mammoth

ladies and gentlemen, i'm sorry to report that for me, the mammoth trip was cut short. well, me and ava and seth. you can only hear your 3-year-old beg to go home so many times before you just give in and pack it on up. then, of course, there's the time the 3-year-old takes your bed and you end up sleeping on the floor and then she falls out and right on to you.

all i know is, one minute i was sort of sleeping and the next something heavy was on my head and mumbling, "please excuse me,". and of course, then the baby wakes up at four in the morning and surprise! he's so happy to see you! so happy, in fact, that he wants breakfast! and games! and hugs! and stories! and maybe even a song or two? please?

of course, that's not all that happened. a highlight: watching home videos and hearing my husband's high pitched teenage voice and watching him sit in the corner and glower in a rather angsty manner. all while wearing a t-shirt with the sleeves cut off, of course. and then, on the same video, i got to watch danielle talk like a spice girl, flash a peace sign, jut her right hip out as far as it could go (pretty far) and say in her best british accent, "girl power!" or, could i leave out the michael as raptor boy? watching him stalk the living room on his tiptoes, his hands clawed out and held to his chest and screeching? priceless. oh wow.

i haven't laughed that hard in a long, long time.

another highlight: hiking in that beautiful, beautiful place. mammoth is so green! with trees! it just made me realize how brown and flat southern california is. walking around up there, smelling the pine trees was wonderful. of course, the huffing and puffing that came with the alititude was not.

so we hiked and swam and ate delicious mexican food (favorite), went on a six am walk after seth woke up at five and and looked for a bear (great story: ava actually saw one when on a walk without me. i am jealous) and napped. lots of napping. actually, not for me, but for everyone else. turns out that when your kids go to bed about ten and wake up at five the want to take naps in the middle of the day. awesome. not awesome: the surplus amount of sleep does not decrease the moodiness. why not? don't naps = happiness in small children?

i'm grateful for a husband who understands that vacationing is more like hard labor for a mom and who tries to help out as much as he can and then, when it proves too much, sends you home for some sanity. i'm grateful for my bed. after attempting to slumber it out on a less than stellar bunk bed and then floor and then nasty, ancient cushion (that wasn't even long enough), my bed is the best place to go to sleep at night. i'm grateful for a father in law who doesn't care if he's at the public pool and dances like no one is watching. or that he's so relaxed he feels like a noodle and then "noodling" all over the place. that is the best.

pictures to follow.