Another week away

I didn't mean to have two weeks of vacation back to back, but that's what this week turned into. My parents were visiting and I thought we would take turns going and back and forth between San Jose and Oakland. It started out well, with them coming to visit us on Tuesday with my grandma. We went for some walks and played in the backyard, and went out to dinner, along with some of our friends, at our favorite Kids Eat Free Tuesdays Bottomless Wine Every Night restaurant down the street. The next day (after my mom got up at the crack of dawn to fill our front yard with native plants like we've been meaning to since we moved in-- thanks Mom!), I packed the kids up to spend one night down in San Jose and wound up staying the rest of the week! I guess we were just having so much fun... so much fun I took barely any pictures. My parents took Jack to Happy Hollow on Thursday, where he purportedly rode every ride and climbed on every climbable surface and chased goats around until he or they were exhausted, possibly both.  I sent them with a video camera and my mom took 20 minutes of fantastic footage, but I am daunted by the prospect of sorting through it and exhausted from my recent video-editing escapade with Sadie. I promise to post it later. Or I promise to at least try.

A big part of why we could stay down in San Jose so long is that Jack just passed a major milestone. He is now sleeping in a big boy bed! Summer Camp apparently did the trick, since a crib just wasn't an option. Apparently three nights of sleeping with a futon pushed up against the wall is all he needed to get over the hump of going back to the crib, or maybe it's all his parents needed to realize that really when he says he wants to go to the crib it's just another stalling tactic because he just doesn't want to go to bed. But the astonishing discovery was made that although he sounds very angry when you say goodnight and close the door, he doesn't actually get out of bed. I'm not sure why, but we're going with it.

Friday Danny came down to join us and Saturday we all went down to Santa Cruz to see my uncle Paul's new beach house. Clare is going to UCSC next year and is going to throw lots of beach parties there. I told her to invite me. We took Jack for a walk (if by "walk" you mean we all took turns carrying him, he has gotten awfully lazy about walking lately) down to Natural Bridges while my mom stayed behind with a sleepy Sadie. It was a gorgeous day. Summer has finally arrived in California.



After that Danny and I went for a long run in the bluffs and Paul took Jack for a long ride in a wheelbarrow. (?) My dad kept Sadie occupied, walking her around the garden and out to see the ocean. I think he's rather fond of that little girl. I think she's finally old enough that he's not worried he's going to break her. So he held her lots and she was very happy. She's pretty happy with her grandma, too.

And Jack, of course, was tickled by the unending attention that comes from this constant stream of grandparents. I think he's happy to finally be home, though. When he got back last night he was giddy with excitement to see all his favorite toys and read all his favorite books and climb into his very own little bed. Hope it doesn't wear off too fast, because now we're going to be here for a while.