San Diego.

We are spending so much of this summer traveling. We have some important events to attend, and important people to visit. We also are taking advantage of Clark's free flying status, and my empty lap to see family and friends around our country.

Clark and I were in San Diego last week visiting Greenwells and Grillots while Tom was in Long Beach going to a conference, he came down the coast on the last few days of our trip to do some government work in San Diego, mentor some post-docs at Scripps and visit with his family.

We stayed with Nana Greenwell. She has a delicious little ball of puffy fur named Allie. Clark really loved Allie. He loved petting her, following her around, getting her to lick him, grabbing her tail and even pretending to be her. He spent most of his time going "oof, oof, oof," his version of a bark.


Clark loved climbing in and out of her dog box, bed, and splashing in her water. He and his cousin, Sophia, had a blast pretending to be doggies!
He loved being able to play with Sophia so much! I think it was good for her to have Clark, as she just got a baby brother that week, and things always change with a new baby. Clark was someone from her past who she may have slightly remembered, but definitely thought was fun.

They try out the dog box and doggie bed. We also got to go to a park to play. All of the fun and sunlight helped Clark adjust to the Western time zone. He had fun playing with Sophia's sand toys and eating sand. He walked around a bunch and gained the affections of everyone there. Sophia is especially talented linguistically, cousin Ruby is especially talented physically, but Clark's super power is certifiably his charm.

Nana/Janet and I had a really fun time going to the Viejas Outlet mall and doing some shopping for the new baby. Since Andrea and Jake don't like to know what gender of baby they are having in advance, everyone scrambles once the baby is born to bestow upon it gender appropriate gifts, and we did. We bought a good amount of boy clothes at the mall and were happy to bring them to the wee babe, like Jesus in the manger. We the wise ladies with animal, sports and blue themed outfits. So, I know you are dying to see this baby already. Here you go. I present to you the proud parents!

And the wee little babe.
And the babe again.

And the babe and the baby.

And the newest addition in jungle animal themed jammies.

It was very nice to be in town the first week of his life, yet probably hectic for everyone in SD as I was an extra body and had my own little boy to plan around. It was nice that Sophia had us to play with and get to visit with her. Her birth was such a big deal in my life and I have really missed watching her grow since they moved back to SD. Its a bummer that I won't get to see this new one grow up - at least not in person, but that's the reality of our big country. I hope that since we are gone, their family is getting some rest, things are settling down, and that the baby is getting used to being outside Andrea now.

When Tom finished up in Long Beach and came down to San Diego, we were able to spend some time together as a family. We went down to Ocean Beach one morning and had breakfast at Margarita's Mexican Food and American Breakfast, better know to us as "Mexican American Food!" we had an awesome breakfast while Clark ate Jelly at the table.

We walked around our old neighborhood and noticed its changes. Most notably are two marijuana shops. I can't say that I wish I lived there anymore. We always said it was not a good place to raise kids, and now I'm even more glad that we left.

One afternoon, while Clark and I were waiting for Tom to do some mentoring at Scripps, we went to the mall and found these awesome dolphin fountains. Clark loved them and had fun splashing in the water. He was a little afraid at first, thinking there was some kind of giant animal in the water, but then he realized they weren't going to hurt him. =)

This is the fountain where he got so soaked,
had to take all of his clothes off and bring him home naked!

We also took a nice hike up Cowl's mountain with our good friend Julie. It took us a lot longer than we thought because we had never really hiked with Clark before. He wasn't a big fan of being in the Ergo carrier and wanted to get down and play. When we finally got up to the top, we freed the boy and he got really dirty. I feel bad for San Diego mothers with crawlers and toddlers - cause it is a dirty place.

dirty, dirty, dirtyThe views from the top were very pretty and it was a lovely hike overall. We had considered hiking Iron Mountain (where we got engaged!), which takes about 4 hours if you are not stopping for a baby - so we're glad we didn't do that mountain!

Julie and Clark going up, up and away!

Everyone but me.

Everyone but Tom. Julie helps Clark practice good sun habits! When we got up there, he was done wearing his hat. None of us were wearing sunscreen either - what idiots!

Tom didn't mind wearing Clark's hat though!

All in all it was a very nice trip and we had a great time visiting with family, seeing friends, and exploring our old territory. It was relaxing for me in many ways because I didn't have to worry about cleaning or laundry or what bed needed to be changed and vacuumed under next. I read a few books, magazines and took lots of naps. It's the last time I'll be going West for a while. In January, we'll have the new baby, Clark will cost money in March and we'll probably use all of our vacation on maternity leave. I'm glad we got to be there together as a family before all of our next big changes!