due to me being almost 8 months pregnant, he got to go on the more “fun” rides with Lil. He even braved Thunder Mountain Railroad since she insisted on riding it (he had a bad experience on it last time we were there) and she ended up loving it. We ate the mandatory churros and expensive frozen lemonades while taking breaks from the walking and lines.

Mid way through the day we watched a parade and the kids were so excited to see some of their favorite characters including Mickey and friends, most of the traditional princesses, Tinkerbell/Peter Pan, Lion King favorites, and the Little Mermaid, among others.

Lily was in heaven!

Here’s our obligatory family picture in front of the castle. **

**As a side note, can I just say that I hate all of these women who, near the end of a day at Disney, still look like they just stepped out of the shower with their perfect hair and make up still in place and not a drop of sweat on them. I, on the other hand, look like I ran every one of the 7 and 1/2 miles my wrist band said we walked that day, sweaty and deflated. And that was just within the first few hours… but I guess there are more important things to worry about.** 

I wanted to give Lil the full experience so we stayed late to watch the fireworks and they did not disappoint! They were almost cancelled due to wind but we got lucky and were able to see them.

In order to catch both the fireworks and Fantasmic (another night show) we chose to watch the second showing of Fantasmic but that didn’t start until 10:30 so we had to try every trick in the book to keep Lily awake. She barely made it but once it started she was hooked.

At 11:00 pm it was finally time to go home and we felt every one of the 14 hours that we were there as we walked back to our car.

It was such a great day and I am so happy I got to share that with Lil. Just watching her face light up with every new thing was worth the money and sore feet. Nothing is more precious to me than that.

Lil and I at the end of the day

Clark and Miles at the end of the day.

You can probably gather from these 2 photos who enjoyed it more

Back at our car it literally took about 10 seconds from the time I buckled her car seat until she passed out.

Such a great day!

Cal Academy of Sciences

Today I took the kids up to the California Academy of Sciences for the first time. We had a free pass and I love any excuse to get up to San Francisco, especially on a sunny day! I admit it was a little smaller than I expected but we had a blast anyway. I have learned that it is better to let Lily lead the way and go at her pace instead of trying to see everything or stay on a certain schedule. Lily loved the aquarium and her favorite thing was the three-story indoor rainforest. It is this huge geo-dome that is very warm and humid inside with a ramp spiraling around the outside instead of stairs and all Lil wanted to was run up and down it. Of course. When we were nearly finished seeing everything in the museum Lily told me in no uncertain terms she was ready to go home. We went outside and I let them run around near some fountains and benches for a while, which I think they loved even more than the museum itself. Miles enjoyed chasing birds and they both liked climbing on the benches.Silly kids…

  

Dance Class

Today was Lil’s first day of her Tap/Ballet combo class and the parents were able to sit in and watch so, of course, I took pictures. The lighting was horrible so forgive the fuzziness. Lil did great and loved every minute of it. She has to work on staying on her spot like her teacher asks but I’m sure after a few more classes she’ll get the hang of it. I could tell she was really concentrating and trying hard because her little tongue was hanging out of her mouth for half of the class, a habit she gets from her dad :). I think what she loved most of all was jumping around and making noise in her tap shoes. I love watching my little girl try new things and work hard.