UNCLE MARKY AND THE MAGIC AUNT

Uncle Marky and The Magic Aunt are visiting VanNannerkins. They hail from Rhode Island and are very, very close to being her biggest, most vehement fans. In fact, they out-and-out told us they came to visit her.

The day they arrived was also the day Vanessa and I hosted our Thursday moms group at our new home by the sea. What an absolute blast! Good thing Daddio helped us prepare by cleaning the kitchen floor, because we had 8 moms and 8 babies all over that floor!

Here is a shot of us storming the neighborhood. I am behind the camera and Nanners is fast asleep in her stroller. In fact, when we got back to the house for lunch, I had to leave her outside in the stroller napping for an hour whilst we all partied down inside. (Normally Van naps in my arms.) When she was awake, she was full steam ahead, relating to all her little contemporaries. None of the babies cried, it was that fun.

Uncle Marky and the Magic Aunt arrived after the moms' party, and Baby Nessa was only a teensy weensy bit scared of the bearded man who grabbed her and hugged her. We shot out for a quick sunset walk, though, and all was mended. See here, sunsets made magic by the recent fires in southern California.

The next day was extraordinary in one particular way. Vanessa took two naps - a 10 minute nap and a 15 minute nap - all day. We were blown away! She had such a good time she couldn't sleep and she didn't cry all day, either, until the very end. Uncle Marky and The Magic Aunt said, "You didn't tell us she was pefect!" Yes, our Perfect 10 month old.

That day was an action packed one. We had gone shopping, walked on the beach, did a little commercial real estate business (a site visit) with The Magic Aunt, walked along the resort-studded bluff, hit the petting Farm, sampled ice cream, ate dinner on the back patio, and attended a women's college soccer game. Um, Vanners was awake the whole time, pretty much.

Vanessa spent the rest of the weekend impressing her relatives with beach walks, reading board books, eating grown up food, swiming in her 90 degree indoor pool, and taking in the college cross country championships. We also caught some of the World Series games. In a particularly comical moment, she started chuckling uncontrollably while nursing when she heard her Daddy clapping to urge the batter on. Did I mention she was nursing at the time? That rascal. I warned her to not laugh too hard or she'd shoot milk out her nose. That really got Uncle Marky going.

See Nanners meet and greet a spindly, orange and likely unsuspecting starfish:

Sunday was a thrilling day because Daddio led us on a high-tide "beach" walk involving thundering white water and rock scrambling, topped off by a lovely dinner at Jocko's steak house. Uncle Marky and The Magic Aunt couldn't believe our sweet Wahkeenah was a-OK with so much stimulation without a melt down. In fact, the only time Nanners got fussy was when we had to sit around and wait an hour past our dinner reservation time to get seated. Once seated, however, she was golden. She ate like a horse and flirted with the nice, nice man at the next table. A Perfect 10.

Uncle Marky and The Magic Aunt have to leave, but we are mutally pleased to be seeing each other all over again for Thanksgiving. Phew! Can't have too much family time when we have this much fun, can we?