We have survived almost three weeks with one family car (although it has been super difficult and a major adjustment at times)! The biggest struggle has been our feeling of being cooped up inside without going crazy or losing our patience for a week straight... the weather has been too gosh-darn hot to even go for a walk to the park, and not that we could have anyway since our little bug caught a little bug and was snot-nosed, coughing and congested for a week (how little ones can catch a bad cold in the middle of 100 degree summer heat is beyond me!) However, this past week was much better as we were able to get out of the house more... We even had a couple play dates, and on Ryan's first Friday off we trekked down to the San Diego Zoo with Auntie Bebba before she leaves the country on her Tour De Suenos. Here are our highlights from the past week....
play date with her partner in crime- Audrey
(I failed my job of mamarazi on our play date at Riley's)... sugared up mess!
One last Zoo trip with her Auntie Bebba
Monkeying around with Bebba... our first zoo trip where the animals (monkeys especially) weren't lethargic and Jayme got a dose of excitement as one monkey came up to the glass to flirt with her
Nugget enjoyed soaking up some snuggle time and bonding time with her Bebba and Daddy, as well as meeting her cousins (3rd cousin?) Chole and Bryce for the first time
After a full day at the zoo, we had dinner and a nice visit with Tia Lupe and cousin Bill (who Jayme called Grampa-pa) who were the most generous hosts and we can't wait to visit again! (Most of our time was spent watching all the excitement- including seeing the British Airways jumbo jet land at the airport- from their amazing view)
Saturday and Sunday were spent swimming, baking, and loving up on her family at Grampa's house
loving up on her baby "bruder" growing in mommy's tummy (20 weeks)... nevermind my aimless hands in the one pic ;-)
It's not often when all four of us Smith kids are able to coordinate our schedules to get together, but every now and then our worlds align and Jayme gets a mega-dose of aunties and uncle attention. Last weekend I had a long over-due lunch with my childhood girlfriend and only planned to be gone an hour, so Bebba or Taycie had planned to watch the Nugget for a bit. Lunch was a much needed and wonderful catchup session crammed into an hour. When we pulled back into the driveway, the clean pig-tailed, princess I left behind with both sisters greeted me with open arms, her uncle Alex (an unexpected surprise) and a full body of warpaint! Turns out that she wanted to help her Aunt Taycie paint her dresser, and rather than keep telling Nugget "No"... the aunties improvised with a box of paint and a canvas just for Jayme to experience painting "a la aunties free-spirit style"
(from top left) "well this is fun!"- "uh oh. Bebba..."- "hmmmmm what else should I paint???"- "I know! my nose!"- "May as well cover my belly while I'm at it..."- "annnnnnd Taycie needs a little warpaint"- "back to work before mommy gets back"- "Look Mommy!!! Hugggg????"
too much silliness in one hour (memories that will last a lifetime)
Annnnnd because I'm such an awesome mom... I left this sugared up mess with the aunties and uncle (and grampa) on her first official Grampa's house overnight!
Meanwhile... Ryan and I took care of business... it was a bittersweet afternoon as we unloaded the truck in lieu of becoming a single car family, but our hopes for a first house outweigh the need to have an expensive vehicle (that we no longer need thanks to prayers answered and a career with Edison- complete with work truck!) Doing the math in our heads we figure we will save roughly $700-$800/month for this sacrifice! To counterbalance the initial sadness of departing with the truck that in two short years contributed to many memories (road trips, camping, work, and more) we decided to take in some In n' Out (doesn't that make anyone feel better?!) and The Campaign before a late night of couch potato sitting and mind-numbing Olympic watching (side note- isn't it ironic that these hundreds of athletes spend their lives training to be the best in their sport and the most fit, only to create idle couch potatoes in the millions billions of TV viewers around the world for 2 solid weeks?!)
Back at Grampa's house, Nugget finally learned to let go and swim on her own (literally- she would cling for dear life to anyone in the pool)! Granted, we have a ways to go before she is an official mermaid, but apparently Bebba and Uncle Alex encourage the right bit of confidence she needs to become independent in the pool (so glad we have spent $$$ on swim lessons :-/ )
