WOO HOO TRAVEL PLANS

ARRIVING IN KC
SATURDAY MAY 14

LEAVING KC
SUNDAY MAY 29

I figured that since it is a little expensive to fly about the country, might as well stay as long as we can.
Should be enough time to visit everyone and have anyone visit us. Pete will probably be flying in the 17th - 21st or so.

I don't know specifically what we'll be doing, except that I definitely plan on going to Jamie's graduation on Thursday the 19th and visiting Trisha at some point in St Louis - maybe on the 17th/18th?

If there is something you want to plan with us please let me know so I pack the right clothes and don't double-book our time.

See you soon!

phone photos

Now that I know how to share my phone's photos, here are some from the past weeks. I have an app that takes "Polaroid" style photos.

Children's Museum

I finally figured out how to transfer photos from my phone - which is good because I have taken a lot of cute Zoe pictures when my phone is more convenient than my camera - like inside of the Portland Children's Museum. We had a really good trip to Portland for a few days. It rained like CRAZY the whole drive down and then all day on Friday. Nana Jo needed to finish knitting a hat for pub-knitting that night [2 dozen knitters at a local pub] so I took Zoe to the Children's Museum. We were there for FOUR HOURS. She ran from room to room the entire time except for the short apple juice/pretzel break I made her take half-way through the afternoon. Her favorite part was the pretend theatre. There is a real stage with a curtain and props and seating for the parents. There is a director's chair where someone can change the colors of the lights. They have costumes backstage for the kids and pretend tickets.... it's really amazing. Zoe stood front & center on the stage and yelled for everyone's attention and then would sing a song or dance around. There were lots of other kids doing the same thing and running around all over the place. It was nuts. But at least I got to sit for a few minutes.


There was a place with a counter and mirrors and little face painting crayons. Zoe had been noticing that other kids had paint on their faces and when she finally saw the crayons she dashed over to them and without a second of hesitation started drawing all over her face.

There was also a Water Room with all of these things that you turn & pump & spray. There were heavy duty smocks to keep kids dry but Zoe refused to wear one.



Indian Princess

There is a story about a little girl who wants to be an Indian Princess so she wraps a long scarf around her like a sari and then her mother gives her an actual sari to wear. Zoe walked out of my closet wearing one of my scarves and said she was a princess. I have a cute video but Blogger won't let me upload it right now.

In other news, Zoe is loving preschool! Now I really have to find a full-time job to pay for it. She wanted to go every day last week and was a little confused why we did not go on Saturday & Sunday. I am trying to teach her the days of the week, and I think they talk about it at school, too. I am going to make her a calendar sometime soon. It's weird to hear her suddenly know new things, like songs, or want "rainbow cheerios" [Fruit Loops] because they had them at school. She has several friends that she plays with - Zoe, Parker, Jack. Her teachers are really nice and seem to like Zoe quite a bit. She has brought home lots of artwork. I realized that it's better if I wait to pick her up after 3pm even if I'm home because they go back out to the playground after naptime and she gets upset if she doesn't get to play with the kids outside in the afternoon. I'm glad it's working out! Only took a month.

Pete comes home from Chicago tomorrow so that he can go to Oregon for a few days. Zoe & I are going to Portland on Thursday through Saturday to see Jo & Annie and talk about a yarn project I'm working on. I guess we'll find out this weekend if Pete is headed back to Chicago next week or somewhere else. He heard about a job in June in St Louis that he will try to request. These are all Nordstrom stores that he is working on, so he could potentially be anywhere in the country.

Airfare is holding steady, and has not dropped [or risen] yet... I think I'll just wait until the end of the week and get tickets on Friday or Saturday.

See you soon!

still looking at travel

So the good news is that we are definitely going to come for a visit!
But I don't know the dates exactly. Here's the scoop:
 I told Pete that I could fly out in a couple of weeks cheaper than in May and he said that he would be sad if he couldn't go, too. I didn't know that he would be sad. He wants to see you all and he also wants to see some BBQ. He can request some time off if we wait until mid-May.
Also, Colleen let me know that Jamie's graduation date is Thursday May 19. I have been waiting for this for 18 years -- Jamie was at my graduation, which I think was also May 19, or the 18th. So I would really love to be there.
So I just looked at tickets, and they are still very reasonable, except that Bing says that they are 92% sure that prices will drop in the next 7 days so I should DEFINITELY wait to purchase them.  So I'm going to keep checking daily and see if we can save a few bucks.

Here is what I'm thinking:

• Seattle to KC on Mon/Tues 16/17th
• Drive to Monroe on Thursday 19th morning. stay the night. stay Friday. Dinner with Dad/Betty/Everett Friday evening?
• Drive to St Louis on Friday night/Saturday morning to see Trisha/Mike/Maisy. - unless Trisha feels like driving to KC.
• drive back to KC Saturday night or Sunday morning.
• Stay in KC for 4 or 5 more days.

What do you think?

travel?

The flights between Seattle & KC are very affordable over the next few months. They are around $250. So first, if anyone would like to come out here, you are welcome to visit us. We have an empty guest room again with a somewhat comfortable twin bed. And we have a couch and an air mattress. And a tent. And hotels.

And second, it looks like Pete is going to be working in Chicago for... a long time... so I was thinking that Zoe & I could come to KC at the end of April/first of May for awhile and during that time fly up to Chicago for a couple of days.

So third, if you have been hankering to hang out in Chicago you should plan a little weekend while Pete is there and do something fun. He is flying out on Monday and then he'll be back for a few days for an Oregon vacation and then probably sent back to Chicago on April 18.

If you have any thoughts about these tentative travel plans let me know. Otherwise I might just plan something and hope that someone is home when we get there.

I am also looking at a trip in July. This trip would involve some time in St.Louis to see Mike & Trisha's new house [pending], and their new baby girl [also pending: May 31st?].