Last weekish

He who returns from a journey is not the same as he who left.

-- Chinese Proverb

Ahh, vacation. We did it. I may not ever think of vacations the same again and I would venture to guess most mom's would agree. Traveling with child brings on a whole new world. Getting ready and traveling was one big feet, but what I didn't expect was that baby life continues into vacation time. There are still mid-night and early morning feedings, getting up before you really want to and no real getting away from it 'all'. Don't get me wrong, we had a great time and I would do it again in an instant, time with our family is precious, but I hadn't given vacations for a new mom any thought. It's just not as restful as vacations used to be. I'm beginning to discover that nothing ever will be. 

My baby flies quite well, even sick on the way home, she was a champ. That's all this mama could have asked for. We were so sad to say good-bye to our California family, I used to cry so much when I would say good-bye to my sister. Mostly because living on two separate coasts, I never knew when we would get the chance to spend time together again and it was always too long between visits. I seemed to get my wits about me with the whole issue after we had 7 whole months in the same house and at worst they were a 24 hour car ride away. But having the opportunity to make many visits a year gave me the chance to grow really close to those two little rascals she reared. Each time we departed it got harder to leave those two behind knowing they would change so much before I would see them again. This time it was hard to leave with my babe knowing she will change tremendously before we see them again and not wanting them to miss out on all of those little moments. 

Thank goodness for the internet, skype, smart phones, etc... I just need to get better about taking pictures, there wasn't a whole lot of that on this trip (again the whole new mom, infant, first trip, mama and baby sick thing). But here is a sampling of the last week and a bit. 

P.S. I'm still trying to figure out some blogging picture stuff and someday you won't have a scrolling nightmare, but until then, prepare those index fingers 'cause your gonna need them! 

we started off the week (last week) with some beautiful sunshine. Thomas and I were able to get out in the garden, which was a mess and get it all cleaned up. We have several plants and bushes we quickly plunked in there at the end of the summer/beginning of fall that we relocated to a more permanent place.

Now the garden is ready for poop and planting in the spring, hopefully we have one of those this year.  

Baby girl has started to sit up for about 10 minutes or so in her bumbo though I'm pretty sure she is looking for food on that tray, 

and we have started to lay her down for naps in her crib, it may be a losing battle, but slow and steady wins the race.   

Then we made it down to San Diego for a bit of sunshine. 

Kristie: It smells so good here, like spring

Kim: I don't know, I kind of like the smell of home

Kristie: What, mold and wet dog...I don't think you remember how much it rains. 

Some well deserved Antie time was had.

Morning floor time with Henry - worry not, no touching happened in this photo.

The boys played cards, Jamie was protecting himself against some suspicious 'crop dusting.'

Lots of baby naps and video games with the boys.

Some very silly sister time,

Delicious Mexican food and drinks, 

Laying in Auntie's bed in the morning. 

We also discovered some fun camera filters...I threw those in for Henry.