NorCal Chavis Tribe: July 2009

Thursday, July 30, 2009

Chico Mini-Vacay; the first edition

A week ago, Miles & I headed up to my parents house in Chico along with my cousin Christina & her Lily & Luke for a mini vacay. It was such a grest 3 days, hanging around the house, playing in the pool, going to the park & just CHILL'N! Miles & I don't do that a lot at home! My Mom made my grandma's homemade spaghetti & that seemed to kick my pregnancy appetite into high gear - no joke, I have been an eating machine ever since eating that spaghetti!

We spent at least 3 hours each day in the pool which was awesome & each day Miles got braver & braver in the water. He pretty much hated the pool on day one, but by day 3 he had decided the steps were the place to be & jumping off of them was super fun.

Lily & Miles got along so well and had a blast playing together. There was some hair pulling & toy stealing incidents, but for the most part they just loved each other! It made me so happy to see them getting along so well too since Miles & the new baby will be almost exactly as far apart as Lily & Miles are. So, with any luck, they will be great playmates sooner than I had ever anticipated! I did have some red flags raised about having an infant again, though, as I saw Miles interact with baby Luke. If I was holding baby Luke, Miles was whining at my legs & if baby Luke was laying on his play mat, Miles wanted to lay on the play mat, even if that meant bull dozing baby! And, my favorite - Miles tried to feed Luke a pretzel! Good thing we noticed & got it out of his mouth asap!

With grandma the baby sitter on hand (thanks mom!), I got a girls night out with Jamie so we could celebrate her birthday. It was such a great night, just going to dinner & then watching a chick flick. It reminded how much I love & miss my Jamie Jaims!

All in all, it was the perfect mini-free!-vacation for Miles & I. We only wish daddy could have come too. Stupid job (...that we are very thankful for!). We go up for another mini-chico-vacay on Sunday, this time to be joined by Auntie Carol, Lulu, Christina & the kids. Then it's off to Tahoe with the rest of the whole fam damily. We are so excited! (well, Miles doesn't know it yet, but he is!)

Happy with Lily on Grandpa's chair

Such good buddies!

The happiest, most adaptable baby I have ever met - little Luke!

Mmmm, popsicles by the pool. Could life be better?

Auntie CHristina & Luke looking extra cool

Why are babies in sunglasses so funny?

Lilers

My 16 week preggo belly

Mommy & her baby boy

The mommies & their boys

My little girl in a swim tutu

Uncle Billy's workout ;)

Nice height!

Love

Our new gardener healing our lawn

Tuesday, July 7, 2009

$th of July in the OC

We had a very exciting 4th of July weekend in Orange County! It is hard to believe but it was our first time back to the OC since we moved up North last year in late October. How sad is that? But, with family & friends coming to us over the past months, we just never got down there until now. Needless to say, we were SOOOO stoked to be going back for a visit.

Since it was a quick trip, we spent most of our time with family. It was so nice to have the little indian cousins together & Miles has really taken a fondness to Milan. Morgan, being the oldest of all 4, is amazing with Miles & just loves him to pieces. He seems so proud to have a cousin & dotes on Miles with hugs & silly faces. Mase is kind of at that age where he is indifferent to MIZ, but will come & bring him a toy to show his love from time to time.

I managed to squeeze in a few hours with Shann & Amy between all the family fun. We got (affordable!) pedi's (in NorCal they are a rip off in comparison!!!) and took in happy hour at Beachfire - a former favorite. So amazing to have some girl time! I miss them so much!

Fri-DAY was spent at North Beach in San Clemente. It was a perfect day, & Miles didn't seem overjoyed by the waves, but he didn't break into hysterics either. I think he was very curious about the whole beach thing. He hadn't been since he was 5 months, so it was practically like his first time at the beach. Later, we had an awesome evening in San Clemente with the fam and after lots of sugar, Morgan & Mason came up with some names for the new baby. Among the front runners are: PooPoo Butt, Barack Obama (that was very mature of Morgan to think of - especially since it was said in complete sarcasm - a very witty 5 yr. old!) & Mr. Fluffy (my favorite). I think the naming went on for an hour & Morgan even sang the baby happy birthday just to try out the names.

Lyn & Harlis threw a big BBQ for the 4th on Saturday. It was so great to see so many faces we have missed over the past months & re-introduce everyone to Miles. We had an awesome time pigging out on all the amazing food Lyn made, swimming & chatting. Miles didn't make it to the fireworks after all the sun & fun of the day. Mike & I were bummed, but we half expected he would nod out. Mike & I had some nice "us" time while we enjoyed the show over Mission Viejo Lake in the middle of Munera Street while we kept one ear on Miles in case he woke up in a panic. Slept right through it all though! Awesome!

It was sad leaving on Sunday & I wish we could go back way more than we have been able to this past year. I wish we could stay longer too, because they are so many people that we didn't get to see. which really made me sad. So next time, stay longer, and, oh yeah - drive instead of fly! The flight to OC was unforgettable - Miles kicked & screamed & fussed for at least the last 30 minutes. I think I planned our flight at a really bad time for him, though, so that wasn't completely fair on my part. He did soooo much better on the way back, in part to better timing & to Mike & I having a solid game plan in fear of reliving the previous experience. He was so great on flights before he could walk!