Another road trip ...

Brian worked a 96 hour stretch last week and since I was off, I decided to pack up and head to Clovis to visit my longtime friend, Dina.  We met in 1993 in the LVN Program.  We don't get together as often as we used to but when we do it's just like old times.  She has 3 girls (ages 6, 4 and 1).  K absolutely loved all the girl things ... M had a great time as well.  The kids were excellent, Dina and I were able to just catch up.

Don't let the innocent faces fool ya.

Popcorn and movie time.  They watch Alvin and the Chipmunks.

After swimming, they ALL took a bubble bath.  I told M he didn't have to get in with the girls if he was uncomfortable but he wanted to ... so he wore his swim trunks and thank goodness doesn't notice the girls' anatomy.

Silly faces.

Pool time.

M modeling for the camera.

DOGPILE!!!!!!!!!!

I should be busy packing ... we're going away on yet another trip.  This time the kids are going to be with Grammy and Grandpa and Brian and I will have 3 days ALONE together.  I haven't seen him much since our camping trip to Santa Cruz so some quality time will be nice.  We are celebrating our 8th wedding anniversary (which is Aug 3).  I completely adore the kids ... but we desperately need a break.

Last night we had a get together at K's soccer coach's house and because they live close by we rode our bikes over there.  The kids played and we all got to know each other and then we had ice cream sundae's (I didn't ... on the healthy train again).  Well, K was out kicking the ball around with the boys and let me tell you, I think she's going to be really good.  She's so aggressive and can really dribble the ball.  Never played soccer in my life, is that what it's called?  Or just a basketball term?  Well, on the way home, I had the bright idea to ride our bikes around the block.  About 10 houses down, K took a huge header, scraped her knee up and refused to ride her bike home.  M was such a good boy and rode her bike home for me and then walked back (I still have my infant seat on the back of my bike).  We'll he had just about gotten back to us and he was wearing flip-flops and slipped (big-time) and knocked the wind out of himself and landed right on his tailbone.  He was overtired and had a little breakdown and refused to walk or ride his bike home.  He was sobbing!  What could I do?  Neither of them would walk!  After about 15 minutes of frustration with him, I had to leave him there and ride my bike home as fast as I could to get my car and go get him.  What a day.  KIDS, ugh!

Well, the rat race is starting again real soon.  They start soccer practice next wee, then school the following week and 2 more weeks of swim lessons.  I didn't think that through very well.  We didn't want anything during the summer so we could travel but I hadn't thought about soccer.  K will have 1 hour practices on T/Th and M will have 1 1/2 hour practices on M/W ... plus games on the weekends.  For 2 weeks we are going to have to race right from swim to soccer ... plus fit in school, dinner and homework.  I can't imagine having more kids.  How could we do it?

M's been too much lately.  I was doing the Wii Fit today and he ran outside and got my kettle bell and began to do swings (an exercise) with it.  He was serious to.  Before bed, I caught him flexing his muscles in the mirror.

Another funny.  BOYS.  The other morning I woke up to M holding dead rabbit skin and fur in front of my face to show me!  He and Brian had found it during their bike-ride.  Eeeew.  He'll also pick up disgusting bugs and bring them over to me to look at.

K's been eating a ton of carrots so she can "see better".  She's so proud that she's in "Pre-K" now and tells just about everyone she sees.  M can be such a stinker ... he'll tell her, "it's just preschool K."  Then they argue about it.

Sorry if I'm rambling ... it's 11:00 at night and it's been a looong day.  K's been a hand full lately ... to put in mildly.  .I better get to bed.

Cute video of K

I shot this video of K a few months ago but forgot to post it.  It's the cutest thing ever. 

No more training wheels

One of the things we set out to do this summer was get M to ride his bike without his training wheels.  He was a little nervous and insisted on some knee pads (safety guy) but he easily learned in 2 days.  Honestly, he could have done it a long time ago but we didn't work with him.  Life is just sooo busy.  Here are some pictures from the 1st day we started working with him.  He instantly could do it if Brian helped him start but had difficulty starting on his own and pulling both feet up.  This happened to be on a week that was 100+ outside so the cool mom that I am let him practice in the house (love indestructible laminate flooring).  He started getting the hang of it right away and now can't get enough of riding.  He rode 3 miles yesterday with a huge smile on his face the entire time.  Now if we could just get him to learn how to tie his own shoes!!  We're going to start working with K soon.  She's fearless.

He's getting it figured out.

Come on buddy, you can do it.

And there he goes.  Big smiles.

