MAY recap

April 30- MOVING DAY and SNOW

YES Snow! Are you kidding me!

I wish I was better about documenting the move. All I can say is no matter how prepared you think you are your NOT! So many last minute items to pack. In our case whatever was NOT boxed was not going- we only had so much room in our car. When you move across country there are "rules" of what you can pack and can't.

NO: paints, gas, nail polish, aerosol, liquids, wine etc. Bottom line anything Flammable

SO....

We donated, dumped and packed some.
2 kids + 2 parents + one yellow lab+ 2 weeks worth of cloths + 2 cases of wine all in a Subaru =
MUST get roof rack!

Ryan has said "It is all going to fit. We do not need a roof rack.

Bridget has said: "Do you know HOW much stuff we have- even with just the basics?"

Ryan: " I am the master packer... it will all fit"

Bridget: "We need a roof rack"

Ryan: "Watch it will all fit"

So it is midnight, YES midnight the night before we leave a start this crazy adventure. Everything is in a pile on the family room floor at my parents in Truckee because we are now homeless.

Ryan looks at it ALL and says: "I think we need a roof rack."

Moving Day

It was a GREAT house

All packed and ready to load the truckGarage #1 all neat and ready to be loaded

(We are going to miss all that storage!)

William directing where the boxes should go

May 1:

We hit the road MUCH later than expected.

(Ryan had to cruise into Reno for the roof rack and back to Truckee)
We hit the road just after lunch and were to headed to Vegas but not before stopping in Hawthonre (AKA the middle of NOwhere .... somewhere between Reno and Las Vegas)

What road trip is complete without stops to a park for the kids and dog?
VEGAS

"HELLO"

I love this picture- Ryan walking in downtown Vegas, kid on shoulders, dog on leash and 2 sippy in his back pocket!

He is SO HOT!

What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas!

Leaving Vegas and headed to:

Hover Dam

From Arizona we headed to the:

It is early May and it is FREEZING here! Luckily having just left Nevada in a snow storm just days before I still had the kids snow hats and mittens in the car.

Beautiful Canyon

Can I say COLD! We did very little hiking due to the cold and ended up taking the tour bus just to get warm. It rained and snowed on us. It was such a bummer because you really could not see the beauty around you. The stores ran out of sweatshirts, windbreakers and long sleeves as this cold front caught everyone off guard.

William trying to stay warm. Luckily the kids had hats and mittens and Ryan and I had our wind gear. Best we could do was layer with t-shirts.

Trying to enjoy the beauty. But lets be honest when you are cold and the kids are fussy it is hard to take it all in. But on our final day the weather warmed up and it was BEAUTIFUL! I guess we are going to have to go back.

NEXT Stop:

Annabel was left to her own for a whole 30 seconds and had fun with the tissue box.

She was so proud of her mound!
Man this girl keeps us on our toes. Carlsbad Caverns-

Best way to beat the heat- go 1/4 mile under ground here.

Lunch time: Annabel is insistent on feeding herself= One BIG mess

And Finally:

BIG State and YES

everything is BIGGER here

Welcome Home

The moving truck arrived one day later than expected. :(

The truck is late so we are playing in the sink with bubbles

My Happy girl!

First weekend:

Planting pumpkins

The kids have been so eager to have their own pumpkin patch that we thought we would give it a whirl. My hope is just 2 pumpkins anything else is icing on top! (not looking so good currently:( )
FYI- see the Subaru in the back... very few Subaru's seen here in SA and NO roof racks. They were such in norm in NV.

William's first movie night! He was fascinated with the air popper.

TOP 10 Surivial Tips

Headed on our 2200 mile road trip across country-

a Mom, a Dad, 2 kids, and a dog all piled into a Subaru Outback with a roof rack.

California, Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico, and

TEXAS

me driving in the middle of no where!

Ryan taking a driving break. Thanks babe for driving 95% of the time!

Sticker books- oh how we love you!

"I have had enough of the car!"

Top 10 Survival Tips when traveling with young children:

When traveling with young children in the car for hours remember:
(no particular order)

10. Pack summer AND winter hats. Mittens are also a good idea

9. 1-800 phone number for Pet friendly accommodations

8. Books on tape for the kids

7. GPS (ours is named Veronica)

6. pack lots of snacks

5. Watch your gas gauge; you never know you when you will see a gas station or food again

4. Items that open and close (sun glass case, make up bag, plastic eggs, Tupperware)

3. Large plastic Easter egg for hiding treats in

2. Roof rack

1. Cheetos

A lovely time in the Grand Canyon. In our 2 1/2 days there we had snow, wind, rain, AND blue skies as we left. We will have to go back when it is warmer and really appreciate its beauty. Texas here we come!

Good Byes- Sniff sniff

Good Bye Thrilling Thursday

in Reno!

