Spontaneous Vacay

I feel like I've been such a dud in the blogging department lately. I've officially lost all personality and zest for life. Also known as, having a newborn. In fact, I looked at Sam today and actually shouted, "I hate my life!" Ever have days like that? No? No you don't? Oh. Me neither.

Anyway, I will move forward! And continue documenting no matter how blah it is. Now love me.

Ok, so remember how I was setting up shop in the bog of eternal stench after my sister left? Well, an impromptu getaway to a creepy little town called Wisconsin Dells works pretty well as a quick pick me up. What is Wisconsin Dells, you ask? Well, it goes a little somethin' like this...

Except it's January... so it actually looked a little more like this:

Which is why I say "creepy." Because this image kept creeping its way into my psyche throughout the weekend...

Annnyway, the secret to this place being an excellent little adventure during the winter is that once you get to the inside and past all the "creepy," it looks like this:

That's right. Wisconsin Dells is like, the capital of all indoor water park... places. SO, after sitting together in the Tot Lot, watching our tots play together, the Snows, Bischoffs, and us decided to hop in the car and make the three hour trek to the Dells for a little waterslide extravaganza.

We arrived in the early evening and gathered together, all bright eyed and bushy-tailed, to head off to the pricey resort buffet for dinner.

And while my slightly white trash upbringing in Idaho Falls has instilled in me a shameful love of buffets, and I will generally fiercely defend them, even I will admit that our dinner was no better than poo on a stick. And our high hopes were dashed to the ground.

After downing some imodium and putting all of our munchkins to bed, we had a little powwow out in the hallway. We laughed. We cried. We shared pant-pooping stories (not kidding) and hi-fived the night away. And then Sam emerged from our room toting a 12 pack of diet dew and a princess blanky and things really got crazy.

I think Matt and Sam's faces in this photo really capture the spirit of the evening...

Let's take a closer look, shall we?

I like to call it "Happy Delirium."

This one's better

Though, by this point, Sam had pounded a few more diet dews.

Let's bring it on in again...

Completely shiz-faced, this one.

The next morning Leah wanted to get into her swimsuit immediately. She ran around in her suit and boots for three straight hours before we could actually go to the water park. I say, if you've got it, flaunt it. Until you get boobs.

Dad and the Turkey Sub preparing to make the Mayan Temple their biznatch.

Josh: "Don't think I won't kiss you just because my mother is watching."

Leah: "Gasp!"

Josh maaay have turned his head as Leah went in for the kill, resulting in an oafy head-butt.

Mimi: "See? You shouldn't be kissing at this age... you're too uncoordinated."

Mimi: "Yes. Yes, that's better."

Josh: "Meet me behind the tube rental."

Ah mi... young love...

Leah spent much of her time at the water cannons...

... shooting Matt

This Tiny Tuna spent much of the day doing this...

And I spent much of the day watching her, feeling jealous. What I wouldn't give to have Sam tote me around in an adult sized carriage all day so I could snooze at my leisure...

Getting cuter by the second. I can't even handle her.

And finally, I just have to share a side by side comparison of my little ladies, who have both displayed exemplary talent at being deliciously chubily...

Baby Leah at 6 weeks:

And Baby Eve, following in her sister's footsteps at 8:

Proud mama right here.

Wait, wait... one more tasty tidbit I almost forgot...

Sam (while looking at Leah before this picture was taken): What's up with Leah's Jesus hair?

Me (laughing): That's going on the blog.

Sam: You can't put that on the blog, it's blasphemous.

Me: Sorry 'bout your luck.

**Note: My sister, Meradith, upon reading this blog and before reading what Sam said about Leah's hair said, "Oh my gosh, Leah looks like one of those homeless Jesus wannabes in this picture!"

To which I said, "READ WHAT SAM SAID AND STOP TRYING TO RUIN THE SURPRISE!"

We laughed for days.

Jesus hair indeed.

L-O-V-E spells BETHANY!!

That's right folks. My sissy, Bethany, came to town to visit--which you know translates into me being high as a kite for the week leading up to her arrival and during her stay, and then sends me plummeting into the bog of eternal stench for weeks after she leaves. And so, if you do the math, you can guess how I feel right now.... Yep, the stench part. In fact, I just saw Leah rummaging around in the couch cushions and crunching up something she found therein, and all I could muster was a half-hearted whisper shout that was supposed to be "help!" but sounded more like "hwarp!" from the little nest of blankets where I'm currently roosting in my big recliner chair. I'm not sure who I was expecting to come help me anyway because Sam's at class. Maybe I thought little Eve would spring from her bouncer and wrestle Leah's little treasure away from her... anyway, the point is I miss my sistee.

I blame you.

Not really. But kinda. Actually, I'll just make an executive decision to blame Sam.

Now I will show you pictures of her.

Oh, and if you'd like to see her first trip to Chicago, you can look here. We were a little bit more adventurous that time around, but that's just because I wasn't in a postpartum coma.

Upon arriving, Bethany brought Leah a princess nighty. Unfortunately, it was one Leah already had... and so instead she gave her this fancy book.

And adorned her with jewels...

And we kept the nighty anyway.

We had to start off with a bit of the Chicago good life in the form of deep dish pizza. Which, because I've been depriving myself of all things yummy since Eve's birth, tasted like straight manna and I had no choice but to rub the leftovers all over my body.

Even though Bethany grew up in Idaho like the rest of us, her time in Arizona has turned her into quite the wuss (minus the "w" and add a "p" for the full effect) when it comes to cold weather. She would pretty much tremble and quake even looking outside. Because of this, we left the house a total of three times. One of these little ventures was a stroll to Dunkin' Donuts to get white chocolate hot chocolate... which, I will tell you right now, is the single most delicious drink in the world and I demand you get one immediately. And then you will worship me for leading you to it.

Bethany snapped this shot along the way and I think captures our little urban life quite nicely...

One of the glorious things about the women in my family is that they all have "the touch" with my children. Which means there is basically a clone of me around when dealing with them. So Bethany spent much of her time holding my second little gremlin and making our home peaceful and glorious in general.

We left both babies with Sam and treated ourselves to our traditional matching pedicures.

It was a nearly perfect afternoon, except it took longer than expected so when we got home Sam was sweaty and crying and bouncing a hysterical Eve on our exercise ball while trying to simultaneously run the vacuum cleaner. He's a good boy.

On our cab ride home. No, no that's not quite right, Vanessa.

There you go. That's better.

It was a glorious trip, indeed! And, now that you've seen how awesome she is, I know you are all sinking into a post sister funk right a long with me, so I'll brighten your day with a shot of this little Tuna smiling. Because she's brand new at it. And I think she may have a dimple...