I love his proud face in this one.

Another huge thing is that both kids are swimming so well.  M can actually swim and is working on swimming freestyle.  The boy that used to cry when he got his eyes wet is a fish.  He dives to the bottom to pick up marbles and is constantly trying to do hand stands.  So much fun.

K is doing great also.  She didn't wear wings at all when we went to Dina's and although she made me nervous, did fine.  The dangerous thing is that she's not nearly as good as she thinks she is.  She doggy-paddles but gets tired and all you'll see is her mouth and nose barely above water.  You have to watch her every second.  If she would just swim underwater, it would be so much easier and although she can do it well, she won't.

Photos from Santa Cruz

I'm finally getting around to posting pictures from our 3 night getaway in Santa Cruz.  I don't have time to write much but here are some photos - a lot of photos.  I took tons and couldn't narrow it down.

K finally gets a turn at the wheel.  In the picture, it doesn't look like she's having a great time but she really was loving it and giggling  ... but NOT watching the road.

It was a little chilly in the mornings.

Just a cute one of K.

While walking near the water, we saw several dolphins.  That was so cool.

I guess we both wrinkle our noses up when we giggle and laugh.

Brian took some decent pictures of us.

I know, I know ... my blog header but I want to be sure it gets included in the blog book at the end of the year.

Look at her devilish face ... she was running around chasing the sea gulls.

I tried to get a good picture of the kids together and this is the best I could do.  For a change, it was M that wouldn't cooperate.

The beach was wonderful.  Warm weather, no crowds, sandcastles, searching for sand crabs, shells and chasing sea gulls.  Good times.

Silly boy.

M got the biggest kick out of this huge hole.

Daddy's Girl.

M and I observing the sea lions.

The kids threw a penny in a fountain today to make a wish and K's wish was that she could have all the doggies in the world.  M's wish was that all of his family be here (even the ones from out of town) and his 2nd wish was for all of the Lego's in the world.  They are adorable at this age, aren't they.  We had such a good day.

Brian's working a 48 hour shift so I'm busy packing for another trip ... this time going to see my longtime friend from Clovis.  Can't wait to see her.

Santa Cruz

It's amazing to me that I can blog while sitting in a lawn chair in the middle of a campground while surrounded by huge redwoods.  I can't help it.  We are camping near Santa Cruz in Felton, CA.  The kids are asleep and Brian went down to shower.  We got here yesterday and it has been so nice to all be together.  Yesterday we hung around the campground ... M and K both found friends.  There are tons of kids here and they are all out riding their bikes and scooter.  They have a club house with movies in the evenings, ping pong, games and a heated pool that's just awesome.  Even K can touch the bottom.  I just got out of the shower and didn't put any bug repellent on so I'm sure I'm being eaten alive right now but I'm all clean and I don't want to.  There is a little creek basically running through our campsite ... wonderful but brings lots of mosquito's.  I'm sure I'll get West Nile Virus ... OK stop being a nurse again ... or hypochondriac as Brian says.  I'm sitting here all alone and was just scared to death when a cat jumped on the table (didn't know it was a cat at first).

Today we had an easy breakfast at camp and then headed to the beach.  We immediately saw a pod of dolphins and later saw sea lions (and abalone divers that we thought were sea otters).  Afterwards, we went to the beach ... the kids loved running in and out of the water and building sand castles.  We were at the beach/pier all day and had already decided we were eating out for dinner so we found the coolest microbrewery that served food and it happened to be happy hour.  Came back to camp, showered some filthy kids and easily put them to bed because they were so exhausted.  By the way, M slept until 8:45 today.  He's never slept that late at home. 

Tomorrow we plan to ride our bikes, swim and hang around camp.

I'll post pictures when I get home.  Brian just lit a huge campfire and I'm going to go enjoy it.

Lake Shasta

Last weekend we went up to Misty's parents house near Redding to celebrate the 4th of July.  Brian had to work.  They rented a patio boat to take out on Lake Shasta.  It was a great trip.  They have 85 acres and have a pool, dogs, a quad, a Kubota, a jet ski, a river to fish in and tons of other stuff to do.  M really had a great time.  K especially loved the dogs.  M went fishing with Scott (Misty's husband) and caught his first fish.  Scott took a picture on his phone but it was too pixelated to post. 

M is getting ready to go fishing.  They ride down on the Kubota.  He is pictured with one of Misty's family friends.  Scott took his bull whip up there and M took it everywhere.

