Our Vacation

Taking a break between Reno and Orinda

Two weeks ago Jack and I embarked on a very special trip. The goal of the trip was to see my 92 year old grandmother. Although she is in amazing health both mentally and physically, it was really important to me that I got to see her and have her spend time with her great-grandson (one of six great-grandchildren she has!).

The trip first started out with a visit to GrAuntie Linda, GrUncle Q'wacky, GrAuntie Michele, and my dad. We drove to Orinda on August 4th and made awesome time! Jack was a champ in the car and we only had to stop one time. We had a lovely dinner with Linda and Rick (aka Q'Wacky - Long story short: all of us kids have called my Uncle Rick "Wacky" because he's really funny and goofy. Jack couldn't pronounce "Wacky" so he calls him "Q'wacky.") followed by wrapping the night up with the movie Up. In the morning, my dad and Aunt Michele came over and we had this amazing apple pancake thingy for breakfast and some good family fun. GrAuntie Michele bought Jack this really cool blue dump truck that makes noise and moves. Jack plays with it EVERY single day and loves it so much! Since Aunt Linda had company visiting her just the day before we arrived and Jack was full of energy (and Aunt Linda's house is full of antiques!), Dad and I decided to get him out of the house to wear him out. We took him to the local park and Starbucks. On the good boy scale Jack received a D-. He hit a kid and did not listen at all to us. Perhaps he was just getting the last of his "terrible twos" out? I sure hope so.

That evening we had pizza at a park that had live music playing. Jack decided to explore giving me quite the anxiety attack of not having him next to me at all times. It was good for him though to meet other kids and learn the rules of the playground. If you throw dirt on a girl twice your size, expect her to make you cry.

After our adventures in Orinda, we went to Benicia to see my Grandma. It was so good to see her! She just loves Jack so much. Every time he screamed, knocked something over, or just was being silly, she loved him every moment of it. I bought us her favorite Chinese food from Robert's and had a lovely dinner with her on Friday night. I love that I got to spend so much time with her and just be with her. I don't visit her nearly as much as I would like to and now that I am no longer doing daycare for other kids (long story short again - I hate other people's kids and quit doing daycare as of July 30th) I can plan more visits to see her. I really did have a very nice two days with my Grandma, and then we were off to Sacramento to meet my second-half cousin, Stefanie. Let me explain my crazy family tree:

Nana (my Grandma on my dad's side) married Billy Fenn and had three children with him. After he died in WWII, she married my Grandfather, Ivan Reese, and had three children with him. On the Fenn side, her youngest son, Rich, had 8 children. One of those children is named Lynette. Lynette had a daughter named Stefanie who is 4 months younger than me. On the Reese side, her oldest son, my dad Bob, had me. Thus making Stefanie and I second-half cousins. Stefanie has a son named Bam and as we all know I have Jack. Bam is just two weeks older than Jack making them fourth-half cousins. Yeah, it took me a REALLY long time to figure this out.

Ok, so I had never met Stef before. I met her on facebook. Her mom introduced us via facebook and I met her mom through my cousin, Matt, who is her brother. Are you confused yet? Unless you are a Reese or a Fenn, you probably are. Anyway, Stefanie is my soulmate! Can I just say it is like we are twins separated at birth!? Seriously, we have led parallel lives for the past 27 years. I can't believe I didn't know she existed until just a few months ago. Talk about one of the most spectacular people I've ever met!

While we were there, Stef made Jack a cake for his birthday. You know she gets her baking skills from Nana. It came out so beautiful! The entire time we were there she spoiled and took care of us. We went shopping, had Starbucks galore, ate yummy food daily, and just had the best time together. I cried when I had to leave because I felt like I was losing my best friend. I can't wait to see her again!

Jack and Bam on the other hand? Well, lets just say that they didn't do as well as Stefanie and I did. Jack is a bit of an "aggressive" child and likes to rough house. Poor Bam was looking forward so much to being with Jack and the entire time he was terrorized by my boy. I lost count of how many naughty spots I placed Jack in. I think the problem was is that Bam is EXTREMEMLY advanced for his age. At only 2 weeks older than Jack, he is at like, a 6 year old level. He speaks perfectly, has an incredible vocabulary, and knows everything most kids know by the time they go into 2nd grade. So when you place the mentality of a 6 year old in a room with a boy that has the mentality of a grizzly bear, it isn't a very good match. On the last day, Bam came up to me and said, "Will you and Jack please go home?" At lease he was polite about it! I ended up buying Bam a toy at Target to cheer him up. Seemed to work. I have no qualms with buying love.

After Sacramento, Jack and I headed to Reno. I got to see almost all of my friends which was wonderful! I miss them so much and it is so hard not being with them. However, there were some serious difficult times in Reno in regards to Jack's other family which is why we decided to leave early. I feel that I tried very hard to make them apart of Jack's life and feel very unappreciated for it. Therefor, I changed my blog address, my facebook info, and blocked them from my phone and e-mail. At this point, everyone on that side thinks Jayson has earned a right to be in Jack's life and it started a huge fight which I refused to partake in. So I packed my baby up and came home three days early (Jack also had the flu and was not having a good time). After this, I've decided I can not move back to Reno. I would never have a support system there and would have daily hardships with them. I wish it didn't have to go down this way, but that is life, I suppose.

So, there you have it, two weeks put into one blog.

Above: The cake Stefanie made for Jack's birthday. Below: Stefanie and I being rad.

Jack & Bam!

Above: Jack asleep with my friend Lilly. Below: Jack hitting on older women.