The Chronicles of Tadpole and Little Cub: Cali Trip Day 4

Sunday, February 6th, 2011
Sunday was our day to sleep in, which for this trip means we got up at 7:30. We went to church that morning at my hometown church where we were able to hear Pastor John preach. I was very happy he was teaching that morning because he recently announced that he will be retiring next year in January. It was great to be home and hear words from the pastor I grew up with, and to be able to see many people I haven’t been able to see in a long while.

After church Andrew and I went to Togo’s to meet up with my guy friends from high school. I love being able to see them any time I go home to visit, and being able to eat at Togo’s was an extra bonus (I love Togo’s!!). It was fun being able to catch up with them and goof off.

Me and the guys. Andrew's taking the pic.

After that, Andrew and I headed back to my mom’s place for the baby shower my mom and my sister-in-law, Amy, planned. Sadly I don’t have a lot of pictures from this event yet, but I’ll do an update later once people have been able to send me copies of the photos they took. For now, I’ll use the ones I “stole” from my best friend, Alison (thanks, Alison!). While the shower was going on, Andrew, his dad, my brother, and my brother’s son played ball outside while they waited for the Super Bowl to start.

My mom started off the shower with everyone saying how they knew me and who they were to make sure everyone knew one another. Then we played games that Amy planned! Everyone had to guess how big my belly was using yarn. Alison guessed almost my exact size! Though since she just had her lil one (my cute adorable niece Soleil) three months ago, she was the most recently experienced to guess the accurate size.

Seeing what my belly size really is.

For the next game, Amy read off a series of questions with multiple choice answers (all relating to babies and pregnancy), and we had to try and get the most correct. There were some pretty easy questions, but also some very hard questions, and some that were just random! The one I remember the answer for is that babies are able to swallow and breathe at the same time, and adults cannot. Julie was able to get the most correct, and thus won! She also came in first place for the final game; making a baby out of play dough! Everyone, but me, was given a small container of play dough. They then had 3 minutes to create a baby model out of it and I had to vote on which one I thought was best. It was so hard to choose! I had four top favorites, and I picked Julies. But since she had already won and I had to pick my second favorite, which was Sarah's.

Me and Amy examining the model Julie made

Sarah won second place!

We took a little break to eat some delicious snacks, included chocolate chip cookies with Oreos in the middle! And then I opened Tadpole’s gifts. She was getting really excited during the end of it and was really kicking. I think she knew how much everyone in the room loved her and was blessing her with adorable clothes, books, blankets, toys, etc! Thank you everyone so much for blessing little Tadpole with your generosity. I know she is going to enjoy and love all that was given to her. Andrew and I of course feel blessed for all your love and support too. ^_^

Andrew and I with my brother Jay, his wife Amy, and their son Kayden

At the end of the shower I was able to spend some time with my new niece, Soleil. I am so happy Andrew and I were able to meet both our new nieces during our trip! They are such cuties! And you can see that they have totally different personalities already beginning to shine through. I’ll end the blog with a few pictures of Soleil, showing her off, like what I did with my last entry with Adelyn. ^_^

Andrew’s folk’s stayed for dinner after the shower, and everyone but me enjoyed watching the game. I kept myself occupied with organizing all the gifts we got that weekend and trying to figure out what to take back to Seattle on our way home, and what to leave for my mom to bring up when Tadpole is born. If you didn’t guess, I’m not a huge sports watching fan. Though I am happy the Packers won since that’s the team Andrew roots for.

It was nice having our parents together and to share a meal. But shortly after the game ended, Mark and Karlyn headed home to Seaside. Andrew and I stayed up for a little bit to finish organizing all our new baby things, but then we went to bed early to help us catch up on some much needed rest before our last day in Cali.