Monday, July 19, 2010

9 days



i can't remember the first time that i didn't cry when saying goodbye to my parents. the past 6 years have been riddled with memories of exciting visits and painful goodbyes. i used to mope around for at least a full day after saying goodbye and it took a lot of effort for me to get out of my slump. i remember always counting down the days or weeks or months until our next reunion and sometimes i felt as if holding onto that number was my only lifeline. things have changed a lot and somewhere along the way, the pain of saying goodbye became a little easier to bear. i think i've just gotten used to it, somehow. of course it still sucks.....i still can't seem to break the habit of thinking "if only my family and josh's family resided in the same town", but life as i know it now includes savoring the short but sweet visits i get with my family throughout the year.



finding childless pictures for this post made me laugh, by the way. it is obviously such a challenge to find pictures that don't include the kids, so you get to stare at things like the apple that samuel got a hold of. i love the way his nibble marks are sort of artistic looking.



probably the biggest highlight of the past week was our trip to sea world. we all had a great time and it worked out well since the temperature in our town was in the 100's, whereas down in mission bay it was only in the 80's with a nice ocean breeze.




tristan and josh decided to do a rather large, roller coaster-type ride first thing, which tristan immediately labeled as "too scary". this set him up nicely for the tamer rides in the sesame street area. he marched into the lineups as if he owned the place and loved to say "whoooo!" as we twirled around. while on the starfish ride, which was similar to the teacups at disneyland, the force of the twirling sent his body flying into my side, where he nestled in my arms and told me, "i hold onto you mommy, so you don't fall off."




doesn't it look like i'm having a blast up there? tristan was next to me, manning the controls on our flying elmo. we just managed to fit in the afternoon sea lion show before the crowds and heat got pretty intense, so we headed back home.




i love having 2 little boys. i'm not really the matchy-matchy sort of mom, but back when tristan was samuel's age, his cousin johnny wore the larger orange shirt and tristan wore the little one. it just worked out perfectly that my 2 boys now fit into these hand-me-downs, which they both wore at sea world.




did i mention that has been hot here? like ridiculously hot, especially for non-air conditioned 2 storey homes like ours. we spent a lot of time in the shady backyard in the late afternoons and filled the little plastic pool up for the boys to splash around in while we sat and watched. my wild looking flowers in the backyard are handling the heat okay, thanks to the drip hose we've placed around them. my mom picked this tiny little bright bouquet for my kitchen window, which i am having a hard time throwing away even though it now looks like more of a dried flower arrangement.




there were dinners out and dinners in and a nice trip to julian, just me and my mom. there were ice cream cones and dark red cherries and corn on the cob and buffalo burgers. there was a lightning storm and a bunco game and going to church and watching my 13 month old learn how to walk. honestly, i don't know where all of those 9 days went so quickly and i already can't remember what we did during all of them, but i do know that it was wonderful and i am trying very hard not to think of the fact that it will be 6 long months before we see them again.
(that last picture is one that tristan took of grandad's feet just before they left.)

6 comments:

melanie said...

OH, Heidi I feel that same sadness when my parents leave to go home to Texas. I'm glad you are able to get out of your funk much quicker now, although still hard.

M.R. Tumnus said...

Just so you know Heidi, I did buy a new purse on the way home! I noticed right off that you sweetly cropped my old one basically out of the first picture. Can't sleep yet, but wanted to catch up on some blogs and your last 3 posts were good fun reading. Miss you all and we certainly did pack alot of activities into our time with you. XO

Julie said...

So glad you had fun with your parents. It looks like it was a special time... I know what you mean how the good-byes get less heartwrenching but still sad. I remember when my hubby and I moved from my parents state out to the midwest, theres a picture of me with my family and we are swollen eyed and trying to smile. Now theres a few tears when we say good-bye but not sobs. We're taking a trip west on Friday to visit my prents, Im super excited! Im wondering how 17 hrs in the van with three kids will go?

Julie said...

BTW beautiful picture of you and your mom!

lil said...

Sounds like you did alot with your Mon and Dad there! So fun!!
I think Tristan likes hairy legs!

L&D said...

I still don't know how you function in Cali with no ac. Seriously. Our climate is not nearly at hot and I would DIE without our ac in the summer.

So I sit here and read your blog in a 21 degree house as it's 30+ outside.
My truest sympathies.