Funny Elena

For so young, she has many obsessions. It's quite amazing to me. One of them being a collector of things; be it words, sticks, crayons, stuffed toys, whatever she can get her hands on. Currently, she is obsessed with swimming. But no, not in water! In whatever is in a pile at the moment. She'll dive into a pile of her stuffed animals and flail around, squealing with delight the word "Swimming! Swimming!" She's even done it in the laundry pile (clean, luckily for her.) Here she is "swimming" in her happy pile of plastic newspaper bags. So easily amused, and to think that I probably spent more on a toy that she plays with less than all this free stuff. Isn't that how it usually goes?

Just for Fun

A friend of mine had these on her blog too, and I thought it was quite funny. Check it out! (Thanks, Stina!) Some of these are actually pretty close to true! I run with wolves often. :-P

brooke,
your name's Secret Meaning is...

"Runs with Wolves"

What's your Name's Secret Meaning?
at QuizGalaxy.com

James,
your name's Secret Meaning is...

"For Whom the Bell Tolls"

What's your Name's Secret Meaning?
at QuizGalaxy.com

Elena,
your name's Secret Meaning is...

"An in the Closet Lunatic"

What's your Name's Secret Meaning?
at QuizGalaxy.com

Aaron,
your name's Secret Meaning is...

"EMO"

What's your Name's Secret Meaning?
at QuizGalaxy.com

Spooky,
your name's Secret Meaning is...

"Runs with Pheasants"

What's your Name's Secret Meaning?
at QuizGalaxy.com

Photo Session

Well, it didn't go nearly as bad as I thought it would. It was time for Elena's 2 year pics, and Aaron's 9 month pics (who was actually almost 10 months at the time). The last attempt at photographing them together (professionally) was a royal pain, as she didn't want him anywhere near her. She would keep pushing him away. So we had to improvise by me hanging him upside down, and sticking him last minute in the shot right before he would snap it. Like this one:As you can see, it was hard to get a good one. (This was last November.) I was shocked and utterly amazed that she let him sit on his back (see image in column) and on her lap and so forth. Miracles have not ceased!Man, my kids are cute! Isn't he a pudge?
Here are just some samples of the good ones:
Elena Nicole- 2 years old
Aaron James- 9 months old
And Target gave us a great deal as well! I walked away with a sense of great accomplishment and relief. Why do we put ourselves through these things? Oh, yeah! Cuz they're cute!

Weekend Shenanigans

My last little blurb on our trip is of the day we actually drove home. We went to one last place in Jamestown before we left. We saw the Glass House, built around the actual original ovens used to blow glass. They had to be near a beach because you use sand to make glass. Interesting, no? We watched modern re-enacters expertly blowing glass. It was amazing to see. So I caught a little of it on film, then my video card was full. Unfortunately I didn't get the whole process for all to see.

We stepped our feet into the nearby James River to cool off, then we headed out. Back to reality.
We really owe it to Jim's parents for making this trip possible for us. We left Aaron with them, who I'm sure was a handful, and Jim's brother John & his wife Cacilda watched Elena until saturday when they had to leave the country. So when we got back Jim's parents had both kids together for almost a whole day. Amazing! We rang the buzzer when we came to pick them up and my mother-in-law's voice on the intercom said, "There is a God!" Apparently they had been a handful. We are nothing but grateful for the weekend away. Thanks, guys!

Dawg Daze uv SumR

Yep, its HAWT! 91 degrees and 42% humidity. Literally walking outside in a sauna. I was drenched the moment I stepped out the door. Phew! We still trooped it out to the store to take care of some bidness- we were all getting a little stir crazy! Here's little Elena, who just celebrated her 2nd Birthday, by the way, enjoying a luscious peach outside:
Mmm!
I just wanted to add that the most depressing thing happened to me today. Well, at first I was so excited because I needed to wear a belt with my jeans for the first time since having my kids...and today it broke. It BROKE! How depressing! I guess it was just really old- at least I keep telling myself that...How extremely embarrassing that I am telling everybody.

Williamsburg, VA

Later the same evening, we found ourselves in Colonial Williamsburg- the old part of town! This is just a very cool inn that you can stay at. I thought it was beautiful and captured well the colonial architecture we were surrounded by.

Here's Jim in the front lawn in front of the Governor's Mansion.

The Capitol Building before it moved to Richmond.

It was later turned into a girls' boarding school which explains a story we learned about on our "Ghost Walk" of the city that evening. WooOOooo! The story goes that one of the tour guides heard giggles and running feet as he was leading a group through. He wasn't too scared since he could tell the little girl was playful and liked him. She followed him around every evening as he had to lock up and shut all the interior doors at night. But there were times when other tour guides took groups through that she would be really naughty and make tons of noise upstairs. Nobody knew what it was until the news got to the one guy and he said, "I know just what to do." So he went upstairs and into the darkness said, basically, "I don't mind that you follow me around in here. In fact, I like the company. But if you keep acting like that we can't be friends anymore." And it never happened again! Kinda cute.

