cheating.

Even though I'm supposed to be catching up on our trip to San Diego, I'm cheating. Cheating on my own vacation. Because it's fall, you see. And I love fall. You might remember me mentioning it here, here, here and here. And I've been taking lots of fall pictures, and walks, and loving it all day long, but not blogging. Because I haven't put up pictures of our trip. Ughh. So guess what? Here's some fall. To get me through.

october.

see that book he's reading? that's stewart little. one of my all-time faves.
actually, MY copy.
like, from when i was 7. sniff. gulp. sniff. i'm fine. really.

October. It's been interesting for us. It started with a vacation, then a rainy homecoming, and then we got the sick. Like, I'm pretty sure it was THE sick. The SWINE FLU, people. And of course, it came right on the heels of vacation, and right as the Mister had to turn around the day after vacation and take off again. For a WEEK. Leaving me at home with three children who were off their schedule, sick with the flu, and generally just bonkers. And HOME. For a week. Dear school, I love you so much. Let's never be apart this long again, mmmkay?
It's a miracle I made it through without harming someone - myself, them, possibly random passers-by on the street. Although I do believe at some point I probably scared a few people with my crazy eyes. Anyhow. We did make it through, and then we got to get out and enjoy the fall sunshine a bit. I love fall. I really, really, really do. Shocking, I know.

this baby got her first pigtails. it's true. she promptly ripped them out and
threw the ponytail holders on the ground. but it was cute while it lasted!

Aidan.

Some recent quotables from Aidan.

Me: Aidan, that behavior is unacceptable. Aidan. Are you listening? Do you hear me?
Aidan: Sorry Mom. Can't hear you. I turned my hearing aid off.
Me: (Wetting my pants) Go to your room.

Today:
Aidan: Mom - Chloe has a stinky. I know, because I smelled her....Butler.

harsh.

I know, I know. Once again, it's been a while. But this time I have a real, live, bad internet connection excuse. See, we were on vacay. In San Diego. And yes, they DO have internet in San Diego. But for some reason unknown to me, the router at my in-laws house HATED me, and only me. We're talking full on long-term feud, leave you out of the will, disgrace you in all possible public media outlets, Rosie O'Donnell versus Donald Trump hate. It never once in 10 days let me on the internet. Let me start by saying this: Internet, I missed you.

So I will be catching up in the next few days. Once I can tear myself away from google-ing all the things I thought of in 10 days. In the meantime, let me tell you about our transition home. Here's what we left:




Here's what we came home to:





I do love fall. I really do. But that transition was a bit.....harsh. Today, however, I got out my sweaters. And I was good.

san diego roundup.

We did so much. We hung with our cousins, we played at the beach. We swam, hot-tubbed, had dinner on the patio, saw good friends, rode a carousel, shopped, played, visited our alma-mater, the San Diego Zoo on a perfect fall day, had dinner at the restaurant Shawn & I worked at when we got married. Things were the same, and different, and we did feel a teeny bit old. We showed the kids our favorite places to eat and surf and where we lived during college. We showed Jackson the building we lived in when we brought him home from the hospital. We had good talks with people we don't get to see face to face often enough. (TINA! That's you!) It was wonderful. And fast, and over all too soon.

this is the view from the dorms we lived in. i'm not kidding.
suddenly that little run-in with academic probation makes much more sense, right?

anticipation.....

In case you haven't been to my house recently, here's a bulletin - WE ARE FULLY AND COMPLETELY OBSESSED WITH STAR WARS. It's been an ongoing thing for a while now, hence last year's Halloween costumes, the birthday party, and daily dress-up/lightsaber fighting/millenium falcon building sessions. We tried to explain to them during the costume discussions this year that you can dress up as something OTHER than Star Wars characters. We were met with mostly blank stares. And a few comments like "huh?" and "why?" We sort of gave up. Especially when Nana told them they could pick any costume off the star wars website, and she'd buy it for them. They love their Nana. Seriously.

So.....the costumes were waiting for them in San Diego, along with the costumes for their cousins. We decided to make a big deal out of the presentation - making them all wait with their eyes closed, patiently, until everyone had theirs. It was AWESOME to see them all......so excited, trying soooooo hard not to peek. They did a great job, and much excitement ensued, along with a full dress up session.

beaching.

Oh, we do love the beach. We especially love it in California, in october, when it's warm and sunny and we can dip our toes in the salty sea and feel the warm santa ana winds, surf with our cousins and hold our hands on our heads like a visor to block the SUN from our eyes. That's right, I said the SUN. It shines there, apparently, ALL YEAR ROUND.

(This was the first time I could convince Coco to let me put her on the sand.
She fussed for about 2.5 seconds, and then ran straight into the ocean. I mean STRAIGHT IN. No fear.)