Gualala, How We Missed You!

Ahhh...Gualala. I haven't been up there since the first week of January. January! That was too long ago. The fog on the coast, the sunshine on the ridge, the smell of salt in the air, my mother- and father-in-law, the fruit trees in their garden...I missed all of it.

From September through December I lived up there about 3/4 of the time so Eddie and I could be with Dave. It was nice being up there, but I really missed our house and our suburban neighborhood, with sidewalks and a proper downtown.

Pre-Eddie we used to go up to Gualala about once a month, if not more often. But now that Dave is off on Fridays and baby sits Eddie that day, us going up there requires him to drive down on Thursday night so he can have Eddie on Friday, then both of us making the 3 hour drive separately up to Gualala for the weekend, and then me driving home with Eddie on Sunday while Dave stays there to work the following week. Ug. This time, however, we had Eddie go to a half day of daycare at Cassie's on Friday (ka-ching...there went $30) so Dave didn't have to come down to watch him.

I was so distracted (read: excited about go up to Gualala) that I wasn't getting much done at school. The instrument wasn't working and the technician guy only had his phone on him so he couldn't look at the screenshots of the error code I had emailed him. So after a while I just decided my time would be better spent driving instead of being frustrated in front of the instrument or *not* writing my scholarship proposal at my desk.

So we left Davis at 2:45 and arrived at 6pm. Eddie slept about half the time, fussed a little, sucked down a bottle while we drove, and looked out the window the rest of the time.

We got to have delicious pizza for dinner (Eddie ate a WHOLE PIECE) and frozen cookies for dessert, in bed.

Saturday Dave worked (to make up some of the many hours lost to the stomach flu) while Eddie and I ran errands for my mother-in-law (grocery shopping for that night's dinner party, picking up people's mail at the post office, buying salsa at the farmers market, gathering some of our remaining household items from the coast house we lived in during the fall, etc.). That afternoon I was able to prepare the entire party meal--uninterrupted!--while Eddie played with his grammy's stuff on the kitchen floor. It was heavenly for everyone. Peggy sat in the kitchen and chatted with me, Eddie played, and I got to cook for a solid two hours. Ahhhhhh....

Eddie eating breakfast in Dave's old highchair:
That night we had 3 guests over for dinner and it was really nice. Eddie ate with us, sitting in Dave's old high chair at the table. He ate a little of everything: baked ham with pineapple rings, scalloped potatoes, salad, crescent rolls, asparagus (he wasn't a fan), and strawberry rhubarb pie. Peggy makes the BEST pies ever and I think this one is now my favorite, even above her apricot.

This morning Dave let me sleep in an extra hour after I nursed Eddie when he woke up. Then we packed up the van, played, and took some family pictures in the front garden. The moment Eddie got sleepy/fussy for his morning nap I boobied him and then popped him in the car where he instantly fell asleep (perfect!). Dave met me downtown with a white mocha and fresh scone from our favorite coffee shop (so I wouldn't have to take Eddie out of the car), we kissed goodbye, and we were off. We got back to Davis at 1pm.

After some lunch, Eddie and I returned my crappy HP laptop to Costco and then bought him a hard plastic kiddie pool and hose-end sprinkler to play with. Once we got home I got him naked so he could play in the water...but of course he didn't play with it. Instead he went straight for the dog water bowl, which we've been keeping out on the patio. We keep it outside since Eddie likes to dump it out and it has been safe there for the last 9 months...but today Eddie started going through the doggie door so now I'll just have to make sure the dogs have fresh water after Eddie dumps it out...

Oh, Eddie has perfected climbing up onto furniture. If there's a backpack or a pillow next to the couch or a chair he can climb right up. He can't walk, but he can climb. What a little weirdo.