We headed up to Idaho on Sunday to spend time with my family. We also headed up Sunday night specifically so we could avoid eclipse traffic, since our family's cabin is just on the outer edge of the path of totality. We headed down to Ashton on Monday morning so we could see the eclipse. We ended up waiting around for a couple of hours, but once it got started, it was, well, otherworldly. It took Edie a couple of tries to figure out how to use the eclipse glasses, but once she got the hang of it, and what she was looking for, that's all she wanted to do.
She kept looking up and saying, "Look, the moon!" At first, I was very impressed that she realized the moon was casting a shadow on the earth, but once I figured out that she was describing the crescent shape of the sun, it, well, it was still pretty neat. We had a pleasant week, for the most part. Marty liked to walk around and put everything he saw in his mouth.
That, for the most part, did not include my dad, but I think Marty may have chewed on his fingers or toes at some point. As a natural result of chewing on everything in creation, though, he got to take about a million baths in the cabin sink.
Edie wasn't nearly as enthusiastic about putting things in her mouth, taking baths in the sink, or interacting with other humans in any meaningful way, but we got her to relax and play with my family after a while. My mom brought some jigsaw puzzles and Play-Doh, which seemed to be the key to getting her to like you. My parents and sister spent a lot of time working this angle over the course of the week.
Frequent visitors to this blog and terrifying stalkers alike will know that Edie loves to help cook, and my parents were only too happy to oblige. My mom kept asking Edie to help choose eggs for cooking, and my dad let Edie help him make us some cookies.
We also got to see some cousins while we were in the area, which Edie hated and then loved once she got used to everyone. Marty, on the other hand, just giggled and squealed his way through everything.
We had a really great time until Wednesday, when Marty started throwing up a bunch. Edie did the same the next day, followed by my mom, my dad, me, Tamsen, Jay, and Matt. For those keeping score, that's eight of the nine people living at the cabin this week that came down with severe gastric distress. The only one who didn't get sick was my sister, and the rest of us agreed that we all hate her. If nothing else, we had a fun and certainly memorable week.
We've been three days without internet (oh, the horror!), so I'm just now getting caught up from our last week. We traveled to Utah on Tuesday of this week to be with Tamsen's family as her sister graduated from BYU. The last time we flew with Edie, she screamed and writhed the entire time, so we weren't really looking forward to the trip. However, she was a champ through the whole day. She lugged her suitcase through the airport by herself, and when it was time to get on the plane, she sat in her seat, looked up at Tamsen, and said, "Buckles, please!" She made it through about five hours of total flight time without a single complaint. Marty slept for a fair amount of the flight, and didn't cry at all, which you would think would be a recipe for a great time, except for the fact that any time he was awake, he was squirming and trying his best to stand up and walk around the plane. It certainly could have been worse, but spending any amount of time, let alone two hours, wrestling a surprisingly burly ten month-old isn't nearly as much fun as it sounds. Everyone was excited to see the kids, but while Marty was sociable and pleasant, Edie's reactions ranged from wary to out and out terrified. She ran from Tamsen's dad every time she saw him, and generally clung to my leg when she saw anyone else. Freyja made a concerted effort to make friends, and for at least a small moment, it worked pretty well.
She really liked her cousins, though. Here's a video of her playing catch with her cousin Simon.
We went to go visit my grandpa in the VA hospital on Saturday, which was a really good time for everyone. I had a great time catching up, and the kids had a great time getting acquainted with some orange creamsicles.
We had a great time with family, but the trick was that we weren't staying in the same place as everyone else, which meant that we had to choose between going home early to put the kids to bed or staying out late and letting them crash. We, uh, chose the latter.
We headed out on Sunday night to our cabin in Idaho to spend time with my family. And to see the eclipse!
Edie's birthday isn't for a couple more weeks, but since we're going to be out of town, we decided to give her our presents early. And what are presents without cake and ice cream?
Edie's just starting to get old enough to understand what a birthday is, so she was pretty excited. We sang the song, lit the candles, and let her blow them out. (We only had to help just a little bit.) She liked the cake, but she really liked her presents. We gave her a Daniel Tiger backpack, which I think she's worn virtually every second since. Tamsen's parents gave her some coloring books, a new dress, and a bunch of stickers. Pretty much everything was a hit! Marty enjoyed the party, too, although less for the presents and more for the cake.
We had a pretty good time, and I'm sure we'll do it again in a couple of weeks when she actually turns four.
I shared a video a couple of weeks ago showing Marty walking around while sobbing uncontrollably. You might think that he really hates walking. I promise he doesn't. See?
He's been very enthusiastic about trying to walk over the last week or so. He's always standing and taking steps, at least until Edie shoves him down when she thinks we aren't looking. He's getting better and better every day. At this rate, he might be able to walk no problem by the time we see our family in a couple of weeks. Edie has been able to walk for years now, but she, uh, waives that right more often than not. Here she is in her natural habitat, lounging on the couch watching Caillou.
She will start preschool once we get back from vacation, which we're all excited about. We told her that she's going to get a Daniel Tiger backpack for her birthday, and let me tell you, I think she might be contractually unable to talk about anything else. We have a good couple of kids, I think.
