A distant cousin (the daughter of my grandmother's brother, second cousin to my father..whatever relation that is!) got married in San Francisco at the St. Francis this weekend.

My immediate paternal family came up from Southern CA for the wedding, and Aunt Polly and Uncle Dave came out from their new digs in North Carolina so that Polly could officiate (she's an Episcopalian priest).

Polly and Dave stayed with us from Tuesday through Friday and we had a really good time. I like having houseguests, especially when they're fun and helpful and good conversationalists.

They just happened to come during a hectic week when:
a) Julian was suddenly fussier and clingier than normal (getting 2nd year molars?)
b) Bugs went to the vet for his annual exam and had to come home early due to "explosive diarrhea" and excessive stress. He then proceeded to wake me up every 15 minutes two nights in a row to go outside and continue his excessive shitting. was not a happy camper, and there was a lot of really nasty gooey dog poos on the lawn.
c) Dan and I were crabby with one another. Julian was super-mommy-centric and wasn't buddy-buddy with Daddy like he normally is, so Dan couldn't help me out with Julian as much as normal, and I got stressed out by nonstop whining/fussing/clinging and then pissed with Dan for constantly backing off on helping with Julian when I was so tired and frazzled. And I'm not sure why Dan was pissed. Because his son was favoring Mommy over Daddy that week? I gues that could make a Dad pissy. Plus, I was crabby with him.

Anyway, Polly and Dave were great. They amused Julian by playing ball with him, reading books, and even a little badminton practice.

Dave is now known as the "Poopoo Uncle". One morning, when I was struggling to make pancakes for breakfast despite an onslaught of leg-grabbing and whining from Julian, Dave scooped up Julian and took him out back to look for poop to scoop. (Remember, this was after Bugs' "Night of a Thousand Poops")

Don't ask me why my uncle wanted to go out back and help scoop a sick dog's gooey poops...let's just say that I'm nominating Dave for Houseguest of the Century.

Oh and Dave ALSO volunteered to clean up one of Julian's pee accidents on the carpet. (No, we weren't doing so well at EC that week). He insisted that I hand him the cloth to wipe it up, so he could "practice for when he had grandkids". The man is a hero!

Anyway, the next morning J was fussing again, so Dave came over to ask him if he wanted to play with the ball. Julian pointed outside and said, "Poopoo!". He wanted Dave to carry him around outside to look for poop again. Apparently my boy has quite the talent for poo spotting!

We went on two good hikes (Fremont Older and Sanborn), ate two excellent meals out (TGI Sushi and Three Seasons), and had lots of interesting discussions.

Dave and Polly left on Friday and we were sad to see them go. Saturday we chilled, then Sunday a whole mess o'family came over. Dad, Peggy, Lisa and Jimmy, Grandma Wava, Manny, Anni, Murph and Hana...we played games and had fun. Anni took much better pictures than me. But she's good at sharing ;-)

Anni, Murph and Hana came over the previous Tuesday night as well for game playing with Polly and Dave and us, so we got twice the fun all in one week. It's prety rare that I get any family time at all, so it was exciting to have all family all week. Too bad we don't all live closer to one another.