We're back home!

New month, old home.  On Feb 1, we officially moved back into our house.  And it feels so good!  The boys have been having all sorts of fun re-discovering their old toys and Aotis is enjoying new territory to explore.  

Unfortunately, none of our baby gates fit our wide staircase, so we started blocking the stairs with the pack n play.  That is until Aotis figured out how to sneak around it!  

 These guys.  Gus is in an interesting stage where he wants help, but doesn't want help.  So, after giving up on my pleas to him to get dressed, I asked Arjen if he could help.  This was how they came downstairs.  Very pleased with themselves I might add.  :)

Gus had actually talked about his "safari suit" before we got back in our house.  So it was no surprise to see him all decked out and ready to go fishing?

Our timing returning home was perfect.  Thanks to all the rain, the hills are gorgeously green.  And since it's February, winter is officially over so the weather has been gorgeous too!

Paying tribute to Grandpa John

We made it to California!  We had renters in our house for another week after arriving back in CA, so we hung out at Casa Baba and Dave for the week.  Arjen and Gus made themselves right at home, with Arjen building his block castle which then became his personal dining area, and Gus taking up the living room floor with puzzles.  Baba couldn't be happier.  

And then Grandpa Dave gave them the liberty to go pick tangerines right off the tree...which they 

did...a whole bag's worth!

After a week of relaxing in Davis, it was time to get back in the car for another road trip.  This one only just a little less than half the distance we cover in a day during our cross country driving.   We were on our way to Los Angeles for Grandpa John's memorial service.  

As is the case with pretty much any family function, whether a happy or sad occasion, the time with family is always great!  These two had fun terrorizing GGma Margie's house.  Thank God for playpens!

Then they got to terrorize the hotel lobby.

Poor Aotis, his mom can't even take the time to get him dressed before going for coffee!

 We missed getting to see Kristen and Morgan, and to meet Preston - our newest cousin.  But we enjoyed getting to see the rest of the Miller clan!

Left to right: Back row - Casey, Shannon, Sloane, Aotis on Devon's shoulders, Andrew, Eileen, Rocky, Dave.  Middle Row - Macy, Kristin, Milo, Travis, Julia, Robert.  Front Row - Grandma Margie, Reba, Vicki.  Junior Front Row - Optimus and Bumblebee

On the road again...

And here we are.  Leaving Wisconsin to head home.  Hard telling where home is after being gone for so long, and feeling so at home in Elkhart, but we definitely have a home waiting for us in CA!

Do you believe me that there are three kids and a dog in there among that mess?  (You're looking at the 2 back rows in the Excursion from the front seat!).  Yes, we had the trailer...it was too full! Good thing our initial stretch was only 2 hours to Madison to stay the night with our friends the Geerdinks!

 So great to see these guys one last time before leaving the state.  Thank you for hosting us!

 
From Madison, we took off for Eagan, Minnesota, to visit Adam, Shannon, and Alex for the rest of the weekend.

Enjoying cousin Alex's toys!

These boys had no probably making sure EVERY. SINGLE. TOY. was taken out and played with.

We clearly had too much fun hanging out with the MN Anderson's, since I don't have any other pictures to show for it!

Tuesday morning, we climbed back in the truck to officially start our trek home.  Thankfully, our master packer managed to reconfigure some things to make the drive home a little safer and more comfortable for everyone!  (Arjen and Gus in the way back, you can see the hood on Aotis's blue jacket and his airplane blanket in the middle row)

Driving cross county in the winter has the potential to be a lot more challenging than driving in the summer.  The forecast seemed pretty clear, and would only get warmer! (We left degrees in the -teens in Minnesota!)  But, by southern Iowa and into Nebraska we did have a light amount of snow.  

Can't resist taking a picture of this sign every time we drive past it.  I want my name on the interstate! 

For whatever reason, they're extremely proud of their wind turbines here...that's a blade standing there next to the rest stop!

Here's what the boys are up to pretty much every day in the car:

So many things in this picture...1) Gus in his phase of not wanting to ever remove his jacket (granted, it was super freezing cold outside, but still...), 2) The headphones over the hood, with the top part in front of the face...I just can't.  3) My three-almost-four-year-old independently navigating his way around "his" phone.  I will say, portable technology makes long road trips totally doable! 

