You can’t beat having your mom around. I mean, at a certain age, it’s not preferable, but when you become a mom yourself, it’s great to have another mom to mom your baby. My mom arrived in town the day we came back from California. It’s her first visit to Alabama, and we’re having a great time in spite of the 90 degree weather (with heat indices over 100).

Last week, we visited the Birmingham Zoo with a friend of mine and her daughter. We saw the sea lions get breakfast. The flamingos were all posing right by the fence, so we got up close and personal with them. We took a train ride around the zoo and saw all the places we haven’t visited yet (we have a zoo pass, so we do the zoo in shorter blocks – it’ll probably take us another couple visits to see all the animals). The favorite parts, though, were the Lorikeet Aviary and the Butterfly Encounter. The Lorikieet Aviary was a small house filled with beautiful little birds, just slightly bigger than parakeets. They flock to you, especially if you have a little cup of nectar that you can buy right outside. They land all over you – from your hand, fighting over the nectar, up your arm, and probably in your hair. My mom had 10 on her at one point! One even settled on Analise’s head! She loved the birds:) The Butterfly Encounter is another small building filled with flowers and bushes. There are hundreds of butterflies flitting around. You can get right up close to photograph them. It’s very beautiful.

Have you guessed by the lack of pictures that we forgot the camera? Sorry! But we’re definitely going back to see both of those again, so I’m you’ll see pictures eventually.

Right now, my mom is working on painting Analise’s room. We’re having a great time redecorating it – from a bright mint green to a new clean light yellow. We’re going to hang a pretty quilt on the wall, hang wooden letters that spell out her name, and hopefully find some pretty window treatments. It’s going to look great – I’m so excited. Mom’s working on the third coat, though, and she wouldn’t have tackled this if she’d known how much work it would be. Again – pictures to come soon!

Last night, Analise saw her 2nd baseball game in just over a week. Brian had free tickets to the Birmingham Barons AAA baseball game, courtesy of Samford. We even had free hot dogs, chips, cookies and drinks. We were in an air conditioned box high up on the 1st base line with great seats. It was a great time! Lots of fun perks for faculty at Samford!

It’s so nice to have my mom around! I love my mother-in-law, and I really appreciate how wonderful it is to be close to her. But it’s so sweet to have this extended time for my mom and Analise to enjoy each other.

(**note: I started this blog on Wednesday of last week, just after we returned… I thought I’d better finish it before I posted something else!)

I’ve got so much I want to post in this blog. Honestly, I’ve got a “to blog” list in a text file with at least 10 items on it. Most recently, I’m anxious to share about our wonderful visit to CA. But right now, I’ve got serious blog envy. Our friend, Corrie, has a sleek, smooth website that she keeps a journal on. The interface for her to post a blog – including pics – is so easy! For me to post to the Toone Times, it’s quite a bit of work. I have to type out all the code and picture links, and it just takes awhile. It’s easy enough to just post a text blog, but pictures make it about twice the time effort. (Hence, why this blog didn’t get finished last week!) Anyway, all that is just so that you appreciate my blogs even more…

Our recent trip to California was wonderful. I think that flying out there (on frequent flier tickets – woohoo!) made a huge difference, as we were really able to just relax and hang out. The Biggs’ and Haffly’s were great hosts, and we got to appreciate Corrie’s awesome cooking all weeklong. A true vacation for me!

Some highlights:

