Those Donuts

August stayed home from the baseball game with a babysitter.

He's awesome.

But he's also almost 2.

And after 3 weeks of single parenting, a night off from him was great.

We got home from the game at 1am.

August started my Independence Day off earlier than I was ready for the next day.

Thank goodness for those patriotic donuts.

The rest of July 4 went like this:

Monterey Parade

 Notice how not one of my kids is looking and everyone else is.

Josh is so nice to give Auggie some manly attention in Justin's absence.

 Stole this picture from Cat's Instagram.

This guy was the highlight of the parade.

Monterey Street Carnival

 Went for the last hour and the crowds were gone.

Free. No crowds. Good.

Fireworks

We did our own fireworks in Seaside (where they're legal), then finished up the sparklers at home after our lighter ran out. I mostly sat back and watched while Owen and Drew took over lighting duties.

A's and Blue Jays

(Sarah pic)

(Sarah pic)

(Sarah pic)

I think I've mentioned before that Drew is (randomly) obsessed with the Toronto Blue Jays.

So for his 8th birthday (back in March) he decided he'd rather go to a Blue Jays game than have a party.

Totally fine by me.

The Blue Jays finally came this way to play the Oakland A's on July 3.

And being the holiday weekend, we got fireworks as part of the deal. 

The traffic was horrible (but my friend Sarah's husband, Jeff, drove so I'm not complaining).

The game was great (A's won! Sorry Drew). It was made more fun by friends that came along.

I loved watching Drew watch the game as much as watching the game itself. He was a good sport about his team's loss.

The fireworks show was awesome. Felt that USA pride. We were so happy to see some real fireworks, seeing as Monterey doesn't do any.

In n Out and Krispy Kreme at 11:30 on the way home (neither are available here) were another bonus.

After baseball, fireworks, hamburgers, and donuts we were feeling pretty American.

And pretty stuffed.

Long Distance Relationships

They're not always this united when talking to Justin, so had to document this Saturday morning Facetime session.

And thank goodness for Facetime.

August will run to the computer yelling, "Daddy!" and high-5 Justin on the monitor.

So sad when he holds out his arms to him to be held, though.

We all miss him.

Justin is studying Arabic in Amman and seeing some amazing things.

Once in a lifetime opportunity.

Weekend Warriors

 Sarah sent me this picture of the squid boats out at Lovers Point.

So pretty.

Took Sally and August to have dessert and watch those boats Friday night.

(while Owen and Drew were having movie night with friends)

Only there were no boats.

Must've met their quota.

Climbed rocks instead.

The kids are happy hanging out at home or with friends 99% of the time.

But I get stir crazy.

Especially on weekends when Justin's gone.

So Saturday afternoon I loaded up for a little trip to Big Sur.

But the kids were not excited.

They pretty much begged for the library instead.

And they won.

We spent a long time there and all ended up happy.

400 Degrees Burger added to the happiness.

Ended the day by planting flowers in those lovely planters this rental came with.

Screaming Summer

photo courtesy Sarah (she & Caroline took my kids while I was working)

Sprinklers.

Park past bedtime.

Beach.

Summer is halfway over already!

And we're enjoying it while it lasts.

Brace Face

 I took this as Owen's official "before braces" picture.

But thinking these show off his overcrowding a little better:

6/20

Phase 1 is started and so far, so good.

Poisoned

Remember this nice little scene from my vacation photo dump?

Our last stop before heading home: the Klamath River overlook.

All along this trail I saw leaves of three.

I was so careful to let them be.

But then the already narrow trail, narrowed even more and I totally slipped and fell into a patch of said leaves of three.

Got scraped up, but none of my internet searches for poison ivy or poison oak were an exact match to what I saw, so I assumed I was safe.

But then a few days later itchy bumps appeared.

Thought I had gotten eaten alive by mosquitos.

But then more and more came and the itching was out of control.

Talked to other victims of poison oak and they confirmed my worst fears.

After a full week of itching misery, I finally gave in and went to the doctor.

He and the nurse were both a little fascinated by my red, blistery, weeping legs.

Got a steroid shot, steroid pills, antibiotics, and anti-itching pills.

Only the doctor messed up and gave me pills for high blood pressure instead of for itching. Pounding headache.

Got that sorted out and 2 weeks later I'm feeling some relief. My legs are still scary, but the itching is mostly gone and I'm getting used to the stares of strangers.

My friend took this picture at the pool last Wednesday. I'm sure I was frightening young children. My left leg was swollen to twice the size of my right.

I don't have the words to adequately express the misery of poison oak. 

It is literally maddening.

And the steroids make me crazy.

Oh and right before the worst of it hit, Justin left to Jordan to study Arabic for the summer. Special.

The day after he left, lucky us caught this:

I'm trying to make you all miserable with me.

But I'll end with some happier moments:

The Carmel Valley Community Pool.

6/11
After we watched Maleficent the day before Justin left.

6/21

Visiting the tall ship, Irving Johnson, at Fisherman's Wharf over the weekend.