The One With the Yellow Sand

This past weekend, our dear dear friends the Allemans came to visit us! Let me give you the backstory on this friendship.

Shortly after we moved to TX, my mom told me one of her VTs was a music teacher who had just had a baby. She was looking to maybe trade piano lessons for babysitting so she could head back to work part time, coaching trumpet players at the local schools.

Well, I needed a piano teacher for the boys and jumped at the chance to barter for it instead of outright paying!

I began watching Kirsten a couple days a week when she was just 5 or so months old. Couldn't even roll over yet! I fed her bottles, changed her diapers, rocked her to sleep, and marveled at her amazingly adorable curls. I think I even taught her how to climb stairs (apologies to her grandparents!). When we moved back to CA, Kirsten was just a couple months shy of four years old, Ben was proficient at most major scales (a skill long gone by now, sadly), Joshua had played his first piano recital, and Kirsten's mommy & daddy had become our Munchkin buddies, and dear friends. That was hard to say goodbye to!

Thankfully, southern CA has two other enticements besides our awesome selves to bring the Allemans out for a visit: family, and Disneyland. So they recently came out to visit all three, and it was such a treat for us! They walked in the door, and it was like not more than 5 minutes had passed since we saw each other. Kirsten was shy with the boys for maybe five minutes before the chasing and screaming began. Ah, traditions! We went to In-N-Out for lunch (a CA specialty!), and spent the afternoon at the beach.

The beach was fun.

The weather was overcast, but not cold. The water was that temperature where it's HORRIBLE getting wet for the first time, but once you're wet, it's all good. The waves were perfect for playing in. The kids had ample opportunity for naps on the way what with my getting lost twice, so they were well rested. It was Kirsten's first time at the beach, and once she got over the fact that the water comes after you, I think she had a good time. Especially digging in the sand.

The downside to the beach we went to is that there are no restrooms. So when Joshua came to me and told me he had to go (this is maybe 10 minutes after we got there, of course), I told him (and I'm not proud) that he should come out into the water and just let the waves carry it away. Well, nothing doing. He was NOT going out into that water. So I wished him best of luck, and headed back into the waves. The next time I turned around, he was on the beach with his trunks around his ankles, letting loose on the sand (near the water, at least) for all the world to see.

I just... I....

Just.

Yeah.

Anyway, what's done is done and I explained... well, all the stuff a mommy needs to explain in that situation. Then we got back to the fun.

The next day we just let the kids run amok so we could play a round of Munchkin. Dang those Kneepads of Allure! Apparently they come with some sort of Forgetfulness Spell or something, and after an otherwise fairly close game, we basically handed Jeremy his victory. Well played, sir. Well played.

Expect a rematch when we come out to Texas!