• My super traveler – Though she came down with an ear infection the night before we flew out, Analise was fine with some tylenol and slept for most of all 4 flights. She sprawled out across Brian and my laps. It’s hard to hold a sleeping baby for that long, but it’s sure easier than dealing with an unhappy one! Did I mention she’s been to 24 states in her short 13 month life?
• An awesome hiking trip to Muir Woods – Steve and Corrie chauffered us down to the coast, and we had a great time hiking. See my 100th post about our trip here. We followed it up with a visit to the fabulous farmer’s market in Davis for dinner of a steak sandwich from the Buckhorn – MY FAVORITE farmer’s market food:)
• Office space – Thursday was lunch at my old office, the UCDMC Emergency Medicine department (By the way, I redesigned this website!). Analise was a bit grumpy due to no morning nap and the ear infection. But it was fun to visit with my old friends, Jennifer, Maria and Alida!
• Trader Joe’s – Two trips to my favorite grocery store in the ENTIRE world, Trader Joe’s. If you’ve got one near you, you gotta check it out. Particularly, the chocolate peanut butter pretzels, pineapple salsa, pita chips, Two Buck Chuck wine (Charles Shaw) and Brian’s new favorite, the triple mocha espresso.
• Come on over – A potluck party at the Biggs’ where we caught up with everyone who could stop by. That was so nice to have everyone come to us! We closed out the evening with a rousing game of charades. Can you imagine acting out “Nanoelectromechanics in Engineering and Biology”, “Mein Kampf” or “The Latin Vulgate”? Neither can I… the ladies got creamed. We were up against some serious players!
• Apples to Apples – A fun game that Anna and Hal introduced us to and we couldn’t resist getting for the Biggs household to enjoy. Very fun!
• Catching up – Lunch(es) with my old co-workers, Molly and April. I’ve missed them!
• Church at First Baptist of Davis – It was wonderful to worship in our old church and to see many friends. EVERYONE was amazed at how big Analise has gotten, and there were plenty of comments on how cute she is:) She’s such a charmer…
• A Bozo reunion – Every Thursday night for the 1 1/2 years we were in California was a standing date for home group with our fellow South Davis “Bozos”. What a treat to come back to our first home group experience. These are our “2nd family”, and it was like coming home. I’m honestly a bit choked up writing this. We love you guys! (sidenote: if you’ve never experience a home group fellowship through church, I highly recommend it. There’s absolutely no comparing it once you’ve been a part of it!)
• Sacramento Rivercats baseball game – Our last evening in California, we had a fun time with the Steve and Corrie and Steve’s parents. Tickets and a chocolate malt cup were courtesy of Steve’s dad (THANKS!), and Analise enjoyed the game – particularly when she got to sit in her own seat. Brian was on alert as we were sitting in prime foul ball territory. (THANKS also to Corrie for taking care of the “other” ticket!)

That’s about it from our adventure in California. We love our Californa friends… Life in Alabama is great, and we’re making awesome new friends here, but our friends in California shared a special time in our lives – newly married, newly pregnant, newly parents. You can’t help but bond with the people around you when you go through all that in just over a year!

One last thought, even though very few people are probably still reading. We’re so blessed with friendships. We’ve visited so many friends (and family) this summer, and I’ve been literally moved to tears several times thinking of the amazing people who share our lives. If we got to visit you this summer, I’m so glad! If you weren’t among those we had the privilege of visiting, we miss you! You are all counted among our richest blessings. We consider ourselves so rich in relationships – I don’t think there’s much more valuable on this earth! Thank you for being a part of our lives.

Better sign off before I get weepy thinking about all y’all… G’night!

“Makeover” House Not A Home

Here’s a crazy story about a lawsuit against ABC’s Extreme Makeover: Home Edition. The March 27th episode highlighting a Samoan family that had taken in 5 orphaned African-American children, giving them a 9 bedroom, 5 bath, 4278 sq. foot house. The Higgens children allege that they were exploited by the Leomiti family and used for to draw the attention of ABC. After the new house was built, they say they were pushed out of the house with physical abuse and racial name-calling.

How sad and crazy. I definitely remember this episode, and of course, it’s all heart-warming per ABC’s 1 hour show. It’s hard to imagine a family could do that to kids who’ve lost their home and parents. All this alleged by E-Online through the LA Times, anyway.

We just got back from an awesome, relaxing vacation in California. After all of our trips this summer, Analise has been to a total of 24 states! Analise has been a great traveler. She slept on most of the plane trips on our trip to California, but on one leg of our trip we were able to let her sleep on an empty seat between us. When she wasn’t sleeping, she was happy to watch Baby Einstein on our laptop while sitting in mommy’s lap.

Yesterday we had a fantastic day driving to the Pacific coast and hiking in Muir Woods and Mt. Tamalpais State Park. Steve and Corrie joined us and we kept a relaxing pace, with Analise happily keeping her eyes on everything from her vantage point in Brian’s backpack. We had a nice lunch of pita sandwiches along the trail, and Corrie took a series of really nice pictures of Analise and I.

I don’t have much more time to write, but since pictures speak 1000 words, here’s a couple:)

We’re on the road again… back where it all began for the Toones. We’re spending a week back in Davis, California, visiting friends, eating favorite foods, showing off our beautiful baby who’s all grown up compared to when we left in December. Long day of travel yesterday, but Analise was a super traveler. We got in at about 11pm Davis time (1am Alabama). It’s WARM here, but not as humid as home. Of course, the air conditioning is out here at the Biggs’/Haffly house, so we’re fully experiencing the summer afternoon heat.

