Until I get the chance to blog about them, please go look at my photos which I’ve lovingly edited and Flickred for your viewing pleasure.

1. Elliora playing on the floor of Brenda‘s living room while we worked on party prep for the Summer Fiesta on Saturday evening.

2. Annalie and Noah were playing companionably in his room. I asked them to smile for a picture. Annalie smiled; Noah adopted an expression that made him look as though he feared for his life.

3. Annalie playing in the supercool fountain in Sonja‘s backyard.

4. Brenda was happy to hold Elliora for me while I went to the bathroom after our arrival Friday night, but the poor baby was so very tired I thought she’d probably cry if I handed her off to someone she hadn’t seen since she was five days old. So we distracted her with keys.

5. Even though it had been a year since these four had all been together, they got along like they just saw each other last week. I love that.

6. Brenda’s cat Aqui had her kittens on our first full day here, the day of the fiesta! She had five total, all gray and white. Mama and babies all seem to be doing really well. We look forward to playing with them before we go home.

7. I took a bunch of photos of the girls in their matchy-matchy fiesta dresses, and they were all so hilariously adorable that I had to Flickr them all, even the ones that were nearly identical.

8. Fish and Elliora.

9. Ready, set, go!

10. Oh man. This is hilarious to me (and probably anyone who knows Madge and Fish) on so many levels.

Whack!

12. Madge brought flan. I had a bite just to try it. I thought I didn’t like flan. Turns out, good flan is delicious. Who knew!?

13. I finally met THE Yara . And she’s awesome, duh.

14. Fish, Sonja, and Madge may or may not have been laughing a little more than usual because there was alcohol being consumed. Probably not though. These three are some of the funniest people I know even stone cold sober.

15. Sunset in the Sticks.

16. A blurry but happy photo, taken by Fish. I’m pretty sure the alcohol had nothing to do with the blurriness. I know the happiness was all due to being with good friends.

More photos in the Flickr photoset goin’ back to Cali 2.

It’s 7 Days time again! So here’s the first of a week’s worth of self-portraits that you’ll see from me and Annalie—hopefully in a timely manner, unlike last time.

Yesterday we drove from DC down to Raleigh-Durham for my nephew’s birthday party. We left in the morning, right around the time Elliora usually takes a nap, and she slept for a little more than half the trip and only cried for a few minutes right at the end. We were quite relieved, since she’s held onto her dislike of being in the car much longer than Annalie did.

Today we’re driving back home. Elliora didn’t really take a morning nap, and we timed it so we’d leave right about the time she normally goes down for her afternoon nap, hoping those two things would make for a peacefully sleeping baby on the way home. So far so good!

This shot, by the way, was totally serendipitous. I was just playing around with the camera, and I really liked the framing of this one.

Annalie’s self-portrait is called “hotel mirror.” That’s all she had to say about it.