TWENTY

Sigh. This is so dreamy.

 2016 week twenty

Our annual Baja visit was perfect. It's the best way to jump start summer time.

Handsome husband, handsome baby.

Grandpa Dean thought Calvin and Hobbes was maybe too advanced for Vera. She wanted to hear all of them anyway.

"Look a skeleton princess! It's so beautiful!"

This boy. He just floors me with his charming face.

At the end of a long, hot, sweaty morning in the airport after a long, hot, sweaty vacation where Vera listened so well and tried so hard to be good, she got a little Mexican doll. We named her Concepcion. She jumped up and down saying, "Thank you Mama! Thank you thank you!" 

Beautiful girl.

Grandpa Dean and Theo were best friends on this trip.

I call this "Guppy Face Girl at Sunset."

Matthew is so awesome. Look at this fish he caught from the beach! Rooster Fish, sadly, is not good to eat so he had to send it back. 

Doing puzzles, and playing musical chairs to catch the sea breeze through the windows throughout the day. 

These beautiful waves are only really good for looking at. Luckily they're pretty mesmerizing. They are far too strong and too big for me to feel comfortable going in past my knees. 

The deep sea fishing haul: Dorado.

Sunset was the best time to play at the beach. It was shady and breezy and it wore out the little miss before bed. 

This was a game that involved running and screaming with Matthew chasing her unless she sat down. Naturally, there was a lot of sand to clean up during the rinse before bed.

Inspired by Mabo kids swimsuits, I made this peacock swimsuit for Vera for Mexico. 

Anticipation.

Action.

Rosy sunrise cereal (2nd bowl, the first was knocked over almost immediately) on the porch.

My dad had his own "Old Man and the Sea" moment one day with a very willing photographer in the shape of my husband. This 40+ pound rooster fish gave my dad a serious test of determination. Sorry fish, you were just no match for the self proclaimed Fish King of Baja. 

At the sandcastle contest. This was the best day for Vera because there was a pool she could actually swim in. She cried all the way home when we made her get out. 

True Love.

This boy! That face! These smiles! They are all too much for me. 

Vera is learning how to ruin family photos from a young age. Every shot was like this. Every. single. one. 

Back home. Vera was really sad that her green headband didn't look like Tiana's because HERS had LEAVES on it. So, we grabbed some leaves. Viola.  Just like Tiana.

                                                                                                                                                                                     

I love her sweet little pink brown face. 

                                                                                                                                                                             

I don't know what this face was, but Theo kept making it the whole time during snack the other day. We were laughing so much about it. 

Quotes:

I can see the pomegranates! I cant believe it!

Grandpa Dean is so happy that I am coming to Mexico because then he can eat candy. He will wait for me to eat all the candy.

Do you want me to read my book out louder? Ok? Are you ready? Reads gibberish from a Fishing Guide.

Look. Look where my finger is pointing! Can you see the tree? (She is the WORST at looking where I point. She wont even look at me but will spin in circles trying to figure out what I asked her to look at. So she hears me say something similar to this all the time. It was really funny to me to hear her say that to me.)

Ooh. My shorts are all juicy!

Ursula doesn't wear clothes. She's all naked because she's a Monster.

I don't like to read this book. The scary lady makes me feel frightened. Can you take it back to the library? I will be scared if I read it. (Sleeping Beauty was a bit too much for her.) 

One afternoon Vera complained NON stop about all the princesses in her sticker book wearing long sleeves. She was almost in tears that her dress didn't have long sleeves. It was so hot outside that I was particularly irritable. I don't like being irritable at her, but when she is crying that her dresses don't look like the princess dresses, It's almost more than I can take. Also, for the record, only one princess was wearing long sleeves, a fact I noticed later. Toddlers, man. I have to talk her down from those situations before she gets out of hand. I usually say something like "Princesses have a lot of different dresses and they do not wear long sleeves in the summer time but we just don't have any summer time princess stickers for you to see."

If we cut off our toes and fingers we wont be able to walk or hold things and then we wont have NAIL POLISH on our toes and fingers. (Clearly, that is what is important here.)

Why are houses outside? (Friends, how to do answer the strange unanswerable never ending questions posed by your toddler? Matt always tries to explain even if it's over her head, but I get bombed by questions all day long that eventually I just shut down and start saying, "Because they are." or things like that.)

Mama, would you like some noodles or doodles today?

V, Can I have some more peas?

Me, No. We're going to save them.

V, But I have a beautiful face!

V and Frida have been literally on my heels tripping over me for days. I had the baby gate across the kitchen entrance to keep the dog contained and even if I stepped into the kitchen for an instant, V was trying to get in after me.

Me, Why are you trying to come in here? What do you think is special in here?

V, YOU! 

Stories:

Baja in my mind is the warm color of sand and mauve ocean at sunset. It smells like Bougainvillea, and grilled fresh fish. It is hot dusty sun on your neck with a misty salty breeze in your face. It is sandy sheets, sandy feet, sandy hands. Sand everywhere. It feels like such a glamorous vacation. Our annual trip to Baja.  It is long warm naps and slow days that race by. It is windy evenings and a sky just bursting with stars. It's the only time I ever see the sun rise. It feels like such a vacation and this year I figured out why. I don't do dishes, I don't cook or think about meals, I don't clean anything. I never once pick up a rag to wipe a counter. At home I do this probably 5 times an hour. Things are constantly being wiped or straightened. I've come to rely on this break to soak up sitting and visiting and watching and looking and absorbing my children and my husband and finding peace in doing nothing but just being together. It's a feeling I want to translate back into my home. Somehow, at home, though, there always seems to be so many more things to do... I'm so grateful for my family that makes it possible for us to go be together at the beach for a week every year and soak up the calm together.