Welcome Home Lyons Family!!

Our friends Lindsey, Nate, & Bennett moved back to Oregon. They have been moonlighting as Texans in San Antonio for the past 2 years. We are so happy they are back. I am already totally obsessed with Ben! I mean look at that face. You can keep up with them over there @

Doing it Texas Style

hmmmmm I wonder it they will change their blog name?

The Country Fair

My parents were sort of hippies in high school and when I was born (well as much as they could be in the late 70's and early 80's). We tease my mom just a little about it, but in truth I am so greatful that I was raised to appreciate diversity and the concept of community. In going back to our roots we all loaded into the Tahoe (I know the real hippies would totally disapprove, but we filled every seat!) and headed south to the Oregon Country Fair. It is one of the coolest festivals and it is in Oregon. It is a place where people can feel comfortable being who they are and kids can play and use their imaginations without boundary. Josh and Lily were definitely experiencing a little culture shock, but they loved every minute of it...tons of live music, face paint, people in costume, people on stilts, art stations, and a few people who use the "less is more" ideology when it comes to clothing. We had a great time.

Gram's Day

So...for the 4th, we didn't have any plans and decided that we would call Gram and see what she wanted to do. She wanted to take Maya to the parade....in Willamina. My camera died as the parade was about to start, so I didn't get any pictures of the locals. Bummer. Grama loved showing Maya all of the people in the parade.

Happy 1st Birthday Bradley!!

Brad's birthday was the best! The littles played in the water, the adults chatted and snacked. Brad loved being the birthday boy, he wore his birthday boy crown all day! Maya even stole a ride on his new fire truck.

Maya showing me her new texting skills!

Okay so I am doing quite a bit of back posting today! I took the girls to a Yankees game at the new stadium (no I am not a Yankees Fan) and we all had a blast. We sat in the crazy, rowdy section with all of the die hard fans...what an experience. We totally stuck out...because we were the only people in the stadium without Yankees Gear on.

I spent the last four days of the trip in NY without Maya or Ty. Super dad flew home with Pea and spent the week with Ty's parents. The first 24 hours were really, really tough...I had so much anxiety, and lots of "I'm a bad mother" thoughts. It turned out to be a good thing for us all. Ty's confidence in his dad duties grew exponentially (he'll appreciate the dorky math terminology) and my relationship with my students did the same. We stayed up and talked for hours. Mostly about boys and college...hey they are 16!

Coming home was great! Maya learned how to text...look for one coming your way soon.

Photos from NYC

On the Brooklyn Bridge
Anneliese Inez Picchioni

at the Park

5th Ave

(drooling over all I can't afford)

Grammy & Maya at Central Park


Here they are...a few moments from the big trip to the big apple. I am still here in NYC and Ty, mom, and Maya are home. Our time together in the city was wonderful. Maya is truly a traveler at heart. She went everywhere with us the water taxi, Chinatown, little Italy, 5Th Ave, Central Park, AMNH...she even strolled across the Brooklyn Bridge and ate pizza! My mom and Ty were lifesavers! Maya was great but I couldn't have done it without them. It was so fun to show my mom the city, she loved it...especially the shopping.

One of the highlights was getting together with Shelly, Matt, Anneliese and Erin for brunch (Erin & Shelly are good friends and sorority sisters from UO) They filled my interns in on life in the city, moving from the west coast, and a few plugs for U of O. I was able to love on baby Anneliese for a little while and she and Maya started their life-long friendship. Erin even tried to get them to give the DG sign.

So today is day one of my first time being away from Maya for longer than 24 hrs. Last night was tough, after the worlds craziest trek to the airport to drop off Ty and Pea I experienced a serious bout of anxiety. I think I will be okay, because my interns are great and keeping me busy. You can check out our trip on their blog

http://www.grandrondetonyc.blogspot.com/

NYC or BUST!

For those of you who know me well, you know I am a little crazy...

Tomorrow night Maya, Grammy Karen, and I are taking Pea to NYC. Every year I am a part of an internship program at the American Museum of Natural History that send 3 students from the the CTGR (abbreviation for the Tribe I work for) to NY to work for 3 weeks. This is an absolutely life changing experience for these youth and me too to be totally honest. I love the city...any city really. This year I am able to go for 2 weeks to chaperone, and I am not ready to leave Missy for that long so she is coming too! Mom is heading over with me to "nanny", then she and Ty will switch places on Thursday. Ty and Maya are coming home late Sunday night and I am staying until the following Thursday. Whew.

I am really excited, I am excited for the girls, and my mom who haven't been to one of the greatest cities is the world. I am also really excited for Maya...yes I know that she won't remember it, but I will. She will also get to meet one of her -soon to be- best friends Analiese, who lives in NY.

So I felt that this was the perfect title for this Post...lord knows, getting 3 teenagers and a 9 month old across the country is going to be a challenge in its self.

Wish us luck.