"Hayee and Tassee"

That is Lainy language for "Hayley and Cassi", my sisters who came to visit us this weekend. They braved the long 9 hour drive to come see us, and we had such a fun time with them!

All week before they came Lainy would come up to me, grab my hand and say: "Hayee come! Tassee come!" She was so excited! So was I.

We tried to go on at least one adventure every day. The weather was gorgeous, so we spent a lot of time outside during the day. Most evenings found us either playing games or watching a movie. We sure had fun together!

Outside a restaurant

(Left to right: Cassi, Brad, Traci, Lainy, and Hayley)

Making banana boats. Can you see our bananas on the fire?

Hayley, Lainy, and Cassi at the park

Checking out the bears at the Bear Research Center in Pullman

Walking through a park on the UI campus. Can you see Lainy with her arms behind her back? She walked like that forever! It was so cute!

All of us in the park

Lainy was sad to see them go!

A few notes to our girls:

Hayley came to us a little worn-out from a hectic school schedule. We tried to keep things relaxed for her, but she was just so quick to help clean, do the dishes, and take care of Lainy that I don't know how much relaxing she did. Thanks for all your help Hayley!

Cassi and Lainy have always had a special connection. It was fun to watch them play together. Cassi taught her to say "yo" and "chuckle" and a couple of other things. Thanks Cass, for keeping her (and us) entertained!

We're sure lucky to have such wonderful sisters! Love you guys!

Mini Vacation

Brad had a week off between school ending and his Osteoporosis research beginning, so we had some fun as a family.

Tuesday we drove to Coeur d'Alene. We spent the afternoon walking around "Tubbs Hill". It's a big hill that sticks out into Lake Coeur d'Alene. The city has forbidden any development on the hill, so today it's a nice little refuge in the middle of the city. We picked one of the many hiking trails on the hill, and ended up on a little sandy beach.

View of the lake

Lainy had fun throwing rocks into the water, while Brad climbed on the rocks.

Eventually, Lainy was more interested in what Brad was doing than her rocks. This led to her very first climbing lesson at the hands of her capable Dad. Brad was thrilled! He kept saying, "Look at her! She's a natural!" I'm sure it was the first of many climbing adventures to come.

Look at her concentrate!

At four o'clock sharp, we headed to check-in to our hotel. This hotel was our real destination in Coeur d'Alene because it is attached to an indoor water park. I was thrilled we found it! We hurried and checked-in, threw on our swimsuits, and went to the water park.

View of the slides from our room

The park is awesome! There are three big water slides, a wave pool, a hot tub, and a children's playground. Lainy was excited to play in the kids pool, so we went there first.

We had barely put our toes in the water when we heard a loud, thundering noise. I was slammed in the back with a wave of water and Brad was blasted in the face while trying to protect Lainy. We both yelled and jumped to get out of the torrent, wondering what had hit us.


After calming Lainy down (she was pretty freaked out) we discovered a huge bucket atop the children's playground that had filled with water and dumped all over us. I guess we should have been a little more observant!

Kids Splash Park

Bucket dumping on BradIt took us a while to convince Lainy to get back in the water, but soon she was splashing and having fun going down the little slides.

We had a blast! We only left the water park to eat and sleep. After breakfast Wednesday morning, we headed straight back. It was great! And because it was the middle of the week, we basically had the place to ourselves. What a perfect mini-vacation!

Brad and Lainy in front of the waterfall and dinosaurs

I guess the bucket dumping all over us had a profound affect on Lainy. All week she's been saying, "Bucket! Dump! Water! Aaaaa!". She's getting so funny!

Bye Bye Binky

Yes, you read right. We got rid of Alaina's binky. Bye bye binky.

It's been coming for a few months now. (I think we've held onto it this long more for my peace of mind than Alaina's.) For the past few months we've only been giving it to her in the car and at bedtimes. But Thursday night, Brad and I decided now was as good a time as any to say good-bye.

Friday morning Alaina woke up, not suspecting a thing. We spent all morning prepping her for the big event. Then, we gathered up all her binkies and huddled around the garbage can.

Alaina took one last suck on each of her binkies, then put each of them carefully in the garbage can.

We cheered and congratulated her on being such a big girl! Then we went to the store and let her pick out any toy she wanted. She acted pretty excited about the whole thing.

Alaina's nap went much better than we expected. It took her longer to go down, but she eventually did and slept for a couple of hours. Brad and I were feeling pretty successful by then!

Well, bedtime didn't go nearly as well. The poor girl was exhausted but just couldn't settle herself down. She kept looking at me very seriously and saying, more clearly than she ever has before, "Binky. Binky". I kept reminding her that she was a big girl now and had thrown her binkies in the garbage, but she really didn't care about that.

