Hopeful Tide : Summer 2014 Part 1

I can't believe it's already September, and even though I'm I have all the fans on and Nathan is still running around in just a diaper because it's so hot, technically, summer is over. I won't rehash my wishes of having kept up with my blogging this summer (see my previous post), so I'll just try to give a few highlights of what we have been up to!
April:
We celebrated Easter together just as a family of three this year! It was much different than being home and we missed everyone and all the traditions a lot! However, it was fun to give Nathan a little Easter basket and go to church and have a relaxing day at the beach with just us! We have never celebrated a holiday just us before. When we got back from the beach, our apt complex offered a little petting zoo for the kids. We thought Nathan wouldn't care, but we thought it would make for a cute picture if nothing else. He was hilarious. He LOVED it! He was so over stimulated but just died laughing the whole time and couldn't get enough! (Don't worry, Dad G, we washed his hands thoroughly after the experience) :-)

The very end of April/beginning of May, Mary Kathryn found an impromptu cheap flight from Florida and kicked off our summer of visitors! She was so gracious as I figured out how to balance keeping Nathan on some form of a schedule while at the same time showing her a good time. I didn't do very well and went a little overboard with trying to keep him on a schedule. However, we still had so much fun and I promised her a much more fun (and less crazy version of me) visit next time she comes. We loved going to the San Diego Zoo with her, hiking up in La Jolla, going on a few runs together, and having some much needed girl time. We haven't gotten one on one time in years and years, and I treasured the time with her so much. She is pretty amazing!! I'm so proud of her! Here are a few pics of our time with her!

We love her!!

(Ok obviously not a pic of my sister but it was nice getting a family shot that wasn't us trying to take a "selfie!")

Our hike in La Jolla

Exploring Seaport Village

May:

Christina came to visit!! She graduated from college the week before she came. We were SO so sad that we couldn't make the trip to be there, but instead promised to give her some CA treatment. She nicely obliged and came for about two weeks. I had gotten slightly better about my flexibility since Mary Kathryn came, but it wasn't until about halfway through our summer visitors that I finally figured out a little morefile:///Users/dguthmann/Desktop/IMG_7894.JPG a balance. Despite my floundering through motherhood, we still managed to have so much fun. We explored the beach, relaxed at the pool, went to the Safari Park for the first time, ate lots of yummy food, and stayed up late. We even braved the scary roaches outside to run to the hot tub late one night while David stayed home with Nathan. We were sad to see her go!!