Our Reeves Family Vacation!

It all started on Saturday, September 25th. I got off work around 2:30pm and we threw everything in the van and headed to our first stop, crashing at Grandma & Poppa's house. We had a great evening and got to bed pretty early so we could wake up at 6:15, eat a delish hot breakfast and be on the road.

Sunday, Saturday 26th

We were headed south by 7:30am. We had our first pit stop at a Rest Stop that we had previously visited when we took our trip to the Oregon Coast. We tried to convince Nolan to run around and get the crazies out, instead he stole lots of pamphlets and showed off his impressive hopping abilities to anyone who would pay him attention.
For lunch we stopped in Salem, OR for Red Robin. I know we can get Red Robin at home, but we've been eating home cooked meals and I have been CRAVING Red Robin. Plus the dining Gods felt we should go to Red Robin too because Nolan's grandparents had given him an etch a sketch the night before that had a coupon for a free kid's meal at Red Robin...so really it was written in the stars. After a yummy lunch we took Nolan to the mall across the street to play in their play area. I think this term must be used VERY loosely in this situation because it was more like a play mat. I will post pictures later, but it was pathetic at best. The mall did have a Children's Place that completely sucked me in...HELLO NO SALES TAX!!!
Then we were on the road again! Brian took over driving duties, which was great timing because the rest of the drive was a LOT of mountain passes, big trucks and curves...I do not do well driving around any of these things. Honestly I'm a pretty cruddy passenger as well (just ask Brian). I know my husband is a great guy because he didn't drop me off on the side of the road and ANY court of law wouldn't blame him if he did. We all survived, ate super yummy pizza in a nice college town. The pizza place had a play area (MUCH more of a play area than that silly mall) and he was super content playing instead of eating, so we packed up his pizza and fed it to him in the car. Honestly, the kid was amazing and didn't lose his mind until the last hour. The fact that we started this day in the car at 7:30 and pulled into Redding, California at 8:30 is impressive that it took so long for the kid to crack...he really is a great rider (and thank GOOODNESS for DVD players!)

Monday, September 27th
I think we left Redding around 8:30...after finding Tylenol for my headache (I slept horribly the night before for various reasons) and finding a gas station with the cheapest gas (thank you gas buddy app on Brian's phone!) Anyway...at some point we started driving south on I-5. I drove first because it was straight and no mountain passes, that's when I do my best work. The speed limit is 70 so we just put on the cruise, pumped up the tunes (Glee channel on the Slacker radio mixed with a little Billy Joel channel on the Slacker). I think Brian was playing on his cell phone looking for somewhere to eat lunch and he found a place called Pea Soup Andersen's. He remembered me craving Pea Soup (yes, most meals center around what I crave, leave the preggo alone!) he checked out the menu and found something he would like so made the decision to stop there for lunch. This place was kitchy and everything I love about traveling. It had a huge gift shop, tall ceilings with super big skylights that made it feel like we were sitting outside. Every thing was very German, even the outfits the poor waitresses had to wear. Our waitress was a somewhat unfriendly gal with a mustache, if I had to wear that outfit I might be unfriendly too. We had a SUPER yummy meal (me: split pea soup & salad Brian: a rueben Nolan: a bowl of homemade mac and cheese the size of his head). Again, we jumped back in the van, Brian at the wheel, and headed for Anaheim. The scenery was so beautiful, the temperature was going up (who ordered this heat wave??) and the traffic was getting worse. Luckily we didn't die, a large truck didn't take off our front bumper (even though he did attempt to) and Brian didn't throw me out of the moving vehicle. SUCCESS!!! We got to our hotel by 5:30 and snacked on food we brought with us for a dinner of sorts (I was still full of pea soup). The sink area had a little alcove and Brian remembered seeing a box of tacks in the van...so he rigged a little curtain of sorts so that Nolan could have his own dark room and we could watch some TV. My husband is a certified genius!!! We all got a great night's sleep and got ready for our first day in DISNEY!!!!

I would love to tell you more, but my battery is running low, I can't find an outlet near where I am perched and all the lights are out because Nolan is napping. So I'll finish up more (and apparently most of this post is really about FOOD!!!!!!) On Tuesday we find ourselves in Disneyland...so stay tuned! There will be more about having fun (and some photos) and less about what we consume...I promise! :)

This kid can travel!

I keep meaning to post about our Summer travels!!

In June we traveled down to Lincoln City, Oregon to spend a few days at the ocean. Nolan LOVED it and we had the best time watching him run through the sand, play in the surf and make (and break) sandcastles.

He is an awesome car rider and spent most of the ride down snoozing and talking on the way home.

Here are some photos of our first family vacation!










In late September we will be taking a long car ride to Disneyland. We are very excited and talk about it often! :)

Our Big Boy

Today was quite a day for our little man....and we didn't even know the day would be so eventful when it started. We have been talking about it for awhile, but today ended up being the day that we turned Nolan's crib into a big boy bed. Nap time didn't go so well as it was a pretty exciting development...he ended up playing in his room then knocking on the door and asking to be let out.

After that I changed his diaper and he asked to use his big boy potty. He rarely asks, so I got excited about his request and sat him on his potty. He played around for a little bit and peed for the first time in the potty! We were VERY excited!!!! He did get a little pee on his hand and he asked me to kiss it...I declined!

