Trip to Orange

This last weekend we made the journey south for our niece's, Chelsea, wedding. Marshall and I drove down Friday morning with Kathryn and MABs and Chris drove down Friday night after work. Marshall was a trooper in the car...hardly any fussing on the 7 hour trip. He loved staying in a hotel. He was fascinated by the glass elevator and the indoor pool. The wedding on Saturday was great. Chelsea was a beautiful bride and we had a lot of fun at the reception. On Sunday, we drove to the canyon to see the Browns. MABs has quite the set up with her travel trailer and above ground pool. We played in the pool, BBQ'd, and camped in a tent (another first for Marshall). We drove home on Monday and again, Marshall was amazing in the car. Oddly, he hardly slept and spent most of the trip chatting. He loved to yell "freeway" (sounds like "fee-wee") and "tunnel" (sounds like "tunuh"). He also liked all the big trucks on I-5. "VROOM, VROOM."

Kathryn and MABs delivering us to our hotel

Marshall is so helpful!
Kevin, Chelsea, Chris, Marshall, Emily & Patty
Marshall and his cousin Franky
Swimming with Tom, Haley and Taylor

Tahoe

Chris and I had a SUPER trip to Tahoe. We were gone 5 nights...the most time away from Marshall ever! Marshall and Steph had a great time at home, which helped ease the guilt of being gone. Our trip was not a romantic get-away but instead, a fun filled adventure with our friends. We visited multiple beaches, swam in the lake (chilly!), hiked, ate too much, enjoyed lots of wine, and laughed a lot! We rented rafts and floated down the Truckee river one day. One night, we had a shrimp-off with chefs dueling for the tastiest shrimp honor. Another night, the four of us kid-free folks (Dave, Kathryn, Chris and I) went out to a fancy dinner. Chris went on a crazy, long, hard mountain bike ride one day. He also golfed a couple of times. I read a lot, stared at the lake a lot, and basically turned my brain off. One day, the smoke from the Yosemite fire totally engulfed the Tahoe area. It was very hazy and smelly and we all had itchy eyes and scratchy throats. Overall, the weather was perfect and we could not have asked for a nicer vacation!

Tom, Britt, Dave, Chris, Mark, Danielle, and Kathryn

Marshall and the pear

Marshall discovered our pear tree. While we were in Tahoe, Steph took this cute shot.

Marshall's Friends

Lauren teaching Marshall Ring-Around-the-Rosie

Lauren and Marshall on a lunch date.
They insisted on holding the same hand. A challenge!
Heather & Ainsley
Marshall enjoyed his kiss from Ainsley!

Fun Filled Family Trip

Looking back through my trip pictures, I'm a bit disappointed in myself...I hardly took any photos! We were fortunate to see lots of extended family and I did a poor job of capturing all the relatives. Even though my mom and Bob were unfortunately not in attendance this 4th of July, my mom's relatives stopped by her house to say hello to us all. We had quite the party on the 4th! My Uncle Mike and Aunt Nathy (from Tennessee); my grandparents; my mom's two cousins, Marcy and Andy; their parents, Allene (grandma's sister) and Larry. Everyone enjoyed meeting Marshall and he loved playing with all the new people. My uncle taught Marshall to say, "yee-haw" and "hey dude." Pretty funny!

Me, Chris, Aunt Nathy, Steph, Uncle Mike (and Olive & Chip)

Marshall and Uncle Mike playing with blocks.
The Cane Game. My mom's cousin, Andy, invented this using her dad's cane. Marshall would hold on and get lifted up off the ground. He loved it.
Steph and Marshall at the beach.
My dad doesn't have AC but he does have a very powerful fan!

4th of July

We spent the 4th of July in Cayucos and enjoyed the small town parade and fantastic fireworks display. Marshall had a great time. He actually sat through about 1/3 of the parade and enthusiastically yelled, "vroom, vroom" at the fire engines and motorcycles. It was such a busy day, he went to bed early and missed the fireworks. The rest of us watched the fireworks from the comfort of my mom's living room. Her proximity to the pier sure was handy!

"Ah Luh Ya"

Marshall is a great parrot, repeating just about everything we say (or trying to). Usually, this is great fun (except for when he repeated "crap" and "ass." Oops, Mommy). Yesterday, it was the BEST. He was on the changing table and I said, "Marshall, I love you." He said, "Ah luh ya." We repeated it back and forth for about 5 minutes. I know he doesn't know what it means yet but it was AWESOME to hear it none the less.