Brad was the one that finally got her to sleep. She woke up many times that night, each time searching around her crib for a binky, and each time looking at me with big tear-filled eyes when I told her the binkies were gone.

Poor girl! I felt so bad for her! She was just mourning the loss of her friend, and there was nothing I could do about it.

Each day since Friday has gone a little better than the last. Alaina still isn't sleeping as well or as long as usual, but hopefully that will come soon. Still, we're proud of our "big" little girl! She's been so brave about the whole thing!

So it's with some sorrow for our current sleep deprivation, some relief that we're free of it, and mostly gratitude for the good friend it's been to our baby, that we say a fond good bye to the binky.

Various News

We've had a fun weekend. Brad finished his finals on Friday (he passed all his classes, in case you were worried). Lainy and I have loved having a daddy and husband around who has nothing to do but focus on us!

Saturday we all took a much needed four-hour nap. Afterward we went to some gardens in Pullman. The weather was gorgeous! So were the flowers.

I had a great Mother's Day too. Brad and Lainy made me a yummy breakfast, my family sent these beautiful flowers...

and it was another gorgeous day outside!

Here are the pictures we have of Lainy last week. Notice anything in common between them? We just finalized plans with my family to go to Hawaii in August! We're all super excited! Lainy has worn her "grass" and her "coco's" almost every day all week. Aloha!

Memories...

Three years ago today I stood in the Colosseum under the hot Roman sun.

Three years ago today I walked through the Roman Forum and saw the very spot where Julius Caesar was assassinated.

Three years ago today I made a wish in Trevi Fountain, touched the 2,000 year old walls of the Pantheon, and sat on the Spanish steps eating Gelatto.

Three years ago tomorrow I wandered through St. Peters Basilica, feeling sort of small and insignificant, and stopping to marvel at this (the Pieta by Michelangelo).

Three years ago tomorrow I stood for a good hour in front of this (Disputation over the Sacrament by Raphael)

and this (School of Athens by Raphael).

Three years ago tomorrow I stared up at the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel in complete awe and choking back tears. (While the Vatican Guards softly called "Silencio" in an effort to encourage the crowd to be reverent.)

It's funny how memories come back to you powerfully at times. It's funny how much can change in three years. It's funny how a month in Europe can change you forever.

Renaissance Fair

Last weekend a much anticipated event took place here in Moscow - One we've been hearing about since the day we moved here. The Renaissance Fair came to town!

I've never been to a Renaissance Fair. My exposure to them has been limited to second-hand descriptions and a handful of episodes of Gilmore Girls (which basically poked fun at them). I didn't really know what to expect. I hoped there would be minstrels playing, folks dressed in period clothes, and some Old English being spoken. Still, I somehow knew the good people of Moscow (who tend to be a little hippie-ish) would not disappoint!

Lainy and I walked to the park where the fair was being held. We could hear flutes playing from a few blocks away and got excited.

Our immediate exposure to Moscow's Renaissance Fair was a huge hand-painted banner reading: Moscow Renaissance Fair: Our Celebration of Spring. The first people we saw were a knight and a young maiden. I couldn't stop smiling and Lainy couldn't stop staring as we made our way through the crowd to find Brad.

Once we hooked up with Brad, we decided to walk around the park and see what we could see. Well, let me tell you, there were a lot of people that came out of the woodwork (if you know what I mean). But besides the weirdo's, there were some really awesome craft booths. Some of our favorites were: a booth selling homemade crystal balls and an apothecary selling his potions.

We ate "Nessie Ears" (as in the Loch Ness Monster) being sold from a huge cardboard castle. They turned out to be huge scones covered in cinnamon and sugar. Delicious!

After making our rounds, we decided Brad needed to get back to studying and Lainy needed to get to her nap. On our way out of the park we caught the last half of the May Pole dance. The dance featured a pirate, some fairies, William Shakespeare, and more maidens. Our favorite dancer was an old guy with shoulder-length silver hair. He spun and sidestepped like he would be content to dance around that May Pole forever. We got a good chuckle from watching him.

All in all, the fair was pretty sweet. Most people were dressed up, there was great live music, and I even heard some Old English. Not bad for our first Renaissance Fair. Actually, it was great!

Here are the pics:

What is a Chinese Dragon doing at a Renaissaince Fair, you ask?

We have no idea, but Lainy had fun running through it.

Lainy running through the dragon

Yes, that sign says "Around the World Yurt"

May Pole Dance

Our favorite dancer