Ok, we’ll check in later this week. Hope y’all are well!

Analise spends some time in jail. We’ve got our own builtin timeout place now — unfortunately, Analise was having so much fun in jail (despite the sad look in this picture) she cried when I took her out! I don’t think “jail” is going to work as a disciplinary thing! 🙁

Just wanted to pop in to say this weekend has been busy getting ready for Vacation Bible School next week at our church. I’m teaching 2nd & 3rd grade, and Brian’s teaching 4th & 5th. Obviously, it’s a roadtrip theme, and we’re having our classes in tents in the worship center. Thankfully, I’m co-teaching with a 2nd grade teacher who’s just moved to the area. She and I have hit it off really well, and I’m relieved to have someone who knows kids this age. I only really feel comfortable with 1 year olds:) We’ll check in later, but if you don’t hear from us, we’ll be in either D.C, Chicago, Lebanon (KS), Yellowstone, and Knott’s Berry Farm each day this week. Haven’t we traveled enough this summer?!?:)

This exciting title was the name of the road bike race that Brian competed in this weekend. The “summit” of Mount Biloxi was somewhere around 130 feet in elevation. It appeared to be more of a hill than a mountain to me, but then again, I wasn’t riding:)

Above, Analise is holding the cow bell my Dad sent her to ring during the race. She was pretty good at it! The first event was the road race – 75 miles, on a 4 lap course. Analise and I stationed ourselves in the feed zone, stocked with several waterbottles to hand Brian each time he came through. It was 88 degrees, with a dewpoint of 79, and a heat index of 102 degrees – in layman’s terms, that’s HOT AND STICKY. Brian went with the lead group, and they battled it out until the sprint at the end. He finished in 3rd place! We were very impressed, and Brian was pretty pleased with the outcome.

  

After eating and resting for several hours, there was a time trial. This is a 3 mile race, essentially as fast as you can go, with the racers starting one at a time, every thirty seconds. You’re racing for time. Brian had used up most of his energy in the morning race, so the afternoon result wasn’t quite as exciting as the morning.

The final event of the weekend was the criterium on Sunday afternoon. This is a 3/4 mile course around city blocks (i.e. meaning lots of technical corners), where you race for an hour. They’ll ring a bell occassionally, which means that lap is a “prime”, and the winner for that lap gets a prize. Then they’ll ring a bell for the final 5 laps, and the final top 10 finishers are awareded the overall prizes. Brian had a great show of power and won one of the “prime” laps, and finished the race in 11th place. This put himm 8th overall for the weekend. I was surprised at how well he did with very little training, and Analise and I really enjoyed seeing him race.

Hi there… we did return safely from Mississippi. Brian did really well, and I have the blog mostly written telling all about our adventures. Just needs some editing and the stuff to make it look good, and I’m too tired to do it now. Cute pictures of us on the beach to share, though!

Analise and I had a friend and her daughter over today. It was fun, and I hope we can find more time for playdates. Both A and Laurel were tired, though, and things kind of unraveled near the end. When A is tired, she’s not so fun to play with – everything makes her cry:)

Today is 4 years to the day since Brian and my first date. Brian asked me out to Outback Steakhouse to make up for a painful biking experience in the first week we’d met. The best moment of the evening was over salad, as I had a huge mouthful of lettuce, tomato and crouton, when Brian swallowed hard and said, “I’ve, uh, really enjoyed spending time with you this week.” He had to sit there waiting for me to chew and chew and chew, which must have seemed like hours, until I finally said, “I, uh, really like spending time with you, too.” That was it… the rest is history:) A whirlwind month together before I left for Nicaragua, a long distance romance of 1 year and 8 months, before finally starting our lives together just over 2 years ago. God brought Brian out of a hard time I was having in Texas, and I’m still amazed at how He works things beyond our wildest expectations. What a great God – I love my husband!

Happy Birthday to Tom (Brian’s dad) and Corrie (one of our far off California family who we’ll see in just 2 weeks!)!

I’m sitting here trying to get caught up on emails, other computer work, and Vacation Bible School materials for next week. Brian’s asleep on the couch, and I think I’d better haul both of us off to bed.