Maddie & Jazz: August 2009

For the Independence Day weekend, we took a car trip to Boise Idaho to visit the Guymons there. It was a 5 day trip -- 3 days visiting, 1 day driving on either end. All in all, it went very well. The car trips were challenging, but not terrible. Maddie did well for the first six hours of each trip, but was a banshee for the final two. I ended up in the back seat with her, trying to keep her from making the driver insane. Otherwise they did well in the car, looking out the windows, playing with toys, and enjoying our pit stops for food, bottles, or diaper changes. It's a divided jury as to whether flying or driving is easier.

The actual time in Boise was great! We had cousins from Aunt Mary's family, Aunt Liz's family, and of course Aunt Rebecca's family, as well as the Aunts themselves, Uncle Rich, Uncle Mike, and Grandma and Grandpa. We stayed at G&G's house which was great. G&G took on a lot of the feeding and babysitting while we were there. The girls had a great time playing with all of the people, playing with the new toys there, and playing with and watching their cousins. It was really sweet to see them with some of their littlest cousins who played with them -- like Reese, Jacob, Michael, and Joseph. Hmm, all boys... Most of the youngest cousins are boys these days - at least the ones in Boise at the time. It was also great to see them with their cousin who is the same age -- Benjamin! At last we got the three of them together. He is a sweetie who is almost always laughing or smiling. Grandma and Grandpa got a kick out of lining up three high chairs and feeding them all together while the rest of the family (including Mel & Shannon) were out at the lake boating and waterskiing.

On July 4th, Mel and Rich set up fireworks out along the driveway at Rich and Rebecca's house. They have a huge front yard, so there was plenty of room for the family to sit on the grass at a safe distance and watch. The girls had not gone to sleep properly so we got them up and let them watch as well. Maddie got scared and had to go inside, but Jasmine liked watching them, as long as I covered her ears for the loud parts. She'd get excited and lean forward, and then as soon as one went off, she'd sit down in my lap, just a little cautious.

During the car trip back, we stopped at a barbeque restaurant for dinner, and put the girls in high chairs there. That's actually the first time we've done that at a restaurant, and I was surprised at how well it went. We had goldfish, water, and baby food for the girls, and fed them in between eating ourselves, and giving them toys to play with. They seemed to like the experience, and Jasmine got a big kick out of smiling at people at the nearby table. They got a kick out of it too, so there was a bunch of smiling and laughing on both sides. She is turning into a little flirt, smiling at just about everyone, and loving it when they smile back.