Summer Re-Cap

Half of the crew is home, with Zita and Freddy still on vacation in the Algarve.
It has been one of the longest and best and worst Summers on record.

On June 25th, we flew from Lisbon to Salt Lake City via Amsterdam, and then drove up to Jackson Hole Wyoming via -Utah and Idaho . That was phase one.

Phase two was Yellowstone Park, covering Idaho, Wyoming, Montana, and Utah. Lots and lots and lots of car time and beautiful scenery beyond compare.

Phase three was Salt Lake City, that we covered inch by inch as a family unit of six.

Phase four began in Salt Lake City airport where Pai flew back to Portugal, Moojie flew on to New York, and I flew with the three littles to San Franisco.
We stayed five days in the bay area, getting my sister packed up and ready to move, an the whole crew packed up and ready for Phase Five (see below :) )

Phase five brought fresh mountain air and a whole week of rivers, lakes, giant redwoods, and enough nature to last a lifetime.

Phase six and the final phase of our US journey was the most relaxing, wonderful, warm, holiday-feeling week ever in a gem of a house in Glen Ellen (wine country!!).

Phase seven continued in the spirit of a relaxing holiday with a week in Sagres, Same house. Same beaches. Just a little chillier this year. See below: hooded sweatshirts and jeans in August.

Phase eight ( I was not joking when I said it has been the longest Summer ever) started with Pai, Sebby, and myself driving through August traffic for 6.5 hours back home from the Algarve, Moojie going to a music festival in Zambujeira do Mar, Freddy staying in Sagres with his cousins, and Zita going to Villamoura for the week with a friend.

Phase ten begins on Saturday when we have all six of us back home, together again for the rest of the Summer until school starts around September 9th.

Despite covering 6 states, staying in over 5 hotels and 6 houses, two countries, 6 flights, and like 60 million hours in the car, we STILL have four weeks of Summer left to keep the kids busy.

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.

Stanford Campus Tour

During our first week in California, the little kids went up to the city for a night leaving just me and Moojie with the day to ourselves. I seized the opportunity to get in a serious Stanford campus tour before tour groups descended upon it. It's normally a little more bustling that what you see here.

Moojie has been to Stanford many many times, and in fact the last time we were there he spent the day in a stem cell lab to see science in action.

 This visit was different. however, because Moojie starts high school in a few weeks and college is actually something to start thinking about. Plus, the campus is " a real city" as my niece Anna calls it, and is so big that it would takes weeks to walk the whole thing. We started at the quad and Moojie was instantly in love with the place, and picked up on all of the familiarities of home- palms, red tile roof tops, the exact same trees we have in our garden at home, and of course, the ever captivating arches. Perfect weather didn't hurt.
 






We walked over to the Rodin sculpture garden where we were disappointed to learn that the early morning get up and go culture of the Bay Area does not apply to the Stanford Art Museum. An 11am opening time is worse than Portugal!  The garden itself could occupy a whole day so all was not lost.

It's hard not to love this place. In fact, when the tour was over, marked by my inability to walk any further, Moojie remarked that he didn't know how anyone would want to go any place other than Stanford.  Mission accomplished.

Stay tuned for part two. I returned with Pai and 5 of the cousins for a visit to the top of  Hoover Tower. 

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.

Pool Days in the Mountains

This looks all coordinated, but it was just a coincidence that I put Zita in the same suit that her cousins were wearing, and the blue polos are also just coincidence. It's crazy that 3 grandchildren are missing from this photo.

 

Re-Cap of First Days Home

 

We've been home long enough to get unpacked and settled in at home, but not long enough to feel ready for normal life here other than swimming the day away.  We've conquered jet-lag if one considers children going to sleep every night at midnight and waking up at 10am normal Summer hours.

I just had a routine ultrasound that revealed a large, active baby boy who continues to be a picture of great health. I always hold that anticipation is worse than the actual event, but that was not the case with my recent glucose test. Times have changed and the standard is now three blood draws at 1 hr. intervals and a drink indistinguishable from cough syrup. Who agrees with me that doing that test jet-lagged on an empty stomach gives me naming rights to the baby?

Moojie has started every single day by walking down to the beach to meet friends and usually returns sometime around 6pm when his  pocket money runs out and his hunger revs up. He's not one to re-apply sunblock, but I've got a system down that so far has prevented burns. I put baby cream SPF 50 all over his back, shoulders, and chest and let it sit for a bit, and then follow that up with spf 50 spray. There's no science behind it, but we're going with what works.

Zita and I are in a full on nesting phase, which will be a separate post since it involves cute baby clothes.

Freddy is rediscovering all of his toys and has been working hard on setting up a new lego area in his room.

I haven't taken a pictures since we've been back, so I'm putting up the ping pong shot to record Freddy and Zita's discovery of ping pong this Summer. It's the perfect game for a pregnant Mummy who doesn't much feel like active sports. 

More on July 4th

To kill time before the 4th of July parade started, we took the kids panning for gold.  I went to Murphys to  on a field trip in 4th grade to learn all about the Gold Rush period and I remember vividly panning for gold with my classmates in the very spot that Moojie, Zita, and Freddy are panning for gold here.

It was uncomfortably hot so we were more than happy to settle in this shady doorway with a partial view of the parade instead of being up on the front lines.

Getting two tables at the restaurant for lunch was genius on the part of my sister (brother-in-law?). Instead of dividing the adults, the kids fended for themselves at their own table and behaved beautifully.

Zita was missing her clarinet more than anything. I thought she might snatch this man's right out of his hands.

Freddy has such a gentle touch with babies and they love him right back.

We didn't have fireworks this year, but roasting marshmallows and making smores was all our bunch needed.

More on Lake Mont

So here are the rest of the pictures I promised.

Swimming from the dock to the float was great entertainment.

Moojie decided to row up to the girls and torment them, but all in good fun.

Moojie and his uncle Justin enjoy peacefull fishing away from the splashing and chaos of the other kids.

Could Freddy by any luckier to have Moojie as a big brother?

Sometimes Freddy looks a lot more like he belongs in my sister's family than our own. I think it has something to do with their blue eyes, pasty white skin, and lack of visible eye brows.  These two have cheeks full of granola in the above picture.

They spent ages on the dock trying to catch a fish with just that black net. Another little boy finally caught one, and watching that poor fish swim around in a bucket was as good as Christmas morning for the little ones.