The Dodge-Clark Summit

This weekend, Miles, the little girls and I drove down to Reseda to visit Melinda, Johan and Baby Lucie. Just a quick visit this time, but we already have plans for another visit on the books.

Some highlights include:

Claire and Aeron running naked in the back yard and jumping in Lucie's kiddie pool. Great fun for all; splashing and get hosed down by Melinda ....until Claire pooped on the lawn.

Oh, yes, she did!

Then she lost her naked privileges.

I seemed to have not entirely conquered that stomach bug. Sadly, it made it presence felt by Saturday afternoon. More Pepto shots for Jen. But, hey! They have cherry flavor Pepto Bismal now!

Claire and Aeron were all over Lucie. Aeron, in particular was so excited, the poor baby was being positively mauled. But Lucie is a happy, easy-going kid, so she took the exuberance in stride. The twins also had a swell time with Lucie's toys. Which we left all over the house. (sorry, Melinda!)

Johan BBQ'd organic bison burgers on Saturday night. Then he and Miles went to see the new Harry Potter flick. All the girls stayed home and watched "Snow White and the Seven Dwarves" and had real buttered popcorn.

Miles took the little girls to church to see Pastor Johan in action. Much ooh-ing and ah-ing for the local Methodists over the cute twins. I missed it - still feeling crummy, but someone had to pack, as we needed to get outta Dodge (ba-dum-bum!) shortly after church.

The drive home wasn't bad. Some traffic in LA, but that's to be expected. The girls are getting better about "quiet time". A good thing, too. The stream-of-consciousness babble from the girls was driving Daddy mad. So we bought donuts and milk and told 'em to put a sock in it. Then Mama took a nap and Daddy was able to plug into his IPod, drink coffee and listen to geek shit.

When we made the turn at Ventura and could see the ocean, Aeron cried, "Mama! Look! The ocean! The water is all sparkly! Just like a big swimming pool!"

Good times.

EDIT - I almost forgot the best part! On Saturday afternoon, the doorbell rang. Melinda went to answer, with the little girls following. It was a couple of Jehovah's Witnesses, two impeccably dressed gentlemen of color. "Actually, my husband is a minster," says Melinda. (Translation - "We got the Jesus thing covered, thanks.") Claire peeks out the door, and asks, loudly, "Is that Obama?"