Life with Lotus Maria and Lucian Stone

We weren't able to make our annual family trip up to Portland for Thanksgiving because of Nate's work schedule and Lucian's inability to sit still long enough to take a flight to Portland. But I missed my family desperately and Lotus had the whole week of Thanksgiving off on account of the State of California being broke and we have to furlough teachers so we decided to take a girls trip and leave the boys to fend for themselves. Lotus is at an awesome age to travel with and all those sometimes painful airplane trips during her toddler years have paid off. She knows what to do when we go through security. Get her own tub, puts her shoes and backpack in it. Reads her books and colors on the plane while I read as well. One airline attendant commented that she wished more business travelers were as well prepared and mannered as Lotus. I am thrilled that I'll have a traveling buddy for life!

But the best part of this trip was we managed to keep it a secret from Kaiya and Mila that Lotus was coming with me. So they were super surprised when she was at the airport with me. I thought I was going to go deaf from all the high pitched screaming! We were also super surprised by the unexpected snowstorm that arrived with us. Lotus had never seen snow before and though we didn't have the most appropriate clothes for the weather the girls had a blast running outside and then in again once they got cold.
We had a mini early Thanksgiving at our usual Thanksgiving spot, and a great family night out!











The Pearl girl cousins are nothing but uber cuteness and have the best time together. The weather made it difficult to do too much, but we had an awesome time at the local nickle arcade.
We had super fun sleepover at my sister's house and then we had intended to head down to Eugene with my dad and fly out from there, but the weather had other plans when it turned from snow to ice and we were stuck at Rach's house.

The girls were great and didn't mind one bit, but I went a little stir crazy so I took a walk to the store. Or I should say I slid to the store. I am not cut out for cold weather, but was baffled when I got to the store and saw a guys in front of it in shorts and a t-shirt with a scarf wrapped around his neck. Really, was the scarf useful? I wish I had asked.