We just returned from a relaxing week away with my parents, cousin, and her family. We rented a lovely house in Scottsdale, AZ, and spent the week swimming, eating, and doing as little as possible. The kids had a BLAST. James and Liam were inseparable, and Annie was in heaven having 24-hour access to baby Harper, who is now nine months old. We played lots of Bananagrams and watched lots of baseball and did I mention we ate a lot? I’m still digesting everything.

Around The ‘Net

~Turning 26 Is A Potential Death Sentence For People With Type 1 Diabetes In America

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~What Does A Rocket Scientist Look Like? Ask Georgia Tech Grad, Tiffany Davis

~Apollo 11 moon landing: Watch the most iconic moments from CBS News’ coverage

~Notre-Dame came far closer to collapsing than people knew. This is how it was saved.

~Brain implant restores partial vision to blind people

~Decades ago, he stole a tree branch. Now he is the Durian King

~Do Umpires Dream of Electronic Strikes?

~Eight decades later, the last Beetle rolls off the production line

~If you flush drugs down the toilet, you could be creating ‘meth gators,’ police in Tennessee say

~You can rent a night’s stay in an Oscar Mayer Wienermobile on Airbnb

~Pampers Creating ‘Smart’ Diaper

The Earth Was Shakin’

I forgot to tell you guys about the two big earthquakes we had here on July 4th & 5th! We actually didn’t feel the first one, the 6.9. We were at home, getting ready to leave for Annie’s State Tournament. It’s common for people in our town to not feel large earthquakes – we’re situated on the east side of the Santa Monica mountains and solid rock is pretty hard to shake. Plus, the epicenter was about 130 miles away. However, on July 5th, we were only about 80 miles away from the epicenter of the 7.1. The moment the earthquake hit, I was standing on a minor league baseball field with Annie’s softball team. We’d just finished the tournament’s opening ceremony and were waiting for the teams in front of us to make their way off the field so we could follow. One of the girls grabbed my arm and yelped, “Coach Heather! What’s happening?!”

Having spent the majority of my life in Southern California, I’ve felt a lot of earthquakes. NONE OF THEM were like this one. All the big ones from my past were strong jolts that were over as soon as I realized what was happening. This one was a long, slow roller – it felt like standing on a boat on rough waters. When I realized what was happening, I yelled out to my fellow coaches and we grabbed all of our players…although I didn’t really need to “grab” any because five of them wrapped their bodies around me in fear. We assured the girls everything was fine and we were going to be okay, while we looked over their heads at each other like, “OMG WHEN IS THIS EARTHQUAKE GOING TO STOP.” When it finally did, we quickly got the girls off the field and to their parents. The poor girls were so scared – they’d never felt a large earthquake before.

When we were back at the hotel and in bed, I felt several more large aftershocks. It was nuts – there were aftershocks almost every minute. Literally!

I’m just so thankful no one was hurt by either of the big quakes or the aftershocks. And I’m hopeful that those two earthquakes and their aftershocks have alleviated some of the stress California’s fault lines are under.

Fun Finds

~If you have a baseball or softball-obsessed kid, this subscription box looks really cool. I just signed Annie up!
~I actually showed a lot of restraint on Amazon Prime Day, only buying two pairs of jeans for Mike. But if I’d seen these hot pink Pumas on sale, I wouldn’t have been able to resist (Annie wants a pair, of course).
~My brother gave me Apple AirPods for our birthday. They’re something I never would have bought for myself, but I loooove them. Usually in-ear headphones are horribly uncomfortable for me, but these aren’t – and the sound is FLAWLESS.

Happy Sunday, everyone!