I’ve been in a tiny bit of a funk the past few days. It’s not like I’ve been sitting around crying into my coffee. I’ve just been feeling a little left out what with some of my online friends attending a blogging conference in San Francisco last weekend, and I’ve been sighing a lot and missing old friends. We’ve been in California for a month or so now, and some of the excitement has worn off.

Don’t get me wrong, we are still happy to be living here, close to relatives and the beach and many other good things. But change, even good change, isn’t always easy. We had such great friends in Maryland and were used to spending a LOT of time with them. It’s not surprising that we miss them.

That’s why meeting some new friends yesterday was especially welcome! I first met Elaine when we both participated in 7 Days over a year ago, and we’ve kept in touch via Flickr and our blogs since then. When Elaine found out we were moving to her area, she emailed and said they’d love to meet us when we got settled.

We hung out with Elaine and her daughters for a couple of hours yesterday and it was great. We were at their house for all of 30 seconds when Annalie ran off without a backward glance to play on the swingset with 5-year-old Lily. Elaine and I sat in her living room drinking our Starbucks and chatting while 3-year-old Anya cuddled with her mom. Before long Anya had run off to play too.

Annalie and Lily and Anya got along great the whole time we were there. I am sure that had something to do with them being at that magical preschool age where kids have learned to play together. With very little guidance from us they moved easily from yard to bedroom to deck, playing dress-up and beauty parlor and even changing into swimsuits (Annalie borrowed one of Lily’s) for an impromptu water fight. When they started complaining of hunger we made them a lunch of PB&Js, grapes and edamame and had a picnic.

And while the kids were playing Elaine and I talked easily about anything that popped into our heads. She’s just as interesting and funny in person as she is on the internet. I look forward to getting together again, and am already plotting my next internet-meet-real-life experience.

As if that didn’t put me in a good-enough mood, yesterday I talked to my friend Deborah and we made plans for her family to come visit us in a couple of weeks, woohoo! We have not seen them since they moved from Maryland to California last February. I am really looking forward to seeing D and her family again and I know Annalie will love getting to play with her friends Christian and Anna. Then as the cherry on top of the day, I had the chance to talk to another Maryland friend, Angela, for over an hour on the phone. It was so good to hear her voice again, it made me think I should start calling people on the phone more.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I think I’ll try to prolong this good mood by taking Annalie to the beach. Happy Friday!

Photo by SAJ

Whew! We had a busy weekend. First there was the 4th of July, of course. (Happy birthday, America! You don’t look a day over 221.) We celebrated by going to Troy’s ship for a hot-dog dinner and fireworks viewing on the flight deck. It was my first time on this ship and Annalie’s first time on any Navy ship ever, so that was kind of exciting. We met a few of Troy’s coworkers and got to see Troy’s stateroom and office, but didn’t get a more extensive tour because we wanted to watch fireworks! We were able to see four or five (depending on the wind) of the synchronized shows around the city from our vantage point on the ship, which was pretty cool. None of them were very close to us, which was a little disappointing because they just don’t seem as majestic when they’re not right overhead. But at least they weren’t loud which made Annalie happy.

Then on Saturday, SAJ and Baby Bug came to visit! The visit came about because I asked SAJ what her plans were for her birthday on Sunday, and somehow we ended up deciding that the best birthday present I could give her would be for her to come help me unpack a zillion boxes. I know, I shouldn’t go to so much trouble for my friends and spoil them so much. But she seriously wanted to come help me unpack, which just cements my opinion that she’s a little crazy.

Photo by Troy

Good thing we like moderate doses of crazy around here! Of course, the weekend wasn’t ALL work. Almost the first thing SAJ did was ask if it was okay for her to use some of the boxes lying around to make a castle for Annalie and Baby Bug to play in. If you happened to read about the elaborate pink cardboard cat castle SAJ created for BB’s first birthday party, then you already know she is quite the cardboard architect.

As she was cutting efficiently with the exacto knife while I watched her and took pictures, SAJ explained that in the office where she used to work they always had big empty boxes lying around, and she would make cardboard spaceships right there in the office. She didn’t care when her coworkers laughed at her, because they were fun to make. At the end of the day the same coworkers who gave her a hard time would sheepishly ask if they could take her creations home to their kids. Ha!

We did try to get some unpacking done that day, but mostly we just played with cardboard and chased the kids around. We also went to lunch at a local taco shop and went grocery-shopping and played outside in the water and made fajitas & guacamole for dinner and took bunches of photos.

It was a super busy day, and neither Annalie nor Baby Bug had a nap. So by the time 7pm rolled around, both kids were falling-apart tired, and after a quick bath and some stories, they snuggled together in the futon and went to sleep. It was completely adorable.

SAJ and I didn’t waste much time admiring our little sleeping angels. We sent Troy upstairs with a beer to watch the race (he worked all afternoon on getting part of the garage unpacked and organized), made ourselves some coffee, and started on Annalie’s room. Now, Annalie has more toys and books than any child could possibly play with or read. It’s a little ridiculous, especially when I consider that before we moved I cleaned out Annalie’s room and got rid of about twelve grocery bags full of toys and books and tossed about three more bags’ worth of cheap Chinese plastic toys. (Where do those toys come from? It’s like they’re multiplying in the toy box at night.)

But even so, we unpacked every box and put away every article of clothing and toy and book before going to bed at midnight. That was awesome! And seeing Annalie’s excitement the next morning at being able to play with all her toys again was fun too.

Thank you a thousand times for your help, Brenda! I am sure without you I would have been unpacking that room for weeks. And hey, I might have given you the gift of slave labor for your birthday, but at least I baked you a cake the next day! Whew, just writing about that busy day has me worn out, so I think I’ll write about the cake making later. But here’s a photo, just so the title of this post isn’t a total lie.

You can see more photos in my set SAJ & BabyBug come to visit! or Brenda’s set Weekend at Bethany’s on Flickr.

Thanks to SAJ, who helped me unpack and arrange the whole room in an evening! One room down, eight to go.

You can see more photos in my set SAJ & BabyBug come to visit! or Brenda’s set Weekend at Bethany’s on Flickr.