Andrew and Djerrassi

Sunday was a busy day.  First, Bob's nephew Andrew and Andrew's girlfriend Lauren visited us. Andrew is from upstate New York, and recently got a job in Fresno. We now have family nearby! He and Lauren have been doing some major sight-seeing around California. The kind of major, free-wheeling tour you can do when you're young and don't have two kids strapped to your hips.

As I was getting ready Sunday morning, I was thinking about Andrew's visit, and it suddenly occurred to me:  we are the elders.  I imagined Andrew telling his girlfriend that he needed to pay a visit to his uncle. I thought about how old that sounded.  Those of you who know me, know that I have been "29 and holding" for the past 10  few years. When I think of myself as an "aunt" I  view myself as the young, (hopefully) hip aunt Heather, who flies into town for the weekend and hangs out as "dude" to nieces Anna & Francie, and nephew Marco. But this Sunday, thinking about Andrew visiting "Uncle Bob" and his children, I had a harsh, ugly reality facing me: we are now the adults. The mature ones. The old ones. With kids.

It was unsettling.

It was so unsettling that it may have been why I kept biting my tongue every time I almost asked an "old person question."  You remember, when you were young, how older people would ask the most boring, predictable questions?  Questions like, "How is school?" and  "Do you like your teachers?" and the absolute worst, the one so awful that it is even a joke in a movie (the name of the movie escapes me now, probably because I am so old!), "Do you have a special friend?"  Even though I tried to quash any tendencies to ask "old person questions,"  I still came off as an old person.  I did ask Lauren if she is in school. When she replied that she is in her senior year, I seriously thought, for half a second, that she meant senior year in high school. Yes, they are young and beautiful. And yes, I am old and well, old-looking. I did ask Andrew some dork questions about his new job, "Do you like your job?" and "Do you eat lunch out with your co-workers?" So much for the cool factor. I might as well have asked Andrew if Lauren is his special friend.    

We are happy that Andrew and Lauren visited though! We hope that they come back and visit the old folks again soon.

Later that day, we went to Djerrassi.  This is our third year to attend this artists' residence program in the beautiful hills.  I had the babies (and myself) completely bathed in sunscreen (see dork factor, above) because it is always hot and sunny when we visit Djerrassi.  This year, we drove up and found fog and  cool air waiting for us.  We spent a lot of our time indoors because we were dressed for summer.  While Bob watched a dance performance, I took these artistic self-portraits with my iPhone:

Self portrait with baby

Self portrait with son

Self portrait with children

Bode ran around the place like he was a special exhibit for viewing, some kind of kinetic art!  He even tripped and and busted his face. Performance art! For once, I was the owner of the rambunctious  child that makes everyone think to themselves, "Why did they bring that kid here?"  Despite his energetic bursts, Bode did win some hearts. One artist actually played "peek-a-boo" with Bode, allowing us to admire the art on the walls uninterrupted.  



Playing peek-a-boo



Bob and I viewed some great art. The kind of art that, if I had a fat bank account, I would have written a check to the artist right there on the spot. I wanted to take two of those paintings home for our bare walls.  I would love to say, "hey, nice job" and really mean it, you know?

And, of course, the highlight for Bode was the tractor outside.

Check out the fog behind them!

It was a perfect day of family, nature, and art.

xo