Um. . .Hello?

May I re-enter the blogosphere?

So I took a break. I told you I would. The reality is I have far exceeded the expectations of most of my family members who had suspicions that my first entry on this blog, posted by my husband as a Christmas gift, would be my last. At that time, I explained my communication issues. Therefore, no apologies, on we go.

How about a quick summer recap in pics?

Puerto Vallarta, Mexico
BMOR
Big Man on Resort

So we took an amazing trip to Mexico with the little dudes, a bold move. For Mexico outtakes, scroll down. This was a celebration for my Nana's 80th birthday. Thank you Nana and Papa for this amazing trip!

Some of our activites included. . .

coloring and taking baths in the spa on our balcony, shown behind Finn in the photo on the right. Never has bath time been so good.

Anyone who has been to Mexico in the summer knows that all you do is sit in water or swim in your own sweat. We chose swimming most of the time.

Check the Lucie action, Melissa left, baby sister inside.

And, of course, we ate/threw/played with sand.

As I said, this trip was a bold move. Here is how I survived Mexico with two little dudes:

Contain [stroller] and Maintain [food and entertainment while in stroller].

We also took advantage of some seriously good uncle and auntie sitters--Saweeet!

Nana had a beautiful party with amazing dedications from her family members that made everyone cry, especially the Holyoak clan--who passed on that gene?

I want to be just like this on my 80th, sub Dr. Pepper for left hand.

Check the technology going on here.

We loved our trip, although we did have a few mishaps--outtakes to follow.

On to more summer fun.
Swim lessons, yo!

Guess who loved them this year?

Bliss!

Come on little man, jump!

Or get dunked.

Lots of Dr. Pepper ;)!

A few last trips to Disneyland before the passes run out.

What is that dragging on the ground? A monkey's tail. Do not judge, this was the best trip to Disneyland ever because of the monkey on the back. Thank you people who disguised the child-leash. Honestly, I have criticized those things so much that had I known that it makes them feel like they have just enough freedom, yet they are oh-so-bound to you, I would have saved a lot of wasted breath. Hail Baby Harness, you have made my "Mickey Mouse Clubhouse" [Finn's name for Dland] visits tolerable.



Fun times with Ber-Ber and Margaux.

Hopefully this is not a sign of things to come. Poor Franco :/ Thank goodness for Julie & Craig's number 3 on the way.

And. . .finally. . .drum roll. . .



A new back yard,
which has officially changed our lives.
As Scott put it, our quality of life just went up 80%.

Franco milestone recap:

• 4 teeth, with 2 more peaking through
• crawling
• pulling self up to furniture
• standing
• clapping
• saying "Ah-oh"
• 2 steps

Whenever Franco comes crawling into a room, Finn always laughs and calls him "Franco monster".

Other momentous occasions that I do not have photos of include:

Ryan and Brook's Amazing Wedding
Scott was the photographer so I did not bother to take any myself, though I regret it now. R&B, had one fabulous wedding celebration. They DJ-ed the wedding themselves from Ryan's iPhone and thereby unduly entertained us all. Entertainment did include a lip synch by Ryan to Brook of "Against All Odds" by Phil Collins, I will try to track down video footage somehow, and the most amazing [stuck on this word tonight] line up of music that ended in all the leftover guests singing along to that epic Arcade Fire song that they use for their encores. Did I mention that we were on a stage. How poetic is it to be married on a stage? Beautiful wedding Ryan and Brook, I did not expect anything else.

Moth infestation

Moths. . .how do I hate thee? Throwing away 6 bags of food is a small tragedy--right? I mean I do feel silly mentioning this as I observe other ailments that far exceed it, but finding a little moth floating around my room is just a spit in the face after the cleansing that our kitchen underwent last week. How groovy is my husband for instigating and taking on the task? So we continue to kill them and fill my freezer with weird things like pretzels, rice, and napkins. I will not allow those little pests to survive in my kitchen. Snapware here we come.

Trip to Mexico Outtakes
Our Mexico trip was half amazing, half absurd. Had I chosen to blog a month ago, you might have gotten the detailed story. A month and a half later, you get the abbreviated version. . .

• LAX, a mishap in itself
• Almost missed our flight because of confusion with the babies needing a ticket, we had a total of 4 lap children that all had this problem
• Little Lucie, niece, split her lip open in Phoenix airport on the way out. Mel, Lauren and Lucie spent the night there and flew in a day late
  
• Original hotel was supposedly overbooked despite a reservation made 1 year ago, somehow they found room for us midweek and we moved--it was not even half full.
• Almost everyone got sick
  
• Return Flight was cancelled from Puerto Vallarta--went through security four times that day with gear for two chilluns--enjoyed that very much. The Holyoak gene kicked in when I discovered we had to go through one more time in Phoenix
  

I want to say "here, here" to Toni, pregnant, who coordinated the trip (that included 7 little ones under 4--can you say "survival mode") and dealt with more mishaps than I have the brain power to remember.

Its good to be back in business with you Sand in the Sieve.