Incredible Kids, Incredible Time with Family

Currently the kids and I are in another state - totally far away from daddy and missing him very much. With that said, we are on an adventure in St. George, UT for a Stanger Family Reunion and so far have been having a terrific time!

For the second day in a row the kids have forgone naps, unless you count Miss Em getting about 10 minutes in the car on the way home from this, super fun pool/water park facility that we spent most of the day at. Anyone who knows us knows naps are a crucial part of our day, for both the kids and I. At most family functions we've been asked why the kids really need a nap because they still seem so happy late into the night, but it's once they get to bed that Myles ends up waking multiple times that night in screaming hysterics from being overtired. With Miss Em we've never skipped a nap, but last night around 8:30 p.m. after not sleeping much the night before and not napping all day except for about 20 minutes of rest before mommy got pulled over in Caliente, NV (I'll get back to this), Miss Em had finally had enough and howled for about a half hour while I sang and swayed her all around our room. It was so hard since we haven't really encountered this from her, but I completely understood she was plain tuckered out! Once asleep I tried to put her in her pack-n-play, but right away she started howling again so I enjoyed another half hour of swaying her and cuddling until she was deep asleep. During all of this time McGee was down at the hotel pool with Grandma & Grandpa swimming with all of his new cousins he'd just met and finally came back and went to bed around 10 pm. Around midnight we were greeted (a.k.a woken up) with his typical non-nap screaming hysterics, but once he got back to sleep he slept the rest of the night peacefully.

All of this long descriptive post is to lay out the groundwork in saying how completely amazing I think my kids have been for their first LONG (12+ hours total of driving so far) road trip and how proud I am of how well they've adjusted to this crazy non-nap/late night schedule. Did I mention they have also both just charmed their way into the hearts of their great aunts/uncles/cousins? Tonight after dinner we had an evening program of comedy and dance lessons and McGee really enjoyed showing off his dance moves as he tried to learn the Twist, Macarena, Hand Jive, Chicken Dance and Bunny Hop. He and his new favorite buddy/cousin Max, had lots of fun dancing around and even trying to break dance a bit. His antics had everyone laughing.

Then once McGee was whisked upstairs for a bath and bed by Grandma, Miss Em continued to bring out all of her charm as her cousin Jarnie played peek-a-boo with her with much delight and then Jarnie took her over to a group and she played "copycat" with cousin Cheryl, copying each face that Cheryl made at her. I was busy talking with another cousin but could see Em's hilarious different faces and heard all of the laughter from Uncle Chuck, Auntie El, Great Grandma Rula, Great Aunt Joyce, cousins Cheryl, Jarnie, Kevin and Mike. There might have been some others there too. The kicker was when we were starting to leave and I was holding her as she sucked on her thumb and laid her head on my chest. I said, "Emily can you say bye-bye?" and without missing a beat, she took her elbow and waved bye-bye with it twice as if she has just learned how to flap her arms with the Chicken Dance, but was too tired to pull her thumb out and wave goodbye for real. Everyone busted up laughing and we ended the night on a very high note!

It has been a long day so Mommy needs to head off to bed. I just wanted a chance to record these memories before they are replaced with more memories tomorrow. :)

Dear Lord, please help my babies to sleep really well tonight and not be woken up because of their overtiredness. Amen.

PS. Okay, I said I'd get back to being pulled over and here I am, being open and honest. For a few hours yesterday I drove about 70-80 mph through Nevada, seeing not much more than cows (and trying not to hit them in the open range - pictures will be posted once I get back home) and a little rest stop/diner specializing in UFO and alien paraphernalia. Then all of a sudden we enter Caliente, NV and the speed limit drops to 40 mph and my dad and I drive through town admiring how CLEAN everything looks (a HUGE contrast to Tonoapah, NV where we stayed last night - pictures of this will also be posted later) when all of a sudden there are flashing lights behind me. Yikes! Myles has been telling me for a month or so that policeman give tickets when you drive too fast, sometimes he even tells me to slow down and here I am being pulled over for going 45 mph in a 40 mph zone. Shame on me. Shame, shame. Well the sheriff was a very nice man and after telling him how sidetracked I was at the beautiful town (I was NOT kissing up, it was true) that I didn't watch my speed as well as I should have, he let me go with a warming to slow it down a little. Then he proceeded to chat about our trip and how he lived 20 yrs. in St. George and moved to Caliente to be near his brother-in-law who consequently just moved to Davis, CA (hooray for having him move near us) to open up a mortuary and how he liked the area when they came to visit. Now his brother-in-law is trying to get him to move to Davis. I must say I'd be happy to have such a nice, understanding officer of the peace such as him as a local sheriff. So that's my embarrassing story of being pulled over for the first time (well except for a fix-it ticket once) and thank you Lord that I didn't get a ticket! That sure would have put a damper to the start of this trip. Okay just one more thing to note - it took at least five minutes to get my driver's license out of my clear plastic spot in my wallet. That was actually the embarrassing part, chatting up the officer and trying to get that darn license out. Why do they make those slots so tight on wallets???