FLASHBACK: Seattle May 2010

Remember how I said I would be doing some catch up from the past year or so, due to my utter failure at blogging. I'm just a year behind on this one...it could be worse right?!
Last year in May Brad started working for Jetblue part time taking reservations so that our family could travel. Buying 5 plane tickets these days is ridiculous! A few weeks after he started I decided to take the boys (I was 6 1/2 months pregnant at the time) to visit Brads brother Clark and his family in Seattle. I grew up in Washington, so Seattle has a special place in my heart and I had been waiting for a chance to go visit the "Seattle Hartley's", and having free flights made it to hard to resist. Even though it meant traveling with 3 boys by myself while being majorly pregnant. It was so funny in the airport, each boy had their own carry on and would just follow me like a mama duck and her ducklings through the airport. I got some funny looks for sure! I had so many people tell me that I was "brave" to travel with all my boys, my reply was always, "brave or just really stupid"! But in all actuality they were SO well behaved on the plane! Anyway, I'll just break it down with pictures.


We had a 6 hour layover in Long Beach and I was FREAKING out trying to figure out what to do with 3 small boys in THE smallest airport in America! A nice cop took pity on a huge pregnant girl and watched my boys so I could go rent a car and take them to the beach. We went to Seal Beach and the boys played on the playground and we walked on the pier watching people catch fish.

















Of course the first 5 minutes we were there Ky went to just put his feet in the water and ended up falling in and getting soaking wet in his clothes...hence the lack of shirt in all these pic's. We were trying to get it to dry off. We had a fun day and it was way better than playing Ispy in the airport for 6 hours, which was the original plan.














It was rainy and cold the whole time we were there, but it is spring in Seattle people what else could we expect? We didn't let that stop our adventures though. We took the Ferry one day with our cars to a little island...I can't remember what it was called. Even though it was drizzling and windy and cold the kids had a blast! They collected shells and found a "shelter" made out of driftwood that someone had built and decided that it was their house and it needed to be decorated. They spent a long time collecting shells and other things to put in their house.


Ky & Tyce

Ky found this gross dead starfish that eventually also became a decoration. Clark & Laura also brought little kites and it was perfect weather to fly them.


Ky loved flying the kite too. At some point he got tired of holding it and just let go...we watched the kite fly all the way across the sound...little stinker.



Who would have thought we could get a good picture with ALL 7 kids!! This was the first one I took too! They had a fun day and could have cared less it was so cold!

Another day we took the kids downtown to the Pacific Science Center (which I'm pretty sure they haven't changed since I was there as a kid). The kids liked it but it stressed me out having my 3 boys running in all different directions and only having one set of eyes to keep track of them.



Kam looks thrilled to take a picture with the bees huh?! I'm pretty sure I'm the one who made him point haha


After the science museum we went to my favorite place in Seattle...Pike Street Market. I loved this place as a kid (and as a grown up too, who am I kidding!)

My cute boys on the Pig :)



A rare good picture with Ky actually looking AT the camera!




This is the fish stand where they throw the fish to each other when someone buys something. It is so fun to watch and the guys that work there were so good with the kids! They actually brought out a GIANT halibut for the kids to look at and touch...I think Laura has that picture. Clark and Laura actually bought some salmon there that day and we took it home and I showed them how it cook it...sooooo good!



The GUM wall...nasty huh?! But Clark bought all the kids gum to chew so they could leave their mark! I'm surprised Ky would even get close cuz he HATES gum!! He doesn't even like it when I chew gum haha.





It was such a fun trip! I even got to squeeze in a dinner with one of my best friends from high school. So even though it was a rainy cold mess I was so glad we went and hopefully they will have us back after all that craziness!


Oh yeah...one last cute pic...the Jetblue pilot on the way home was so cute with the boys! He gave them all wings and let them sit in the cock pit after we landed in Long Beach. They thought it was so cool!

We were doing so well...

