Day 21: trampoline basketball

California Snapshots

A few pictures from my sister's phone:

Zita got her hair curled with a Miracurl hot iron. Might need to bring one of these back; it gives her otherwise straight hair beautiful body.

Pump it Up

My nephew turned 3 and his party was the perfect way to snap Seb out of his it's-one-in-the-morning mood. Slides and cake and Seb says "hooray!"

Mooj has been driving around on errands and things and is a natural on the road. He's also reconnected with his friends in the neighborhood so he isn't stuck with all the little kids in the 

Romper Room. 

Jet-lag wise we are doing the best we've ever done with a 5am wake up today. That's pretty close to a normal Portugal wake up. 

City Kids

I'm the latest victim and home with Seb today. My sister has the kids up in the city and sent a few photos of their Ferry Building adventures.m

Apple Camp and Another Sickie

Poor Seb succumbed to the virus yesterday and couldn't even hold down breastmilk. He made a speedy recovery, and cuddled with me this morning as we watched the girls at their Apple movie making camp. 

The kids are loving life; it's the mummies who are worse for wear and feeling the weight of constant moonlight sick duties. 

Crystal Springs Trail

Cousins Baking

Kicking off The Trip

Miss Zita and her cousin got a red, white, and blue mani-pedi complete with hot stone massage to kick off the trip. The investment became worth it for me when later in the day, the girls all gave me an amazing hand, foot, and neck massage hitting all the right pressure points.  They even suggested that we should get hot stones for the house. 

Balmy Quinta Days

Cousins Playing

Weekends in September

September is one of my favorite beach months. There are few tourists, the cooler weather is so welcome, and even the locals don't go much since official beach season is over. We took a late afternoon picnic to the Monte-Estoril beach and had the best time.

 Let's think of ways to put me into pre-term labor. Yes, watching Moojie jump off the pier head first into rough water would be a good way. Thanks for that Moojie.

The next time he did a flip and the tourists standing at the end looked more concerned that I did. The man then stood peering over to make sure Moojie came up for air.

He's looking a little too pleased with himself for scaring me into a panic.

Here's Freddy and his two cousins shooting the breeze and contemplating life's great beach dilemmas: rugby on the sand, or swimming.

 They went with Rugby

Our little niece worships Zita and loves to follow her around

 Nothing beats a good beach side shower to finish off the weekend. 

Fountain Swimming and Hoover Tower

 When Moojie was up in the city for a week of tennis camp, Pai and I took 5 of the little kids to Stanford for a visit to the top of Hoover Tower. Tay got her words a little crossed and called it the "Hoover Damn Tower" which kept Pai and I laughing for the better part of the week.

As soon as the kids saw the fountain below, they starting begging to take a swim.

 Even though Caroline doesn't have sisters, she has the best girl-cousins who take her into the sister fold every time they see each other. I'm so grateful for that.

 Seeing Portola Valley from the tower was a treat.

 What started out as just dipping their feet in, turned into a full fountain swim.

The kids declared it one of the best days of Summer, and it certainly was.

Alpine Lake California in Photos

 Another day in the mountains, another lake. I wrote a little about our trip to Alpine Lake here, but I didn't have all the photos to go with it.

These ducks had fluffy little ducklings paddling behind them, but I only got a picture of the mummy ducks. 

21 week bump

 

Note the dog being towed behind this man. I think this was my favorite scene of the week.