A weekend away.

When you can't fall asleep at night because the smoke in the air is burning your eyes, and has made your throat so swollen and painful that you have trouble breathing and swallowing, you know it is time to leave the smoke. Doh. Plus, trying to grow a new little life while breathing in suspicious particles is probably not the best idea, either.

So we were forced against our wills to make a weekend trip to the ocean.

The sky was blue; the breeze was cool; the smoke was far, far away; and the throats went back to normal within a few hours.


We left Saturday mid-day, right at Luke's nap time. He fell asleep immediately and without a fuss in the car (we still marvel at this new miracle every time), and he slept until we pulled into the Pacifica parking lot, when we heard him mumble "Boom!" because he saw the waves crashing. And so started our wonderful time at the beach that afternoon. Although there was no surf for Richie (bummer), there was plenty of sand to keep us busy. Bethany's former profession: teacher. New profession: digger with plastic shovel. Richie, especially, is gifted at making extremely large holes in the sand.


YOU!




Luke enjoys playing in the large holes that we dig. This time he thought it was so cool that he could sit in the hole with his legs sticking out of it. Wow. What an amazing trick.








One of Luke's favorite things to do at the ocean is to run as fast as he can up to the big hole we dug and to slide down into it, or to jump in. He always crashes, messes up the hole, struggles out of it, then goes for more.


Such busyness calls for a bit of "ny ny" on the sand. It also provides him a good way to sneak some sand into his mouth. That, and giving the "fish" Richie made in the sand big kisses! So nice of you, Luke, to give the fish a kiss. Now spit out the sand, please.


Who, me?


A heart-shaped dirty bum.


When Luke crawls like a baby, he thinks it's hilarious.


At the end of our beach day, we smelled a stinker in the pants. So it was time for one of those lovely parking-lot diaper changes. We distracted Luke with a stick. (Glad distracting him can often be that easy. And cheap.)


Daddy tickles helped Luke enjoy lying in the parking lot on a bucket lid, too.


From Pacifica, we drove to Palo Alto, intending to stay Saturday night in a local hotel. When we entered our room, we got instant headaches. The smell was awful. It smelled like a chemical-fume-testing room. The irony! You leave smoke, and seek refuge in a gas chamber. So we called up good ol' Angela, and asked if we could crash at her place. She complied. We were thrilled. Only bad thing: Luke wakes up early. And he's loud. At 6:45 AM he was outside playing with Angela's ducks, rearranging them for her and making noises at them. His toddler screeches may have awoken everyone in the neighboring townhomes.




He kissed the baby ducks.


Afraid of waking up the world, we left at 7 AM to go to Santa Cruz! Richie got to surf this time.


Lukey helped Daddy wax up the board. He was very intense about this task, clearly feeling extremely needed.




Off for a quick adventure before heading down to the beach.






This is Luke's typical face after sliding into a hole.




He even let us bury him alive without getting freaked out! Usually he lets us cover just his toes. Any more than that, and it gets a little scary. He has seemed to develop several fears lately, like of a snake in his "Just Daddy and Me" Mercer Mayer book (he even had a bad dream about it and woke up hissing).


After Richie had a bum surf (boy was it flat), we decided to take a walk with hopes that Luke would fall asleep for his nap in the stroller. Luke insisted on wearing his sneakers and his hat. He looked bound for prep school.


Don't underestimate the power of this apple. Apples put Luke to sleep. Every time. Car, stroller, you name it. The rhythm of the biting, chewing, and sucking of the apple lull him right to la-la-land.


All Bethany did was put Luke in the stroller, be sure he had his apple, and tell him it was time to go "ny ny," and within 30 seconds, Luke set his head to the side, closed his eyes, and he was out!


We were able to have lunch together with a sleeping little man. He woke up after an hour, we kept walking, and after 20 minutes of his just looking around not making a peep, he was lulled back to sleep again for another hour and a half! All in the stroller. We were afraid to stop walking. So we definitely got some leg exercise.


The weekend ended with a stop off at Stanford, our old stomping grounds from dating days and our first year of marriage. Luke was in heaven. So many stairs to climb, so many tunnels to shout in, so many ramps to run down to make the cheeks jiggle. It was neat to visit Richie's old office and to reflect on how different life is now. For the better.

Our drive back involved a sleeping boy again (still not taking that one for granted!), and it was wonderful to wake up Monday morning in Davis to see blue skies. The smoke seems to be dissipating, the temperatures cooling, the throats staying happy.

Speaking of happy, we were thrilled this morning to get to hear the new little one's heart thumping away. 165 bpm, to be exact. When we got to the doctor's room, Luke started to wince and whine. He associates the doctor with SHOTS! When the nurse took Bethany's blood pressure, Luke was very concerned and protective. He went over to try to grab Bethany away. We assured him that not everything that happens at the doctor's office involves a "boom." It was neat to be seen by the same midwife who helped during Bethany's labor with Luke. She very much remembered us (gee, wonder why) and asked if Luke's personality seems to match up with the type of labor he put Bethany through.

Answer, with Richie, Bethany, and midwife all laughing: Yes.