fun until the end

On our last day in Austin, we went with Samantha & Charis (Kris had to work) to a play gym called Radijazz. We all had a lot of fun & it was great to watch Finn & Charis explore.

Sam & Charis getting ready to slide.

Finn going for it!

I love this photo. You can see Kenton's feet sticking out at the top of the slide. This was a huge play structure with tunnels & slides & slides with steps inside them so you could climb. Fun for kids of all ages! :P

Sam & Charis in the giant "volcano" pit filled with foam blocks. Kenton did a flip into it. We couldn't ever feel the bottom, so it was pretty fun for us too. But it was a workout trying to move through it!

Katrina & Charis. She called me Katie (like my nephews & niece) cause Katrina was a little tricky to say. :) But she could say Kenton & Finn pretty perfectly! She kept called Finn a she, but what can you do? ;)

The view from the top of the volcano. There was a "river" in between the play structure & the volcano with boats & bridges. Plus there were bouncy balls everywhere, so Finn was having a great time. We all did. It was such a unique experience for the kids & entertaining enough for the adults that it made for a great activity.


We left Austin very early on Tuesday morning. It was really hard to say goodbye & I keep getting choked up thinking about how much we're going to miss them. It's hard to not get sad about missing out on big chunks of their lives, especially since Charis & Finn can change so much in a month, let alone a year. We wish we weren't so far apart, but are looking forward to the next visit...whenever that may be. :) Not too far away, we hope. Thanks for a great trip Kris & Sam. You're great hosts. The best.

The flight home:

Explaining the safety card. :)

We were so lucky on this flight. Maybe the only people who had a free seat next to us; the flight was packed. That's pretty much the only reason Finn was able to fall asleep. He was very cozy sprawled across the middle seat & slept for a large chunk of the flight from Austin to Denver.

The flight to Portland wasn't quite as easy. Finn did as well as can be expected for a busy 16 month old, especially considering it was his second 2 1/2 hour flight that day. We made it on time & were greeted by Kenton's parents. Then we made a "quick" trip to IKEA & headed back home. We got to our house by 5:30 & unpacked right away! Woohoo! (I never unpack quickly, so I'm pretty excited about that!)

We slept really well last night. Finn woke up at 5:45 am (7:45 Austin time) but eventually fell back asleep. I think we've recovered from our traveling & are thankful that we still have a few days left of our Spring Break! Yay!