But this isn't very cute. Two criminals, right where they should be.

Jamestown & Yorktown VA

Jim and I just got back from Colonial Williamsburg, where we spent the weekend celebrating our 5th anniversary. Here is the first installment of what we experienced...Our first stop was Jamestown- the first settlement in our country (1609), named for King James.

This is where the fort wall stood according to the excavations. They are still excavating on the other side of the wall. We got to watch them with their shovels and sifting machines...but no big finds while we were there.
Here is where the very first church in our country stood. The "Memorial Church". This is the 3rd rebuilding (sometime in the 1800's) as fires claimed the first two. You can look down through the glass on the floor and see the original foundation. There was a very cool spirit within the walls.
Here's James in Jamestown
Jamestown monument

That same day we also visited Yorktown, but the only photo we got of that was of the Victory Monument. Does anyone know the history of Yorktown? Well, I will enlighten you in a nutshell. It's where the French and American troops under the direction of George Washington defeated the British in a key Battle of the Revolutionary War. Other key names include Rochambeau, Cornwallis, and Lafayette.

It was all very fascinating and a good walk. Later that day we played around a little at a Go Kart place. Here's Jim getting ready to go!

Of course I won. (the first race, least!)

Wedding in Walnut Creek

My cousin Chad has known his fiance' for 6 years, and they finally tied the knot! It took place in the gardens in Walnut Creek, CA- very beautiful. The groom and all the groomsmen wore kilts. How cool is that? Chad wore the family plaid of the Cameron's. Here's the procession:
Mother of the groom
Ring Bearer and Flower girl
Father of the Bride & Bride (Heather)
Groomsmen & couple
As you can see, it was a lovely day and a lovely place to have a wedding. Afterwards we all participated in family/wedding photos. Here's naughty Elena escaping into the brush. "How do you catch a cloud and pin it down? How do you keep a wave upon the sand?"
Gotcha!
All of the counsins on my mom's side made it, save two. Not a bad percentage! 15 total on that side. I won't even begin to count on my dad's side...well, just for giggles...18 still living + 4 step-cousins. We're everywhere! Anyway, back to the wedding. In the gardens there was a clubhouse where the reception and dinner was held. Everyone cheered as the wedding party was announced, this time as Mr. & Mrs., Elena thought they were all cheering for her. "Yay, Awaina!, Yay!" She said, clapping her hands with glee. What a corker! It was a fun time, with a good buffet and drinks of the bubbly sort, for those who wanted such. Lots of dancing and music. Which was a lucky thing to have, since the DJ they had booked died in surgery the day before the wedding. Not good! So they got a guy finally who was available. I'm sure nothing short of a miracle and a relief to the bride and groom. Here are some of us at the tables:
Wedding party
Mom, Elena & cousins
Lauren my sis & Jackson

Dan my bro & cousins
That's enough for now. I have much more to come!

Playing in Pacifica

We're back! From June 25th to the 29th, Elena and I were in California for my cousin Chad's wedding. We flew out and stayed the first night with my aunt in Pacifica. We had all day on thursday, as my parents and siblings wouldn't get into town until that evening. My Aunt Susan generously left us with a car, gps and carseat while she went to work. So, with time to kill, we headed to the beach! Which actually was not far at all from my aunt's house on the hill. Here's the view from the back of the house:



The front of the house faces the hill. So, we played a bit on the chilly beach. It was probably 60 degrees, but the water had to be ten degrees colder than that. Brrr! I let Elena run around in the sand like she had seen all the time on her little tv shows. But she got scared of the chilly water as it came up and got her out of no where. She kept wanting me to carry her. Poor thing! So we back away from the waves a ways and found an old plastc shovel, and then the fun began! Here are some pics. Gorgeous beach! It's usually overcast here, but the sky is even darker because of all the wildfires. Craziness!



Later on that day we went to the San Francisco Zoo, and a playpark with my cousin Erin and her kids. Aunt Susan joined us for a picnic lunch at the playpark. KFC, baby! The funniest thing happened there. Elena was just running around all the fun things to her heart's content, when I looked over and a gaggle of 5 or so kids had started following her around. They varied in age, the oldest maybe 8 or 10 years old, but they just thought she was the funnest little toy in the whole place! They were helping her get on the big kid toys and just following her around, and she didn't mind a bit! It was the cutest thing. Like she was the pied piper, or something. My camera had died, otherwise I would have gotten a shot of it. So funny. I'll post more about the wedding later!