Heads in the sand

At the start of Meredith’s second week of life outside the comfort of the womb, she and I desperately needed someone quiet/alone time (a.k.a. five seconds without the twins!) Luckily, Uncle Mike, Ali, and Aunt Sarah were still in town and the Aronsons came down from LA to meet Meredith. When they all took the twins to Aliso Creek Beach, it was a blissfully peaceful afternoon for my mom, Meredith and me! Thanks for the pictures, Aunt Sarah.

Cousins Rhys, Jack and Eleri meet Meredith for the first time.

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Being silly on the way to the beach.

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A gorgeous day. If I hadn’t been having such a nice time at home napping with Meredith, I would have loved to have been there!

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The gang was at the beach for a solid five hours– definitely the longest the girls have stayed occupied there.

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Outsourcing hole digging to Uncle Mike.

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Thanks for letting them eat sand, guys!

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Sister torture.

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Apparently, the girls started a trend.

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Samantha looks like she’s thinking of doing something diabolical involving sand and Rhys’ mouth.

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I’m thirsty!

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When they returned home, the gang informed me that Amelia would sit in her hole for a few minutes and then ask to be let out, only to ask someone to dig her another hole a few minutes later. She really liked being immobile in her hole! Seems like a good containment strategy if I had some sand at home.

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Wack-a-mole.

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Party in the mini van while the girls conked out on the way home.

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Since I haven’t been very many places the past month, it’s been fun looking at all the pictures people have taken for me whenever they go out with the twins. It will be nice to start getting out more with our whole family eventually; but, in the mean time, I’m content to hear about their experiences and let the girls practice their story-telling skills while recounting all their adventures!

Lots of love,

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Cousins Visit and Beach Picnic in the Dark

Backtracking to last month, Samantha and Amelia were excited to have their cousins, Max and Mason, come over to play all the way from Washington and Idaho. Two of Jake’s sisters, Gigi (from Washington) and Angie (from Idaho) spent church and the afternoon with us after braving a very crowded and hot few days at Disneyland, each with one son. Gigi has five kids and Angie has four, so I thought it was a great idea that they went on a little mommy/son Disney vacation with just one kid! I will definitely have to keep that in mind for the future.

Despite being a bit older than the girls, Max and Mason were the best babysitters and the girls played with them non-stop while the grown ups ate lunch. We kept hearing giggles, counting to ten during hide and seek and lots of running pitter patter coming from the upstairs; every time we went to check on them, it looked like all four kids were having a blast.

Max and Amelia trying out the roller coaster in our garage.

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The boys helped Samantha and Amelia with their all-time favorite activity– painting. It was cute how their cousins really made an effort to try and differentiate between the two girls. By the end of the afternoon, they were able to tell the girls apart, even though the girls were wearing identical clothing that day.

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Thanks for visiting! Angie, Amelia, Jake, Samantha, Gigi, Mason (Max was already in the car).

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Hope to see you soon, Aunt Gigi!

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After their cousins headed back to their hotel, we went to the Montage for a dinner picnic. Daylight Savings Time had just hit and we seriously underestimated how dark it would be at the beach now that the sunset was an hour earlier, but rolled with it and ate in the dark! The girls loved playing with the flashlights on our phones, of course and found the whole picnic in the dark experience exciting. It’s the little things.

Baby Girl and I enjoyed the fresh ocean breeze.

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Samantha with the closed eyes, Amelia right.

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Amelia kept giggling and saying, “We’re eating in the dark! Tee hee tee hee!”

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Samantha helped herself to all the pita bread.

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Cousins time and picnics in the dark = fun Sunday!

Lots of love,

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