So here we are in Bend where I know not one person (ok, well I technically know our Realtor who is awesome, but it’s not like we hang out). I was part of an awesome Meetup Twins Group in Las Vegas (I miss you Danyelle and Jen!) and loved getting out with other Mom’s who had kids the same age as mine. Staying at home with the kids can be kind of isolating not to mention boring so I figured this would be the best way to meet other Moms and future friends for Shenzie and Heaten and myself.
I found a Meetup of Mom’s here (not multiples moms, although I’ve since heard there is one) and joined. There was also Book Club you could join if you were a member of the original Mom’s group. While I LOVE to read, I’ve never actually been in a book club before so I was all over that one. What a great way to meet new people here with common interests. They only meet once a month and it happened to fall the day after I joined the club so I hadn’t read the book yet, but was welcomed with open arms anyway. My “MOM’s Mentor” picked me up which helped ease my anxiety over going to someones house whom I’ve never met with 10-12 other women. I shouldn’t have worried, they were all awesome, kind, funny, welcoming, and we laughed a lot. There was about 5-10 minutes spent discussing the book and the rest of the time munching on goodies, drinking wine, and laughing which is totally up my alley!!!
So there you have it, I’m now a member of my first book club with some awesome women and hopeful new friends!! And since I’m such a nerd I have a post coming up all about our new library here in Bend. =)
I just found this unfinished post from….oh, three months ago. Oh well, I want these in my book so here you go!
Shenzie at 3.5 years:
31.25 pounds
37.5 inches
Heaten at 3.5 years:
31 pounds
38.5 inches
I’m not too confident on the height measurement due to the scale, child, and nurse involved, and at home on my scale they weigh 33 pounds, but they are growing great despite the lack of veggies the refuse to eat. =)
So we’ve been here two weeks and before I forget I wanted to document our road trip.
Our plan was to drive to Reno the first day (about 8 hours away) and stay overnight, the finish up the drive to Bend. We’ve only ever been on one road trip with the twinzies (about 6 hours in the car) so I had no idea what to expect with such a long trip. I was worried over nothing, they were AWESOME! Like seriously so good. The first day we ended up driving an extra 2 hours for a total of 10 hours. That is a long time for an adult to be in a car, let alone 2 three year olds. They had a few mini meltdowns, but otherwise were so great.
The hotel that night was another story as they were bouncing off the walls at 11:30. After driving 10 hours I was sore, tired, and in need of sleep to finish the trip. I was NOT amused at the kids antics and did not sleep good that night.
The next day after a quick breakfast we got back in the car to finish the 6 hour drive. We were on a main highway, but OMG, we were seriously in the middle of nowhere. The highway went thru Modoc National Park several times which was a really pretty drive. I think we made one stop for gas and pee break, but other than that we kept on trucking. Once again the twinzies did awesome until almost the end. I think Shenzie slept for a total of 1 hour and Heaten not at all, so really, with no sleep they were amazing! After 15 hours in the car the last hour was full of whining, crying, and Shenzie wanting to get out NOWWWWWWWWWWWWW! The last part of the drive sucked because the speed limit was 55 for like 2 or more hours which is just slow. Especially slow when you’ve got crying kids and just want to be at your new house!!
We arrived ahead of schedule and immediately ran into our new house to explore. The house was everything I remembered and more. We were SO glad to finally be out of the car and at our new house it was insane. Jeff and I were both like little kids running around looking at things.
I must give a HUGE HUGE HUGE thank you to my little brother Levi for not only driving the Uhaul for us, but helping unload it all and setup the big stuff. We are forever grateful!
My tips for happy kids (thank you Laura for all of your great travel tips)!!!
*Car DVD Player. These things are like the best thing ever. The twinzies watched movie after movie after movie.
*New little toys and books that they’ve never seen before (thank you Aunties for the great goodie bags, they worked like a charm).
*Music (my kids LOVE Pink so we sang a lot of that).
*Snacks. Anything went (well, minus choking candy and melting chocolate). At each gas stop they were allowed to choose any candy in the store. This kept them happy since they LOVE candy.
*We didn’t play I Spy since they don’t really “get it”, but we did look for deer, cows, horses, and all other wildlife we could.
The one benefit of doing the majority of the driving was Jeff had to deal with the many demands of the kids. He was constantly turned around helping one or the other. This was great because I just don’t have patience for all of their crazy demands. The downfall to driving is I didn’t get to take any photos and only one video.
My girlfriend lives about 2.5 hours away in Hood River. On my previous visits to her I was blown away by the beauty of her town. The twinzies and I drove up for the day to see Julie, Zane, Cole, and soon to be born Jack. It was as beautiful as I remember and the twinzies had a blast with her boys. Her yard is a little slice of paradise full of lush green, a creek, and tons of stuff to explore.
So once again I blame growing up in Las Vegas for my utter lack of weather. Las Vegas is really hot for about 4 months, hot for about 4 months, and mild for the other 4 winter months. The skies are mostly sunny and the clouds are fluffy and white. When you wake up in the morning you don’t have to think about what to wear. You throw on shorts a tank top and flip flops for most of the year. I don’t think I even put on a jacket last winter or the winter before (except the few times I went snowboarding). I dislike wearing long sleeves so Vegas is the perfect place to be.
And then I went and moved to Crazyweatherville, USA. Maybe because I’ve lived 23 years with no weather I find it so strange, but the weather here is absolutely crazy. The saying on the radio is “If you don’t like the weather in Bend, wait 5 minutes”. I’ll go as far to say wait 2 minutes.
The other day I ran some errands. When I left home the sky was gray and cloudy:
Gray skies are a pretty common site these days. You can wake in the morning to bright blue sunny skies and within minutes see the gray clouds roll in. The sky was cloudy when I left the house and 2 minutes into my drive it started sprinkling. I ran into Trader Joes and while shopping I heard thunder. After I ran to my car in the pouring hail this is what I saw:
I then ran into the grocery store to grab a few things and came out sunny skies once again:
This all happened in the span of 20 minutes. The clouds roll in and roll out quickly. The rain can last anywhere from 2 minutes to 20 minutes and then it clears up again. So far I’ve experienced nice sunny skies, sprinkles, pouring rain, snow, hail, and wind. On any given day you don’t know what to expect. You leave your house for a walk in the sun and come home soaked.
It certainly makes for interesting days and we never leave home without our sweaters (at the end of May, which is crazy all by itself). May in Vegas is 80-90 degrees. May in Bend is 40-55 degrees. Talk about change!!
Remember yesterday when I said I know NOTHING about gardening. I wasn’t lying. While pulling weeds somehow I bruised my finger. Let me just say a bruise in the crook of your finger really, really hurts.
The weeds and I had a fight and they totally won!
And now I am off on our first trip to Hood River to see Julie, Greg, Zane, Cole, and Baby Jack (still in Julie’s belly). Fun times! Hopefully the kids will be good for the 5+ hour round trip drive.
