Sunday, August 31, 2008

The Long Weekend...

With a four day weekend looming ahead of us, we invited ourselves to the Loucks' for a visit, some board games and pool time. They were game, so Thursday evening, shortly after Chad got off work, we headed east to Fresno. We made great time, arriving at 9:00 just in time to give Laners kisses and put a sleeping Joseph to bed.

Side note: I forgot my camera. Travesty! Tragedy!

We spent Friday morning (after breakfast) driving around Fresno, looking at different neighborhoods and house exteriors.

Side note: One of Chad's favorite hobbies is house hunting. We even indulged while in the UK.

We stopped for lunch at my new favorite Mexican food place. It was amazing. Better than Baja Fresh, fresher than Tia Juana's. I can't wait to go back.

After J's nap, we took a dip in the pool. The temperature hit a high of 107 (eek!) but we hardly felt it in the water. We just had to remember to keep splashing water on the concrete so Joseph didn't burn the bottoms of his feet.

Danielle prepared an amazing eggplant dish for dinner. Think lasagna substituting sliced eggplant for noodles. I'm not usually a huge fan of the purple veggie, but it was delish. We put Joseph and Lane to bed (after baths and showers) and embarked on a fast-paced, giggle-worthy game of In a Pickle.

The Loucks had just picked up this game and had not yet had a chance to give it a try. After a slow start, our creativity started flowing. The game is simple in idea but becomes more involved with play. Some of the best plays had us laughing so hard I nearly fell over. And no, there was no alcohol involved. The hilarity (and sheer randomness) of the word "plankton" coming up was enough to send me into gales of laughter.

The object of the game is to play your cards on four upturned cards. If you play a card on top, it has to be bigger than that card. ("chicken" is bigger than "mouse"). If you play under the card, it has to be something that is inside of the top card. ("brain" is inside "head") The fun comes from the original ways you can use your cards. Chad played "Oasis on Fear" under the pretext that the band Oasis was bigger than the band Fear. Adam played "Nothing" on the word "Love" because nothing is bigger than love. (Unfortunately for him, everything else is bigger than "nothing".) We had a blast and insisted that they bring the game next time we camp.

Saturday morning, after a early swim, Danielle and I took the boys to Farmer's Market while Chad and Adam helped out a neighbor.

Side note: I do believe that our friends the Loucks are living in a time portal that sends them back to 1955. Danielle spent the afternoon making an ice cream trifle for a neighbor to thank him for watching the house. Shortly after 8:00 Saturday evening, the neighbor who Chad and Adam helped, sent her son to the door with a batch of warm brownies as a thank you. Who does this?

Farmer's Market was crowded, but filled with yummy fruits and veggies. I loaded my bag with peaches, plums, corn and berries. I had to laugh over purchasing my produce two hours from home, but with work I haven't been able to get to SLO's Farmer's Market and the local one deals with crafts more than produce.

Saturday evening was swimming, pizza and Pickle. We were all beat from a crazy weekend - although that didn't stop us from having an in-depth intellectual conversation about child rearing, family mottos and values. Hmmm...I may have to post the questions we were discussing for more feedback.

We left shortly after awakening on Sunday morning. The good news with our departure time? NO traffic. We made it home in 1 hour, 45 minutes. The bad news? Joseph was fresh from a good night's sleep and did not want to sit in a car seat for more than 20 minutes.

Overall, it was yet another relaxing weekend with the Loucks. I'm just bummed I don't have any pictures to show for it!

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