I know, I know! We’ve been here three days already and I have not blogged one little bit. But it’s because we’ve been having so much fun and taking so many photos that I have not had a single spare moment to write about it all.

Our direct flight from DC to LAX was uneventful and landed 30 minutes early. Good job, Alaska Airlines! And for the first time I brought along my iPod loaded with movies for Annalie to watch, which was awesome, and meant I had full access to my computer for the whole flight to enjoy the Gogo Inflight Wifi that I decided to splurge on. It’s kind of a kick to be online when you’re flying five miles above the earth at 500 mph.

After we landed, we caught a shuttle to the car rental place and picked up our car, which I had to call Sonja to find out how to start. It was a hybrid and I’d never driven one before. Luckily Sonja owns a hybrid and understood my crisis, having had the same problem when she’d first bought her car. (I had to insert the key, push a button, AND push on the brake.)

We got it sorted out and drove to Sonja’s house. We’d barely gotten our stuff inside when Brenda showed up with Bug, and she and Annalie had a joyful reunion. Then we went to IKEA and Trader Joe’s, because it’s traditional for some reason when I visit friends for them to take me to the grocery store first thing.

Back at Sonja’s house Brenda brought in her crafting supplies and we all did a top-secret craft that she’ll be writing about for her alphamom craft column soon. Sonja got a little carried away with the craft supplies and robo-ized her toaster. I love my friends.

Yesterday Sonja and I met Madge for lunch at a really fantastic restaurant where I wanted to order one of everything on the menu. Luckily, Le Pain Quotidien has a restaurant in DC! So I can go back there when we go home.

The one in DC probably doesn’t have an uber-cool sculpture/fountain outside it that kids are encouraged to play in, though. We might have to go back there before we go home, just so the kids can play there again.

Yesterday afternoon, Sonja needed to stay home with Noah and make sure he got a good nap, so Annalie and I went to the beach with Brenda and Bug! It was a gorgeous day for it, and we ended up staying for three hours!

It was warm but not oppressively hot. The waves were HUGE thanks to a storm brewing off the coast somewhere, but the tide was low. That created a big, wide shallow area where we could splash and play without worrying about getting dragged out to sea. It was awesome.

We had a great time, playing and relaxing. It was exactly what we needed.

Lots more fun ahead!

“Our flight from DCA-LAX leaves in just over 12 hours. Am I all packed? No. Am I mostly organized? Sort of. What am I doing right now, other than blogging? Oh, messy crafts with Annalie, contemplating baking cookies—the usual, in other words.”

I wrote those lines last night when I should have been busily packing and preparing for our trip which starts today. I’m actually writing this at the airport, sitting at our gate, while Annalie plays with play-dough. I did make cookies around 11pm, because when I said something about how I’d wanted to make cookies, Troy said, “You still can!” So I did.

I was planning to finish this blog post last night, too, but instead I crocheted while Troy and I watched the last two episodes of Season 1 of Veronica Mars on Netflix Instant. (Have I mentioned how much I love Netflix Instant?) So I’ll write my catch-up post this morning instead.

Troy was on leave for a week, just because he had the chance to take some time off before things get busy again this fall. The week started out auspiciously, when the goldfinches came back. We saw a goldfinch in our neighbor’s yard a week or so before, and that day we saw a dozen goldfinches! A whole charm of goldfinches. I’ve seen them several times since then, too.

Out hostas, about the only flower we have in front of our house, have been blooming like crazy. I always forget that hosta blossoms actually smell good until they’re blooming again. And they’ve been hosting a million bees and butterflies, which has been fun to observe.

Since Troy was on leave, we took that road trip to North Carolina and Virginia Beach last weekend, but other than that we just hung out at home, enjoying having Troy around for a few days. We ran errands, we went to the park, we goofed off, Troy let me sleep in whenever he could. It was really nice.

One day last week, when it was rainy and considerably cooler than it had been, we had a fire in the fireplace. Annalie has been begging all summer to for a fire, so she was thrilled.