Later in the evening he had a bath because he was a VERY messy eater at dinner time. Afterwards he ran around in his dinosaur towel that his Aunt Jessica & Uncle Chris gave him. He sat down for a bit and all of a sudden we see a stream shoot across the room. Nolan was as shocked as we were and he tried to stop the pee by catching it mid-air. Brian and I just LOST it and couldn't compose ourselves. I fear we are scaring our kid and he will never be potty trained!!!

Tonight I put his pajamas on him while he was standing on the floor (not on the changing table) and sat next to his bed and read all his bedtime stories. He asked for a hug and kiss and cuddled in with Doobie Moo. I closed the door and left my big boy to drift off to dreamland. I assumed I would check on him later and he would be perched on top of his bookshelf reading or hanging from the light in the middle of this room. But I was wrong. He was sleeping soundly, in the spot that I left him. My little man is growing up so quickly...how am I going to deal with the big milestones when sleeping in a big boy bed brings tears to my eyes???

Time with Twos Class

Every Thursday this quarter Nolan and I are attending a class offered by the local tech college. I believe it's called "Time with Twos" but we just call it "School". Today as we were driving away from school I asked him what he did today. He replied "Ummmmmmmmm" with his finger up to his mouth, pondering the question for a bit (he learned Ummm from his friend Dean). Anyway, after his long pause he said "I take turns". I was SOOOOOOO proud I nearly cried. We've been working a lot on taking turns and sharing and he has been doing so great lately.

The other day Nolan's friend Portia came over and she had her favorite hat on. I thought Nolan might enjoy wearing a hat like his friend, so I got out a baseball hat he got for his birthday. He now cannot live without this hat...it's pretty cute because he wears it to the side a little bit. I'll have to get a photo!!

The rest of today will be fairly uneventful...a trip to Target or the grocery store. Thrilling life we have! :)

My grace lives on...

I was a very clumsy kid. My mom would frequently comment that she should have named me Grace because I was oh so graceful. I fear I passed this on to my son! Today we were at the Food Co-Op and I went to the bathroom. As we were leaving the bathroom he ran for the door, tripped and bashed his head into the hinge on the door. It had a little black grease on it, and now that grease is on the top of my child's head. He got over it pretty quick, and even let me take a picture of it. He looks very silly. But I am thankful that since he does crash so often, that he recovers so quickly! :)

Yesterday we had a fun morning with a friend and Nolan and Malaki did a great job taking turns. In the past there was a lot of screaming and such. It's nice to have a little break from that stage! :)

Today we went to Jump Around Fun Zone with the mops group. It was very busy! Nolan enjoyed playing with the sink, water fountain and candy machines more than bouncing!! Right now Nolan is avoiding a nap while I'm watching a friend's girls who ARE sleeping. Tonight we'll have a friend over for dinner which should be fun too!

It's a busy week...but we are having a great time and able to talk to daddy lots between cell phones and Skype! :)

I wasn't able to do our Muffin Tin meal yesterday because we were so busy...so I guess we'll skip a week and see what next Monday brings! :)

While Daddy's away, Mommy & Nolan will play!

There will be lots of blog entries this week...but they might be somewhat boring! :) This week Brian had to go to Alaska for work. I know I won't get to talk to him much due to cell & internet service up there....and if I try to tell him everything we did during the time he was gone, I'll for SURE draw a blank. So...I decided to use our handy dandy blog to journal our fun times! :)

Today is Sunday. Brian left at 8am this morning and as I type he's probably flying over Canada somewhere. Nolan and I enjoyed homemade blueberry pancakes for breakfast then ran to Target for diapers and Grocery Outlet for groceries. It was pretty uneventful, other than Nolan being a pretty darn good boy in the shopping carts (rare!!!) We ran home, had lunch and now we are headed out so that Nolan can visit his friend Dean and I can go do a Tupperware party!

This evening we plan to go to a friend's house to watch Survivor...I fear Nolan will not sleep at their house, but he has been staying up until 9 or 10 talking to himself...so one night of staying up late at a friend's house probably won't do too much harm! :)

We'll update through the week and hopefully I'll have some funny tales to tell! :)

My promise...

I promise to update this more often because there are SOOOO many Nolan-isms that go untold because I let months go by before updating. So ya, I'm going to be better! :) Of course some of the stories you just have to be here to see because it's hilarious, and if I were to put it into words it just wouldn't be the same.

I've also decided to update weekly with a new project....Muffin Tin Mondays. I got the idea here

We planned to start this past Monday...but we had company and I postponed it til today. Nolan thought it was a fun and we even made it into a picnic in the living room (although the weather was so nice I really should have done a real picnic!!)

Today's theme was the letter A and the menu included:

Apple Juice

Apple slices

Avocado

Animal Crackers

Artisan Bread (ok...the Artisan Bread I had went bad due to being full of goodness and no preservatives...so I lied and gave him regular old wheat bread)

Asiago Cheese (I lied again...I don't have Asiago cheese...I have string cheese!!!)

Ok...so the letter A was harder than I anticipated!!! I had asparagus in the house...but he won't eat that! :)

Next Monday's theme is 'Birds and nests". Not entirely sure what we will make as the only thing that comes to mind are robin's eggs (you know that yummy easter candy?) and I don't think that is a healthy lunch for a toddler. If I can't come up with anything I'll just do my own theme of the Letter B...which should be a LOT easier than the Letter A!!!

Nolan of course continues to grow and change and is a really fun kid. His passion for rocks is almost as intense as his love for cars. We've been working on sharing and JUST today shared with two kids without throwing a massive OH-MY-GOSH-MY-LIFE-IS-GONNA-END fit. So that's my win for the week!!

I have photos...but those will have to be posted later! See you next Monday!!