Ma Famille

i am pretty lucky i ended up with the family i have.  i grew up with three pretty awesome siblings, and parents who continue to have adventures all over the country together after 36 (!!) years of marriage.  even though our hectic lives get in the way, we make it a point to visit each other as often as possible.  and lots of fun is had by all, especially when theme parks are involved.

case in point: last week, after getting back from tahoe, my mom, dad, sister, dogs and i spent a few days with my brother's family in the santa cruz mountains.

in an attempt to spoil her rotten, the visit started by taking my 3-year-old niece, sedona, out to the santa cruz beach boardwalk for their dollar ride night.  my parents have taken all us kids to the boardwalk every year for the past 28 years, and thankfully this tradition continues with the grandkids.  everything is more fun when you get to share it through the eyes of someone who's still learning the alphabet.

 ^sedona, a born thrill-seeker, got a bit underwhelmed by all the little kid rides after a while.  she made it clear that the roller coaster was her favorite by asking each of us to ride it with her "just *one* more time."  four times in a row.  naturally, we were all too happy to oblige.^

 ^umm, is that granni on a roller coaster?
 my parents are not roller coaster people.  sedona must have some strong powers of persuasion to get my mom on that ride. i need to ask her for some pointers.
at her age, i had a much harder go of talking my mom and dad into things.^

 ^that is definitely my mom's terrified face.^

^sedona even managed to convince dumpy (as grandpa maver is affectionally called) to ride with her.  i swear, if sedona asked my parents to dress up as clowns and do a song and dance routine for the circus, they would.^

^looks like dumpy enjoyed the ride a bit more than granni did^

^no maver family outing to the boardwalk is complete without a ride on the carousel.  and though there's no picture of the blessed event, i even managed to throw a ring inside the carousel clown's mouth.  a personal achievement akin to walking on the moon that i will not soon forget.^

 ^that is the face of a 3-year-old who's ready to pass out ^

^but miraculously she mustered up enough energy for one more ride^

after the boardwalk fun and games were over,  we lounged around my brother's house and enjoyed the warm late august weather.  

san francisco, i love you, but have i mentioned that i've missed 80 degree summer days in the sunshine?

  

yeah, i have?  over and over again?  oh.

 ^no family photoshoot is complete without pictures of these two adorable babies^

 ^sedona, our little award-winning photojournalist in the making, took this picture for us.  

thanks, sedona!  you're a natural!^

i hope one day i'm lucky enough to find a man to grow old and have lots of babies with (and by lots of babies, i mean more like two).  but in the meantime, i'm pretty darn happy just being around this wonderful family i've got now.

thanks, dylan and erin, for hosting us and for having such beautiful children!  i don't know why i never managed to snap any pictures of your gorgeous faces.  next time!