Then we toasted marshmallows, because why not? Might as well, if you’re sitting in front of a fire anyway.

The day it rained, I also took advantage of the cooler weather to enjoy some of the tea that Lauren Hewings bought me from England. I drank my PG Tips (England’s No 1 Tea) from the mug I painted with Lauren Carter when she visited me in San Diego last January. The internet has blessed me richly with so many good friends!

We hit the Museum of Natural History one day. Annalie could go there everyday and not get bored, I think. So could I.

On Troy’s last day of leave we went back to the splash park. We had originally been planning to go miniature golfing at that same park and then cool off in the water, but the day we had planned to do that was the day it rained. The next day was sunny and warmer, but because of appointments in the morning we didn’t have time to do both.

Annalie had been really excited about what was going to be her first time miniature golfing, and she was disappointed that we couldn’t do both. But she handled it really well. She decided that since the splash park closes at the beginning of September and we wouldn’t have another chance to go there this summer, we should go do that, and we could mini-golf another time.

And we did have a lot of fun at the splash park! Annalie had a fantastic time playing in the water with her dad. Troy was properly impressed with the coolness of this particular splash park.

Annalie especially had fun ordering Troy to stand underneath the buckets, where he pretended over and over again that he didn’t know he was going to get dumped on, much to her amusement. Ditto for the mushroom shower thingy. Troy was a very good sport.

Even though none of us wanted Troy’s leave period to end, this was a good way to end it.

Now, I think I’m all caught up! Except for the pottery photos I need to share. But I’ll do that another day. Because now we’re on the plane (thank you, gogo in-flight wifi, for making my first blog post from 30,000 feet possible—the future is now!) and on our way to California.

Okay, so I don’t mean “god” in the usual sense. Lauren is one of the founders of my beloved 7 Days group on Flickr, and when she and Sarah set up the group they decided to award themselves the title of “gods” rather than the more prosaic and commonly used “admins.” I’m a moderator of that group, but my title is “angel.” Those titles probably give you a pretty good idea of what a fun group it is, if you have not gotten a clue from seeing some of my own self-portraits from 7 Days over the years.

Lauren lives in England, but she happened to be in the States for work training last week. And since we were visiting Dana and her family in North Carolina last weekend, it was no big deal to detour to Norfolk on the way home and meet her for dinner. Then we introduced her to frozen yogurt and toppings by the ounce, which she declared to be an idea England needs to import, pronto.

Lauren and Annalie made friends with a kitty in the window of a gallery. We walked past the closed gallery, and there was a little black-and-white cat walking around in the front windows. We crouched down to look at her, and she went crazy, rubbing up against the glass and even putting her paw on the glass where Annalie’s hand was. Too bad the gallery was closed, she really seemed to want to be petted!

Annalie showed her Color Wonder Princess Glitter coloring sheets to Lauren, and then offered to let Lauren color on them if she liked. Lauren was properly impressed with how cool they were, thus winning Annalie’s undying affection.

We even dragged Lauren to a nearby park so Annalie could burn off some energy before we started the three-hour drive home, and she graciously insisted she was happy to hang out with us till we were ready to take her home.

Basically, the meeting went exactly as I expected it to: it was fun and relaxed and full of talking and laughing as I finally sat at the same table as a friend I’d already known for three and a half years online, who just happened to live on another continent. It was lovely to meet you, Lauren, and learn all those mundane details that get overlooked online, like what you do for a living. I’m looking forward to seeing you again sometime, and wondering with happy anticipation who the next 7 Dayer I’ll meet will be.

Sorry for bombing you with posts left and right lately. Annalie and I are packing up and heading to California for two weeks to visit friends and family, and I know I’ll probably have a ton of photos and stories to blog while I’m there…or possibly, I won’t have any time to blog at all. Either way, I’m trying to catch up before we leave. One more post is coming and then it’ll be all about California for a while.