After 3+ wonderful years of swim lessons we say good bye to Silver Bear Swim School. William has had amazing swim coaches here and he has turned into a little fish. Thursdays started with swim lessons and then heading straight to our playgroup adventure. It was a fun filled day and always guaranteed great naps.

Coach Cory, William, Coach Nicole, and Samantha

Teddy Bear 3 class

Playgroup

WOW! We have been blessed with AMAZING friends. Our group formed from a New Mom's Support Group at the hospital. We met most Thursdays when the older kids were just days/weeks old. When the kids were about 6 months old we felt a need to form a "playgroup" and continue meeting on Thursdays. Over the years we have formed wonderful friendships. It has been great sharing the joys and challenges of parenting, encourage and support one another, provide laughter and share tears but most of all share in FUN.

Miss Inga was brave to walk the 1/2 mile with 3 toddlers and a stroller down a busy street from the park to Squeeze In for lunch.

Annabel was sleeping in the car (or not- notice the rain gear on) so I drove.

Squeeze In- AWESOME restaurant for breakfast, brunch, lunch!

They were so accommodating-
9 mommies
9 x 3 1/2 years olds

6 x 1 year olds

= loud organized CHAOS

I mean 24 hungry people

By golly they could handle us AND handle us well. They got a kick that they could fit us all in. (we had a back room all to ourselves) Much to everyone's surprise ALL the kids did wonderful. This is a great place to go with kids- they provide baskets of toys, wonderful kids menus, fast and wonderful food.

Good Bye dear Friends!

They also made us a wonderful "going away" gift. It is a "Friendship Tree" with all the little hands traced and forms a tree. We will cherish it always.

If you could believe it, everyone was able to make it and give us a wonderful send off.

We love you guys!

SNIFF SNIFF

William's Last day of Preschool

William was enrolled in a preschool co-op 3 mornings a week.

He LOVED going and loved learning. He made some wonderful friends

here and was sad to say good bye.

William and Miss Soupha

Classmates

Time with Cousins

Lunch with Beka, Kira and Auntie Jackie
Sleepover with Timothy and Caelyn

Due to tons of rain our trip back home was delayed by a day. We decided to break up the drive and make a stop in Folsom for a sleep over. Boy did the kids have fun!

Getting ready for bed

We made a really BIG deal out of sleeping in the same room together for the big boys.
The girls wanting in on the FUN

Bath time
4 cousins in the tub!

Matching jammies
Cuddle time!

Sleep tight

The boys did awesome! We read stories, said prayers and allowed them to chat for a couple of minutes while we put the girls to bed and they were satisfied with that. We never had to go in there and tell them to "be quiet, or go to bed". The trick...We had played hard all afternoon and wore them out and held a "blanket show." Works everytime. The idea of the blanket show came from my Grandfather and lives on. Thanks Grandpa Ed for the idea.

Preparing to move

The preparation begins....

With any move you need LOTS and LOTS of boxes.
Who new a Subaru could hold so much. Packed floor to ceiling with boxes and paper.
THANKS Ronkas for the boxes and paper!
William having fun riding in Grandpop chair
gathering paper as we pack the kitchen.

Annabel could not be left out.


Hours of fun hiding in boxes


NO- we did not pack William. He is just entertaining himself.
NO we did not pack William!
Teamwork
Annabel pushing Big Brother all over the house.

I LOVE that they play so well together.

William did not want to miss any packing.
Many days I found him in curled up at the top of the stairs with his blanket, pillow and animals asleep.

Thrilling Thrusday

Another wonderful Thrilling Thursday at the park.
We LOVE Rancho San Rafael Park

Playing "Duck duck goose"

It was pretty funny to see some "get it" and others no clue what to do.

"Lets all help Anika"

OPs- A little too much help!

"OK Now RUN Anika"
The Big kids are so helpful with the little ones.

Easter

Easter at Auntie Amber, Uncle Brian, Timothy and Caelyn

Brian and Amber hosted a lovely Easter Brunch. The cousins LOVE being together! The day was bitter sweet, not only did we celebrate but we (the Banta's) said our good byes.

Cousins waiting for the egg hunt to begin

Beka, Annabel, William and Timothy
The BIG boys are ready
a sneak peek

"Look what I got"

2 eggs YEAH

Going on an egg hunt...

Goin' find some eggs!

The Dowd Family-3 generations

We had a great day despite the rain! The weather put a damper on some outdoor fun- testing out the pool, outdoor egg hunt, but we made up for it inside. We hit the road earlier than planned in hopes of avoiding freezing temperatures over Summit. Unfortunately, we hit SNOW at a super low elevation and crawled back to Reno. We thought we might turn around but Ryan needed to get back to Reno for an early Monday morning. 4 hours later with chains we made it back home. It was a long drive but so worth it. This was the first time in seven years of living in Nevada that we put chains on and it was the middle of APRIL!