Another weekend visitor *EDIT*

I feel like every Sunday night (or, Monday morning), I sit down and write a big "weekend in review" entry. I just can't ever seem to find time to write on the weekend, and we've had a few busy weekends in a row (with no end in sight, it seems).

Friday night, we went to see "The Dark Knight" in IMAX. It was a good movie. I can see why everyone is buzzing about it. There were lots of scenes where I could just feel myself tensing up from all the drama. The only thing I found odd was that almost every time The Joker said something, the audience would laugh. And I get that he's a quirky character, and I laughed too, but a part of me kept thinking, "Don't laugh, people! The guy is a homicidal maniac! How is that funny?" I know--I'm weird.

Saturday morning, Tony got up early to help a friend with some house renovations, so it was just me and Ari for the morning. I got up at a decent hour, which gave me plenty of time to walk with Ari, get myself ready, and make a salad. Tony got home about half an hour before I needed to leave for my sister-in-law Jess's baby shower. It was a surprise, and there was no doubt in anyone's minds that she was definitely surprised when she got there--we all huddled in the kitchen so we could all see her come in, and when we yelled "Surprise!" she nearly fell off the step. It was a really nice shower, and she got a ton of stuff. And her sister-in-law was the designated photographer, and she made a point of getting a picture of Jess with each guest, as well as some nice family shots. Here's me, Dave (the proud papa-to-be), Jess (doesn't she look fantastic?) and Mom.



When I got home, about half an hour later, we had our next weekend visitor. Steph is an old college friend--Tony met her before he met me--and he met me in the very first week, so she was one of the very first friends he made in college. And once Steph started dating Dan, all 4 of us became friends. After we graduated, Tony and I stuck around while I got my master's, while Dan and Steph moved to New Orleans, where Dan went to Tulane for medical school. We visited them almost every weekend we possibly could, but since then, our visits have been very few and far between. They currently live in Germany, since that's where Dan is stationed (he's in the Army). Anyway, Steph called just a few days ago, telling us she was in our area and wanting to know if she could crash at our place for a night. Of course we didn't hesitate a moment to say yes. The last time we saw her was more than 2 years ago, so we'd never had the chance to meet her kids (Ana is 2 and Jimmy is just 5 months old).

We had a nice relaxing evening on Saturday night--we let the girls play together, and they did really well. Ari kept calling Ana "Kailey," probably remembering the little friend who visited last weekend. When we finally got her to say Ana, she called her "Nana," pronounced the same way she says "banana."

We ordered pizza for dinner, took the kids to the play area and then put all the munchkins to bed. Once they were in bed, us adults got a chance to catch up, which included a quick run to the grocery store to get some ice cream.

Steph and the kids joined us for church and afterwards, us girls and the kids went to Friendly's for lunch (minus Tony, who had to do a baptismal service). I finally remembered to grab my camera and get some pictures. Here is Ana (short for Anastasia, one of my favorite names)...



And this is Steph and Jimmy. He is such a sweet little guy--the first time he laid eyes on me, he broke out into the hugest grin.



A family picture that, unfortunately, came out blurry.



In order to keep our little posse together as we walked out, we got Ana and Ari to holds hands. And it was too cute not to get a picture of.



One of them insisted on putting Jimmy's blanket on him. (Wanna guess which one?)



Then it was time for goodbyes. We tried to get Ana to hug Ari, but she already had her cup and blanket in her hands and was quite content not to dish out any hugs. So Ari hugged Steph instead.



I love this picture. Figures that my kid isn't looking (she was trying to swipe that bear).



And just a random daddy-daughter picture. I swear, Ari's hair got thicker overnight. It was humid today, but it's ben humid a lot of days this summer, and I don't remember it being so poofy.



All 3 of us crashed in the afternoon--we laid Ari down for a nap, and Tony and I followed suit shortly afterwards. We slept longer than we meant to, but I can't say it didn't feel good. We hung out at Pastor and Dawn's for a few hours in the evening and then came home. And I should probably think about going to bed sometime soon. See, that's the problem with afternoon naps--then I'm not tired at night when I should be.

*** EDIT ***

I was so preoccupied with getting all those pictures uploaded that I forgot to mention my exciting news... in about a week and a half, I'm going to CALIFORNIA! My brother, Steve (who is in the Air Force, studying to be a linguist) is graduating from his language program on August 7, and my generous, amazing parents have given me the opportunity to fly out there. I fly out in the afternoon on Wednesday, August 6, then I'll be there all day Thursday and Friday, and fly home on Saturday, August 9. I am so excited--not only to see my brother and his family, but also to see California. I've been there once, but I was less than 3 years old, so I don't remember a thing. I've heard that the area they live in is really beautiful, and I'm going to get to see it with my own eyes.

I didn't say anything before because it was going to be a surprise for Steve, but Eden decided to tell him so that he could look forward to it. And now I don't have to worry about accidentally spilling the beans (I swear, I avoided talking to my sister-in-law Jess all last week because I was afraid I'd say something stupid like "See you Saturday!") I talked to Steve on the phone yesterday, and he sounded excited. I even talked to my niece Lyvi for a few moments, and she had a lot to say. It's going to be fun hanging out with her, too.

So of course I had to make myself a little countdown clock...


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