Beach, sunsets, baby-anticipation, 4th of July

Don't know where to start .....

it seems like forever since I posted.

I've spent a lot of time racing back to PHX for the anticipated 

birth of new baby.

I flew the first weekend - it was all planned.

The baby was due on June 21st so the plan was

I would arrive about 1 pm on Friday, at which time the

expectant mother would be in labor,

I would take charge of the children, she would have the baby

and come home on Sunday.

I returned early Monday to Work.

Only that's not exactly what happened.

Can't remember if I posted the above photo but I thought it was so sweet.

LW arranged her shoe laces to form the word

L  O  V  E 

and asked her mom to send it to me.

Gosh, that's cute.

There are farmer's markets almost every day around here.

They just pop up and I drop in whenever I am able to drop in.

There are always beautiful flowers.

And, there are always tons of fresh, organic vegetables.

Oh, this is me with my happy beach hair.

(my hair and nails and bottoms of my feet are very, 

very happy here)

I don't have to do ANYTHING to my hair.

I just wash it and poof....it gets all fluffy looking.

I think this was the day after the baby was due.

We had a big fat cook out at the expectant mother's.

Here are some happy attendees.

It was ridiculously hot....

but these little hooligans did not seem to mind...

The next night we had dinner at my house.

The big hit of the summer for me is the one-pot pasta dish.

Everyone loved it.  It's great because it is fresh,

 and the left-overs are great.

What can I say?

I LOVE these sunsets.

I go to the beach for the sunset several times a week.

I exercise, then I wipe down, set up my chair, drink a little wine, then I take lots of photos like the above,

and send them to my friends....
saying stuff like, 

'I wish you were here'.

They love it and hate it.

Um,

the above sign means I am 

O F F I C I A L

This is a field of grass near the library where I eat lunch a couple times a week.

It smells so fresh and reminds me of fields of grass from

somewhere when I was a kiddo.

It's rejuvenating and peaceful.

ok.

So the next Thursday came and the expectant mother was still
expecting.

She was miserable.

She was hot.

She was overdue.

She asked me to come back to PHX.

I said, 'no way'. 

 I just can't bear the thought of
driving six hours each way and the heat is sooooooo

horrid.

She said, oh, come on.
I said

no way.

Then she said,  

"I would do it for you."

By the way,  there are LOTS of fun things to do here.

I had a full weekend scheduled.

Music in a park on Friday night.  Hike with hiking club 

Saturday morning,

snorkeling in LaJolla cove on Saturday afternoon.

A cook out after a hike on Sunday.

But I just kept thinking about how

she said she'd do it for me.

Anyway, I took the above photo as I entered AZ on Friday 

afternoon and texted it to the 

expectant mother 

who was sprint-walking in the mall.

She was very happy and excited.

We

 didn't see much of the expectant mother and father on 

Saturday,

 because she was a little out of sorts and doing things like

cutting the grass

and

mopping the kitchen floor

and

going for rides on bumpy roads.

Oh, and it was 118 degrees.

I was happy to be there for her,

but the heat was just ugly.

Mostly we took the children out and about to give the expectant

 mother some time.

The above photo was taken when Sar and I took SW and LW to

 the "mall"

to buy them stuff and have lunch.

Sunday we had a big dinner at my house.

Still no labor.

I hung around till about 5 pm on Sunday, then I HAD to hit the

 road.

I received a few texts along the way reporting 

NOTHING was happening.

I arrived home about 10:30 pm and

in the morning 

I checked my texts and there was a text sent around 5 am

saying,

"contractions 8 minutes apart....

I think Lil will have a birthday buddy"

Next thing I knew I received the above photo 

at 8:13 am.

a beautiful, bouncing, baby boy.

S W E E T

8lbs 13 ozs.

Praise be and hallelujah  .....

the sun sets again

and new baby is born.

Nat saved the day.

 She totally took over the house and children, 

and the new mother was delighted to find a clean house, 

flowers, swept floors and Nat was folding clothes when they 

arrived home from the hospital.

Love those sunsets!

Went up to Ventura for the 4th of July to visit my cousins

it was a BLAST

relaxing and lots of fun laughs.

We watched a panoramic view of fireworks

 from atop a mountain.

It was great....chilly....and grand.

Here is the gang back in PHX enjoying the 4th.

Steve prepared a delicious dinner on the grill

salmon, peppers,  watermelon salad, fruit salad, 

spaghetti squash

and some lovely wines....

I took the train back down to San Diego

it took 4 and half hours 

and was a pleasant ride

right along the ocean.

I offered to take a photo of some of other travelers

and the guy INSISTED 

on taking a photo of me getting ready to board.

WHEW

what a couple of weeks!