Jewel Eye

The month of July was like a big breath of fresh air for us. It was jam-packed with family, festivities, and general laziness. If there's one thing I'm good at, it's being lazy. We started the month by moving to Norfolk, Nebraska (my hometown) Friday, July 1st. Saturday the 2nd we unpacked and headed to the lake in the evening to watch the "Big Bang Boom," the local fireworks show. The fireworks this year were AMAZING, it was visual overload. I'm proud that my small hometown can put on a show that rivals MUCH larger cities (Jamie had his doubts, but is now a believer). In fact, during the overstimulating grand finale, the people around me were so overcome with awe that they spontaneously started chanting, "U-S-A! U-S-A!"....although maybe I should clarify that the people around me=Jamie. Sunday we headed up to Jamie's parents house in Estherville to spend the week with them and have a second 4th celebration. The fourth of July is definitely one of my favorite holidays. What's not to like about a holiday where food, sun, games, and pyromania are mixed together? Anyways, Monday the 4th we went to the local flight breakfast, watched a parade, had a barbeque, and headed over to lake Okoboji to watch fireworks.


Family photo in front of lake Okoboji. It was fun to watch the hundreds of boats on the water.




 The rest of our week in Estherville we ate too much food, went bowling, watched Transformers 3 (big boo to that movie), played horseshoes, visited, and did a lot of relaxing. Also, my mother-in-law Angie and I attempted to take a few pictures of Marlee. Here's some for your viewing pleasure:

After our Estherville adventures, we returned to our mostly un-packed apartment for a day and a half before heading to Omaha to catch a plane to California for a family reunion. Note to self: never schedule a 6 a.m. flight again. We didn't get to bed until midnight the night before our trip and then awoke at 2 a.m. to drive to Omaha. Not fun.Our California trip was jam-packed with activities.We arrived in California about 10.am. and then headed straight to Newport Beach. It was co-old (temp in the 60s) so Marlee and I opted to stay out of the water that morning. The next night Jamie helped clean up the streets of Moreno Valley when he went on a "ride-along" with his cousin Scott, a cop. 

We did plenty of lounging in the pool. Don't let this picture fool you, Marlee was a natural pool rat. She was perfectly content floating in her tube while sucking her fist.

Here's a picture of us hanging on the beach in our sweet tie-dye threads.

Unfortunately, our dear Marlee got a little too much sun. We tried hard to keep her out of the sun at the beach by keeping her under a shade tent, but I think the sun's rays must have reflected off the water giving her a "binky burn". I felt like a HORRIBLE mother, but looking back on the picture now, her binky tan lines make me smile a little.

We left Marlee with Grandma Angie one morning and went on a deep-sea fishing trip. It was a fun, but hot and exhausting adventure.

Some of the other activities we did included going to an Anaheim Angels game, having a luau (I took 2nd in the hula-hooping contest-lost to a 9 year-old), and lots of visiting. The most special part of the trip however, was when Jamie blessed Marlee. Here's a picture the morning of her blessing, unfortunately I won't have any of her in her blessing dress until later.

 

When the end of our trip came, we were exhausted. However, our adventures were not quite over as our flight from Santa Ana got cancelled which led us on a wild fiasco of catching a cab during major rush hour to the Long Beach airport, boarding a plane 2 minutes before scheduled take-off, an overnight stay in Phoenix, and arriving in Omaha 1 day later then planned. After a little effort we did get some flight vouchers for our troubles however, so it wasn't all bad. When we got home we felt as though we needed a vacation from our vacation. So we did just that:) I shouldn't admit to our laziness, but we took advantage of the free cable our apartment offers and spent a few days recovering in front of the TV. Now if only our remaining boxes could unpack themselves.....