A quick P.S.

I forgot to mention - this last week was NOT the greatest for Clarissa and I to be gone, as Duane had his final exam for his master's classes, as well as a 25-page paper due! Yikes - sorry honey! But, with the boys taken care of and Clarissa in CA with me, he managed to get his paper in on time and the test taken... and... he got A's on all of them! Way to go, honey! He's enjoying his current status as a Straight-A grad student! :-) (Of course, he's only had these two classes, but it still counts, right? I love you babe!

California Dreamin...

Clarissa and I travelled to California last week for a 5-day visit with Duane's extended family. A family bridal shower was being thrown for a cousin's impending marriage - hence the excuse to party in Cali! We made it a "girls only" trip, with just a couple of uncles thrown in to balance all the estrogen!

Here's our sweet girl, all ready to take off! We had a long day of travel, but she was really good through the whole experience. Books, coloring, countless games of Uno, a new Cats Cradle game book (complete with Cats Cradle string!), and the wonderful ipod complete with hours of mind numbing games, videos, and music... what more can a girl ask for? We stopped in the Dallas USO (one of the best I've ever seen!) where she was duly fawned over and spoiled by the sweet ladies there!



Our trip began when we spent the night at Aunt Traci and Uncle Scott's house. What fun to FINALLY see where they live! Clarissa just adores her Uncle Scott, and he got the honor of reading her bedtime story to her! After such a long day of travel, she was exhausted!

And of course, you can't visit Nana's without picking oranges from Papa's Orange Groves!

After Clarissa, Traci, and I drove 3 hours down to Fresno for a quick lunch with Aunt Susie, we stopped at her house before heading to the airport to pick up Latrice, our sister-in-law. It was SO hot and Clarissa had been such a trooper on the long drive that I told her she could jump in the pool...with her clothes on! You would have thought she had won the lottery, she was so excited! It helped cool our little princess off and jump start our fun girls weekend!

Clarissa (next to Aunt Susie), got to meet her new cousin, Isabel, whose mom is the lucky bride. Clarissa was thrilled to have another little girl to play with - the Barbie accessories simply flew through the air! After the bridal shower was over, Oma Henry and Clarissa settled in for some serious cats cradle games! They even figured out some new moves... what fun! And isn't that a gorgeous cake? Wow...

Clarissa and I ended our trip back at Scott and Traci's (Duane's sister). We went hiking in the woods behind their home - climbing the Redwood tree stumps, exploring the creek, checking out the reproductivity of ferns (don't ask...) and getting up close and personal with banana slugs... it just doesn't get any better than that!

So now we are home, back to our own beds, our own shower, the sounds of the children fighting... sigh... Duane said the boys didn't fight at all while we were gone, so the question remains, did they not fight because they were busy at friends' houses all day and by the time they got home they were too tired to fight? Or is Clarissa the instigator of all quarrels? Hmmm... maybe it's a middle-child thing... I'll ask Duane, he would know!