The Small Family   

Well, we came home from Oregon to...extreme heat. UGH! This weekend, I believe temperatures reached 107 degrees in Roseville. BLAH! So, we spent time either inside or escaping Roseville.

The inside part was easy. Chris and I both had work to catch up on this week after our trip. But by the weekend, we were ready for a change. Alas, we had decided to spend the better part of Saturday doing some much-needed housecleaning and baby-proofing. Boring, but necessary. We broke up the tedium by meeting some Sacramento State friends for lunch—Becky, Shelley (with her 7-month-old daughter, Ella), and Janay (with her 2 1/2-year-old daughter, Belen). Theo kept himself entertained throughout lunch by exploring the café where we ate lunch. It was a very casual place where his exploration didn’t bother anyone, so we were happy. And it’s always good to see our Sac State pals. When we got home, Theo took a dip in his new pool, which I had set up earlier in the week. He has used it three times already, and he LOVES it. He splashes and plays with his toys and explores the backyard before climbing back in for another dip. (The backyard is now livable because we bought a canopy to shade the patio, which gets full afternoon/evening sun and thus was pretty much a pressure cooker before said canopy arrived.)

Because Saturday was largely spent cleaning, we decided we needed some family fun on Sunday, so we headed off to San Francisco for the day! It was supposed to be 88 degrees there—hot for SF, but MUCH more bearable than Roseville’s 107 degrees. Theo napped on the two-hour drive to the SF Zoo, where we got to see their most famous new addition—a baby gorilla! It’s six months old now, and adorable! They also have a baby langur (primate) born just three weeks ago, which is sooooo cute! And a baby giraffe named Niklas (not to be confused with Nikolas, our nephew). I was in heaven with all the baby animals. And Theo was happy because he’s finally walking enough that we were able to let him toddle around quite a bit at the zoo. He even got to toddle around in the petting zoo, which he really liked.

My friend Janeane loaned me a zoom lens to play with, so we took that to the zoo. We were able to get some pretty good close-ups of the animals, although the lens doesn’t have image stabilization built in, and because Chris and I both tend to have shaky hands, I don’t think our pictures turned out quite as clear as they might have if we weren’t so darn shaky! But, if we had brought our tripod, I imagine we would’ve gotten some really nice, sharp shots. At any rate, it was fun to play with the zoom lens!

After the zoo, we went to the Ferry Building for lunch. I had some oysters on the half shell (most of you are groaning, I’m sure, but my Dad used to make them for me when I was a kid, and I still love them!) and a soft-shell crab sandwich. Chris opted for fish and chips, which were delicious. (I stole some of the chips!) After that, Theo was looking sleepy, so we headed home. The drive was largely uneventful save for a 30-minute delay on the interstate because—get this—it was so hot that the road fell apart, and they had to do emergency repairs on it. Good lord, now that is too hot!!

We also had an odd small-world moment this week. Friday is our usual “date night,” assuming Theo is in a good mood. He was, so we went out to a hamburger place for dinner. Afterwards, it was too hot to walk around (our usual activity), so we went across the street to the mall so Theo could play in the play area. At one point, a cute little baby about his age crawled up, and the two started flirting away—stealing glances at each other and grinning shyly as they played. I thought it was adorable, and I was about to say something to the little girl’s mother when she said, “You’re Chris Small, aren’t you?” (to Chris, obviously—not to me!). Turns out the little girl’s mother was one of Chris’s high-school classmates whom he hasn’t seen in 15 years! (He went to school 150 miles from Roseville, so running into a high-school friend is not a common occurrence around here.) It seems Christine, his friend, is now living in Roseville, too. Weirder still, her sister lives in our housing complex, on the street behind us. And our housing complex isn’t very big, so it is indeed a very, very small world (or should I say “Small” world?). Christine and her husband (who we also met) will be going to Chris’s 15-year reunion in August, so at least I’ll know a couple people there now. J

Last but surely not least, the Small family has planned yet another vacation (because we’re incapable of living without a trip in the works, apparently). In the first week of September, we are headed to Buffalo (New York) and Philadelphia for a little more than a week! We’ll be in Buffalo for about three full days and then driving down to Philly to spend another three or four days there. I have a lot of family in the Buffalo area, and Chris has several relatives in Philly, so this is a “visit family we don’t often get to see” trip, and we’re really excited!

Next weekend we’re headed down to San Jose for Chris’s family’s 4^th of July bash, and Theo and I have a “play date” with my friends Janeane and Katherine and their kids on Friday, so expect lots of fun pix and stories from those events. Until then...stay cool!