Saturday, September 1, 2012

vacation: the part where we sat around

If you'll recall, we took a little trip to my aunt's house in July (and yes, I'm still thinking about it). We went to the zoo and to the beach, but for much of our six day trip, we just hung out. The kids went swimming and played in the yard. We went for walks around the block. We talked a lot. It was not unlike any other average week in our lives, except for the fact that we were together, and that makes everything seem more special.




In between sitting and eating, we snuck in a shopping trip on a cute little street in downtown Willow Glen. We stopped at a gift shop for some Annie Sloan chalk paint. With two strollers and three kids under three, we weren't exactly greeted warmly upon our entrance. It was interesting how we were completely ignored as we wandered past the counter and the two gossiping ladies running the store, and yet, when we started picking paint colors, they were suddenly eager to help. The paint is a bit expensive if you're wondering.

We also stopped for lunch at Willow Street Pizza where I had an awesome burger and we successfully ate our lunches and kept all the little people happy at the same time. As we waited for our table, we met a woman very pregnant with her first baby, a girl. She was so sweet and happy and truly glowing. We chatted about babies and were seated not too far from her in the dining room. She was able to witness Laci covering herself in spaghetti sauce, Mia playing with knives, and Justin vomiting down his mother's back. For the record, Mia was playing with a butter knife and only because taking it away from her would have made lunchtime miserable for anyone within earshot. And I say knivessssss because when she dropped one on the floor, we just handed her another one. I think we went through five during the course of our meal.  I hope we did not ruin that sweet girl's picture of perfect parenthood.




Aunty Jenny's house is in the city, Campbell to be exact. Everything is convenient, as long as you are willing to share the road with crazy people.  In the six days we were there, I honed my city driving skills.  So much so, that it took me a week to readjust to driving in our slow, country town.  And frankly, I didn't even realize how slow and country this town really is until I left for a while.


This is Laci showing Grammy EXACTLY how to hold her hands at the bottom of the slide.


So, yeah, convenience.  Things like a produce stand around the corner with amazing fresh fruits and vegetables that would make any Farmer's Market jealous.  And also, there is a Farmer's Market, somewhere nearby, almost every day of the week.  And the craft store is only a few minutes away.  And frozen yogurt does not require a thirty minute round trip.  And Wal-mart DELIVERS.  And best of all, when you want to take the kids for a walk after dinner, you just walk out the front door and put them in the stroller and walk.  I apologize if any of this sounds weird to you.  These are just things that I don't get to enjoy living on the outskirts of town.  Seriously, walking around the block after dinner was almost my favorite part of the whole trip (aside from the ocean thing).

Now, I will admit that coming home has way more benefits, such as not seeing any neighbors when I look out my window and being able to take the garbage out in whatever I happen to be wearing at the moment and not having to worry if the neighbor is having a yard sale and will see me in my maybe not so appropriate attire.  I think those two are technically the same benefit, but I think it proves that country life is pretty good, too.


So, I think that about covers our little Summer trip, that ended over a month ago.  Can you tell I don't get to leave town much?  I'm changing that this year...I just decided.  We will definitely be making more trips to see Aunty Jenny, and now that we are done building the house, I think we'll be able to leave town a little more frequently.  And camping, definitely more camping.

Any other suggestions?

4 comments:

  1. You could come to Minnesota.... :)

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  2. Camping, yes! And I love the much of nothing part!!!

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  3. Santa Rosa is on the map......and is that stoller really a double? I think you just made it one. Haha.
    Aletha

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