End of summer...

How to Occupy Yates at the Beach

"See that bird?"

"Go hit it with your hoe."

"OK. I believe I will."

Phase 1

We all just got home from a long vacation. Part of the vacation was intentional, the second part was not. We all went to Laguna Beach with Michael's family and had a great time. Stella Jane looooooved the beach and sand, maybe a little more than necessary. I had never seen anyone get so much sand caked on themselves.

Yates tolerated the beach and sand. This was his first trip to the beach and he really didn't love it. He did a little better each day but would prefer a nice clean swimming pool. We kept a bucket of beach water for him to wash his hands in and he really liked that idea.

There was this great little section of beach that was secluded, much calmer and had an old concrete sea water "swimming pool" that was built ages ago. It had a teeny bit of water in it most of the day and both babies loved it over there. I think that little area really helped Yates be ok with the whole beach thing.

The Grabhams rented a wonderful house with plenty of room for us all, amazing views and it was right at the beach access stairs. We loved watching all of the people and puppies come and go. While we were there we got to meet our new niece Baby Charlie (Cha-Cha) who is such a sweet little doll. Stella and Yates loved her to pieces; a huge relief with a baby of our own on the way. We also celebrated Anne's 30th birthday. For some reason S and Y were pretty terrible at every single meal we had so the birthday dinner was a struggle but it was still fun.

We got to do lots of fun things like ride the trolley, eat lots of ice cream, shop for art, eat great food and be with family. It was a really fun trip and I wish we could have stayed for ever. That weather is amazing!!!

We discussed staying longer over and over but finally decided to head home. I decided that I would rather have Michael's help on the flight home. (The trip there was a sweaty exercise in remaining calm and being a pack mule.) Yates had gotten some sort of rash across both cheeks that was worsening each day and I was starting to worry about it. Yes, me, worry. It looked pretty bad. We also were fairly confident that it would be safe to return home to the freshly repainted house, given the fact that the builder and painter had a very clear deadline.

WEEEELL, we made it home, super late to a full blown construction site! They had moved all of our furniture, unpacked the entire kitchen and removed every single drawer and cabinet door. There was plastic and paper covered in wet paint all over the floor and the fumes were toxic. There is absolutely no way 2 toddlers, a dog and a pregnant person could stay in that mess for any length of time at all. So, we immediately got right back in the car at 11:30 pm and headed to Palestine, leaving our poor daddy to work and live in toxic filth.

Phase 2

We got to Palestine and just relaxed and played in the pool. My aunt Lia and her two daughters came over to bring some poodle puppies for my mom to look at. You know what happened... We ended up with a puppy, which we needed like a hole in the head! Its going to be fine though. He is very, very good. The day the puppies came, Bop brought Stella and Yates a wounded butterfly. Thats what they're sharing in the picture below. SJ named it Butter and loved it to death... really. When the puppy came, SJ named him Butter too. We have since changed his name to Oscar... Oscar Butter Grabham.

After the puppy adoption, Michael came to Palestine stay with us for the weekend and we got to have a secret sonogram. My dad has a friend that does sonograms at the hospital and he let us in on Saturday for a sneak peak at the baby. Michael was going to be in Seattle for the sonogram that would tell us the sex of the baby, so this was a huge deal. Anyway, we found out, very clearly its a boy! Yay! What a huge relief. Yates and little RHG will have super close birthdays and will be able to grow up doing their dude things together. We are very excited.

Phase 3

We return home to the freak show we call home. Poor Michael had done lots of clean up and put back while we were in Palestine, but still! Ridiculous! The retards should have just finished when they were supposed to and here's another idea: how about clean up after yourselves! Paalease! What a mess. Like thats what you want to come home to after being gone for 2 1/2 weeks and toting that much dirty luggage. And where did all of the toilet paper go? I had the huge Costco supply before we left and I get back to 4 rolls. SICK!!! Go to 7 11! This is not a public facility! (I had a big huge list of the junk that was messed up, but I removed it b/c I am turning a new leaf... the fake nice leaf... : ) See. )