Chapter 34: A View To Remember

In San Sequoia life is hectic, but less dramatic, than in Willow Creek. With an infant and a child in the house, Jamie and Christmas try to balance work and staying at home, giving Harmony time to develop without nanny's and day care as much as possible.

Sometimes Jamie stays at home. He takes her jogging and tests the waters in the lake together. They find out that she loves the water. Any kind of water.



When Christmas is at home with Harmony, she tries getting some painting done at the same time, but how can you paint when you're baby girl is standing up for the first time?



With two kids, Christmas and Jamie often split their attention. Someone needs to teach Link how to ride a bike.



Still, Link also plays a fair bit on his own. It's not always easy to be the first child, but he loves his treehouse, and his chemistry set, so he doesn't mind. And the view from up here is amazing. Not that he thinks about it too much.



Somehow, Jamie manages to get a promotion in the middle of their hectic family life.



He tells his family at dinner



Before feeding and changing little Harmony before going to bed himself.



The next morning, Link has his first loose tooth. He cannot help but to wiggle it, even if it hurts.



He tries to do his homework at breakfast, having failed to do it the night before. Jamie tries to balance helping him and admonishing him for not doing it yesterday.



But today isn't just any day. Today is Harmony's birthday, and tomorrow there will be a toddler in the house once more. Christmas isn't sure she wants her little girl to become a toddler just yet.



Link looks forward to being able to play more actively with his sister, however.



The house is filled with the closest family and friends.



And then it's time to blow out the candles.



But having many guests can be tiring on a little girl. So Harmony takes a nap on the sofa while mummy remakes her bed into a big girl bed. Derek takes the opportunity to mentor Christmas in handiness as she does. After all, that precious little girl should not have an unsafe bed.



At long last, Harmony can go to sleep in her new bed, read to sleep by her mommy.



It turns out Harmony is a quite willful toddler, who likes her "princess tiara" (cheap sparkly diadem) so much that she refuse to take it off even when she's in the bath. At least she's easy to get into the bath, as she still loves everything associated with water.



This means the toddler pool gets a lot of use, regardless of which parent seems to be near.



But the family also makes an outing one weekend to the splash pools, where Harmony can play with the water while Link practises his bike-riding.



For Christmas, it means a lot that the entire family can now sit and eat at the same time, even if dinners are sometimes stressfull when Harmony - a picky eater - throws perfectly good food on the floor then complain about being hungry. But mostly it's just nice.



Sometimes granddad Lawrence comes over and plays, which Harmony loves and Christmas greatly appreciates as it gives her time to help Link with his homework.



Link isn't as pleased with that, as he'd rather play with his science table, or observe the sky in his telescope.



He prefers when he can play pirates with cousin Valentine, who isn't as mean to him as he is to others.



And when Valentine gets to stay the night at a slumber party (to give his parents the chance for a date nigth), he loves every second of it, even if Valentine hands down win the pillow fight.



Now that Harmony is older, Christmas can take her with her to work, and leave her at the day care they have there. She plays well with the toys they have, but she prefers it when mommy can help her on the slide. She still think its a bit scary when she uses it on her own.



But she's developing quickly and soon she is attempting the stairs on her own.



And about the same time, Link finally masters bike riding.
"Now I can bike over to Valentine's place!" he says happily.



Only Valentine's place won't be Valentine's much longer. At the Landgraab household, Carolyn and Sunny are making plans to move back to Oasis Springs.

Sunny, who loves San Sequoia, isn't as eager as Carolyn, but he does she her point when she argues that they'll be able to spend more time with his parents. And he cannot deny that it was something Carolyn told him would happen sooner or later. He just always assumed it would be later, but the death of Malcolm has hit her mother hard, and she's aging fast.
"I just don't know how long she'll still be with us," Carolyn says.

 



And so they make up their mind to start the move before school starts again after summer. Sunny cannot deny that he will miss that view though.

 


Valentine, on his end, doesn't like the idea of moving at all. He takes out his frustration on his teddy bear.

 



Perhaps that is why Sunny and Caroline decide that a vacation is due before they move. And so they return to Tartosa, renting the same house they rented for their honeymoon, but now as a family.

On the first day they enjoy the setting sun on the beach while Valentine play.



And after watching him Sunny can't help but to dig a little himself, finding more bottles for their collection back home.

 


As they wake up on their second day, Carolyn gets the news that she is now officially the Vice President of the Landgraab company. She tells the others during breakfast. Valentine is so interested that he heads out the door and runs to the beach immediately.




Maybe there is a treasure buried?



As Carolyn joins their son on the beach, Sunny takes a stroll with the camera.



And run into his uncle Neo while he's at it. The two talk for a while, about life, changes and moving before it's time for Sunny to rejoin his family. They're trying out the Indian food right next to the square, all of them wondering why in the name of Plumbob there is only Indian and Chinese food to be had in an Italian town. And why there is no coffee bar to be found anywhere.
"It's so strange, not even the cake stand sells coffee?" Carolyn complains.

Back at the rental house, Sunny and Carolyn enjoys the hot tub after Valentine has gone to bed. He has really taken to the furniture here, and knows he wants none of the modern stuff when he gets his new room.




But before the move they need to say good bye. To the neighborhood and their house, and so they host a party for neighbors (which mostly means Christmas and her family) serving brunch before packing up their belongings.

Valentine, in a generally bad mood before the mood, starts out by teasing Link the moment they arrive, but get a massive telling off from Jamie in response.



After, Jamie heads out to the porch for a drink and a chat with Sunny.
"How is Valentine handling all this?" he asks. Sunny shrugs.
"One moment he seems fine, the next he acts out. Not much to do, though, Janette is getting older, she can't handle the company much longer."

They gather around the dining table for a final meal together in this house. The shelves across the windows seem empty without their bottles and things.
"How far are you in packing?"
"We've packed most small things, the movers are coming in later and picking up the furniture," Carolin answers.

Once they have, Kyle is the only one still in the house. No one really knows why, or why he hasn't got a shirt on.

But soon he too has to leave as the move is on and they're off to Oasis Springs. Carolyn is thrown into her work straight away, taking over her mother's (previously also her father's and grandmother's) office. It's the first time that she and Sunny has not shared an office.

Sunny, instead, makes an office for himself upstairs, next to Valentine's room. In here he can paint the room in the bright sunny colors he prefers.



Jeanette, on the other hand, is mostly happy that she can relax. She retires almost as soon as her daughter sits down behind the desk, and spend the rest of the day in the sun lounger and pool.



For Valentine, a playground has been set up next to the house. And he can also play in the large pool. And ride his bike as much as he want down the quiet street.





But none of that changes the fact that there are next to no children in the area and the next door neighbor is an old folks home.

And for Sunny and Carolyn the main bedroom is still unavailable, so the dining room/meeting room next to the office is turned into their room for the moment. It's so big that it feels a bit empty, but they both know it's temporary.



Valentine, on the other hand, has been allowed to make his room almost exactly like he wants it, even if his style clash violently with the modern house. By the time his room is finished he crashes into bed, insisting the light be left on as he has developed a fear of the dark. Or a lure to it. He's not entirely sure which. Maybe if he was a terrifying creature himself he wouldn't need to be afraid of them? He falls asleep dreaming dreams of creatures of the night, living in ancient old houses filled with furniture like the ones he now has in his room.