Golden

Townies, did you see the sky the other night? It was a bit hard to miss, it felt other-worldly. Like a Mars scene from the movie Total Recall. (Curious to see that remake! Not sure about Colin Farrell though.) There were storms to the south and the sunset and clouds were casting an errie yellow-gold color on everything. Sydney actually noticed it through the window and asked to go outside. I grabbed Lily and my camera and we headed out the door.

It's hard to capture the actual color and mood with a camera, but I snaped a few shots.

We have a great view of sunrises at our home, but our sunset view is horrible! It's like getting a bad seat at the 4th of July fireworks, where you can only see the tops of the big displays, but you know there is so much more awesomeness happening at ground level. Such a tease.

Last weekend the girls and I went with my parents to visit family in Iowa. Visiting is usually bitter-sweet for me these days, it's hard to watch my grandparents age and while I love visiting it's always mixed with guilt and sadness that we don't get to see them more often. No reason not to enjoy the short amount of time we have though!

I failed to get my camera out often enough, but I did manage to get some photos here and there of our trip.
(Majorly kicking myself for forgetting to get a picture of Lillian with Grandma and Grandpa J.)

The trip is about 7-8 hours total each way. The girls did great! Lillian slept most of the time and was otherwise content to just talk to me. Sydney only had to stop for one or two bathroom breaks, which were usually when we were stopping for lunch or gas anyway.

This little bueauty helped a TON. It was a last minute purchase that I decided to get the night before we left. Sydney was thoroughly entertained.

A trip like this would have been impossible though, without being able to sit in the back seat with them and pass snacks, fix McDonald toys 20 times, put Lillian's pacifier back in for the 25th time, etc.

We passed through a big storm system in Northern Illinois. It's been a looooong time since I've seen rain.

We stayed with my aunt and uncle who have an absolutely beautiful piece of property on the river.

No, we didn't bring Sawyer. That's Sammy. She looks and acts JUST like Sawyer only she is SO much calmer and doesn't have nasty skin allergies. She does drool a lot though so I guess there are always tradeoffs, eh? Sydney adored Sammy...and Gomer the cat. She said that she was going to tell Sawyer how she played with Sammy. Too cute!

Sydney loved picking apples off this tree. I'll bet she picked 20 apples and took a bite out of at least half of them. (Don't worry, I was assured they will get fed to the deer and not go to waste.)

My grandpa L. loves kids. He still gets on the floor to play with them, chats with them, burps the young ones, and fills the older ones up on suckers. It's the sweetest thing! There is something endearing about watching people love on your babies that makes you love them even more.

My cousin and her 18 month old daughter. Baby number two is on it's way!

The trips to visit family never seem long enough, there's never enough time to catch up with everyone, and I never take enough pictures, but it's always worth going and I always come back with my heart a little more full.