The trip to San Diego was wild.

Traffic was a bear and reminded me why I left here in the first place. Leina did great in her car seat for the first two and a half hours but after that, she’d had enough and wanted O-U-T. She let her desire known in a nice loud cry while we sat in bumper to bumper traffic. Amazingly enough, once we got to Dan & Suzy and she was released from her carseat confinement, she was perfectly happy. Overwhelmed, but happy.

Suzy’s house was abuzz with activity. Sammy nursing, little Daniel running around playing, Dan following behind, and my parents unpacking. Leina spent that first evening sitting in my lap, wide eyed, and gazing around. You could tell she was pretty startled by her new surroundings. In Portland, a crazy day is when the chases the cat under the table. Leina had no idea this much activity was even possible. When she started to get cranky, we packed her up and headed over to Grandma Wall’s house where Leina and I would be staying for the weekend. Poor girl, she had just absorbed Suzy’s house and then wham-o, she was somewhere new. I must say (with no little amount of pride) that she took it like a pro. So long as she could see me, she was fine. She went right to sleep in her playpen and slept like a champ. I suppose all the excitement helped of course.

The next morning, after her first nap, we loaded her up and headed back to Dan & Suzy and this is where the fun began. There were babies everywhere! Suzy has a three bedroom house and at one point, there was a kid sleeping in each room. My poor dad kept opening doors only to find the room occupied by a passed out baby. He finally gave up and went to hang out in the kitchen where he knew he’d be safe.

Daniel was only mildly interested in Leina. He showed her a few toys but lets face it, at this point Leina is a bit of a blob. Her only real tricks are smiling and drooling which aren’t too exciting to a two year old. Sammy was also unfazed by the arrival of his cousin. But then, Sammy had even less tricks up his three week old sleeve than Leina. It was Uncle Dan and Auntie Suzy who had the best time with the baby girl. They admired her chunk-a-chunk-a thighs, ooohed over her ability to put things in her mouth and delighted in making her smile. By now, Leina was pretty well adjusted to the chaos and I found she liked to just lie on her back in the middle of the room and watch everything. So she kicked and cooed on her back while we all walked over and around her.

And then something amazing happened. Granny Walls was playing with Leina on the sofa and suddenly, Leina laughed! We all ran over and sure enough, she did it again. Five times in a row she let out a real laugh! Granny Walls had no idea what she was doing that was so funny but Leina loved it. Of course, once I broke out the video camera to document the laugh, she stopped. I haven’t been able to provoke another giggle fest but I’m on a mission. Suzy was right when she said once they laugh, you don’t want them to ever stop.

The best part of the visit was when we got Sammy and Leina together on the mat side by side on their backs. Leina is flailing away with her arms and bashing Sammy in the face. Everytime an arm hit him, Sammy begans to try and suck it. They had us in stitches. We even dressed them up in Chrirstmas outfits and sat them side by side for pictures. Well, “sat” isn’t exactly the best description. Leina was propped up and (you guessed it) flailing her arms while little Sam sort of slumped on top of her. I can’t describe it but I did get a picture which I will post as soon as Kevin uploads it for me.

Oh yes, and Kevin? How is he taking our absence? Well, when I finally reached him, I found out he had just finished a pizza and was heading out to catch a movie with Kat & Josh so he couldn’t talk for long. He did confess that he’s letting Artie sleep on my spot on the bed so at least he has someone to snuggle with.

I’m so glad I decided to take a trip down here with Leina. To see Sammy and hang with my family is simply marvelous. Of couse, all this wonderful sunshine is pretty nice too!