The Phillips Family

Trip of a lifetime!

Kent and I were fortunate enough to celebrate our 10th anniversary in a BIG way! Thanks to our Moms for taking care of the kids, we were able to take a 2 week Mediterranean cruise. We started in Barcelona, Monaco, Pisa/Florence (we went to Cinque Terre), Rome, Croatia, Venice, Olbia, Sicily and back to Barcelona. It was a dream come true! As a side note, traveling in September/October is when most retired and old folks travel. Which isn't a big deal, unless you are on an excursion with lots of peeps with canes. We learned our lesson early and did most of the ports on our own! :)

We were on the new Carnival Breeze, which was AMAZING! They have their on pub with their own trademark beer, not too exciting to us, since I still don't like beer, but still pretty cool. They also had a burger joint that serves Guy Feuri's burgers and fries and a Mexican Cantina, along with a million other places. Shockingly enough, I actually lost 5 pounds on this trip, I guess that's what happens when you walk 8-10 hours a day in a port.

Our first port was in Monaco, but we took the train to Nice, France. It was a great way to start the vacay, a wonderful, relaxing beach day!

The next stop was Florence/Pisa, but we took an excursion to Cinque Terre. I was so excited to share this wonderful place of 5 little villages with Kent. It was one of my favorite places when I backpacked with my friend, Kym, 12 years ago. My, how times change. It wasn't quite the same quaint little place it used to be. I guess that's what happens when you have cruise ships and word of mouth after 12 years. It was still beautiful, but not quite the same.

One thing that still exceeded my expectations was their pesto! LOVE it!

After the quaint little towns we went to Rome. A little bit different. We had a 12 hours excursion for this city. I think we saw everything that was possible in that short amount of time. This was also the day that our alarm clock didn't go off. We had to meet our group at 6:30 am. Kent happened to wake up at 6:15. Therefore, we had a LONG 12 hour day without showers or breakfast. Luckily we had snacks in our backpack, but we were still stinky. :)

The Colosseum

In front of Trevi fountain.

A total tourist in one of the squares, waiting for our tour guide.

The Vatican Museum. It was amazing, but something I will never do again. They have 12-14,000 people go through it everyday. We were literally sardines being funneled through. Not my favorite. It was hard to truly appreciate anything with someone right up on you the whole time.

One of my favs: Dubrovnik, Croatia. I was pleasantly surprised, this city was amazing! We walked through Old Town, then hiked around the gorgeous wall that surrounds the city for miles. We then took a cable car to the top of Mr. Srd and enjoyed a wonderful view. We ended our day with a long stroll to St. Jakob beach. It was a perfect day.

Venice, Italy. We had an overnight in this port, which was nice because we could enjoy the city during the day and night. We walked and got lost over and over for hours then sat and had dinner along a canal at dusk. It was so fun to just sit and watch the locals and take everything in.

Hanging by the pool. The funny thing about this, was a young newlywed couple sat down next to us. There was probably a total of 30 young couples ( I still think of us as young) out of the 4,000 guests on the ship. We found out that they are from Coeur d' Alene! It was crazy, and the girl had taken law classes from my friend's husband at Gonzaga. How small is this world?

The sky course on the ship, it was pretty amazing!

In Sicily on Mt. Etna. We took a bus to the top of this volcano. We were not impressed. Mt. St. Helens puts this place to shame. It was kind of a disappointment, but luckily it was a somewhat short trip, so we got back to the ship and got to enjoy some final hours of ship life!

It was so wonderful to be able to hang with my best friend for 2 solid weeks without craziness surrounding us. It's always nice to remember why you love your husband so much and why you married him. We had such a good time laughing, relaxing and talking. I am so lucky to have him, we sure missed our babies though. We were more than ready for squeezes and to return to our lives of chaos.

Fall fun!!

Soccer started! I coached the girls again this year, but my friend who helped me last year moved away. It was a very different kind of season, but we all managed! We are an all girls team now, which was fun and glittery too.

Brayden is on the same team as last year, with an awesome coach. We have been thrilled to watch him learn and grow into a strong player.

Our team: The Cheetah Girls. I much preferred The Pups, but we had to go with the majority. :(

The girls also started gymnastics, which they LOVE. They are both doing really well, it's fun to watch them.

We also attended the Spokane Fair. Brayden and Ellie decided to use their allotted money to zip line. Dani had NO interest in it.

The best part of soccer: SNACKS!

Brayden safely at the bottom.

Ellie flying through the sky.

Brayden used his own money to play some games, and he ended up winning! Good for him, but it defeated my purpose of trying to teach him that he is essentially throwing his money away. (That cheap bear was soon ripped and thrown away). Oh well, he had fun.

Ellie climbing the rope, she got higher than everyone in her class, including the older boys. This is why she is our monkey girl.

