Visitors, Catalina, and Sick Sunday

I hate taking such a long hiatus from blogging, but lately my consistency is a little off, to say the least. Luckily, I have some good excuses, like visitors and illnesses and upcoming birthdays. So here's a quick recap, and here's hoping this week will be better.

The big news of the week: My parents visited! They made their usual trip, Wednesday through Friday, and we got lots of quality time. Marshall practiced climbing the stairs at the playground!

PopPop and Marshall read all about the farm.

Scout had to go to the vet for a vaccination and spent about 24 hours curled up like this.

We made a trip to UCLA and wandered around a bit. Marshall got to learn a little about Coach.

One highlight of my parents' visits is always their help around the house. Usually, I scramble around trying to take care of everyday chores, but now we have things (a little) more under control around here, so my dad helped me do some deep cleaning. He vacuumed the entire house, including Scout's tower and our heater vents, plus he scrubbed our bathrooms. 

Terry, these are the things we'll be doing for Marshall when he has a kid!

Marshall wanted to help vacuum.

Mom helped by watching Marshall so I could scrub our kitchen.

Scout didn't help at all.

(Thank you thank you thank you Mom and Dad for all your help this week!!!)

Terry's birthday is this week. As part of his celebration, he wanted to get back in the water for some diving. Last weekend he refreshed his skills in the pool, and on Saturday we all headed out to Catalina Island!

...at 6:15 am. Had to arrive at the ferry station at 5:45. Had to leave the house at 5:15. Had to wake up at 4:45. We were all pretty tired.

BUT once we arrived and found a gorgeous morning, it was all worth it!

Marshall helped Daddy prep his scuba gear.

And while Terry dove, Marshall snoozed and I walked. A lot!

We also got some time to play. 

Checking out the salt water taffy making machine!

We tried out Maggie's Blue Rose, a Mexican restaurant, and loved it! Tacos, enchiladas, and guacamole.

Honestly, I felt a little nervous about the day--I knew it would feel long and tiring for Marshall, and probably me--but it was absolutely worth it. Terry seemed really excited to dive again, and we really did get a lot of family time. Marshall napped great (once in the Ergo with me, and once in the stroller for over an hour). I got a ton of exercise--over 19,000 steps! And Terry rocked his dives. He's now completed 88 dives!

Today, unfortunately, we're all under the weather. Terry's been getting over a cold and thinks it came back a little, Marshall's in the middle of something unpleasant (it breaks my heart to hear his deep cough and sad, lethargic cries!), and I'm trucking my way through the same thing. We took today as a major rest day (thanks to Terry for getting up with Marshall at 5:30 so I could sleep longer), but even that hasn't cured us. I'm sure it'll be a few more days before we're all back to 100%. 

(How do babies manage to be so cheerful when they're sick?)

Since we're suffering from colds, soup sounded perfect for dinner, so I spent some time in the kitchen making a favorite: Ina's Winter Minestrone. We all loved it, and the broth felt great on my throat. I also bought oranges and sweet potatoes and other healthy foods to boost our nutrition. Gotta fight these germs!

And now it's time for bed and Monday and getting our family healthy. I hope you had a wonderful weekend!