The Summer of She-Woman.

The beginning of the month, I ventured up to good old Portland, Oregon with the girlies. I've been a little Oregon homesick, and really felt like I needed to go. We only have one car. Sweet, supportive Ross told me to go. He took the bus and walked and received a few rides from our gracious friends for ten days. I couldn't have a more wonderful husband.

The drive up was plenty eventful. What started out as a fun adventure later turned into a big disaster I never want to repeat. At first I thought it'd be a great idea to stop and get out of the car whenever Aoife needed to eat. I thought it would help Aoife sleep longer between feedings and Claire would be happier with the breaks. Our first stop was at a gas station a few miles from the Idaho boarder. Inside they had a lounge area for "professional drivers", outside there wasn't any sort of grassy area, just a bird poop covered table in the middle of a bunch of rocks. So I sat and fed Aoife while Claire had a wonderful 45 minutes throwing rocks.


In Boise I wanted to find a McDonalds with a play place for Claire to play while I fed. She made friends with an older girl who desperately wanted someone to play with. It was hilarious watching her grab Claire's and and try to pull her along to play.



By our next stop, Claire had had it, my plan of Aoife sleeping had miserably failed. With two screaming girls, my temper was running short. I brought along Ross' old laptop and the beloved Elmo DVD. I stuck in a movie and pulled back on the freeway. In the wrong direction. I was so wrapped up in helping the girls, I didn't realize it till I had gone well over 20 miles.

At eivery stop I discovered Claire had either pooped or peed through her clothes and for the last hour and a half of the drive, Claire was throwing up in her car seat. By the time we arrived at my parent's house, I was a stressed out, exhausted mess! We gave Claire a bath and watched the Elmo DVD again to calm her down before we went to bed.

We were able to spend a week at my parent's house and had a great time. Claire immediately took to the dog. She became fascinated with dogs and loved sharing food with her. The poor dog often wanted to go outside simply to get a break from my crazy toddler.



We had a wonderful shopping day with my grandmother and the girls each got a cute summer outfit. They enjoyed lots of snuggle time from adoring grandparents and played themselves silly!


After that week, we went to visit Ross' family. It's been a huge blessing to both be from the same place. Whenever we go visit, we get to see both families. Claire played and played with adoring aunts and uncles. And I was spoiled beyond belief. I was taken off of mom duty at night and enjoyed wonderful nights of much needed sleep. Our last night there I ended up getting a sassy makeover!

Unfortunately Ross was lonely so we cut our trip a day short to get home. We had a great time with the Lovelands, and Claire I'm sure misses having all of her aunts and uncles to play with. Luckily we'll get to see them again this weekend!

The drive home was a thousand times better than the first trip. After 15 hours in a car with what was supposed to only take 12, I decided to only stop for gas and bathroom breaks. I fed Aoife with my arm behind the seat while I drove and Claire seemed to be a lot happier that time. Towards the end everyone was tired and we ended up watching the Elmo DVD four times. In a row. Whatever it took to keep Claire from screaming to keep my sanity!

We made the trip in just a little over 12 hours and Claire couldn't have been happier to be back home with her Daddy. Though she was a little confused and kept calling the cat, "dog". It was great to have a couple days with Ross before Monday came back around and I had to get back to real life. We're taking off again Thursday for California and I have sworn off Elmo anything until that day when there is a moment of desperation.

After our road trip, I feel like she-woman. I started feeling that way before the trip, especially during my workouts, but now I definitely feel like she-woman. I'm really looking forward to all of the fun things Utah County has to offer this summer and am determined to have a great summer with the girls. Between Ross' job and internship, he's pulling 60 hour work weeks. During the day it really is just me and the girls. Rather than sit at home, we're going to be going to parades, the pool, maybe some hikes, and just find some fun things for us to do. Hello Summer!!