hola, isabel

We’ve been having a great Summer of Fun (part deux) here at the holaisabel household.  Too bad it’s only been summer in Seattle for maybe two weeks.  Maybe.  But those last two weeks have been a whirlwind.  First my parents and sister came to visit.  Officially they came up for my cousin’s wedding, unofficially they came to see my boys.  (Which, of course, I don’t blame them.) 

The King worked like a mad man the week before my family arrived and was able to get our guest bathroom DONE.  This was a lot of work but he was able to get all the tile laid so that they wouldn’t have to shower in the boy’s bathroom.  (And now I have four showers I have to keep clean.  Kill me now.)  We had a pretty good time with my family.  I love weddings, especially ones where someone I love, love, love is getting married.  And I love, love, love this particular cousin.  (And no, she doesn’t read this blog so I’m not just saying that for her benefit.)

The day after my parents left town The King and I frantically washed the sheets on the guest bed and cleaned the guest bathroom so that May, my best friend that deserted me and moved to Reno, and her family could come and stay with us!!

This is the first time in two years that the entire family has been able to come visit.  And whether or not they’ll admit it, I think our husbands were the happiest to see each other. 

Boys aren’t too good about keeping in touch but The King and Mr. May picked up exactly where they left off when they moved away four years ago.

We took the kids to visit the neighborhood where we all used to live.  The kids played in the park that is right across the street from our old house.   I don’t think Babboo will ever forgive me for moving away. 

The park is pretty awesome. 

Eventually May and family had to head home to Reno.  We drove as far as Portland with them and then we all stayed the night in The City of Roses.

We stayed in Portland a little longer to enjoy the beautiful sun.  (Seriously Portland, thank you for the gorgeous 4th of July weather.)

While we’ve been having a blast I admit I’m a little sad that we won’t be here to enjoy August, which is the best part of summer here in Seattle.  We’re taking both kids and heading to Europe.  It’s been a few years since our last trip and our frequent flier miles and hotel points were starting to burn a whole in our pockets so we decided to pack up the family and go!

We leave in a few weeks. 

Thankfully, as of this morning, our last hotel is booked.  It’s official…we’re actually taking our two kids (one that will turn one while in Paris) to Europe.  I’m pretty sure that classifies us as The Stupidest Parents in the World. 

(Actually, I’m pretty excited about the whole thing.  I’m sure the kids will be great.  Repeat with me…THE KIDS WILL BE GREAT!)

Did any of you notice that my blog disappeared for two weeks?  The fact that only two people asked me about leads me to believe that, as far as the interweb is concerned, I am dead to you.

Being that I haven’t posted for almost two months I have nobody to blame but myself.

(Stupid, stupid self.)

Now that we’ve got that out of the way, can you even believe that it’s been over ten months since I gave birth to Rerun?

The kid is freakin’ adorable and I love him more and more every single day.

My favorite cousin got married last weekend.  We were able to spend the day with my family celebrating!  Rerun was more then happy to sit on the dance floor listening to The Wedding Singer and watching Babboo and his second cousin dance around.

Babboo was happy just taking pictures with the camera my dad let him use. 

Overall I think they were both enamored with their second cousin.  Babboo was convinced that because she had “a wedding dress” on it meant that somebody needed to marry her. 

He said he’d marry her.

I figured it wasn’t worth it to try to explain genetics and social rules and all the other reasons for not marrying your cousin.

And in other news, just to prove that I’m still alive, here’s a picture taken at the Olympic Sculpture Park.

So there, my dear interweb, proof that I have not vanished.*

What have you been up to?

*I know you don’t want to hear it but honestly my life is twice as busy as it used to be. Thanks to being the mother of two kids and my project at work doubling.  Put the two together and you have “OMG I CAN’T FIND THE TIME TO CLEAN MY BATHROOM HOW CAN YOU EXPECT ME TO DO EVERYTHING ELSE?”  Forgive me.

Rerun finally got a chance to take a ride on an airplane last weekend.

He could have cared less about the whole thing.  And I’m pretty sure he’s look back at this trip in years to come and be upset that we didn’t wait until he could actually remember any part of his first time in Disneyland.

Oh well, we had a blast.  And I’ll remember.

Size matter not.  Judge me by my size, do you? – Master Yoda

Man, how time flies with the second kid.

Last Saturday was The King’s 39th birthday. (Happy Birthday, Baby!) The King has been known to be a very thoughtful gift giver and so I gave a lot of thought to what I wanted to get him for his birthday.  I like my gifts to him to be The Best Gift Ever.

The Lululemon manifesto came to mind.

When The King first saw this manifesto at the end of last year he was really inspired by it. He thought about it as he worked on his New Year’s resolutions and used it as inspiration to become a better person and so I thought that maybe a nice framed copy of it would make a good birthday gift.

I printed one out and looked it over.  I decided the lady doing yoga on it might be a little too “girly”.  So then I had an ever better idea; how about our own family manifesto!

Naturally I e-mailed May, my duper bestest friend. She loved the idea and told me she’d be happy to design one for me for The King’s birthday.  We worked out a trade, she’d design the manifesto and I provide her with a mix CD list and the money on her Amazon account to download the songs with.  (I’m pretty sure I got the better end of this trade. Although I did put quite a bit of thought into the songs I chose.)  (I haven’t heard back from here on what she thinks about the mix.  She probably hates it.)  (Oh well.)

May and I discussed the design over a few days.  I had her take out some of the original statements from the Lululemon manifesto and added some that were more specific to our family.  I wanted it to represent our love for the Savior.  May suggested pictures of the boys in lieu of the yoga lady.

I just about died when May sent me the final product.

Seriously, how awesome is this!!

While I think that The King liked the manifesto, I’m convinced that I like it even more.

And in other totally awesome news The King and I (and his friend that he’s known since second grade) went to see Girl Talk last Wednesday night.

If you don’t know who Girl Talk is.  Stop reading this right now and go and download his latest album “All Day”.  It’s FREE.  While that’s downloading go and read about him on Wikipedia.  (He’s a biomedical engineer by day and a DJ by night.)  (I guarantee you will thank me later.)

I’ll wait while you go and do that.

————-

Welcome back. Girl Talk’s awesome, right?

This is what I learned that night:

The show was insane.  Totally 100% off the hook insane.  We had so much fun.

I am too old to go to show on a week night.

While the show was “21 and over” I’m pretty sure the majority of the kids there had fake ID’s.  Either that or 21 year old are getting younger and younger.

I really didn’t know what to expect before we got there.  I think it wouldn’t have been as magical if I would have known how full of energy and awesomeness it would be.

If Girl Talk is coming to a venue near you, go.

But back to The King’s birthday present, tell me, what would you include in your own personal manifesto?