Green Valley Lake 8-14-09

Our most recent trip was to Green Valley Lake, California. Our friends Richard and Celeste have a beautiful lakefront cabin there. This tiny mountain town has an elevation of 7,000 feet and is located between Lake Arrowhead and Big Bear in the San Bernadino National Forest. We drove up Friday afternoon. This was Vienna and Stella's first trip to the mountains. Stella could smell the lake from miles away.

Stella enjoyed the weekend as she got to play with Richard's dogs Jake and Roxy. Roxy is a little older so she wasn't as interested in playing, but Jake is the same age as Stella and they enjoyed tormenting each other by stealing the tennis ball time and time again. Stella also spent alot of time at the dog beach, swimming to her heart's content.

We spent the weekend relaxing, walking by the lake, taking a golf cart ride, and finally Saturday night enjoying a Led Zepplin tribute band at Lake Arrowhead.

The weekend did however have one small, yet tramatic, incident. We noticed Vienna's fingernails were getting long and I suggested to Chad that he should cut one of her nails. We didn't have our baby nail clippers, so we decided to use the regular kind. Needless to say, that was a big mistake. As I held Vienna, Chad clipped away. Vienna started to cry, actually it was more like a wail. I quickly asked him if he cut her, he said no. I looked at her finger and saw blood. Instinctively I just put her finger in my mouth to apply some pressure. I knew immediately that she was indeed bleeding heavily. Chad checked the clippers and sure enough, there was a big piece of skin inside. Vienna started screaming very loudly. I have to admit I went into panic mode. Celeste heard Vienna crying and quickly came into to see what happened. She immediately found her first aid kit. We applied pressure with cold washclothes and even tried ice. It seemed like forever to get the bleeding to slow down. Vienna was obviously in alot of pain. Chad held her and was very calm. I on the other hand was pacing from room to room trying to figure out what to do.

Finally we laid her down and held her arm to try to keep her still. We managed to wrap her finger up as tight as we could. She eventually calmed down and then I laid her down for a nap. She had worked herself up so much she fell right asleep. Chad and I proceeded to talk about the accident for hours. This even haunted us until bedtime. The challenge was keeping a bandage on her as she constantly puts her fingers into her mouth. We changed her bandage often and within a couple days if finally scabbed over. I wonder if she could have used a stitch or two, but we were way up in the mountains and did the best we could. The injury just so happened to be to her future wedding ring finger. Luckily her finger is basically back to normal. What an experience. I'm terrified for the first time she falls and skins her knees.

All in all, it was an eventful weekend!

Vienna Photo Shoot - July 2009

Beach Babe

Of course we couldn't wait to get Vienna her very first bikini, then again I think Chad could have waited, ha!

She's my little beach bunny.

California - Catalina Island

By popular request I have decided it's about time for another blog entry. It has been way too long. So much has happened since my last entry I'm not sure where to begin.

As many of you know, we recently moved back to California. We packed up mid-June and drove from Dallas all the way to Palo Verdes, CA. Chad drove his truck with Vienna and Stella. I followed behind in my car. Vienna tends to sleep better in Chad's truck with the dual exhaust. It was a very long and very HOT drive through West Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and finally California. We spent four nights on the road. Upon arriving we drove straight to Juliet and Steve's house. They were so very generous to let us stay with them for a little while until we found a place to live.

We are currently living in Belmont Shore, a little beach community in Long Beach. We found a cute little apartment just one block from the beach. While Chad and I are heavily focused on looking for work, we have also been enjoying our new environment and catching up with old friends.

One of our first adventures was a trip to Catalina Island with Juliet and Steve. We headed out early on a Thursday morning on Steve's boat. It took a little over an hour to get to the island. We stayed on the boat for two nights. During the day, we relaxed on the boat, fished, swam, ventured onto the island for sightseeing via a golfcart tour, shopped and enjoyed exploring different restaurants. Vienna was so content on the boat. She slept mostly on the trip over and back, as well as easily throughout each night. The waves rocked her to sleep, just as we had predicted. All in all it was a great trip and a much needed get away after our grueling drive from Texas to California and our challenging search to find an apartment.