7.09.2009

Heat Stroke. Getting Peck'd. Beaches. Books. And Paul.

75 degrees. Beaches. Cool ocean breezes.

That's what we left behind when we sojourned back to Arizona this past weekend. I would like y'all to note that it is expected to hit 116 this weekend.

116.

Degrees.

(That's 240 degrees Fahrenheit. Only the depths of Hades are a worse place to be during the summer.)

(Complaining about the heat is my favorite summer pasttime, btw, so just ignore the sarcasm, as more will surely follow.)

Anyhoo ...

Maggie did so well on her first extended car trip. Thankfully, she likes riding in cars (or strollers, or just moving in general), so it was a nice drive with the only fussing happening around feeding time, and who can blame her for that?

Our little love bug (it's what I've been calling her lately) finally met the Peck's, Hubby's Aunt Jan and fam, who graciously allow us to shack up with them every summer for a week (thankyouthankyouthankyouthankyou).

Of course, we have pictures to share:

This is Maggie and her Great-Aunt Jan (and Paul, who MUST MUST MUST be involved in EVERYTHING EVERYTHING EVERYTHING) ...



(Paul is super-cute and is actually a very good little dog who minds very well and is pretty well behaved, but he really does need to be in the middle of whatever is happening!)



Then she met Cousin Jerome, who is completely smitten with her, as well he should be ...



Cousin Benjamin came down for the weekend to hang out and meet his newest cousin (actually, Maggie and Bino are 1st cousins once removed, if I remember correctly) ...



And, we even managed to catch up with Cousin Joe before heading back home, and got him to agree to a photo op with our cute little girl ...




Great-Uncle Randy is not represented this time around. He felt he was coming down with a cold and, good uncle that he is, didn't want to risk getting Maggie sick. He did, however, put 'dibs' on her the next time we see them :)

We had such a wonderful time, as we usually do. Hubby has to get his beach fix every summer, so he spent time every day at the beach (sometimes twice), often with his cousins, and even managed to bring some of it home in my Jeep. Since my ideal vacation involves lots of reading, and I haven't finished a book since Maggie was born, I totally took advantage of the idleness and read to my heart's content.

(I started and finished Rhett Butler's People, and enjoyed it just fine, just in case you're interested.)

(Heck, I'd have probably enjoyed "A History of Nascar" if it involved quiet reading time.)

(No offense to Nascar fans.)

(I just don't 'get' it.)

(I'm more of a college football girl, myself.)

(But I digress ... as is my habit ... )

So, all in all, it was a good week for everyone. Hubby got to inhale salt water and nearly moon the beach in Carlsbad in his search for the perfect boogie-boarding wave (please ask him about this when you see him next), and I enjoyed dipping into the pages of an antebellum-set novel until my eyes were blurry. (We also visited a mission, but more on that at a later date.)

And the super-duper best-est part? All day long with Maggie. I miss that.

I'll leave you with a little video clip we took while at the Peck's just because it made us laugh. Here's the story: Maggie wants to stand on those wobbly legs of hers, so if you hold her up and let her try she's happy as can be. Great-Uncle Randy was snapping pics and Hubby was videoing when ... well ... there's Paul ...