Goodbye California Summer!

"I'm going to Kansas City, Kansas City here I come...."

I always get that song stuck in my head whenever I'm about to go somewhere. It's catchy. Too bad I've never actually been to Kansas City, then I might make some sense. For now I'm just heading to Oregon.

Shawn is not finished with his rotation yet.... he still has 2 more weeks. But as for the kids and I, we're going back. Why? Because we're still living under someone else's roof, and "as long as you're under my roof, you'll obey my rules" still applies to us. Shawn is going to drive us up and then fly back down... thank you!

I'm a little sad about it leaving. As much as I miss my own home, I'm not ready for the fun to end. This summer has been one long vacation. We haven't stopped moving once.... just the way I like it!

I can't thank my mom and Shawn's parents enough for letting us stay with them. You guys are amazing for putting up with us and our noise, and our messes! I can't stand visitors at my house for more than several days, so either you love us to death, or you pretended really well. Either way, thank you thank you thank you.

I documented things as best I could. But here are a few leftover moments that never got blogged....

It was great to spend quality time with my brother. We were at the park one day when the ice cream truck came by. I have NEVER, I mean NEVER bought my kids an ice cream.... cruel, I know. Ian couldn't believe it, and wanted them to have one. My kids thought they died and went to Heaven. He is the best uncle.

"Pick a little, talk a little, pick a little, talk a little." My mom and I took the kids blueberry picking. It was early in the season and most of the berries were green, but we made out with plenty for a couple batches of muffins. Picking berries is so relaxing and I think my whole family could be migrant workers because we love it so much! "Pick pick pick, talk a lot, pick a little more" Great... now that song is stuck in my head.

We spent a lot of time visiting my Dad in the Bay Area. Poor Shawn had to commute to work all week, then drive down again on the weekends to visit my Dad. He never complained about it, though. Here we are at the San Francisco Exploratorium. Take my Dad to a museum and he's a kid again. Luckily they have closing hours, otherwise we might be there overnight.

 Shawn got to spend time with all his brothers, minus Alex who's on a mission, and Monty who must have not been there for the picture. It's difficult to capture a good picture of guys, why is that? L to R: Matt, Ryan, Nick, Aaron, Shawn.

April planned for all of us girls to bring our kids to BounceTown.... Genius idea! We were there for 6 hours visiting while the kids bounced. Reagan is holding hands with her cousin Leia. She was her buddy the entire day. Whitney is on the bottom left.

 We spent time with my Aunt Pat and Aunt Bobbi. They are the two beautiful women on the bottom row. It was great to visit them. We overdosed on family all summer long to hold us over until our next CA trip.

 Here's Reagan before we had a massive water balloon fight with my mom. I spent 2 hours filling up these stinkin' balloons and they were popped in about 10 minutes. But it was 10 minutes of pure delight.

So here we go. What a good time we had here. I miss you already.... trust me, I do.