SPRING BREAK '09
You know we're busy if I haven't posted a blog in a whole month. Here's our month in review:
Beloved friends, Johnny, Rennie, Jim and Sandi came to us with their giant puppy Kumo for a weekend. The dogs mauled each other, the girls drank chai tea and slept in, and the boys golfed. Vanessa blended in nicely, although she was a tiny bit afraid of Johnny. Not sure why, maybe Daddio has been telling her some of their college stories.
We women hit a little street fair for some local fare. Daddio took this opportunity to babysit, man-style. We took a camera.
The guys took a baby and two dogs through a cave full of seawater. When we got home after dark, they were just trailing in, soaking wet and freezing cold. The dogs, the baby and the men slept well that night.
After the San Francisco crew left, we make the trek to Los Angeles for great Aunt Helen's memorial service. It was very touching and even upbeat. Aunt Helen had a great sense of humor and her children did a wonderful job of honoring that during her memorial. Jack's mom and siblings were mostly together, as were cousins. I didn't take any pictures (with my camera), but we did catch up ever so briefly with a whole giant branch of Vanessa's family. Of course the time flew by and we scarcely got to say hello to each other before we were saying goodbye. Maybe absence makes the heart grow fonder, but seeing each other warms me right up, too.
The day after the memorial service in L.A. Daddio had to fly to Boston for a weekend track meet with "Auntie" Shea-Shea. Daddio stayed with my cousins, Maureen and Tom, as he has for the past few years for this national indoor meet. They met Uncle Mark and the Magic Aunt (Debbie) at the meet and went out for a bite to eat afterwards. "Can we call you 'Auntie' Shea-Shea, too?" Uncle Mark asked the Olympian. Yes, she said.
Daddio came home and two days later cousin Corey arrived to kick off our official Spring Break '09 gig. Woo hoo! This tradition began in March 2007, when she and her sister Meghan came out to meet and greet newborn baby Nanners. Meghan arrived a few days later. Corey and Meghan laughed so often and so hard at most everything Vanners said and did that I actually had to intervene for fear our little entertainer would become self conscious.
The cousins helped out quite a bit with Vanessa-sitting as well as dog tending. You see, Milo broke a toe this month and the vet asked us to keep him calm and immobilized. Impossible!
We hiked, ate pizza, ate ice cream, went shopping, laid out in the sun, and tried on clothes. The cousins taught Nanners, who has mysteriously taken to calling her father "Daddio" (I only ever use that term on the blog... does she read the blog?), to say, "Shake your bootie, Daddio." They also gave her the terms Princess Bra and Princess Juice (code for beer).
We watched American Idol together and it got pretty rowdy. I think we halfway convinced Corey to audition for Idol, and Meghan to look up Anoop via a mutual friend. You heard it here first, folks.
Daddio had to drive to San Francisco and fly to North Carolina for another national indoor track meet on the weekend, using a red-eye. When he flew home, he picked up Meghan's big sister, Sarah, and they drove the 3 hours home. Vanessa was happy to see her Daddio but she was thrilled to have 3 happenin' cousins in the house.
Sarah is turning 30 later this year and getting married, too. We tried on wedding dresses with the bride and Vanessa was fascinated and totally clued in. "She's the bride," she informed me. "Her dress is beauuuuutiful." She also reminded us that "Auntie" Nell is the bride and got married at her (Vanessa's) wedding. Okay.
When the cousins left, Nanners would approach groups of 3 young women and say, "Cousins!" then realize she was mistaken. Very sad.
The day the cousins left we got to see "Auntie" Nell for an overnight. It was weird to see her at at track meet in her civies. Earlier in the week Vanessa posed with Nell's Under Armour poster at the local sporting good shop. Maybe you've seen Nell in the Under Armour ads in last month's Self, Seventeen and Glamour magazines...?
I know, I know: you're still thinking about that photo of Van in the Princess Bra, but we did have a professional family portrait session done last week. Thank you, cousin Sarah for being the baby wrangler on the shoot. You can see a few of the shots on our photographer's blog, here:
