One Last September Post...

...To document some first time events that happened this week.

1. I did my first ever school portrait shoot and lived to tell the tale.  It was stressful, fun, and a huge learning experience.  I think I would do it again.  It's very hard to be creative when you have less than a minute to spend with each child, and there really aren't any do-overs unless you catch the error right away.

2. Because of item one, Jacob spend his first morning in a daycare facility.  I took him to a Mothers' Day Out program run by a local church.  He was happy, safe, and sound when I picked him up 3 hrs later, but I can't say many positive things about the woman running the infant room.  She seemed stressed, irritated by her job, and even went so far as to complain to me about other babies in the room. Not a good impression.  I will try very hard to not have to dump Jacob off at daycare.

3. Jacob started playing peek-a-boo with his hands on Sunday night.  He puts his hands over his ears instead of over his eyes, but we get it.  He loves this.  He's such a sweet baby!

4.  Jacob has also started climbing onto small objects, such as the LEGO box, or my legs.  He puts his hands on the object, gets on his knees, and enjoys the extra 6 inches of height e gains.

5. Not to leave out Jo, she took a ballpoint pen to her face for the first time.  Two days before school pics.  It washed off.

Back from the Beach

Warning - This post is gonna brag about our awesome beach vacation.

You know a vacation was good if you arrive home feeling like you've been gone a month instead of a week and a half... It's been three years since we've had a beach vacation, and I wish we could swing one every year. Well, at least we get two this year (more bragging).

Ever since my family moved to Texas, we've been going to San Diego for summer vacations. It's only a 6 hr drive from Tucson, and we ALWAYS went to Tucson to see extended family. This trip was similar. Tucson is a comfortable drive from the ABQ, and I love getting to visit family there. It's especially exciting now that my family has family: one cousin's son is Jordan's age, and one cousin's daughter is Jacob's age. How cool is that? This time we spent a few nights in Tucson with my Grandma, visited cousins, took a trip up to beautiful Mt. Lemmon to do engagement pictures for my cousin and see their wedding venue, ate an awesome steak feast at my Uncle and Aunt's house, and looked forward to our trip to the beach.

This year we moved up the coast to Carlsbad, CA, about 30 mins north of San Diego. Karen's friend who lives in the area suggested it, and it was SO SO SO much better than Mission Beach. We rented a huge beach house, plenty of space for the 9 of us: my family, my parents, Jamie's sis, my sis, and girlfriend Marsha. We had awesome meals every night, played in our private pool and TWO hot tubs, played at the beach and suffered the cold Pacific, and spent a day at Legoland. We had gorgeous coastal weather.

Without a doubt the best part of the trip was us all just enjoying each other. Everyone gets along, you find yourself paired up with someone different every day, we all had a great time together. There was no drama, just good times. Here are my personal highlights:

- Katherine and I making a sand mermaid for Jordan. Which she promptly destroyed.

- Boogie boarding with Jamie in that ice cold water. Karen and I kept convincing ourselves the cold temps were burning calories.

- The calories. Beer and wine every day. We took turns cooking, so it was like eating out every night. We had Indian curry, paella (with crab, shrimp, sausage, chicken, lobster....), heavenly cheeseburgers after Legoland, Italian sausage with peppers and mushrooms and fresh bread, spaghetti and meatballs, and dinner out for sushi and seafood. Oh, let's not forget the pie run to the local pie shop.

- The house. It was fabulous. 4000 sq ft of posh beach awesomeness. Comfy furniture (except for Katherine's bed), HUGE pro kitchen, pool, hot tubs, huge patio overlooking the beach, glass glass everywhere. When we got home last night, I looked around my nice, but small, kitchen, and sighed. We'll rent that house again.

- Running. Yes, I really enjoyed running there. There's a lot of oxygen at sea level, and anyone can run in a 65-degree ocean breeze. My last run was with Karen, we did a comfortable 5 miles, and then met Katherine and Marsha at a local breakfast spot and PIGGED OUT. Sweet.

- Wine tasting at Witch Creek.  It wasn't fancy, but it was an unexpected surprise stop on our walk into town.  And of course, the fact that Jacob was with me didn't go without comment (You have a BABY.  In a BAR!!)  Who said that??  Marsha?  Katherine?

- My kids. They were so good in the car, so good about everything. I loved watching them have a great time. My Jordan highlight was her on the dragon roller coaster at Legoland. She was sitting with Marsha (of course) and I was a few cars back. I could hear her SCREAMING through the whole thing; I was in tears, I thought she was traumatized. After the ride I ran up to her and scooped her up, and she was laughing and saying "Again! Again!"

My Jacob highlight was watching him check out the sand. Unlike Jordan, he took an immediate shine to sand. The surf however, not so much. I held him such that his toes could feel the water, and he had a fit. Can't blame him, it was frigid.

So, now it's back to the grind. Grocery stores, bills, a filthy car covered in splattered bugs. But some fun stuff, too: engagement pics and family beach pics to edit, Jordan's school's pictures in a week, the State Fair, apple picking, pumpkin patch....all in the very near future. Many thanks to my wonderful family for such a perfect week at the beach!

State Fair Food

Just a quick post about some new food items I saw at the NM State Fair today. What will they think of next....

- deep fried (as in battered) bacon
- 20# hamburger (four 1/2 patties, on a bun, $20 with cheese)
- chile relleno corn dog (I ate this, it was awesome. It's a hot dog, inside a chile, battered and fried, on a STICK)
- funnel cake fries (just funnel cake batter in fry shape, but sounds worse than regular funnel cake, right?)

Last Day of Summer

Labor Day really does feel like the last day of summer. It always was for us growing up; back in the day, the first day of school was always the day after Labor Day. And now that I've finally returned to a climate with four, traditional, seasons (vs the two Texas seasons: hot, and unseasonably warm) the days are already a little cooler, with breezes blowing most days, and you can tell autumn is right around the corner. When we get back from our beach vay-cay, I'm sure autumn will be in full swing.

So, what did we do our last weekend of summer? It was either a non-stop-GO day, or a totally worthless lazy day. But here's what made it really feel like the end of summer:

- We watched the opening weekend of college football, for like 20 hrs.
- We shopped the summer clearance clothing racks, not because we're cheap (well, we are cheap), but because I decided 2 days ago I was going to make everyone get sort of matching (color-wise) outfits for family beach pictures. My apologies to everyone who scrambled. I was scrambling, too.
- I harvested my basil and made pesto for the winter.
- My garden is kaput. We had a pretty disappointing harvest this year, despite the improved soil and irrigation. The squash beetles were really bad, and killed my two HUGE squash plants midway through the season. And I always get a bum tomato plant; this year it was the yellow cherry.
- Jordan and Jamie both mentioned it getting dark earlier. I've been noticing this for a while because Jacob sleeps with the sun, and he's been sleeping in a lot later.
- When I left Albertson's the other morning, the air smelled like roasting chiles. Yum!!

It's kind of nice to have our big vacation at the end of summer; kind of stretches it out a little bit. It's our last year to have such a long summer, Jordan starts kindergarten next year. I feel like we really made the most out of this one.

Happily Ever After

If everyone doesn't know by now what a princess fanatic Jordan is, then you must not read this blog. Yesterday we were in the playroom, and Jordan was busy cooking in her kitchen. I forget what she was cooking for me, I remember there was a lot of stirring involved. So she hands me her masterpiece, and I dutifully begin to eat it. Before I'm done, she's snatching the plate and spoon away from me. I say "Hey, I was still eating that". Her reply?? "Nope, nope, that's it, all done, Happily Ever After."