Dani used her allotted money for ride tickets, but discovered it's not as much fun by yourself, so she shared with Ellie. Kind of a shocker, but a good thing! :)

*Sorry the pics are all out of order, I don't have the patience to go back and fix all of them, I don't know why they uploaded this way.*

Back to School

New back to school hair cuts! We took advantage of JC Penney's free hair cut offer. I think the girls's hair turned out adorable!

Back to school night with Dad, Brayden and Grandma Phillips. The girls are starting Kindergarten! (Sniffle, sniffle). I am pretty sure I was waiting for this time since the girls were born, but holy smokes, I was so not ready. I held it together that night, and put on my happy, excited Mom face.

Ellie at her desk.

Dani at her desk, yes, right next to Ellie. I was on the fence so long about whether to put them in the same class or not. I finally decided to, only because in our district they go to the "Kindergarten Center," then transition to the elementary school in first grade. I thought being together may be easier for all of the transitioning from pre-school. I did NOT expect them to sit right next to each other. (The teacher has all the kids alphabetical). I spoke to their teacher about my concerns, but he thinks they are doing just fine with it.

Me with my big girls, what happened?

Next up, Brayden's 2nd grade classroom! I was thrilled to see his desk right next to my friend's daughter, Sammie. Isn't she adorable? They have been next to each other all year and have had some friendly competitions going on with their school work. I LOVE it!

First day of school: Dani

Brayden

Ellie

Yes, more pics. aren't they thrilled? At the bus stop, the bus was of course the best part of the day!

We read "The Night Before Kindergarten," (it uploaded out of order)

Mr. McCaslin wrangling all of the tiny children. This is right when I lost it. I had my sunglasses on, but tears were streaming, I had the ugly cry like no other. I had to scurry away to my car before I started convulsing. The horrible part was, I had to go home and work. Sadly, my client had only been to therapy one time, so when I opened the door, the poor dad didn't know what to do. He just asked, "Do we need to go? Are you all right?" I explained the situation and he understood, but I was still convulsing, seriously.

Patiently waiting to go inside.
I sent the girls to school in their new school clothes and Ellie got off the bus in an entirely different outfit. I totally panicked, but she said she had a bloody nose and she got to go see the doctor (the nurse) and get new clothes! It was very exciting for her!

Goo's 8th Birthday!

These pictures make me sad. Brayden's 8th birthday was 4 months ago (that's how far behind I am), and he is already grown up so much more.

I love that Brayden's birthday is at the end of the Summer, it's always a good time for a party! We use the bounce houses and invite almost everyone we know. The kids have a good time and I run around frantically trying to make sure everyone is being safe. :)

Brayden and his Batman cake.

Most of the gang.

Cake time!

Cole, Ryan and Kaiden.

Instead of presents we had the kids bring school supplies to donate to our school. I suggested it to Brayden and he loved the idea! (Some of the kids thought I was a mean mom, but Brayden really wanted to do it, I promise). The day before school started he got to take the supplies to his school. He was very proud to be able to help others. I so love his giving heart and his sweet little personality, he truly puts others first. I am so proud to be his Mom.

Next up, family party! Brayden and the cousins, good times!

Weekend getaway, Nashville!

A perfect way to end Summer, a girls weekend away. Even better, a getaway to see one of my lifelong friends and college friends! Kenzie is getting married! A bachelorette party lake trip was in order. Sign me up! I made a quick trip to Nashville to celebrate Kenzie with all of her other bridesmaids and close Nashville friends. It was just what this Mama needed. How bizarre is it to be yourself again, with no one needing, wanting, tugging, talking and asking a million questions? Of course I missed my babies and my husband, but wow did I appreciate a 12 hour travel day, I read a book, chatted with some grown ups and sat in peace and quiet. It had been a while!

I was so thrilled to see Kenz and our friend Kim, from college. I landed close to midnight, they came and picked me up and being the reasonable mom that I am, I figured we would hit the hay. Fortunately, they had other thoughts. I got to meet Mike, Kenzie's fiance, and the four of us stayed up and chatted until the wee hours of the morning. I was a little miffed that Mike assumed he could propose to Kenzie without having met me, but I soon got over it. They are a perfect match! (I guess Kent did the same thing, although Kenz met him a few days after we were engaged. I could have still called it off, if Kenz hadn't approved).

Way to start off the weekend right. At 7 am the next morning, Jackie landed and poor Kenz had to get her after a few short hours of sleep. No worries, we rebounded like champs and we were on our way to Kenzie's dress fitting. Her dress was gorgeous and I was so happy I got to be there for a little bit of the wedding stuff.

Next up: The lake cabin and 10 girls ready to have fun! The best part was, Hale, Kenzie's maid of honor, had to tell the owners that it was a book club retreat. Apparently 10 women and a bachelorette party isn't appropriate.