rachel's continued ramblings

vacation–day 4 (thursday, august 12)

the long anticipated GIANTS game!!!!

we loaded up that morning and drove to san francisco (in 3 cars) to watch the giants beat the cubs! now, I am pretty biased about the awesomeness of safeco field, but even I have to admit at&t park is just about tops when it comes to the beauty of outdoor baseball!

the scenery from the park isn’t bad either! here’s gramma and papa with some of the kids (and the bay bridge).

we brought jordan along as well… a little treat from his godfathers (the good kind of stuff that godfathers do – not offing anyone!)

the big boys, looking SUPER enthusiastic – as only 10 and 11 year old boys can:

destination: coke bottle slide!I waited in line with the medium-sized kids. shane and jordan were the only ones big enough to go down the ‘big’ part of the slide, micah and hannah were to little to do any of them Sad smile . so I stood in line with jacob, layla and lily, while mary waited at the bottom for them.lily, coming off the slide:after the slide, gramma took the kids (well, not the BIG ones – they were too big) into the miniature baseball field to do some batting, fielding, and base-running. it was most amusing! jake was up first, hit the ball off the tee and promptly ran the wrong way around the bases! layla followed. she hit the ball, started to go the same way, and then at some point turned around and ran the right way.

micah, bless his heart, knew which way to run! I was so proud! sadly, the whole inch lily is taller than layla, was enough to make her ineligible to bat. she did get to go in and be an outfielder, which she did very well!

hannah was a hoot at the plate! she knocked the ball off the tee and then golfed it into the outfield! mary and I couldn’t stop laughing!

after batting, micah became OBSESSED with the balls. apparently he kept trying to steal them from the poor guy who was pitching. it took some major convincing to get him to put them back in the bucket so we could exit the field!just some cousins, being cute!one of several attempts to get a shot of our whole enormous group at the game:

go giants!!!

our family (and yes, that IS a mariners hat I’m wearing! just keepin’ it real.):

posing with willie mays:

vacation–day 3 (wednesday, august 11)

on wednesday, we took a trip out to…??? can’t remember the name of the town, but it was in nevada county, because we went to the nevada county fair! dave and I had 4 of the kids in our car; lily and layla, and jacob and micah. apparently, those two found the drive exhausting!

the fair was fun… and dirty, and sticky, and sometimes confusing… but mostly fun! it wasn’t too hot, since it was kind of woodsy, and it wasn’t too outrageously crowded. the big kids had a great time – lots for them to do and ride on… the little kids had less they could do, but still managed to have a good time.

first order of business: food! these corn dogs took a LONG time to get, but were thoroughly enjoyed!

matthew chilled with uncle david while everyone else ate.

I took this picture just for you, kate!

after food, shane and dave took off to ride some of the BIG rides, and the rest of us went to check out the animals.

then we went to find some rides.

the elephant ride was one of the few that micah and hannah could go on, and we nearly had a major meltdown when I discovered that micah wasn’t big enough to ride the motorcycles with the girls.

hannah and I had some godmother/daughter bonding time in this neat little play area some local childcare centers had put together to go along with their peaceful, private baby care area. while mary was feeding matthew, hannah decorated a frog and then blew LOTS of bubbles!

and of course, shane found the tractors!

vacation–day 2 (tuesday, august 10)

okay, no offense to gramma and papa, but this was THE DAY that we had all been looking MOST forward to. tuesday brought the arrival of the illdaps!!!! it had been SO long since we’d seen them, and even longer since shane and layla had. layla was just beside herself with excitement to get to play with lily again!

of course, as soon as they arrived, everyone went straight into the pool!

daredevil lily:

hannah (banana):

shane, air mattress surfing:

jacob and micah checking out the little pool – not sure what was so funny…

dave chilling and micah ‘driving’:

gramma jackie and matthew:

I think dave and I squeezed a trip to in-n-out fur lunch that day too! mmmm… double-double w/ grilled onions!

later that evening, we took a walk to the park.

long-lost cousins, reuinited:

gramma helping micah and jacob make it dig:

come on, uncle joe, it’s my turn!

