A Busy Week

My niece got married last Saturday. Most of my family came to town for the occasion. Throw the 4th of July into the mix and we had a very busy week. Please enjoy this extensive, even after being whittled down, photographic documentation of our activities:

Lots of pool time:

Mr. Frisby even got in a round of golf with two of my brothers-in-law, Steve and Richard (that's Steve in the picture, not Mr. Frisby).

A trip to the beach:

This was actually Stella's first trip to the beach. I think she enjoyed it, but we found out she feels about sand how she felt about grass. She hates it. Therefore, it makes a pretty good babysitter. But, as long as she was sitting on a towel or something, she had a lovely time. That second picture is my nephew, Max, buried in sand up to his head. Awesome.

Next was the 4th of July. This was probably Scout's worst day of the week. Up until then, she had been enjoying having so many fun people around. But, the 4th of July - well I think it nearly did her in. We started the day with pool time. This was where Scout's problems started. She gets very anxious when people are in the pool and feels the need to watch out for everyone. But, she will not get in herself. So, she is constantly racing around the pool, barking incessantly at anyone who looks like they might be in danger, i.e. splashing or under the water. As you can see from the following picture, we had a lot of people in the pool. Therefore, there were a lot of people for poor Scout to "keep track of".

Scout takes her watchdog responsibilities very seriously. She would not leave the pool side all afternoon. As long as someone was in the pool, she had to be outside watching. By the end of the afternoon, she had barked herself hoarse and the poor thing had been running back and forth so much that she had worn down one of her toenails until it was bleeding. And she still had the fireworks to deal with later.

Although Scout was wound up as tight as could be, the rest of us were having a great time. Stella got to sport a festive new bikini (it's actually not "new", just new to her) and thoroughly enjoyed the pool as she always does.

There was diving board fun:

There was jumping off the side of the pool fun:

There were floatie wars:

There were choreographed and coordinated pool entries:

And, at one point, Scout did take a brief, though much-needed break from her lifeguard duties:

And Grandma was in hog heaven with all the grandkids around:

After the afternoon swimming, it was off to my sister's house for a BBQ and fireworks. We decided it was in Scout's best interest to leave her in the car during the fireworks show. She was huddled by our legs during dinner because she could hear small fireworks going off throughout the neighborhood. We figured she would feel fairly safe in the car and it would block out the sound a little bit. I think this proved to be a wise choice. She was eager to get in the car and immediately laid down on the floor when she hopped inside. After the fireworks, she was in the exact same spot when we opened the car door. She was clearly not excited, but she wasn't shaking, so that was an improvement over her status during dinner.

The rest of us, however, enjoyed the fireworks, Stella included. It was her first fireworks show and, although she was tired, she seemed to enjoy the bright fireworks and didn't mind the noise.

This post is getting long. Are you still with me? You are? Good because we still have several days to get through.

After a very busy 4th of July, we decided to tone things down a bit. The next day, we had intended to go to San Francisco with my brother and his family, but by the time we got moving and got to my parents' house to pick up my sister and head up to meet them, we decided it was too late to go to the city (we had to be back for my niece's bridal shower that evening). Instead we opted for a quick trip to Rancho San Antonio to go to Deer Hollow Farms. We thought Stella would enjoy seeing the animals and we thought Scout would enjoy staying with my parents' for an hour or two to sleep while we were gone. By the time we got to Deer Hollow Farms, Stella was asleep. I think she would've liked the animals if she had seen them. She only woke up as we were leaving, so she just got a quick glimpse of the cow. Maybe next time. We enjoyed our walk, though, and Scout got a great nap. She didn't move from her spot in my parents' living room the whole time we were gone.

Friday, we went to Big Basin to see the redwoods. We packed a lunch which we ate upon arriving at the park. Then, we did the short hike that goes by all the well-known redwood trees. Stella loved being outside and seeing the trees.

She thought the pine needles were hysterical.

She also thought sitting on my shoulders and pulling my hair was hysterical.

Big Basin was fun and, as you can see, we had quite the group. I wish this picture wasn't blurry.

Saturday was the big day. We forgot our camera at the temple, but we picked it up after the wedding on our way to the luncheon. After lunch, the plan was to go to the reception site and help get things set up. Stella was tired and it was very hot, so she was making it impossible for me to help with anything. So, while Mr. Frisby was hard at work, I fed her a bottle while sitting in the back of our car and documented everyone else setting up.

That night was the reception. It was a Luau reception. All the hard work setting up paid off because the place looked great. And the food was great. And the entertainment was great. Stella handled the long day like a champ.

So did my parents.

So did Alyssa and Alec.

And look, the Secret Service even showed up.

Then it got cold, making us all scramble to our cars for blankets.

And then our busy week was over. Congrats to Alyssa and Alec on a very successful wedding. And congrats to you for making it through this post!