Boston Baked Babies

Brent and I had been looking for an excuse to return to Boston so we could visit friends and remind the boys of their roots. We took that opportunity recently when Brent's old fund threw a celebration for reaching their fundraising goal. Despite a disasterous trip East, complete with lost luggage, sleeping at JFK airport and finally renting a car and driving from NYC to Boston at 2AM, we had a great time. Our schedule was booked from the moment we arrived but it was worth it to squeeze in as many reunions as possible.

Highlights:


Scott and Brittany were excellent neighbors for almost two years. Nothing has changed since they fed us (again) even though they are expecting their first baby this fall.

I got to see two of my closest friends from work who have now been dating for close to 2 years. (I'm taking credit for that match up!) Doug and Erin squeezed us in before their Coldplay concert. Thank you!

I was really excited to show off the boys at work and especially looking forward to saying goodbye since I never had the chance last December. Here's a few members of the management team.


One of the major highlights was revisiting the NICU. The sights and smells hit a little too close to home and we couldn't have been more grateful to be on the outside of that secure door.

While Brent partied it up with coworkers at the Liberty Hotel, I got to spend the evening at our SSD reunion. I miss all of you more than you could ever imagine! Thanks to "S" for hosting and planning (as usual)!!! Stacey, you were sorely missed! Clearly, we've added a few children to the group in the last year with two more on the way!

A huge, HUGE thank you to S, T and T for throwing out the red carpet at the Petrey Palace. We were so sad to miss you while you partied in Chicago, but also so grateful to be able to crash at your place. Favi was a gracious hostess!

My friend Ellen is an amazing photographer. We tried to line up a photo shoot with the boys before we moved but a huge snowstorm hit and we could never get together after that. We got together last week and she posted some pics on her blog here:

http://ellenpatton.blogspot.com/2008/08/future-olympic-wrestlers.html

The take home message is that coast to coast air travel is not meant for 9 month old twins. The boys did great, but Brent and I were wiped out! I think we'll be traveling a little closer to home for awhile.

Oregon Coast

Prior to our Hood climb, my entire family took a trip to Neskowin, a beach on the coast. It was extra special because my dad's mom came up from Salt Lake to be with us for the week. It was mostly a relaxing week of games, food and more games. The highlights:

Beach football.
Team 1: Chels, Grandpa, Brent, Me



Team 2: Darel, Syd, Nick, Shea


Sadly, my team was bested by the younger, taller talents of team 2. Although by game 3, we finally came out on top. We were the only ones on the beach and it was a beautiful night.


Surfing lessons.

Syd and Nick. Commonly known as "Snick".





Sydney's boyfriend Nick runs his own surfboard design company. Apparently that means he knows something about surfing. He gave us a few lessons, although most of us were pretty bad. We're just going to have to make a trip to SoCal so we can learn in better waves. That had to be the problem, right?




The Aquarium. The boys were fascinated by all the sea creatures. They just couldn't quite figure out how to grab them through the glass.










More pictures:

Grandma and Grandpa




Aunt Syd feeding Cole a strawberry.








Uncle Shea and Keith.

Honorary Aunt Melissa (Chelsea's best bud from DC)


Keith Sandwich.








Cole teaching Grandpa how to wrestle.

Tia Chelsea and Keith.

Brent and I snuck away for a walk on the beach.

Grandma and the boys.

Who's in charge around here?


Grandma and Uncle Shea on breakfast duty.








The Smartie Sibs.

Big Dogs to the Top

My Dad took my sister Darel, my brother Shea and Brent and me climbing this weekend. We summitted Mt. Hood at 7:30 yesterday morning. It's been awhile since I've climbed and somehow I forgot how painful it is-although it was a beautiful day to climb. It was very warm and there was hardly any wind. I climbed in only a fleece all the way and I usually freeze on climbs.

Riding up on the cat...

I got a chance to break in my mountaineering boots that Brent got me a few Christmases ago. I didn't have much use for them in Boston. My mom and Great-Grandma Phyl babysat the boys so Brent and I could climb. It was our first night away from them since they were born. A sane couple would probably plan a romantic get-away for their first night away from their kids, but climbing suited us just fine. We first climbed Hood together about 12 years ago. And we've each climbed it since then, but not together. So it was cool to climb again together. Brent was patient with me on the way down since I tend to get scared and go pretty slow. Although I feel pretty safe since my Dad is a very experienced climber and is very cautious, I still get a little wary when I look down on either side of me and see a very long way down of nothing but rock and ice.

Darel and me taking a break.
Sunrise.

It was especially neat to climb with Darel and Shea. Neither of them had climbed before and they both did really well. Shea didn't even seem tired at all. And Darel was impressively brave. The best part was glissading down the mountain on plastic. It is basically like extreme sledding. We had a blast racing each other down the mountain. It somewhat made up for the painful night of climbing as our noses drew closer to the steepening mountain and the smell of sulfer made us sick. We were very fortunate that nobody suffered much from altitude sickness. One large reason for the pleasant climb was that we took a cat up to the top of the chair lift which cut off about 3 hours of climbing. At first we thought it was cheating but as we climbed we decided there is no other way to climb a mountain! It was such a clear day that the views were truly breathtaking. Making it all the sweeter was being on the summit with so many members of my family.

Brent powered his way to the top with Coke. (Actually he just cracked one open to celebrate summitting.)










A look at the "Devil's kitchen" on the way down.


My Dad and me gearing up.

Goin' up.

Drop and Give Me 10

Brent makes the boys do pushups before they can eat their dinner. Here's Keith in ready-position.


Cole excitedly receives his reward for all his hard work.












Occasionally we let the boys take a break from callisthenics so they can play at the park...






(It's possible that Keith is the smallest person to ever sit in this swing.)





...and play at home.











Carbivores
Our children have recently discovered that they actually have a choice in the foods that they eat. The thought process follows something along the lines of, "If I pretend like I don't see my mom and accidently knock the spoon out of her hand or whine loud enough or even spew sweet potatoes on every surface possible, I can eat what I really want." The foods of choice are Cheerios and bread. Perhaps Brent should increase the pushup requirement to 20 so we can balance out the carb overload.