Empty Beds

Guest blogger today aka Pearson.

With Alison and the kids headed east for Easter, I am back in Seattle holding down the fort.  Certainly not a burden, but I wanted to post about what an empty house means to me.  On the one hand, it means a quiet house with a "little" less activity.  The dog isn't too tough to manage.  On the other hand, it's sort of sad.  Each day, many times per day, I walk by Mae's and Whit's room and it stands starkly empty without their rambunctious selves in it. 

This makes me pretty darn sad.  So, I often just close the door so I don't need to be reminded of their absence.  That and hopefully it keeps the dog from finding a new comfy bed to sleep in:-). 

Anyway, it was fun to take them to the airport and be able to take them to the gate, where they both explored parts of the airport (Whit watching the planes and Mae finding the last remaining phone booth on the planet to be her entertainment).  Mae had quite a conversation with Luke and Will about her flight.  Some pictures are below.

 

Wish Me Luck

Tomorrow I am attempting a cross country flying trip with both my kids solo. My anxiety is sky high right now hoping that we make it all there with minimum outbursts and disruption to fellow passengers.

Wish us luck! 

A Sunday Morning

Today we decided to skip church (yes, I have been trying to go with Mae every week and have been pretty religious about it for the last few months) and head to spend a family morning taking the ferry to Bainbridge Island for brunch. I hope God forgives me. I can't remember the last time I have gone to brunch. And I don't believe I have ever been to brunch with my two kids since they both could walk. Brunch with MY kids does not equal a lazy Sunday meal with mimosas but instead scarfing down food and hoping that we don't ruin everyone else's lazy Sunday morning. 

All in all it was a pretty good day. Whitaker is fighting a cold so he wasn't in the best of spirits and Mae had a few meltdowns near the end of the trip but do I say that is a pretty typical adventure for our family.  

Here are photos from our little trip. 

Walking to the ferry. 

Whitaker and I beat Mae and Pearson across the street. Here he is screaming that we all aren't together. 

Waiting for the ferry. Pretty excited by the Ferris Wheel. 

Waiting. 

And more waiting. 

Trying to convince Mae to take a picture with me. She turned her back and refused. 

She eventually warmed up to it but refused to take a "normal" picture. 

This is what Mae's hair looked like. Yes, we let her go out like that. I also failed to mention that outfit, which was her choice. 

Done waiting and on our way to board. 

On board. 

A man and his phone and his boy. 

Pearson photo bombing this picture. 

Checking out the Seattle waterfront. 

Trying to get my kids to take a picture with me. As you will see this is a recurring thing and no one ever wants to cooperate. 

Ready to get off the ferry. 

Chocolate milk and ketchup (with hash browns) = breakfast of champions. 

And then I had to get out my phone so we could enjoy the rest of our meal in relative peace. 

Pearson had to have Whit on his lap. 

Walking off our breakfast. 

Whitaker upset that he couldn't get out. 

So we let him out.  

Attempting a family photo - again no one interested but me. 

And another attempt. 

Back on the ferry and lots of tears.  She was upset that Pearson wouldn't let her pick her own dandoline, even though we were going to miss the ferry. 

Another try at a mother/daughter shot. 

Outside after we set sail. 

You would have thought I would have learned my lesson by now. 

Nope. 

Nope. 

And nope.