Next Adventure

Life has a funny way of working out. Just when you think you have it all figured out. BAM.
Turns out we didn't need to go on an adventure for Wilson's birthday because we are going to be moving soon, like in the next 4-6 weeks...

The Smiths are relocating to Maryland. Goodbye gorgeous, sunny, warm, west coast and hello rainy, beautiful, seasonal, east coast. It is going to be one amazing adventure. The drive across the United States should be fantastic.

Chris reports to MD on Monday and I am meeting him on Wednesday to begin our house hunt (my dad is coming to watch the kids). We hope to find something quickly to get the process moving along rather quickly. We have discussed waiting until the end of the school year to move; however, we feel that it is best for the kids to move before. We feel that it will be better for Wilson to be the only new kid at school for the last few weeks of school rather than being one of many on day one in the fall. This should allow him to make some new friends and get comfortable with the staff and his new school campus. Plus, this will allow Nora the opportunity to see the school and get acquainted with the campus as well (since she will be starting kindergarten next year).

I love CA!!  The weather is amazing. The schools are fantastic. The people are even better. This area has helped me become the woman I am meant to be, and has helped reinforce what God has called in my heart. I have grown and blossomed here. I have a rich network of phenomenal women that I am fortunate to call friends, and I will miss them dearly. dearly.

With that being said, I am excited for our next adventure. I am looking forward to meeting more amazing people, and allowing them to influence my life in positive ways. I am also very grateful to be within 6-7 hour drive to our families in Ohio.

Life is what you make and we are making it great. We are happy, excited, and looking forward to the next chapter of our lives.

Here comes our 8th state of residence.

Fall fun

This weekend we headed to Julian, CA on a quest for apple pies and pumpkin patches. We found both. 

  Pressing the apples to make apple cider.

 It was a cold and rainy day. I think that Nora has adjusted too well to the past 8 weeks of constant sunshine. As you can see, she was not too pleased with the present weather conditions. As Wilson said, "It is like we're in Washington!"

Sunday Fun-day Sea World Style

Florida Jan 12

We all flew down to Florida for a little vacation/time-in-the-sun this past January. Our trip there turned out to be a bit of an adventure (read: stomach bug, Seattle blizzard of 2012, 19 hours of travel, feverish child, missed flights, stand-by travel, rental car, and husband and wife tension) but we made it there in one piece and only six hours later than we were actually scheduled to arrive. There were moments when we thought we would make it much later than we did but with optimism (I was determined to be happy), persistence and a bit of luck, everything turned out just fine... and we are still happily married.

In total we spent a 6 days in Florida. Three days were with Babe and Pops, Chris' parents, (and we even had a nice pool-side lunch with his grandparents one day) and during our last couple days we spent time with CiCi, my step-mom, my friend Shannon (and her little boy- Camden), and Chris' college room-mate, Ryan.



We swam, flew kites, played cards, went on boat rides, ate way too much, took long runs on the beach, toured the Miami Seaquarium, and  had a date night (thanks to CiCi). It was a good trip.

(Camden is a CUTIE! Just look at those eyes.)

 They play really well together. I just love it! 

 Big time... Driving CiCi's boat. :) 

 That girl was a stinker... Finally she feel asleep. 

 Fearless.

 Sorry for the eating picture. 

On Star Commercial- Location Smith Driveway

Today Nora got locked in my car.

Like all accidents, it happened in a second.

We were getting ready for Wilson’s swim lessons: Wilson was grabbing some things in the house. I was getting Nora in the car. Then, Wilson asked me something and I remembered that I needed to grab a couple more things. I knew that I would only be a moment so I let Nora climb up in the car and closed the door. Within seconds she climbed to the front and I heard the CLICK.

CRAP!

She just locked the car, and I had just set the keys on the floorboard. (NOT too bright on my part—I know!) That’s okay, I thought, I have a spare… Wait a minute! The spare set is in. the. car! (The day before, when I was heading out I couldn't find my first set of keys, so I grabbed the second set. When I got in the car I found my first set so I put the second set in the console and forgot about them until...)

