holiday recap

when the house is empty, what is there to do, but invite four kids over for a slumber party?

i picked up the d4 on sunday night, and after some bike shuffling, some rack stacking, and some glazed looks, it was finally determined that i would take jenny's van, loaded with bikes, back to my place for the adventures to come.

first things first though, upon arriving back at my place, the kids crawled in to pajamas and followed me to the back patio where we lit a fire in the pit and toasted marshmallows for smores.

the girls get excited

brad eats fire

after smores, it was time for

hide

and seek

but before the kids could fall asleep, they absolutely demanded that we take group self-portraits. and when children demand, i'm inclined to oblige.


much to their mother's chagrin, we finally called it a night at about 11 or so.

and despite the late bedtime hour, there was no rest for the weary cousin/aunt. although they let me sleep until 8 (i had been up much later than 11), it still felt just a wee bit early.

nonetheless, after a quick shower i found that the blankets and bedding had all been folded and put away, and we could get on with our day. first stop? les pancakes internacional. or 'ihop' as it is referred to by the common folk.

brad makes a pretty good paparazzi

though it had started as a cloudy say, by the time we got back to the house, the one pocketful of sunshine to grace orange county on the holiday was emptied onto us! and that meant one thing. bike ride!

just your average beach house garage

after our ride, we dropped the bikes back at the house, and headed to newport to enjoy the beach and the water.





though i was diligent about keeping the kids sunscreened up, i may have forgotten to be quite as attentive to my own skin. the result was not just a nasty sunburn, but a bout of sun poisoning! the kind that makes you nauseous on top of the searing pain through your back and shoulders. yeah. that kind.

but, that was a small price to pay for the laughs and sunshine and time spent with the kids. i do love a holiday. and i loved that this one put me that much closer to a visit from my favorite man. 35ish hours and counting!

check out the rest of the weekend pics here.