hello, love. i’ve gone to california on a big jet plane. i’m sending this off to you west coast time and sorry if i don’t get to post very much the rest of the weekend. i wanna try to stay a little detached from the computer and so much has happened already this week that i think a separate cali post will be in order.

i’m so excited for some west coast friend time! but i already miss darla. and i miss you. our family really needs to spend some time exploring california. and the rest of the country. and the world. mmkay.

this week’s edition of Darla says:

“You’re the mustard and I’m the hotdog, mom.” in reference to her hot dog tee she wore that day.

Staring wistfully at the ceiling, she said “I wish i was a smoke detector.”

whilst riding in the car she started on a ramble and I tuned out. But once it was apparent that she wasn’t talking to me I tuned back in( I know it should be reversed but sometimes that’s how I do). She was recounting her incident at firefly when she fell out of the bounce house, “and then I bounced myself so high I bounced right out of the bounce house. I fell really hard and hurt my head. It was the worst day of my life.” I started cracking up and asked her who she was talking to and she said “the crickets.”

while painting she said “this painting is really good arting.”

at the apple orchard i had to put a wristband on her so the place could keep track of who paid. when i affixed it to her she said “oh yeah, i love that kinda thang!” in this twangy southern accent.

bridget was doing yoga and while she was in downward dog bridget asked “darla what am i doing right now.” darla replied “dog standing.”

we had a kinda of challenging trip to the short north. darla didn’t want to hold hands with either of us so i was giving her a talkdown that she would need to either hold hands or else be carried. she very calmly clasped both her hands together in front of her and walked in a perfectly straight line. cousin and i both burst out laughing and i let her go ahead and walk herself down the street b/c that was a pretty smart move on her part. we moved on to basil for dinner. she got thai sauce all over her hands, and face and everywhere. even on my back. i was sticking to the booth. she looked at her hands and said “i have sticky hands. i’m a tree frog. i’m a one-eyed tree frog.” she then proceeded to stare her one-eye over the top of the booth at a couple having a full on make out sesh on their date. i was trying to get her to sit down and be calm and she started pushing up against me and saying “mom, i need my tiiiiiiiime!” needless to say we tried to make a hasty exit.

on to some pics. it’s the prettiest autumn i can remember so you can expect lots of pituresque fall scenes from us in the next few weeks. then it won’t be long before you’re home! only a month to go. it’s amazing to me sometimes to think i’ve finally gotten so used to this that a month without you doesn’t seem like such a long time.

we’ve been doing a lot of funny faces for our meal times. darla realy digs it. 

that’s all for now my bearded beau. sending you some extra love since now it has to travel an extra 2244 miles. or maybe it will be smart and turn around and go the other direction. hmmm. well i’ll let you figure out the love path since YOU’RE the navigational expert.  

loving you,

wife former fwife