Westerly Welaxation

June and July are good months to take up residence at Pam's house.  The pool is warm, the beds are cozy and the food is gratis.  It's pretty much bliss, but for the fact that Hush has something called a  job that apparently he has to attend and he therefore must stay in Utah.  After 30 weeks of hard pregnancy, a stay at the Mothership is downright indulgent: my mother does the dishes and makes any dinner we request!  That, to any mother, is the vacation we all dream of having.  Add that to the constant entertainment of my children by their cousins and the result is I finally got sufficient rest that my body didn't hurt anymore.  Miraculous!  There were about five pain free days!

One of our adventures was a practice session on the ice.  Jude is interested in hockey and we both wanted to see if it's a sport we could manage.  Ms Jackie's kids were so patient getting him all armored and suited up, but Jude needs some practice on hockey skates before he's ready.  Also, holy moly hockey moms are hardcore.  There's so much gear! I don't know how they can keep it all straight and fitting and all that maintenance. 

Silas is acting as my sewing dummy in this picture.  When my mother and I are together we often do sewing projects.  She's a master seamstress and I have ideas that she thinks will never work.  We usually come up with something fabulous.

My hair turned teal.  I like it!  I'm excited to see what colors it gradually fades into while I swim all summer.  What's funny is that most of my family didn't even notice.  They're used to the changes.  

Mimi and Silas having a hug-a-war. (Ages 7 and 4). I hardly saw Mimi the whole time we were there because she was too occupied with cousins.  Houdini also saw the children twice while we were in town.

Dville in summer means Giants.  My mother is a huge fan.  She watches every single game, shouts at the screen loud enough to wake the neighbors, and mourns every time they lose.  Not only that, her phone alerts the whole house to every play with a cacophonous chime.  Every day is Giants day, even if they are losing.  Since I spent most evenings on the couch, I become a defacto fan. It's hard not to get caught up in Pam's contagious enthusiasm (and requisite disappointment).  My sister Val showed up at the Giants game a few days before the fourth to surprise my mother.  

Sometimes when you're talking on the phone with your long distance husband you find yourself doodling a fairly poor rendition of the Death Star, assuming the henna wouldn't stay long.  It did. My doctor appreciated it at our appointment.

One cousin adventure was the county fair.  Is forgotten how fun the fair is.  We did the animals, raced RC cars, ate some over priced food, danced with a Doo Wop band to Barbara Ann, and rode some rides.  Did not get a picture of the whole group, but we had two of Celia's kids, one of Paige's, three of mine, my BFF Ashley's two, and my sister Val.  

Ashley, Brynn and Si racing.  You had to pass a quiz on Solar Energy to race the cars.  I am now an expert on solar energy.

After three long weeks of recovering from having a family Hush arrived on the morning of the fourth!  Everybody needed to miss each other for a while.  It was a joyous reunion and he made it in plenty of time for the annual baseball game.  He made us proud.

Saturday morning we hit Capitola with Camille and Alex.  I've been dying to teach Hush how to surf, but being that I can't lay on my stomach I had to pass the honor off on Cam and Alex who have been surfing weekly for a few months.  I could hardly contain my jealousy.

I tried to get them to let me paddle on my back, but there was no wetsuit that could contain my porpoise. 

This is what nearly 8 months pregnant looks like. Apparently I feel much larger than I look.

And this is our surf crew (two on the right, I think. They all look exactly the same to me when they're in the water.)

Ok, I'm running out of steam on this post. More pictures to come.