Ok…so I’m very behind. I think the last time I posted was almost a month ago. So I am going to try to do one huge post today to catch up.

This seems like forever ago, but last month, while Jeremy had a conference in Sacramento, Bella and I went to Austin to visit my family. We had a very nice visit with Dee Dee & Pa Pa for a few days the week before my dad went into the hospital for his stem cell transplant. (He is still there, and will hopefully get out next week…please pray for his fast recovery if you are reading this…) Me and Mom took Bella to this hilarious “exotic” ranch where you get in a trailer on the back of a tractor and feed the animals. I say hilarious, because I’m sure the liability of it all would never be legal here in California – but somehow they are a bit more relaxed about those types of things in the countryside in Texas. We loved it! My mom bought a big bucket of feed (when I say bucket, I’m talking 5 gallon…) and when the animals see you coming, the RUN to you ready to get fed. We fed long haired African goats with curly horns, camels, tons of different types of deer/gazelle, these HUGE hairy bulls, buffalo, zebras, emus, and this HUGE 10 foot black Ostrich named Elvis (he was taller than the vehicle, and you would just hold the bucket as he QUICKLY pecked his pellets out one at a time). It really is amazing no one has lost an appendage at this place…It was a dreary, misting day – but we had an absolute blast. They also had a petting zoo where Bella was inside the cages with sheep, deer and goats. I highly recommend it if you are ever out near Spicewood (I think it is actually closer to Johnson City?) with a child. That afternoon we ate at Opie’s BBQ in Spicewood…this is one of the first trips that I came to Austin and didn’t go to Rudy’s…I didn’t feel like I needed to because the BBQ at Opies was SOOOO good.

After our visit with Dee Dee & Pa Pa, we headed down to see the cousins and Aunt Sissy and Uncle Charlton (whose birthdays were that week as well…). Bella is finally getting old enough to understand that the cousins really want to play with her – and her and Chandler really bonded during the trip. They mostly jumped on the trampoline (which was by far Bella’s favorite toy at their house), and played with Chandlers dollies. Bella really liked “Ring Around The Rosies” with the other kids on the trampoline, and she now sings it at home and runs around the house and then “falls down” at the end to make us giggle. Chrissie and Charlton had a fondue party at their house in honor of their Birthdays, which was a BLAST. Got to hang out with some old friends, and make some new with their friends, who true to Southern Stereotype, are friendly and warm as can be :). (This is something I will always miss about TX, and I’m so happy we will always have family there so that Bella can experience Southern hospitality as she grows up…)

Since we’ve been back we’ve been up to visit our friends, the Radcliffe’s TWICE! Bella and Kaelyn play so well together. It is so relaxing to be able to talk to other adults while the children are off entertaining themselves. The first time, we went up so we could go to Eric and Betty’s wedding. Amy and Jac babysat the kids while Nate, Terri, Jeremy and I could go to the wedding. We had SO much fun (thanks to Amy & Jac!) and then came back and enjoyed some wine on the patio with our babysitters…The next day was Mother’s Day, and after the men cooked up a delicious breakfast for the families, we decided to go out to Crystal Cove and check out the tide pools with the girls. Bella was obsessed with the crabs and both girls had a blast running around and exploring the tide pools together. Unfortunately, my camera broke in Texas…but FORTUNATELY Nate & Terri have a great one, and they took bunches of photos. We even got a family one – which is rare. 🙂

And this brings me finally up to date with this weekend…(actually, I’m publishing this way late, so it was really a few weekends ago…) we went up to stay with the Radcliffe’s a second time. Our friend, Lindsey, works for PBS and she hooked us up with tickets to Sesame Street Live in Long Beach. We get there (to late for the meet & greet, which I think was a blessing in disguise anyway) and Kaelyn, Bella and Cliff are running around the media room, chasing each other and just having the best time…Then, we went to the 90 min show with all the characters (Big Bird, Elmo, Abby, the works…) The first 10 minutes, Bella just sat on my lap with her mouth open in awe…then they said, “Get up and Dance” and she went nuts! Bella and Kaelyn were bouncing around like the day should never end. In fact, during intermission, Bella started getting upset, saying “MORE ELMO!”, we quickly calmed her down by letting her know that it was not, in fact, over…

Let’s just say our kid slept good that weekend…unfortunately, our little run with easy nights ended that week…