And this guy:
I was most worried about him on this road trip.  He's at that age where he wants to be moving and getting into whatever his brothers are up to, but road-tripping is clearly in his blood.  Yes, he had a couple moments of being miserable in his seat, but in the grand scheme of things, he was an absolute almost-one-year-old rockstar!

 Then there's our veteran road-tripper.  The day we left Minnesota, he complained about feeling sick, but he was still a trooper.  He slept a lot more that he usually does, and happily sat in his seat with "his" phone playing games and watching videos.  I gotta say, as long as they aren't yacking, it's almost easier to drive with sick kids who are content to just sit all day.  My concern for him this trip would be finding enough opportunities for him to run around since it would be so cold outside, but either he knew better than to want to go outside, or more likely, he really didn't feel so good and was actually happy to stay put.

Night one was spent in Cheyenne, WY.  Roads were good, forecast clear.  So when we set out on Day #2 to discover I-80 was closed, we of course were caught off guard.  Assuming McDonalds had a play land, we found ourselves there for breakfast, only to discover they didn't.  We played games, used an empty corner to play hide-and-seek, and managed to kill four hours there while we waited for the road to re-open.  Moving painfully slow, due to poor road conditions, we made our way across Wyoming, miraculously making it to Salt Lake City for night #2.  

Late night lego play in the hotel after being cooped up all day.  Aotis was taking notes.  

Day #3.  In the summer, the Bonneville Salt Flats look like snow.  Go figure that they're covered in water and look like a beautiful lake in the winter!  Pardon the mess on the windows mucking up this shot, but it was such an amazing view!

You can tell the temps are getting warmer.  Unless you look at Gus (still wearing his jacket and hood!)

California or Bust! 

I hope these boys learn to appreciate these days we spend together in the car, year after year, after year, after year.....

My baby is almost 1!

11 months old.  Living in Wisconsin.  In fact, you've lived in WI longer than you lived in CA so far in your sweet little life.  You still have no teeth.  You still have the sweetest, funniest demeanor, but you're starting to voice your opinions more aggressively.  You still have your crazy, adorable curls, and you will for as long as I can learn how to help manage them!  And you pretty much can't sit still very long.  Still cruising along anything you can get your hands on, but not yet willing to let go and walk on your own.  You are trying so hard to talk, babbling a lot, but not too interested in using sign language, at least not signs that I can recognize yet! You keep life full buddy!  (Last photo shoot in WI too...bittersweet)

Before we left, you got to have an early birthday celebration...you weren't quite sure what to think of it:

More winter beauty

I just can't get enough!  I was definitely enjoying the snow and temperate winter weather.  

Arjen's walk to school (about 5 minutes on adult legs, 10 on kid legs) from our apartment

Rockin' the Captain America sweatshirt

A view we don't typically get of the village park.  

There's ice forming!

All bundled up from walking the big bro to school

Loved the icicles!

Making fresh tracks on the walk to school

Getting closer to fully frozen!

Not the beach view we're used to every summer!

Our humble abode for 3 1/2 months (upstairs flat only)

Got to enjoy this view walking back home one early, below-freezing-cold morning

Did you know it could get so cold that ice forms on the windows? I definitely did not. 

Another image I'll likely never have in my yard again

And it's frozen.  Completely.  But we're not!  

See ya after the thaw Elkhart

The Failed Family Self Portrait

So, I was determined to get a family portrait taken in the snow.  We had so much, it was so beautiful, and who knows when we'll have a chance again to get the five of us to take a family pic in with this kind of backdrop.  So out we went, with our fancy camera, the remote, and no tripod...

Practice pics with Andrew manning the Camera (balanced on a picnic table)

Okay

Less okay

Least okay

Next time remind me to check the time before I take three hungry and tired kids out for a picture in the cold wind and snow!

It's nice having at least one kid who can manage to self-regulate these days.  Love this pic of him!

Poor Aotis just wasn't having it.

Despite his brother's best efforts at perking him up

In the end, we amazingly managed to sneak one nearly framable pic out of the disastrous others.  Camera may have been on a slight tilt, and Andrew lost the top of his head, but you may just see this on our wall next time you come over.