Our stop between Napa and Salt Lake City was in Reno.
(Micah booked it for TWO DAYS!)
All I can say is that I hate Vegas.
And Vegas looks like paradise against Reno.
The only picture I got was my three kids in their hotel bed.
And even looking at that picture gives me the heebies.
Tristen and I have a love for visiting factories. So after we left Napa Valley and were heading over to Reno, we found out that the Jelly Belly factory was on the way! Clearly, our family was going to stop and check things out.
Our family shot in front of a “Jelly Belly Slug Bug”!
My kids were beyond thrilled at the “coolest slug bug” they have ever seen.
Micah asked me to marry him once again with this Jelly Belly art.
I told him I wanted to get through this pregnancy first!
How cute is this little factory worker look alike.
The tour was about an hour with a bunch of tasting along the way.
I loved it.
The kids might have thought it was a touch long in the end.
But it really was cool to look down on all of the workings of Jelly Bellies and see how everything comes together.
And these three ate more candy than you can imagine!
I am sure you can imagine our next hour in the car was decently lively.
Good thing their sugar rush came crashing down, and Dash fell into a long hard sleep between our factory tour and our stop in America’s most disgusting city — Reno.
While in Napa Valley, Micah booked us for a safari. I’ll admit that I figured it would be equivalent to going on the tram at San Diego’s Safari Park, but it was a billion times cooler. After a mini walking tour, we got into safari vehicles and took a pretty decent safari. It was slightly staged, but we had a blast.
Dash was loving the birds of all kinds — and loved collecting feathers.
He definitely got his love of collecting from Navy.
But the real fun came when we were on top of the safari jeep, checking out all sorts of amazing animals.
The fun part was how up and close we were able to get.
Navy was in heaven.
But Dash might have loved it the most.
He didn’t make a peep the whole time, and was in awe of his surroundings.
Nice research Shmickity Dickity — and nice find.
Bree signed up for an Ironman long ago, and the day finally showed up for her to execute! We headed up to Napa Valley to be official cheerleaders, and made a vacation out of it. But our cheerleading duties weren’t limited to just Bree. Micah signed up for a Duathalon along the same course, and Bree had a few friends who we cheered for as well in the Ironman.
But first thing is first.
As cheerleaders, we needed the proper garb.
Not pom poms and megaphones.
I’m talking personalized shirts and signs that Bree could see from the course.
Signs — check.
Shirts — check.
(Although they looked a little more put together before they were on the race course for a few hours before I snapped pics of them. For example, Bree had a full head of hair on Dash’s shirt, but he got picking and she had a lone hair for most of the day!)
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The next thing we as cheerleaders faced was seeing the racers multiple time on the course. I don’t like to brag, but as the head cheerleader, I was responsible for that, and nailed it!
We saw the racers several times, which made our efforts worth their while.
Our first sighting was Micah on the road.
We caught him a few more times, and celebrated at the end of the race with him.
He did really well, and was amped to ride with the cheerleaders for the rest of the day to catch Bree along her race.
This was during one of the big hills Bree climbed like a champ.
That was one of our cheering sections where we brought Grandma and Grandpa along.
Here Bree is during the run, looking as strong as ever.
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ALthough we caught the racers often, there was a lot of downtime, so here is a little peak into the lives of three mini cheerleaders who were studs for 12 full hours.
There was some patty cake.
We were in Napa Valley, so my kids made “boogers” out of grapes every time we were near a vineyard.
There were staring contests.
And stick collecting that usually ended with a wrestling match.
Sign surfing became the highlight of the day.
And we ended the night with some Siamese Twin action.
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Meanwhile, Bree finished the race and dominated!
She expected to finish in around 14 hours.
But she came in at a whopping 12 hours and 20 minutes!
Impressive.
My favorite picture of the day was when she had finished and grabbed her girl to celebrate.
And one last family shot (which Navy helped herself into).
Nice work Bree.
Nice work Micah.
Nice work cheerleaders.
Two genies, wearing my mom’s aprons backwards wandered in to me and announced “We are two Genies and are granting you three wishes”.
I said, “Let me take a picture of you!”
Navy: “Is that your first wish?”
Me: “Yes it is.”
click
Both: “What is your second wish?”
Me: “For you two to bring down the laundry baskets.”
Navy: “Oh, there are NO carrying wishes.”
Scout: “Yeah, so what’s your second wish?”
Me: “For you to both clean the kitchen.”
Scout: “Oh, there are no cleaning wishes either.”
Navy: “Come on, let’s go back in our lamp Genie.”
Me: “What kind of Genies are you?”
Scout: “We’re fun Genies.”
Me: “Sounds like you are lazy Genies.”
Me: “Okay, I have another wish….go and play upstairs with Dash for ten minutes.”
(I was trying to get them upstairs so I could finish something in peace.)
Scout: “Well, it is opposite day, so we will play with Dash, but downstairs in this room.”
And then they proceeded to make a huge Genie mess before finally heading off.
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I think they might be the two worst Genies in the whole history of Genies!
So.
What does it matter if Dashy wears a girls nightgown to bed?
We have a community pajama drawer.
And what is sometimes a nicely organized pajama drawer, is more often a big fat messy pajama drawer.
The kids don’t understand the concept of taking one pair of undies and a pair of pajamas off the top.
Instead, they get their grubby hands on everything and pull it all at once.
So rather than look for a matching pair which would require me to find a top and bottom, I know that nightgowns are a set all in one.
And that is why Dashy wears pink frilly nighties often.
Because frilly nighties make my life MUCH easier!
And that’s the whole goal.
My mom came in and said, “You need to watch that kid (Dash), because he is climbing all over outside and he is going to kill himself.”
I told her that he was out with his siblings and that he is about the most capable 20 month old around.
And then this happened.
Come on Dash — why you got to make me look bad?
The Brays are being lame and moving back to Utah.
Good thing we celebrated with them last night.
I created a little night of “Shakes & Games”.
And then Micah took over and proclaimed, “This is actually a ‘man night’ that the girls are fortunate to be invited to.”
Well alright then!
So “shakes & games” turned into “shakes & fried rice & popcorn & frozen burritos & peaches & games.”
Brays - we are going to miss you.
Good thing we know you will be back often.
Scout was playing with our neighbor when I was at the computer. I heard Sidney say, “Are you supposed to do this?” To which he replied, “I do this all the time. It is the best way to get into the house when it is locked up. My mom doesn’t even care. Isn’t it cool!”
I knew he was in definite show-off mode, and thought he was heading through the top part of the dutch door that was unlocked.
Unfortunately, I was wrong.
But fortunately, I caught him in the act.
Because unfortunately, that screen has been giving us a lot of problems lately by coming “loose” over and over again after Micah fixes it.
Guess he should have listened to Sid!
Don’t let the cutest face in the world fool you.
That mouth is FULL of food from two hours before at the Costco sampling counters.
(Or so I thought.)
Food that he clearly wasn’t ready to part with.
Imagine my surprise when I found these shelled pistachios.
Good thing Icka didn’t open them when I asked her not to.
Better thing that he hoards instead of swallows.
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