I stayed calm, smiled at Nora and asked her to push the button. She did a great job.

She pushed. the. LOCK. button. over. and over.

Next, I looked up locksmiths on my iPhone, which was in my hand. The closest was in Bellingham, at least 30 minutes away. I then called my neighbor, Marie. I told her I needed help, explained the situation, and asked for a wire hanger. She was on her way.

Then, Buckeye ran out the door, into the street, down the road and into my neighbor’s garage. What in the hell?!? Who let the dog out?? Seriously?!?

WILSONNNNN!

I walked over to my neighbor’s apologized about Buck and quickly explained that I was not attending to him because my daughter was locked in my car. He suggested I call the police. Great idea. They are closer. They can get here faster.

I walked home. Buck followed. I kicked him in the tail and told him to “GET in the HOUSE.” I then told Wilson to leave the door CLOSED!

Marie was at the window of the car. Nora was in the driver’s seat and happy as ever. I kicked into SLP mode and drew Nora a picture of the lock. I then circled and pointed to the UNlock drawing and requested that she, “find same” and push.




It didn’t work.

I called the police. They would send someone over.

The next 5-10 minutes we straightened the hanger and attempted to break in the car. No such luck. Nora was so happy and calm that I was afraid to try anymore. Not that I wanted to leave her there. More like, I wanted her (and me) to remain calm. I was concerned that our prying and pulling on the car would cause the alarm to sound. That would definitely freak her out.

It was not too hot yet and she was content climbing from seat to seat and front to back.

My neighbors (the ones who Buck greeted earlier) stopped by and complimented me on my calmness (Mom on a mission mode) and then the police showed up. I broke out a “can I hug you?” line and they told me “not yet”.

Not exactly the confidence I wanted to hear, which made me a little nervous.

Nora smiled at the police. And when I asked her to climb to the front and “drive” she did. She then continued to push the LOCK button and made the garage door go up and down.

Ugh... Just. Hit. UNLOCK!

The police called a tow service. They talked about the temperature and how she looked stable. Their comments made me nervous but her behavior calmed me right back down. She was smiling and snacking on old Annie crackers (read: reasons not to clean out your car.). We all had a bit of a laugh…Thank goodness it was only 68 degrees.

Nora kept trying to please us. Pushing buttons and raising and closing the garage door. Then, the tow service arrived. Nora stood up in the seat and seemed to want me. (I don’t blame her as there were now 4 adults plus Wilson staring at her in the car.) She stood on the door and her leg slipped behind the handle on the door.

She was stuck and for the first time… SCARED. Seeing her scared and wanting me and me not being able to get to her was the worst feeling EVER. Luckily, Rico, the tow-man, walked to the passenger-side and went to work.

I attempted to demonstrate to Nora how to pull her leg out, but had no luck.

FINALLY, Rico pried the door open slightly and stuck a metal rod inside. After a few attempts he hit the unlock button. THANK YOU!

I climbed in the back door and freed Nora’s leg from the front door. (She was really stuck.) She held me tight and cried. I almost cried too.

I didn’t realize how scared I was until everything was over.

That was some morning.

Hawaii 2010

Hawaii was great. My dad arrived the day before to help us with the dogs while we were gone, which was a BIG help for us and we are very grateful.

We flew out of Seattle on the direct flight to Honolulu on the 11th. The flight was long. 6.5 hours. We realize the travel time could have been much longer so no complaints here. Wilson flew awesome and Nora did pretty well. She fought taking a nap for awhile but eventually gave in for a short rest. (I think she is too afraid she'll miss out on something so she veto's napping).

By the time we arrived to Honolulu (2 am PST) Wilson was exhausted! In fact, he was SO tired that he fell asleep in the stroller and didn't wake until morning. We were able to transfer him onto the bus, into the rental van, out of the van, carry him into the hotel, change his clothes and place him in bed with out waking him up!! Now, that is tired. (I wish I could do that!) Needless to say, he was beyond excited to wake up to sunny weather and the ocean!

