Einar and I are recovering from a really fun week. Last Thursday, Karin, Marlene, and Amelia came to stay with us for a week and our goal was to just enjoy Southern California. We went to Sea World, The Wild Animal Park, Disneyland, the beach, the pool on most days, and just had fun hanging out. Karin and I do find that it takes more time to do things with three than just having the usual suspects around. The energy level in the house is so much higher than normal! The kids got along well and Marlene had fun swimming in the pool and meeting some San Clemente friends at the park and in the pool. Although we had one or two early starts to our days, for the most part we played it by ear and didnt' stress out over getting places early. We let the sleeping and eating schedule of the kids determine what our plan was. At the end of most days we had worn them out well and even had some time to ourselves to enjoy the hot tub and play a great new card game that Karin brought down with her called Catan.
Highlights of Disneyland for Einar included riding the Monster's Inc. ride, having a diaper change outside of the princess store while Marlene was getting a picture with Snow White's stepmother, eating a frozen-chocolate-covered banana after riding "It's a Small World," running after a dinner of Turkey Leg (I ate it, not my meat-avoiding son), and the Winnie-the-Pooh ride in Critter Town.
My car worked very well--fitting three carseats and two strollers with ease. It does now need a bit of cleaning to get out all of the sand and chicken nuggets out of it.
The Fourth of July we went down to the Wild Animal Park in the morning and then came home for some hot dogs and potato salad for dinner. I think that there may have been a pool visit as well that afternoon to cool off. Einar sensed that there was a party that night and wouldn't go to sleep until after the fireworks. We watched them from our driveway and from the patio since there was a Dana Point display and a San Clemente display that night. The Dana Point ones were really good and since they were closer, easier to see. Einar just stood out there in the street drinking his milk and pointing at the fireworks. Occassionally he'd say "ooh." Once they were over, he had no trouble going to bed since the party was over and he wouldn't miss anything.
My quiet time is over now. Einar has been teething like a dervish the last few days and needs much more snuggling and Mommy than usual. He also wakes with a scream around this time and needs some reassurance. I'm hoping those teeth break through soon and our son will return again soon. He's had such a short fuse the past few days, but if I think about all we've done in the past week combined with the teething, a bit of crankiness and lack of energy are to be expected!
