coastal life

Behold! Pictures from Coos Bay Oregon! Land of Thanksgiving 2014, the best clam chowder, and home of Jake's childhood.

I feel it necessary to briefly document the flights because if I don't I know I'll forget how...interesting...it is flying with chimpanzees and we'll repeat the experience all too soon.

Let's bullet point it. 

1. No one puked. Yay.

2. Rad tightened up the apron strings real nice and refused to be put down or go to anyone else. 

3. He did kiss the bald head of the man in front of us. Progress toward independence. 

4. Rhett astutely observed that my pants were unzipped in the line waiting to board the plane. 

5. Jake and I realized that when the pilot says "We'll be touching down in a quick hour and ten minutes folks, enjoy the remainder of your flight." what parents actually hear is "We'll be touching down never. Enjoy the remainder of your life of this true treasure of a flight." 

^^^But wait what...?! Shut the duck up!! We made it! 

Chugging along. Let's move beyond the flight, Speedy Gonzmiller.

^^^We went crabbing and Rhett and Rad proved that the apple falls MILES from the tree by approaching and touching a little crustacean that looked like a great candidate for the first Miller pet (according to Rhett). FAR from their mother tree.

The little boy pictured above who was one of our "instructors" told Rhett that he liked to eat the crabs. Rhett looked at him like he was Kanye crazy. If I could read Rhett's thoughts I think we would have been thinking "The only seafood I'll eat is Goldfish crackers. My palate is that refined."

^^^Rhett screamed "It's a killer whale!" while we were crabbing but it turned out to be a very friendly sea lion. Whew. Free Willy part whatever averted. 

^^^Pine Cone Wars sounds like a great new series for TLC.

^^^Because reality TV needs more cheese-heads. 

^^^These city slickers have never had such close proximity to chickens. But that didn't stop Rhett from passionately declaring he had never loved a chicken so much and Rad was DESPERATE to kisss one. Running full speed with lips puckered.  

^^^Jake's family lives pretty much right on the water, so it's always great when the weather cooperates and we can frolic there.  These aren't swim club friendly beaches so there won't be any pictures of us sausaged into wetsuits. Feel free to scroll down angst free.  

^^^Well OK don't mind the mushy moment. I promise it was merited! We got to go back to the beach that Jake proposed at and it's been 7 years since that moment. So we snagged a smooching selfie while our children peeterd probably too close to the water. 

^^^My mother in law is super skilled at bird feeding which the boys absolutely hated...

And lastly worth noting...

^^^Favorite papa moment of the trip...mowing the lawn.

^^^We made the discovery of the best clam chowder in the world. And not like the "best (insert item) in the world" dinky signs you see at gas stations that seem questionably sketchy. But like FOR REAL the best.  

^^^Favorite cat. Rad's new true love. Wuv. True wuv.

PS Thanksgiving did happen and it was awesome being in the pregnant stage of being able to eat and eat and eat. Hello deviled eggs!

Plus there's something so special about being with family when it's cold and rainy outside. That cozy Parenthood moment when everyone tries to get a warm roll at once. We have a lot to be grateful for this year especially, and despite Rad's look of terror in the only pic I managed that day, we are very grateful for being a family.

Thank you Oregon!
Thankyouverymuch.

my feat of super human strength

 A hidden tribe of super athletes ran the Greatest Race the World Has Never Seen a few Saturdays ago.

Ok ok, exaggerate much Julia? 

Maybe. 

But really, it's all about the chance for a grown woman to rock a tutus. 

So I'm not a fan of working out just for the sake of being healthy...but I love working out for a challenge or a goal. But other than chasing the boys (literally, dang clothes racks at Target. So many options to hide...) So this was pretty much a from couch potato to 5K in 24 hours. 

And why not start any athletic event with anything but glazed doughnuts? Because the tutu's are very forgiving.

Seeing Rad's name (adjective...whatever) across everything made me strangely proud...poor kid is going to have a complex one day. 

^^^ 3.1 miles, 28 minutes and at 16 weeks pregnant, running the whole dang thing, I finished the race. I didn't puke, didn't have bladder issues and I only had to spit into my shirt thrice. (Because I cannot actually legitimately spit to save my life.) But hey, you do what you have to do to endure those 3.1 miles and I would only consider it a minor failure. Very minor.

^^^ And you better believe I felt like the non-flippered version of Michael Phelps on land.

Side note:

Despite my feeling of glory and accomplishment, it should be acknowledged at one point I got schooled by a very impressive sixty-five year old speed walker.

Mind you, I was running.

I tired to give him my best glare and muster a mutter of, "If you pass me, I will blog about you...Threat?? No promise!" to show him how serious this former high school cross country runner (I know, super impressive) was, but he passed me anyway.

Shame isn't word enough. I'm currently mentally training to beat that guy.

much ado about not much

^^^outtakes from the family Christmas card picture extravaganza-fiasco. 

Hola.

As seen above, Rad cried a lot while we were trying to take Christmas card pictures. And the hour before we took pictures he cried a lot too. Oh, and the hour after the pics he whimpered quite a bit as well.

But I kept my appearance in total check. Like, totally. Lucky Jake. Such a photogenic wife under all circumstances. 

Haha. Haha. Ha.

Moving on.

So sometimes no matter how hard I try to jazz it up, our life just isn't that fancy to document. So unless you count me getting bangs a big deal and a 10 day stint in Oregon we have been just doing a pretty decent job of being boring. 

For example...

- Rad has gotten smoochy lately. Everything needs a kiss including, but not limited to the vacuum, bottles of ketchup, each bite of his food and a random yellow car in a parking lot. 

- I let Rhett sit in the sink after he enthusiastically nodded in agreement when I said, "But you have to promise not to use the sprayer, okay?!" Mothersucker, thy name is Julia.

- Jake has started doing a slightly modified version of the Whole30/Paleo "diet" and I'm extremely proud of him. But not proud enough to be joining. Pregnant lady needs her carbs. However I have been cutting up apples for him every morning and putting them in a baggie for work to show my support and solidarity. Wife of the decade for sure.

- I got bangs to try and jazz up the whole growing my hair out process. I think it's a good thing...although there seems to be a fine line between having shoulder length hair with bangs and looking like David Bowie in Labyrinth. 

And now to finish the 5 posts that have been in draft mode for at least 2 weeks or to turn them into one giant behemoth of a post. Tough choice.