We stayed our first night on Waikiki Beach. I choose the hotel we stayed in because of its location and the fact that the Honolulu Marathon was going past it the next morning. (Wilson is really into races right now. He likes watching triathlons on TV and is always pretending to be a runner.)  Our plan was to sleep-in but the Marathon started with fireworks at 5 am (which freaked me the hell out because I thought we were under attack) and just as I got calmed down enough to sleep... the kids woke up. But having three hours of sleep didn't matter because (as I repeated with delight the first 24-36 hours of our trip) "we were in HAWAII!"

We went down to breakfast, enjoyed the beach and pool, had lunch in downtown town Honolulu, admired the runners hobble in pain through-out the city, went to Hickam AFB for groceries and beach goodies/toys, then headed to Barber's Point Naval housing. (Our home for the next four nights.)

We had a cabin/duplex on the beach, which was amazing. Location = perfection. Cleanliness = disgust.

Nora's clothes were black the first night... It was so bad we went to the nearby Safeway to buy a mop and bleach, but the cabins were on the BEACH! Hey, I can clean in exchange for location. Besides, it is neat to know that we were staying where Navy military members lived during WWII (if you are reading the book Unbroken they are mentioned in the book-- if you aren't reading it you must purchase it immediately).

During our stay on Oahu we visited Pearl Harbor, the Dole Plantation and North Shore, went on a whale watching tour, went to a Luau and relaxed at the beach.

Nora and Wilson both LOVED the beach. Wilson and Chris dug giant holes and tunnels in the sand and Nora  crawled right in the middle of them. She would grab fist full after fist full of sand and promptly proceed to shove it in her mouth. Then she would crawl to a new spot and dig a hole with her little feet. She is a total beach babe!

Pearl Harbor was extremely memorable to me. I, along with Wilson, became emotional watching the video and visiting the Arizona memorial. In fact, Wilson still talks about the "bad guys" attacking the ship and how the "good guys had to fight back". He tells us we are the good guys and that daddy was a good guy. He has even begun to tell me that he wants to be in the Army... Don't know how I feel about that. We'll see. :)

Arizona Memorial

The North Shore was cool. The Dole Plantation was not really what I expected. We did the train and had some pineapple ice cream which were both... okay.

 The Luau was fun. It was cheesy but I like cheesy. Wilson loved watching the girls dance and ate enough chocolate cake to feed a small family (he is my son!).

Look at Wilson doing hula! 

He love his daddy! 

All in all, Oahu was fun but we could have spent less time there. That came out wrong... Maybe I should have said, I wish we could have spent more time on Kauai.

After five nights on Oahu we flew to Kauai. Chris had to leave early (for a meeting in Ohio about the job in  WV) so our time as a family on Kauai was shorten. Regardless, we still fell in love with the island.

We stayed at a condo across from the ocean and on our first day there we saw two gray reef sharks and some sea turtles right off the shore. Seriously, we were literally standing on the shore and could see them. I even grabbed Wilson's swim goggles and tried to get a better look at the shark. It was AWESOME! I wish that I could have had my face in the water the whole time (maybe next time).

view from our balcony

Both the kids caught a bit of a cold and needed some R&R so we stayed put the first day (Wilson and Chris went swimming and we ate pizza at the condo). The second day Nora slept her cold away while Chris and Wilson snorkeled in the ocean and pool. Our last day with Chris we explored the island a bit and went to see the other Navy facility (Barking Sands- also mentioned in Unbroken), Waimea Canyon State Park, then I went snorkeling (FINALLY) and I even took Wilson out with me once. I loved it. I especially loved hearing Wilson yell "FISH" through his snorkel. His excitement absolutely made the vacation for me. It was fantastic! I can't wait to expose him to more situations like that. That evening we celebrated Nora's first birthday with spaghetti and chocolate cake. Chris left late that evening and Nora ended up waking up every hour because her stomach was so upset. Guess the chocolate cake wasn't such a good idea.

At the Canyon

The next day the kids and I lounged by the pool (in the rain). Then, bright and early the next day we headed back to WA for Christmas!!

