San Diego vs. Solitude

I am and have been for many years trapped with a four-person call schedule up here in Humboldt County. Due to provider vacations (including ours!) and other, I was locked into an August call weekend and Kelvin wanted to take the kids to Orange County to see cousins.  They went by themselves (3 boys) and I had the week to myself here at home with Pepper (I think it was a win-win)!

The first weekend,  I was pretty busy with four labors and births. I got to finish watching the 2024 Paris Olympics which were incredible!  As a family, we were very interested in watching swimming (her Torri Huske for the Americans!), tennis (don't love Djokovic but he was very happy with his Olympic Gold), gymnastics (so happy to see Simone Biles come back for the "Redemption Tour" and help Team USA win Team Gold) and Track and Field (Iver loves Noah Lyles, who eked out a gold in the 100m but came down with COVID and got a 200m bronze. We also loved watching Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone hurdle in the 400m, some of the distance events [Cole Hocker!!], and relays [if only the US 100m men could figure out the whole baton thing!!!]

My sister-in-law Katherine and August had a (surprise!) courthouse wedding in July and I was bummed I missed the "elopemment celebration," which, after she knew the boys were coming down, planned for last weekend.

The family took a few-day trip down to San Diego.

Adults-only sibling dinner

A little hike

They stayed at a condo/resort which had courts for tennis/pickleball, with which Iver has been obsessed lately!

There was lots of pool time!

The boys took the kids to Sesame Place, a water and theme park

Niall apparently loved the rides and roller coasters!

Klian cracks me up!

Back in OC, there was lots of family and cousin time

Iver & Great Grandpa Song 

Angel

Scooters at Kenn and Lisa's place in Orange

Squirrel Park

Pokemon play!

8 months vs 9 years!

Kelvin and the kids come back this afternoon. I’m excited to see them and definitely missed them. The boys love being with cousins, and I think they're wanting to do some annual time in OC. But I didn’t and don’t really have FOMO. I had a wonderful week of solitude-- enough work to stay busy, but also time to get (and keep) the house clean and organized, sleep more, read, connect with a few good friends, eat seafood, and exercise (in peace and quiet :)). A ton of emotional labor and load goes into parenting, and a week to my introverted self was very welcomed for recharging!