I have to say, this winter has been pretty mild, for both snow in the Valley and sickness for the Hartley's. We hadn't had our usual weekly trips to Dr. Cox for Strep, Ear Infections, Impetigo...you know the stuff we normally get. All this good luck was bound to end, and end it did on April 10th. It was Sunday and we were frantically finishing getting ready for church (which is at 9...I don't know how we EVER make it in time), all the kids were ready and Brad and i were just finishing getting ready in our bathroom when we heard Blakely start screaming.She didn't quit crying when Brad picked her up which is unusual for her but i thought it was just because she was ready for a nap. We put her in her car seat (all the while she is screaming) and headed off to church. Right when we walked into church I sent Brad and the boys in to find a seat and i took her straight into the mothers room to feed her and get her to sleep. When I reached in to pull her out she flinched like I had just pinched her REALLY hard and started screaming. Again, I thought she was hungry and tired and just tried to nurse her and make her happy. She just couldn't stop crying though...it didn't take me long to figure out that something was really wrong. Every time i even grazed her right arm she FREAKED out! I went and got Brad and showed him how much she was hurt and we decided to take her straight to Insta-Care. Blake was in so much pain! She just wanted to cuddle with me, which if you know Blake you know that is NOT NORMAL.


Once she had x-rays (she screamed through the whole thing), the Dr saw that there were no broken bones and thought that maybe she had what is called "nurse maid elbow", which is essentially a dislocated elbow. So she did this quick little maneuver and left us alone for 15 min to see if it helped. Turns out that's what it was. Her little arm was tender for a few days but she was back to normal pretty quick. Here is a sad little picture of us waiting for the Dr. at insta-care.


I wish she would cuddle with me more, but not under these circumstances!!



That same week I got a call from Ky's school that his big toe looked infected, so I picked him up and ran him to a podiatrist that Brad works with and he had an ingrown toenail that had to be removed...that was pleasant (did you catch the sarcasm?). He actually did better than I expected but I couldn't watch! Tyce on the other hand stood right next to the Dr. and watched the whole thing and was fascinated. It didn't gross him out one bit...maybe we have a doctor on our hands. Sure wish I was a doctor, I would have paid for med school with all the savings I would have had by not having to go the the dr so often!

Ky and his toe...all better!


We also got a call from the Health Department that week informing us that Blakely had a possible exposure to measles while we were at the instacare taking care of her arm. She had to go get an MMR and we waited on pins and needles for the rest of the week hoping she wouldn't be quarantined and not allowed to go on our Aruba trip. It was a stressful week to say the least. But all is well that ends well I guess.

Trying so hard!

My little princess is getting so big! I remember with Kamden I couldn't wait for him to do new things! I was always working with him to sit up on his own, to crawl and then to walk. Everything was new and exciting and it was so fun seeing him grow! With Blakely I just want her to stay little! She didn't sit up on her own until after 6 months and at 9 months she has yet to even come close to mastering crawling. And I love it! The longer she is a baby the better! Each new phase is so fun, but a piece of me is so sad that she is getting big. Since I don't really want to encourage crawling yet (partly cuz once she is mobile I may as well kiss my life goodbye and partly cuz I'm not ready for her to grow up) she has decided to take it upon herself to learn...At this point she has figured out how to go backwards but doesn't realize why she is getting farther away from what she wants rather than closer :) She gets so mad when she is trying to get something but she is pushing away from it haha. Here is a little video I took today of her doing it...I kinda can't believe I'm posting it because she doesn't have a bow on her head! But in my defense we had just gotten home from church (where she DID have a bow on) and she was a sweaty mess after taking a long nap in her car seat, so I had taken off her cute shirt and bow to cool her off.

Only a boy...

Yesterday was a beautiful day for the first time in a while. We spent most of it outside. It was great. Towards the end of the day I was heading inside to change Blakely's diaper and I hear Ky say "Mom! I'm holding a real live snake!" I come outside to see this...

Seriously Ky?! Only a boy would see a snake and have his first instinct be to pick it up. So gross. But he kept saying "aren't you so proud of me that I held a real live snake?"...um sure bud, I'm happy it wasn't poisonous and that we live in a day in age where anti-bacterial soap is readily available.
















Kam didn't want to be left out so he needed a turn to hold this nasty thing...p.s. I DO feed this kid! He actually eats more than his other brothers combined!!! I wish I had that kind of metabolism!