Our flights home were fantastic. All airport and airline staff were amazingly helpful and the kids traveled perfectly. We were surrounded by three other families (counting my children there were seven kids in four rows) and even ended up with a row to ourselves (because the woman who was seated with us choose to sit in a middle seat rather than be surrounded by all seven children-- Can you blame her?).

My dad picked us up in Seattle and we made it home to a surprise... Christmas lights! (Thanks Dad.)

It was a great vacation, great traveling experience, and great welcome home!

Heat Quest

June 8-17, 2010

The weather in the Pacific NW has been rather… well… crappy. We have had rain off and on (mostly on) for May and June. To add to the rain we have also had unseasonably cold temperatures that have averaged 10 degrees below average (50s and 60s).  Before I sound too down on the NW let me make it very clear that when Mother Nature agrees it IS amazingly beautiful.  There are days where you are astonished by its beauty: days when the sky is crystal clear and Mt. Baker’s summit is unmistakable, days when the San Juan Islands seem within reach and the eagles gracefully soar through the air.

However, with the rain (and more specifically THE COLD) I was ready to get the hell out of dodge. My body was begging to feel the heat from the sun and sweat roll down my brow. So, with the help of Carol AKA CiCi, we booked tickets for the kids and I to fly to Florida.

We spent 9 days in paradise! It was amazing!!!! (I am just a tad bitter that it is still cold in the NW— it was ONLY 58 today!)

We swam and swam, visited with old friends and family, explored the beach, stayed up too late talking (which is always a good thing),saw Shrek 3 and had a private group tour of the museum. 

We took an air boat ride in the Everglades where we saw two little alligators and some really neat birds.

On the air boat is where my body thanked me for providing it with typical summer sweat. Although, if I am honest, when I was on the boat in the 94 degree weather with a sweaty infant strapped to me and a mouthy preschooler beside me I was wishing for the air-conditioning or at least a pool.

We took a ride in CiCi’s boat and I was able to meet up with some of my Florida friends.

We spent some quality time with the Porter family. Sadie helped teach Wilson to swim and Lucy loved on baby Nora.  They are such a fantastic family and I enjoyed getting to know them better and watching what wonderful ladies the girls have become.

And one of the best parts of our trip….

My best friend from college, Melissa, and her wonderful children, Clara Sue and Charlie, flew down from Ohio to visit with us. 

 Melissa and I have always made Ft Lauderdale our vacation spot, visiting every year during college for spring break and coming down three years ago with our husbands and our new babies (Clara 8 months, Wilson 4 months).

June 2007

Believe it or not, we didn’t plan on having our children be so close in ages but we both feel blessed that it has happened.  

Clara Sue is 4 months older than Wilson and Charlie is 5 weeks younger than Nora.

Melissa is a wonderful mother. A mother who I admire and take note from. It is so nice to be on the same page and know that the other person is concerned about the same things you are. 

Our big kids needed to be well feed, take naps, and be kids while our little ones needed to be in the shade and nursed frequently.

We enjoyed every second together. We soaked up the sun and picnicked poolside. We laughed and shared stories.

The kids slept in “their own room” which to them was one of the highlights of the trip. But one of the most exciting things for me was Clara (and Sadie) teaching Wilson to swim! Wilson had not had much experience with the water before our Florida vacation. I have only taken Wilson to a pool a handful of times

Wilson is a total observer. He gains confidence when he is able to watch others before trying something new. After watching everyone at the pool he will jump from the deep end, submerge his head completely in water, and swim from one side of the pool to the other.

He was a little fish!!

 He became a stronger swimmer every day we were there, gaining in confidence with each trip to the pool.

In fact, our last evening he even swam to the edge of the pool without his floaties, sure I was a little nervous because no one was in the pool with him, but he did it… thankfully.

Our kids, I hope, have started to establish a foundation for a friendship that they can rely on for years to come.

Wilson and Clara LOVE each other and Wilson has asked (and cried) for her at least two times since we have returned to WA.

All in all, our Florida vacation was wonderful. From start to end it was filled with lasting memories and… HOT and SUNNY weather.

Like any trip with good friends and family it passes too fast. We miss you all and look forward to seeing you next time!