Jeff is away in the mountains backpacking with his Brother and Sister-in-Law, so my parents came by this afternoon to keep me company and see the kids. My Mom took one look at my car, and the agenda for the afternoon was set... And now my car is SO CLEAN! Who knew washing the car could be so much fun. We had a ball, almost enough to make me want to wash it by hand again someday! ;-)
My Dad's aunt Edna had a birthday today, and we went to help her celebrate. Jay was on hand to provide good cheer, along with my parents, and the kids. And Mark, of course (Dad's uncle, her husband.) Julia and Andrew's antics were entertaining and hopefully made the birthday more special for Edna. Mark very sweetly gave a gift to each of the kids: a dollar for Andrew, because he is one, and three for Julia, because she's three. Andrew immediately put the dollar in his mouth (it's still soggy...). I wasn't sure if Julia was too familiar with money yet either, so I asked her if she knew what they were, and she said "Credit cards?" Very funny. Top it all off with chocolate cupcakes, and it was a very nice party all in all. Happy Birthday Edna!
We've just returned from a week's vacation at Susan & Paul's lake house in Big Bear. We arrived to a welcome that got us in the spirit right away:
We had a marvelous time. We went out on the boat, swam in the lake, rode a pony, took a trip to the zoo where Julia adopted Navarro the Wolf, went to the park, brushed and fed goats and pigs at the petting zoo, roasted hot dogs and made s'mores, watched birds, played horseshoes, took walks, and on and on. As Julia pointed out, Big Bear "is a beautiful place!"
Brad, Kim and Kira joined us the last day and we took this picture of everybody together (including the moose and bears, of course!)
There were many memorable moments and funny comments from the kids. We got a lot of mileage out of the following comment by Julia, when I accidentally referred to Grumps as "Grandpa". She said: "Not Grandpa! I already have one of those -- at Benne's house!"
There were lots of laughs and relaxing moments. Just what Jeff and I needed after facing lots of stresses at work this summer. Many many thanks to Susan and Paul for hosting us so generously and graciously all week. We love you!
Guest post from Jeff: Here are a few images from my recent Eastern Sierra backpacking trip with three friends (two of whom were old investment banking buddies from my days with J.P. Morgan in New York). We were gone for 3 nights, spending most of the time up around 11,000 feet...one of my favorite places to be!
