As promised, I wanted to give an update on our California adventures. Two and a half weeks ago, Annabelle and I said goodbye to Nathan at JFK and boarded our flight to California. Traveling solo with a baby was slightly more challenging than having Nate with us, but we managed quite well. Annabelle slept for almost the entire flight in my lap, while I occupied my time watching a the American Airlines movie and horrible TV entertainment that followed. One thing about traveling with a lap infant, is knitting or reading are out of the question as both hands are likely to be occupied. Next time I am going to download an audio book for my ipod. We arrived safe and sound, and Aunt Ade and Papa John were there to greet us curb side. Unfortunately, traffic was horrible back to Westlake, since supposedly it was the some of the first good weather Cali had seen in some time. We learned quickly that Annabelle hates traffic, and let us know every time we came to a creeping halt. She was like the movie Speed: go below 55 mph and the bomb will go off. Regardless we made it to the Village and had a good time catching up with the family.
On Tuesday evening Annabelle and I were scooped up by Jessica for our drive down to Laguna. Dion and Donnell's Grandma Dorris was kind enough to loan us her beach house for the week. It is perched just above the glorious Victoria Beach. Almost every room in the house offers amazing views of the sparkling Pacific and stretches of white sand beach. It was the perfect venue to reunite our group of college girlfriends with all of our children. Between the six ladies, we managed to bring together our 7 children for the first time. The oldest being Milo at 2 1/2 and the youngest, out little Annabelle, at 3 months. You can imagine the craziness that ensued. It was amazing to watch all of the different stages the kiddos were in and fun to see what I have in store as Annie E grows older. The toddlers, Milo and Wyatt, ruled the roost, running around playing cars and chasing seagulls. Donnell's twins, Paisley and Preston, were crawling about, pulling themselves up on everything including each other. Looks like the Coulehan's will have two little walkers on their hands very soon. Sweet Waylon and Ruby were still content playing quietly with their toys in one place, but from the looks of things that won't last long with Ruby beginning to get her scoot on. Annabelle watched in amazement at her older friends and took to her typical eating and napping routine. Beach time proved to be quite different than that of our past - no longer are the days of bounding off for an ocean swim or even conking out for a nap. We had our hands full hauling umbrellas, snacks and sand toys down to the beach and then keeping eagle eyes out for the kids. Though different, it was incredibly rewarding watching the kids enjoy themselves and each other. At night after Donnell did her famous assembly line feeding of the babies and they settled off to bed, the adults enjoyed some quiet time amongst the static buzz of five baby monitors.
The following day our family friends, the Ledterman's came over. Alison brought her three kids Mckenna, Lincoln and Logan. We pulled down the Barbies from my closet for Mckenna, though I think Ade and I enjoyed dressing them more than Mckenna. Then it was pool time - we swam and played games with kids. Annabelle even had her first jacuzzi which she seemed to enjoy.
On Tuesday my friend Kelly came over for a tostada brunch on the deck with mint lemonade and spring greens. We caught up for the first time in ages and she got to meet Annabelle. Later in the week we made our way to Venice to meet Katherine and Josh's little dude, Jagger (5 weeks). He is incredibly precious, checking out the world around him with a sneaky little smile on his face.
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