Up and Away...and a Lovely Welcome Back

Doodling on the plane

Check out the lovely sunset that greeted us as we drove home!

It's so good to be home! We had a wonderful trip, filled with lots of fun adventures, beautiful family, and heavy on the sunshine. :o)

Cassie was so thrilled to see us! She was wagging her tail, jumping and racing about. She seemed so surprised to see us all, judging by the almost human-like expression on her furry face. It was great. My parents did a wonderful job taking care of her. She looked and smelled fabulous! :o)

My mom surprised us by getting a few things from the grocery store--included 2 packs of bakery cupcakes. (Ahem!) I think the children were torn between those and the box of Fruit Loops she bought as well. :o)

The children and I managed to get everything unpacked and squared away in under a half-hour. I started a load of laundry before bed and tidied a few other things up before crashing out. (Zzzzz....)

Today's been busy already with baths, more laundry, cleaning, a quick walk to the grocery store for tonight's supper, and after all that's done I'm going to get in a *serious* workout. I've gained (according to Russ and Deb's bathroom scale) 4-5 pounds depending upon where the little needle landed this trip. But...and this is weird...my scale at home says I haven't. In fact, I weigh the same as when I left. Either that, or I've been lied to this whole time by my scale, and I weigh this much already.

Hmm. I think I like my scale better. Heehee! But to be on the safe side...I'm working out anyway.

This week's going to be a real initiation back to the land of Reality. We've got ballet starting back up tomorrow (this year Abby goes 2x/week), taekwondo lessons 2x/week, and Awana again on Sundays.

Oh yes, and we're starting our new home school year.

We've literally got something going on every single day of the week, less Mondays. Wow.

Busy, busy, busy!!!!

Leaving San Diego and Going to the Airport

It's a long drive back, can you tell?
Stuck in traffic on PCH
Papa Russ is exhausted.
And so are they!
Fillin' up on the way to LAX.

A Trip to Dog Beach

Abby's Delight...miles of cute dogs!
Dean's Delight...the sound of the ocean

What a cutie! This guy was one of the cutest pitty's there!

Camera Dumping (er, I mean "assorted pics")

Dining out at Froggy's in Topanga

Always in the pool

Going to the Zoo

Meerkats are so freakin' cute!

The zoo's skylift--not so cute. But up we went anyway. (Gulp!)

The Children's Museum



The ultimate pillow fight room!
Painting a car!

Shadow Monkeys

Visiting the Birch Aquarium

Getting chomped by a shark



Lots of dining out. :o)





Group shot wearing our matching shirts

The shirts read: "Mom and Paul's Big Birthday Bash by the Bay! Russ, Deb, Dyon, Randy, Lynne, Paul, Dean, Denise, Sierra, Ethan, Abby, Holly and Radar" Complete with orange octopus-like sunshine in the middle.

The Woes of Vacation

• 
  
  Getting bitten by something that was infused with nuclear waste. The kids all woke up Saturday morning complaining of foot and hand pains. We were shocked to find HUGE welts on them all. They could barely walk, let alone grab a utensil to eat breakfast with. It was awful! And of course, nothing over the counter helped much.

• 
  
  Coming to the horrible realization that you're highly allergic to the case-and-a-half of chlorine the pool guy added to the water. Results of allergy? TONS of little red, rashy bumps everywhere the water touched you. But does that keep you out of the pool? Oh noooo.

• Mom forgets--like an absolute DOORKNOB--to slather you in sunscreen. Yeah. You can figure out the results of that faux pas yourselves, I'm sure. (Sigh) Sierra's is pretty much a tan by now (only takes her a day), but the other two are lobsters. Especially Ethan.

• Ethan was having a blast on a boogey board in the pool. But then, he lost his grip and the results of that were rather frightening. (Gulp!) However, praise the LORD--Dean was right there swimming, and rescued his flailing son in a flash. However, Ethan was completely frightened, and totally DONE with the pool for the rest of the day. My poor baby was so scared and crying....I felt soooo bad for him!

• Abby wakes up at 11pm two nights ago, crying and complaining of ear pain. I was up with her several times, all night long. I prayed for her repeatedly, and gave her children's Tylenol. She greeted me all bright 'n cheerful at 7am the next morning. "How's your ear, Abs?" I asked groggily, barely able to stand on my own two feet. "Fine!" she chirped, grinning sweetly. (Fine. I'm going back to bed.)

As my sister said to me today, whenever I bring up going to San Diego in the future, the children will scream and run away.

I Can't Resist...

Aunt Dyon...earlier in the day.





Aunt Dyon...the next day. :o)

Live from San Diego!

Most of the gang

Grandma Lyndy and Paul
View from patio/deck

Partial view of the kitchen
Fancy pants!
Oooh la la! A grandfather clock.

Grandma Lyndy and Paul's room.
Master bathroom--aka Russ and Deb's
Master bath...different side.
And of course, the kids already in the pool.
Love the goggles, Pookie.
Our bedroom
The children's bedroom. Already messy.
Heading downstairs
Russ and Deb's bedroom

Living room
Deck/outdoor dining area
Our bathroom that we're sharing w/ the children.
View from the pool.

I'm going to try to get some pics of the outside of the house later. But here's a good taste of what we're experiencing right now.

Everything looks beautiful, and if you don't count the termites that greeted Dyon and Randy in their upstairs bedroom (gulp!--they were however soon killed/cleaned up by a maintenance man), or the fact that the volume on the TV is kinda weird, and the A/C doesn't seem to do *anything* upstairs in the living room/kitchen/dining area, then it's perfect. ;o)

And really, it is. A few minor issues are to be expected wherever you go, but it is a beautiful house and I'm sure we're going to have fun for the next week.