Anya and I started out this trip by flying to Colorado to visit with Allison Anya was great on her first plane ride and I only had to cry and yell once when they overbooked my second flight and tried to tell me we wouldn’t be leaving Phoenix until the next afternoon. Low and behold, we arrived as scheduled. We spent four days at Allison’s and I can say with certainty that Colorado is a beautiful place and Allison is an amazing mama. Her kids are beautiful and silly and I really want to eat them up. Even her husband was fun to sit around with while making fun of the television (my idea of a really good time, btw). I got to visit some other friends in a nearby town and loved romping around with the gals and their kids. Anya ended up with something nasty in her eye while there and I had to hold her down while Corey squirted it with saline solution. She was rather pissed off at me for that one but could open her eye after that bit, so I was rather thrilled it didn’t result in a trip to a doctor. After a trip with Allison and Eden to Ouray to check out the hot springs, Anya got good and sick and kept me up all night throwing up on me. Weeeeee! Parenting is fun!
From Colorado Anya and I flew to San Francisco where we were picked up by Mark, Lily and our friend Allyn. Mark had spent three days traveling up the coast with Lily and the dog and was so starved for adult conversation he didn’t stop talking for the next hour. Anya kept staring up at him and grinning happily, so I’m guessing she missed her daddy as well. And Lily gave me the biggest, tightest hug possible while strapped into a car seat, so I felt loved. A couple of days with Allyn and Erich while Allyn sewed up some dresses for Lily (the monkey dress was a HUGE hit) and then on to visit with Mark’s Grandfather. We also got a chance to meet Jenny from Three Kid Circus and had a blast at a local Orff Music class she invited us to attend. Lily dug it big time and jumped and clapped and danced and shook her maracas with great conviction.
We went north from there, spending a few days with Mark’s brother Steve and then up to Mark’s moms for the weekend. The town they live in closes down Main Street on Halloween and all the preschoolers get to run wild demanding candy and laller lallering in circles. Lily was confused about the whole set up but loved her Halloween costume (pumpkin) enough to trudge along in the heat putting goodies in her bag. Anya was also a pumpkin but spent the trick-or-treat fiesta sleeping snuggly in the sling, so we didn’t get the full two-pumpkin effect. Ah well, it’s all good.
On Tuesday we hopped back into the car and drove south until we ran into my brother. We got to see his new home which already has a swing set in the back yard from the previous owners. Lily looked through the living room window and yelled, “A PARK!” and then ran around in circles demanding “SWING!” until we took her out back and let her have at. We had planned to head for home that evening but Lily was having so much fun with her Uncle Matt and Cousin Liam that we stayed until morning. Wednesday we finally made our way home. I love home. Photos are up at Flickr. Click the photo below to take you to the album.