vacation–day 1 (monday, august 9)

okay, well day 1 is really not that exciting. we left around 9:00pm on sunday night, after spending most of the day either packing, cleaning, doing laundry, changing the oil in the van, or driving back and forth to marysville for shane’s soccer tournament.

at any rate, we finally pulled ourselves together and left. we drove ALL night. the trip took 13.5 hours, which is pretty good when you’ve got kids with you. layla slept like a champ. if there was an award for sleeping in the car, she would get it. micah, was not so great. I think he was just uncomfortable. he’s generally a tummy sleeper, so being strapped into a carseat was probably not ideal for him. and of course, shane was sleeping, uncomfortably, next to him, and every time he woke up, he’d wake up shane as well. but we learned quickly that if we just stopped periodically and got micah out to let him walk around, look at something different, and go to the bathroom, he’d go right back to sleep.

so we arrived late monday morning, and dave and I spent the day trading off falling asleep in random places.

the kids, however, SWAM!

gramma and papa had their backyard redone after we left last summer, and put in a pool! SO exciting!

callin’ myself out. (mary helped)

okay, I admit it. I’ve been bad. really bad. my blogger mojo is all used up on the other site and I’ve not done ANYTHING over here at all. blech…

we got back from our 2 week vacation on sunday, late morning.

we had a great trip. really. no car trouble, no sickness, no real incidents whatsoever! don’t think we could have asked for more.

not only was this our annual trip to EG to visit gramma and papa, we had the ‘rare’ (and depressing that it is so rare) pleasure of hanging with the illdaps at the same time. it was SO great to see the cousins playing together. layla and lily were babies together, and it just kills me that they hadn’t seen each other in over 2 years! jacob was a toddler and hannah, an infant when we last saw them. it was also so exciting to meet our newest nephew, matthew, IN person, while he’s still so little. it was crazy, but by the time our two weeks was over, he was a completely different baby. it’s just amazing how fast they change when they’re that little. you usually don’t get to experience that with other people’s kids!

we did lots of swimming in gramma and papa’s ‘new’ pool, visited with family, went to a fair, a baseball game, fairyland, and other things that are escaping me at the moment…

oh, and in-n-out burger, of course.

mary’s doing day by day posts… I might have to do that too, just so I can remember what we did!

pics to come soon!

a swimsuit RAVE!

I’ve totally been neglecting this blog… you know, I’ve got a new baby, and big sister blog isn’t getting as much attention. sorry.

at any rate, something monumental happened today that I MUST report. I bought a swimsuit. it was a pleasant experience. I’m really excited about it.

you might remember that about a month ago, I wrote a post ranting about the prospect of shopping for swimsuits.

well, today, in target, I had this sudden epiphany. instead of looking at all the flimsy, skimpy, unflattering swimwear, I decided to go look in the workout clothes. I mean, really, they’re basically the same thing. they’re both made of fabric that is meant to dry quickly and not bunch up or get heavy when wet. the only difference is that workout clothes are meant to cover and contain parts of you, while swimwear is apparently supposed to flaunt and expose it.

so, I found a cute top and a cute skirt, both of which FIT, and I’m not embarrassed to wear, and didn’t come from a specialty shop, cost a million dollars, or require altering to make wearable. Really, that should not be too much to ask.

of course, my non-camera-shy child had to get in there, but isn’t it cute? (I know, she’s cute too.)

The skirt is a good couple inches longer than ‘swim bottom skirts’, so it actually hits my legs at a place that isn’t the widest part of my body and therefore accentuate that wideness and make me looke really short and squatty. and it’s got bike shorts sewn in under it, not just a panty-type thing that will creep up and have to be pulled out of where it doesn’t belong every time I get out of the pool, take 2 steps, or move. The top is lined! and it doesn’t plunge down to my navel, causing me to worry that something might fall out (one wouldn’t think this would be possible, given my lack of endowment in that department, but my former swimsuit had me worried on more than one occasion). the straps are tight enough!

and it’s CUTE! is it not? it’s relatively modest, but a far cry from a granny suit.

I’m so excited to be able to wear this in or out of the water and not spend the whole time worrying pulling and tugging and adjusting and de-wedgie-afying!

I may never purchase swimwear again!