Totality! Totality! Totality! Eclipse 2017

By chelsea | September 13, 2017 3 Comments

are people still excited about the eclipse that occurred across the US of A last month? i sure hope so because i am. it was totally epic!

we ventured to kansas city, missouri and then drove about 35 miles out to tryst falls park so we would be 100% in the path of totality. i hope by bolding those words, you understood to read/say it much like darth vader might. if not, please go back and reread it.

what made the trip even more fun is that we were on the same flight as my mom, sister and favorite niece! oh and that my mom had a drink coupon – score! i haven’t been on the same plane with my sister in like 11 years so it was extra fun!

my brother-in-law and stepdad drove from CO to MO because some people in our world enjoy road trips? thank goodness they do because they lugged with them pack-n-plays for the girls to sleep in and highchairs!

my grandparents are seriously the best (they are currently in scotland and sending me photos from the cafe where j.k. rowling wrote the first harry potters)! they live in KCMO and surprised us all with eclipse goodie bags! even the little girls had their own glasses, tiny shirt and some books!

my papa ventured through a bunch of little towns along the path of totality until he found this great spot in tryst falls – complete with a playground!

it was rainy and cloudy most of the day so we were starting to get a bit anxious about whether we would get to see the eclipse at all.

it’s a good thing two babies keep your mind pretty preoccupied. plus, so many photo opportunities!

my hope is to awkwardly recreate this photo in 20 years…

of course my nana is the cleverest – look at all the snacks she got us!

she even had moon/space themed beer and wine too! she’s gooooood.

about an hour before the eclipse was due to start, it started to downpour. not like a portland sprinkle i’m used to but a lot of rain all at once. thank goodness papa reserved us that pavilion!

miraculously, for about 20 minutes, the clouds cleared literally in time for the eclipse! thanks universe for clearing the path of totality for us for a little bit!

how to keep babies entertained while an eclipse is happening? give them all the snacks.

my BIL set up his nice camera and snapped the following pictures:

it was a magical experience for me. the temperature dropped noticeably, the noisy locust came out and it got eerily dark super fast! it was wild and amazing and i spun in circles holding atlas. i loved it. it lasted about 2 minutes and 40 seconds and it was so freakin’ neat!

 of course, these had to happen…

in addition to the two newest human family members, my grandparents have a new pup MAX! he’s such a good boy, especially with babies!

oh, where is our protective eyewear you ask? right here:

i seriously love this very candid photo of all of us. when you have on eclipse shades and are not looking at the sun, they completely black out your vision. max is the only one who knew where to look.

it thankfully only took us about 1.5 hours to get back to their house despite torrential downpour and then horrendous flooding through the state later that day.

we spent the next few days there eating, swimming and wagon-riding!

we were also in town for my grandpa’s 82nd birthday – how special is that?!

ravery had the idea to light 82 candles on his (ice cream) cake…it was a great ball of fire for a truly generous, kind and hard-working man!

it was an extra special trip because of getting to witness the eclipse along the path of totality and having those cousins play with their great-grandparents! plus, atlas had to squeeze in one more trip before her first birthday!

did you experience any of the eclipse?

if given the choice, would you rather road trip or fly to your destination?

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