Our vacation has ended and it was really a wonderful experience. I have so much to write I don't know where to start, so stay tuned over the next few weeks for updates and new stuff. We visited several places in California--Lemoore, Fresno, Yosemite, Sierra National Forest, Monterey, Carmel, Pebble Beach, Big Sur, drove on the El Camino Real and the Coastal Highway, saw black bears, foxes, peacocks, ravens, cormorants, sea lions, pelicans, deer and other animals. Found Best Foods is the same as Hellman's, Carl, Jr. is Hardy's and bread and butter pickles are milk and honey pickles. Had temperatures of 105 degrees during the day and 65 degrees at night--that's right, a change of 40 degrees. Realized in some cases we were as much at 7,000 feet high. We saw some of the most beautiful scenery I have ever seen, from mountains, to sea to forest to everything in between. Pine cones at least a foot long. Sequoias that are thousands of years old. We walked down Cannery Row and went to the aquarium.
We also got to spend a lot of time with our grandchildren, which now number three--Clara Elizabeth, Jonathan Michael and Matthew Caleb, and our daughter, Victoria Regina. With all that Victoria and Matthew have been through they have made a remarkable recovery. Victoria has been strong through all of this and handled everything much better than I ever would have.
Clara has had a lot of changes--she started her first day of Kindergarten, became a big sister again, was traded from neighbor to neighbor for a few days, had both sets of grandparents come for a visit, and all without her dad being around. She has adjusted well, although she and her brother have their moments. She goes to gymnastics once a week and will be starting dance classes this week. She is a very loving child, and sat next to me each meal to hug me and rub my arm. She is a very intelligent, loving wonderful little girl and I know she will be happy in about a month when her daddy comes home.
Jonathan is hilarious. He is the class clown and I can only imagine what lies ahead when he starts school. He stays at home in the morning while Clara goes to school, and is always happy to see her when she comes home. He amuses himself well while he is alone, and when Matthew cries he is usually the first one to run over to him and comfort him--"That's alright Matthew, Mommy's coming." One day we were in the van going somewhere. Out of the blue Jonathan yells, "F*** um, yellow one!" I about fell out of the van, but my daughter was hysterically laughing. It seems they have a game to count all the Volkswagon Bugs they see. They call them "Slug Bugs" but when Jonathan says it it comes out "F*** um". Jonathan also knows he is the clown, and when he can't have his way will whine and stomp his feet, but if you ignore him he is soon over it. He too is very loving, and even though he really didn't know us well had no problem staying with me the first morning we were there while Mike took Victoria to doctor appointments and to run errands. One Sunday Mike adn I borrowed Victoria's car and went into Fresno. When we came back Jonathan came running over to the car yelling, "GRANDMA, I missed you. And there he is over there!" and pointed to Mike.
Matthew is beautiful. You would never know he had such a difficult start. By his first doctor's appointment he was up to 6 pounds 7 ounces and is having no problems nursing. He sleeps in mostly four hour stretches and loves to be held, which we were all happy to do. He likes to be warm and we would swaddle him in a blanket and he would be content. Clara and Jonathan will periodically stop their playing and come over and kiss him, and while no one forced them to do this we did encourage it and were glad to allow it. He is very active and when he is awake his eyes are open and he tracks very well. He lifts his head, and you cannot leave him somewhere by himself--he moves his entire body around until he is comfortable, and there is no telling where that may take him.
So check back every once in a while. I am still trying to decide how to start my "diary". We have nearly 1000 pictures and so much to tell. I know a lot of what I write will not be interesting to others--I like to put the history of everything in my stories--but it's my blog and I guess as a result I can put whatever I want in it. I hope you will enjoy at least some of what I write.
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