The Sandstrom Family: Surly Sadie

This is a copy post from the family blog, for all who read both.

Here's a shot of our pudgy girl looking upset, which I assure you she is not. Here she is at 3 months. I love her little scowl!

We just got back from 2 relaxing weeks in Carlsbad, CA. It was a nice break from the extreme hot here in Mesa, and I think it's topping out today at 113, since I know how much mom is obsessed over the weather where her children are. I ran a little experiment with ice cubes, and the one in the pool melted fastest, followed by the cube on the slate in sunshine, and then the one in the shade. I've yet to compare melting times between the fake grass and the pavement, but I have the rest of the summer ahead of me.

Back to California. The Sandstroms take an annual trip to Carlsbad to escape the serious Arizona heat. It was a lot of fun to finally have everyone on vacation, and not just Ryan and me (I? neither really sounded right). We went to the usual restaurants, like Jay's and Vera Cruz, and a fair amount of Cessy's, the local dive. We also spent one day at Sea World, which Sadie did surprisingly well. She really babbled when we would go into the darker exhibits, like the penguins and amphibian exhibit. On the 4th of July the beach was packed! We had a "non-traditional" family sit right in front of us (lesbians with kids). Our brother-in-law, Alan, tactfully got them to leave by asking if Mae was feeling better from the swine flu. In all actuality, they were sitting uncomfortably close.

Ryan's book: A People's History of the Supreme Court
My book: Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

Unfortunately, our trip was cut short. One day when I walked into the condo and our closet looked like it was pouring rain indoors right into my suitcase. We got the maintenance guy in, and he thought the shower drain from above plugged with built up sand. I was just upset that water was pouring into my bag, much less where that water came from. Thankfully, it was clean shower water falling into my bag. Later they found out that about 12 feet of the sewer main had collapsed because of the sand build up. They had to rip out all the carpet right outside the condo, and were using a jack hammer just as we were leaving. We only left one day early, so we didn't feel cheated out of vacation time. Sadie was absolutely the best at the beach, and slept for most of the time by the water.

Dolphin show at Sea World. Sadie is thrilled. While in California she found her voice, which has been lots of fun. Sadie also found her legs, and almost prefers to stand on you when you hold her up. She isn't quite "walking" like Jane yet!