The Iditarod: Things Spring Break Broke

3. My promise that I would never take

the boys home again by myself

Redding again. We go there a lot. Can't help it. Pressure from the grandparents sucks us in. Maybe when Jude is two and another plane ticket is added to the cost, my parents will give it a rest.

This was a very last minute trip. The story starts when Matt was going to San Antonio for work, and our plans to go with him didn't work out. I was feeling down one day about being alone again with the kids, and then I discovered that it would actually be Josh's spring break. So we would have nothing to do at home, no school or gymnastics, and I would get zero mommy breaks all week. Insert double sad face here.

Without thinking, I texted my mom, telling her we'd be alone again and that I wished we had bought her a plane ticket to come spend the week with us. When she shared this with my dad, it turned into a full-on pressure attack to come home for Easter. All the siblings would work out a way to get home if I would. It was the perfect timing because my dad had a couple days off work. They would pay half the cost of plane tickets. Blah blahdy blah.

The main downsides would be prolonging my time away from Matt, making the long trip with the boys by myself (which I said a few months ago I would never do again), and the huge cost of booking plane tickets last minute.

BUT, I really really felt like I should go this time. Not sure why, but I needed to toughen up make it happen.

Matt figured out a way he could meet us in Redding after his San Antonio trip and stay for five days only using one day of vacation time. He hadn't been to Redding in almost a year, so this was exciting. Then some guardian angel got him bumped from one of his flights, and ended up getting him a huge Delta voucher and an extra day at home with us before his work trip. Bonus!

I found plane tickets for myself and the boys that were not ideal, but the boys did considerably well on the three planes, two layovers, and long drive. We didn't roll into Grandma's house until 4 a.m. Eastern time, but we made it without too many tears (and none from me, which is an accomplishment).

And now I will once again show you too many pictures with explanatory comments. Sorry, it's not my fault everyone takes a ton of pictures at my house and I get a digital copy of every single one. I have to post them. My hands are tied!

Like all Redding trips, this one involved a lot of junk food and a lot of attempts to work off the calories. My mom and sisters and I worked out together a few times. One day we took the boys on a little run around the neighborhood. They weren't very comfortable in the single jogger together, so I got stuck run-walking hunched over pushing Jude in an umbrella stroller. (They don't make those for taller-than-average people. Or for running.) Not a great workout, but it was really fun.

Another night we took a long walk down to the river and skipped rocks with the boys. This was to prime our bodies for all the frozen yogurt we planned to consume afterwards.

Jude had plenty to do at Grandma's house, but his favorite activity was standing at the back windows looking for the cats. He created his own sound for "cat" (kind of like "ttts") and called it every time anyone mentioned going outside.

He also got lots of attention from his aunts and uncles. He was immediately attached to them. He went right to Julia the first day, loved Steven's man voice, and made Steph carry him through the mall for hours. When Melissa got in from Utah, I hardly even saw my baby the rest of the week. My brother and sisters are going to be amazing parents someday.

On Good Friday, we left the little boys with my mom and the rest of us drove up to Mt. Shasta. Growing up, I went skiing/snowboarding all the time because the mountain is only an hour from Redding. I was afraid I wouldn't be able to do it anymore after a seven year break, but my legs remembered. I had forgotten how much I love snowboarding! I could have been happy doing that every day all week! It was perfect -- nice weather, no crowds. Plus I got to teach my little sister to snowboard, and to see my man's ski skills for the first time, so it was an amazing day.

My dad used his Go Pro camera a lot that day. It's a little video camera you can stick anywhere, so he put it on his head and followed us all around the mountain, recording while he skied. Here's a video before we left that morning.

Nothing better than a good meal and hot jacuzzi after a day of snowboarding.

Josh had a really fun day with Grandma. She took the boys bowling and to see the ducks by the river. See how he's stealing that nice lady's popcorn to feed the birds?

That Saturday, we helped my dad work in the yard. Josh mowed the lawn.

We cleared out the old garden area and ripped up the grass where the new one would go. This one will be closer to the house, easier to tend, and right next to my grandmas' window so she can watch everything grow.

My 96-year-old grandma lives in the apartment connected to the garage (those windows in the background). She is great. She hates being decrepit, and says so all the time. She wants to be as independent as possible. We took her to the grocery store one day and she couldn't hide the joy on her face when she got to drive her own scooter cart up and down every aisle, and when we found every single thing on her list. I wish I had taken a picture. She lives for Josh's hugs and Jude's long meaningful stares.

That weekend Josh worked on his baseball skills and his man skills -- walking around with his shirt off like Uncle Steven, and starting fires. Jude just crawled around trying not scrape up his chubby legs too much. Walk, boy! That will solve your problems!

Josh dyed Easter eggs for the first time with Aunt Julia and Grandma Sara. He really really loved it, if you can't tell by his face.

I helped out the Easter bunny that night. For having mostly grown up kids who don't really appreciate anything, she still does a great job with festive things like this.

After church on Easter Sunday, we spent the afternoon relaxing in the warm backyard.

We shot pellet guns at soda cans on the fence. I got one shot in before my phone fell out of my dress and got destroyed on the concrete. Josh thought he was pretty hard core.

We took turns hiding Easter eggs for him around the pool area.

Matt and I made his amazing Amados steak and guac nachoes for everyone.

Little Superbaby gets to do whatever he wants at Grandma's house...even sit on the table and go fishing in Steven's water glass.

The next night Julia had gymnastics. We wanted to see her new tumbling tricks, so a bunch of us went to pick her up and watch the end.

Round off back flip twist! I don't think she'll have a problem making the high school cheer squad (ahem...unfortunately) with a trick like this up her sleeve. Sorry, nothing against cheerleading. It's just that Julia is amazing at basketball and volleyball, so the tomboy in me would rather she stuck with those.

After seeing Julia's flips, some people thought they had something to prove. That's my mother doing the Crane and a headstand. First attempt! She's awesome.

On Steph's last day at home, she cleared her busy social schedule to take care of everyone's beauty needs. She spent hours cutting and coloring hair...right after she waxed Steven's chest and belly. OUCH. Unnecessary!

On our last night we went to Red Robin with the family, just like old times. This was the place to eat when I was growing up. Redding has changed a lot since then.

One last couch snuggle before we said our goodbyes. The kids and I would leave at 3:30 the next morning to head to the airport. In order to keep this post pleasant, we'll leave that part of the story out.

As hard as traveling is on all of us, there were a lot of little things that worked out just right enough to make me think we were really supposed to make this trip. I'm glad we went. Now hopefully we're good until Christmas....