Here They Go Again

Naturally, Kathy and I love our daughters to bits, but hanging out with them sure does get repetitive sometimes. I guess routine and repetition are supposed to be good for toddlers and their brain development and all, but after day after day after day of reading the same books and playing with the same toys and going to the same places, you start going a little bonkers. You start making up tiny variations in a feeble attempt to keep your brain cells firing. Like, maybe today, we'll go to the 24th Street playground instead of the 30th Street playground! Wahoo! I'm a rebel! And this time, as I read "Barnyard Dance", I'm going to read with a slightly different intonation than the way I read it a few seconds ago! Wheeeeee!

So when you get to break up the routine by taking a little mini-vacation, well, it's kinda like an oasis in the middle of the desert. Sure, it takes hours and hours of packing and preparation and requires a long drive with cranky carsick babies in the back seat, but heck, at some point, it doesn't matter. You just gotta do it, 'cause otherwise you'll find yourself wanting to gouge your eyes out using that copy of "Barnyard Dance".

Too graphic? I went too far there, huh? Sorry.

So this past weekend, we left our reliable little routines behind and headed out to the mountains with the girls, to a cabin up in Groveland, near Yosemite for three days in the sun. Leah barfed all over our car's backseat twice, I got this weird sunburny-rash on my chest, plus I totally exhausted myself at times trying to entertain our friends' six-year old daughter while keeping Riley and Leah from injuring or drowning themselves. But it was glorious, I tell ya.

Mini-vacation summary:

• Riley likes being in the water. A whole lot. Too much for her parents' comfort, actually, given that she can't swim but apparently doesn't know that yet.
  

• When walking around, if Leah and Riley have the choice of holding hands with mommy or daddy or our 6-year-old friend Hailey, mommy and daddy don't stand a chance.

• With all due respect to San Francisco, it sure feels more like summer, when, you know, you get to see the sun.
  

Riley and Leah liked splashing in the water and playing with their sand toys and picking questionable-looking things up off the ground on a hiking trail by Hetch Hetchy, but their favorite activity of the weekend was probably when they discovered this random little hill at the marina and then proceeded to walk up it, then run down it, over and over and over. And over. About 40 times I'd say, each time making the same "whoa-oa-oa-oa" sound as they ran down with their cheeks jiggling with each step and their eyes wide with excitement. And I know I just finished complaining about how repetitive it is watching the girls do the same things over and over again, but ya know what, sometimes repetition can be kinda cute.