The End of July, Including a Brief Visit from Tutu and Papa

Kids are hard. Sometimes life is like this, for no good reason:

I tried to get a video of Tiny's incredibly ineffective method of consuming frozen yogurt. When I pointed the camera at her, she started saying "cheese" and wouldn't stop. Also Jim distracted me by forgetting my phone number. 

Tutu and Papa went to Europe, and they laid over here on their way home (hooray for our team!). They got in on Monday afternoon, July 23, and left Wednesday morning, so we really just had a day with them. It was really hot that Tuesday (as it was much of the summer), so we decided to go to the Birch Aquarium. We had a nice time, and the littles enjoyed it. Wren, in particular, seemed quite enthralled.

Ever was at an art camp at the Oceanside Museum of Art that week, so she missed out on the aquarium. She really enjoyed the camp, though.

Tiny's rendition of "The Little Drummer Boy," aka "Pa-rum-pa-pum-pum," goes like this: "A newborn king to see, rum-pa-pum-pum," repeated ad nauseum.

Wrenzy sang "Tinkle, Tinkle, Little Star" and the alphabet song, while Tiny provided backup vocals.

The girls - primarily Tiny and Wrenzy, as Ever is usually at school - are my dishwasher helpers. Bear-ba-loot unloaded one day wearing only her Bear-ba-loot suit.

We had friends over, and Tiny, who is the worst eater, refused to eat the watermelon but enjoyed licking it.

Despite the bird poop, the girls enjoyed some time on the tramp one lovely evening.

I found two memos Ever had written on my phone. When I saw the first, I thought, "Aw, that's cute. She loves Daddy."

Then I laughed out loud when I saw the second one:

Ventura

Thursday, July 19, Coco, Antone, the girls, and I drove up to Ventura. Deetrix was at work, but we hung out with Shan and the chillun. The kids enjoyed the pool Tristan, Betsy, and Gunnar had been playing in that week.

Shan made a lovely dinner for us, followed by cookies because we're Hastingses. The littles and I took over Tristan and Betsy's room that night. Tristan and Betsy are very nice about being displaced. Ever went to sleep in my bed, and then I moved her into the living room with Tristan and Betsy when I went to bed. She can't stand being separated from those two. Sleep positions were odd. Wrenzy ended up on the floor next to her bed again, while Tiny was crammed sideways in the pack n' play.

Friday was Deetrix's birthday, and he had the day off work. We didn't get out of the house until late, mainly because I'm so slow getting the girls ready. The beach was lovely and practically empty.

Ever and Betsy had fun boogie boarding.

Something happened to Tiny. She got very upset and was totally irrational and inconsolable. She went up on the hill behind us and cried her little heart out.

Eventually she calmed down and returned to me.

Coco and I took the littles home to nap, while Ever stayed at the beach to play with Dee and Shan and their kids. Back at the house, Coco and I hosed down the littles out back, and they enjoyed it.

After the rest of the gang returned home, Ever and Betsy went to great lengths to get lemons off the neighbors' tree so they could make lemonade.

The littles had chicken nuggets for dinner. I really enjoy the way Tiny says "nuggets," as if she's swallowing the word.

The biggers got amazing ramen takeout that I'm going to need to enjoy again next time we go up there.

We celebrated Deetrix with German chocolate cake.

Ever drank the remnants of her ice cream, as is her wont. If I remember correctly, she fell backward and injured herself right after this:

TKan is really good with the littles.

We got the kids in their jammies, said our goodbyes, and headed back to Oceanside that night. 'Twas a short and sweet visit. 

Coco and Antone flew out the next day. We barely squeezed in a visit to Handel's ice cream shop in Encinitas before they left. Tiny didn't do so well at eating neatly.  

Family visits are A no. 1.

Coco and Antone Came

Coco and Antone came to visit on Saturday, July 14. Tony got his first taste of girl toys.

We went to Thom and Annie Bunnell's to swim and BBQ that evening. Much like Tiny and Wrenzy, Antone wants to swim alone despite lacking the ability to do so. Bags spent the entire pool time wrestling him and getting splashed in the face. I spent the entire time trying to keep my littles alive as they jumped in from the side over and over. 

Sunday morning, the children played. The girls love "baby Anson," as they call him, and they're all so cute together. The girls followed Tone Loc around on hands and knees.

Then they all played outside.

At church, Coco and I hung out with the three littles in nursery. Anson hid in the cupboard.

He may have been trying to escape from his overly-loving cousins.

He enjoyed bubble time at the end, though.

After church, we ate, and the littles played nudist colony.

Jim and Ever spent forever making cake pops for dessert using a recipe from her cookbook. They were not amazing, and everyone was sad.

Monday morning, Tiny set up a little track for herself and raced in circles around the island.

There were more blocks.

Tiny felt very affectionate toward Wrenzy and kept hugging her and saying, "I love you. I love you, Wrenny." It seriously went on and on. She can very faintly be heard saying "I love you" in a gravelly voice in the beginning of this video, before my prompt.

Tiny and Wrenzy had their last swim lesson with Miss Tracy that day. Tracy was pretty booked but squeezed them in for just five lessons this summer. At first they did wonderfully, and Wrenzy was swimming short distances by the second lesson. Then they started being anti Miss Tracy and crying the whole time. That was a setback. Anyway, it was confirmed to me that if I had been turbo about lessons all summer, Wrenzy could have been really great. Coco got in with Anson, and Tracy gave her a few pointers about how to teach him. He was dunked for the first time, and he did great!

Tuesday morning Ever loved on Tiny, and then we had waffles for breakfast (Ever's request).

Tiny got really Nutella-dirty and enjoyed every moment of it.

Tone Loc shared his food with Tiny.

Coco read stories to the girls.  (I love Tiny in this pic.)

Somebody put pants on Tony's head, and he didn't mind.

We spotted a bunny in the backyard. Too bad Mamo wasn't here.

Tiny desperately wanted Tony to sit on her lap. She had to settle for having him sit between her legs.

Coco and Antoine went to visit Coco's friend Kara. 

Wednesday we hung out at home and played with the blocks again.

Ever and Zoza (new-ish nickname, from "Wrenzoza," used primarily by Jim) made a fun pattern.

Tone Loc practiced driving.

Ever helped feed Tony his bottle.

We swam in Cikaneks' pool. I was glad Coco finally got to meet them, as I've told Coco and Rebecca lots about each other.

The girls had earned a movie night, so we watched The Parent Trap (old version) and ate delicious chocolate mousse cups and ice cream.

Thursday morning we got ready for a trip to Ventura to see the Deetrixes. While Coco packed, Tiny attacked.