The Mac Kinnon Family

Emily is doing great so far, she is just going with the flow. She thought the beach was pretty cool and the waves were interesting, but didn't like when the cold water splashed her. She enjoyed our stroll through Tahoe as well, we wore her out. It's amazing how babies can truly sleep anywhere!

We have had a great time playing in Tahoe. Brian woke up Saturday morning with a fever so Jim and Toni took him to urgent care as a precaution. Turned out to be nothing but better safe than sorry. Mac has had a number of bumps and bruises lately, his last two big ones was a black eye from playing rough with Brian and a nice rasberry on his elbow from a fall on his bike. He is no worse for wear but bath time is a challenge when his scrapes get wet. The boys sure love to play together. The first words out of Mac's mouth in the morning is where is Brian. The boys were not the only ones that enjoyed this vacation. Grandma Jan spent a lot of time with Emily and the Boys. John

We had a wonderful time at Lake Tahoe this weekend. We made one last stop there with Jim, Toni, Brian and Grandma Jan. Grandma Jan opted to stay in a hotel, we told her there was plenty of room, but I think she needed her peace and quiet in the evenings! We had a fabulous time, it was so nice to camp together, it will be a while before we get to do it again. Lake Tahoe was cold, the boys ventured in......

We left Tahoe today and it was a tough goodbye with Grandma Jan, Uncle Jim, Aunt Toni and Cousin Brian. Taking down camp did not take to long (one cup of coffee!). Mac and Brian played all morning and went for a bike ride before we hit the road. The trip started slow as we made it 45 miles in 2 1/2 hours due to a lunch break and shopping in Reno. We made it into Elko, NV around 6:30 PM which meant that we traveled 340 miles in 8 hours. Only two or three stops but due to breast feeding and letting Mac stretch his legs they are long stops. Tomorrow our plan it to get up and swim at the pool before hitting the road. We will not have internet tomorrow night so look for Day 2 and Day 3 posts on Tuesday night. John

Grandma Jan requested to take the boys to the Sacramento Zoo Thursday morning. The one catch was she needed to be back before 1:30 pm so the boys could take their naps . Things were on schedule and looking pretty good until Brian picked up a rock in the parking lot and began drawing circles into Amity's Camry. On top of needing new tires Amity is also dealing with USAA insurance to make sure we are just using our deductible ! We leave for Tahoe tomorrow. Amity and I both want to keep everyone updated as much as possible so stay tuned even if we are unable to get a wireless signal for a day or two. See ya, John

Mac went to Brians swim lessons today and was able to swim in the little pool. He played shy guy for a while, then had lots of fun with Brian. Of course we had to add a pic of Emily. It's been busy and still a bit of a stressful time for us, we hoped we left it in Alameda but it's followed us here. We need to put new tires on my car, then John got a huge nail in his that is too close to the side wall, so he needs one new tire. We keep getting suprised by unexpected expenses, we may end up on lawn chairs in our new home instead of a new couch as our furniture fund is dwindling! We did settle on our new home today, we are thrilled we have a home, we just wont see it for another 2 1/2 weeks!

It was our first day of our family vacation. We are staying with Jim and Toni for a couple days and then we are off to South Lake Tahoe to start our journey. Here are a couple pictures from today.

We were up very late last night and up early this morning so we could finish up some loose end. About 10 am this morning as I'm changing Emily John comes into the camper and says "they took the hitch", of course I thought he was joking since he likes to try to get me every now and then and I'm sleep deprived, so I chuckled and went back to what I was doing. The look of shock on his face when he says "Amity I'm not joking", I then realized he was serious. Without the hitch we cannot hook up the camper to John's truck. John was so upset at himself, but we needed to find a tow hitch so he focused on the task at hand and $250 later we have another hitch. John remembers the packers asking if she should pack it and he told her no, but forgot to add it to our "do not touch pile" so it's on it's way to Virginia! We are now in Sacramento with Jimmy (John's brother) for a few days before we start on big adventure! So long Alameda, i...

Well, it's 1243 am and we are just finishing up with the house cleaning. We started at about 8:00 am and took a dinner break over at Holly's house. She has kept Mac for us for the last couple days so we can concentrate on cleaning. Time to hit the rack. We are looking forward to doing the walk through with the landlord and getting on the road!

We decided we deserved a day off today and went into San Francisco one more time. The two things we wanted to do was walk the Golden Gate Bridge and go to Coit Tower. We accomplished both and are very tired. It was a beautiful day in the city, we are going to miss the bay area. We have tomorrow left to clean the house, it will be a late night tomorrow night, but well worth the break today. Holly joined us, Mac is spending his last overnight for a while with her tonight.

I met up with Rachel this afternoon after Mac's party. Rachel has been a dear friend. When she hired me at the SPCA I saw a little of myself in her. She was a fabulous boss, a straight shooter and you always knew where you stood with her. Over time we became friends and I often asked for her help or advice, she has a wealth of knowledge. Her son is a month older than Mac. Parker is an extremely smart child and amazes me every time I see him. Mac and Parker enjoy hanging out together almost as much as I enjoyed hanging out with Rach. I will dearly miss Rachel. Everyone (except me and Emily of course) enjoyed some ice cream this afternoon!

Today was Mac's last day of school. It was sad, he has been at the CDC for 3 years and has warmed the hearts of many staff there. We took in cupcakes and juice for the kids and goodies for the teachers. I know parents always feel their child is wonderful, after seeing staff's reactions today upon Mac's departure, he seemed to really impact many lives with his smile and glowing personality. He gets we are moving but I don't think he really comprehends what that means. Yesterday on the way home he told John that he can't play with Kiera (one of his friends since he started) anymore becuase he was moving to Virginia. John said "you are right you won't be able to play with her after we leave". He then told John that he would play with his new friends in Virginia. John replied that he would be able to play iwth his new friends, Mac then asked John "what were his new friend names? Maybe one will be Parker. It's amazing how his mind is proc...

Today they loaded all our worldly belongings, it was another very long day. They arrived with a semi at 9:30 am and pulled out about 10:15 pm this evening. The poor guys worked very hard today. No big hiccups except one of the kitchen drawers was mistakenly packed in the semi. The packers took it out yesterday and John had to take the baby lock off. We set it aside, when I was walking through the house to make sure they had everything I asked where the drawer was, when I asked John his expression was priceless. At that moment I knew we were in trouble. He asked the packers if the recall seeing it, they did but it was in the middle of the load, no way to retrieve it. So our kitchen drawer will meet us in Virginia, hopefully the landlord will be understanding.......

Another busy day, packers worked until 7 pm but we are all packed up and ready for them to load our stuff tomorrow. Holly was so kind to bring us dinner which we wolfed down, we are very very tired, hopefully we'll be in bed by 11 tonight, yippeee!!!!! This is our home away from home for the next month! We are packed in but comfortable! Of course I couldn't resist a picture of Emily!

We let Mac pick 5 of his stuffed animals to bring along for our trip. One of them is his racoon which looks very life like. We've walked into the camper forgetting it was there and it has freaked me out three times and it even got John once.

Mac has done tremendously well with swimming. We are very sad to loose this great facility and lessons. He is learning more everyday and LOVES being in the water. We are so proud of him!