We rode down on the quad with Misty's Dad.  K's such a dare-devil.  She loved it and wasn't scared a bit.

Misty and I before we got on the boat.  Happy 4th of July!!

Misty's friend Macy was out visiting from Texas.  We pulled them in this little boat.  K's all smiles again.

Love him.  He has been such a good boy since school's been out and not nearly as grouchy.  I think he just gets over-tired during the school year.

Misty took me out on the jet ski and tried to do a 360.  As you can see, it didn't turn out well this time but the next time we nailed it.  The kids both want a jet ski now and while driving home M said he was going to talk Brian into it.

Chillin'.

K and B blowing bubbles.

Love this one too.

John (Misty's Dad) and K heading out.  She kept asking him to go faster.  Fearless - that girl.

I finally convinced M to try it and then he was hooked.  He loved it and kept pestering everyone to take him out on the jet ski for the rest of the day.  He is so cautious like me (which isn't necessarily a good thing).  While I was on the back of the jet ski with Misty I couldn't help but think of a closed head injury.  Just the nurse in me, I guess.  Maybe I'm just getting older.

M fell asleep on the way back in because he was so exhausted.  I had a hard time waking him up and getting him to walk to the car.  That kid can sleep through anything ... smoke alarms, house alarms and fire engines.

The kids took a bath when we got back.

Funnies ... K asked me to turn on House Hunters on HGTV this AM.  We love guessing which house they will pick.

Brian gave me a kiss the other day and K said, "Why don't you guys just get married??  Let's have a wedding today."  She's a crack up lately.

Been busy packing for our next trip ... camping.

Birthday Parties

Luckily the kids made some great friends from school and we've been able to attend some great birthday parties.  Here are a few photos from some of them.  Unfortunately my camera battery died during the party at the Spray Park so I was only able to get one or two.

An adorable picture of K with 2 of her good friends.

M had a great time at the Spray Park with some of his friends from school.  They laughed and played for 2 hours.

Good times.

Monterey

Wow, I think this the longest I've gone without blogging since I started 2 years ago!!  We've been busy, busy with fun stuff.  Summer vacation ... woo-hoo.  We've been camping, going to movies, birthday parties, Monterey Bay Aquarium, swimming just about every day and to Lake Shasta for the 4th of July ... along with lots of fun things around the house.  M's only been out of school for 2 1/2 weeks.  We're loving it and haven't touched a workbook or sight word list since he got out, but probably should start doing a little something so he doesn't forget it all.  He's been reading SO WELL and tonight read Ten Apples Up on Top by Dr. Seuss.  It took him 12 minutes but he did it perfectly.  I'm so proud of him.  He's enjoying being able to read signs.

Brian went on his annual fishing trip with his buddies last week so my Mom came up and we went on a road trip to Monterey.  We had no traffic, the kids were excellent on the drive and the hotel was awesome.  Good times.

We rented a Surrey.  It was so much fun.  They are kind of difficult to steer.  The bike path had posts that were 6 feet apart and the surrey is 5 feet wide!  My mom had a pretend steering wheel and repeatedly tried to steer if she felt I wasn't doing a good enough job.  Funny story ... there were some Army men/women running along the bike path and K began yelling "hustle up" to them.  Everyone got a good laugh out of it.  Before long, even M was joining in.  Oh, then they started roaring at everyone.  Obnoxious I know but it was too funny.

A picture of us at the Monterey Bay Aquarium.

Granny and M at Bubba Gumps.  If you ever go, get the Fish'n'Chips.  So good.

K choking me.

Finally a good one of her.  Out of nowhere, she began posing.

It's like pulling teeth to get a photo of them together but here's one.

Another cute one of her trying to be a supermodel.

Silly M.

M LOVES to take photographs.  Just like me.  I let him use one of my old cameras and he took over 100 pictures at the Aquarium.  While shooting outside, he said, "I think there's too much light out here."  So cute.  He kept calling me over and showing me the pictures he shot.  He'd look at his camera and say, "Got it."  I enjoyed bonding with him.  K liked the Aquarium but no where near as much as M.  She's a little young.

He got the shot.

They have a glass ceiling in one of the areas and the waves come crashing in over your head.  Well, K got the biggest kick out of it and giggled like crazy.  I wish I'd gotten it on video.

Monterey is beautiful.

re the way, K weighs 39 pounds and M weighs 46.5 pounds.  They're getting soooo big and are at a great age right now.  Fun to be around ... for the most part easy to take places.  I am loving it.

Took the kids to see Toy Story 3 the other day.  By far the best kids movie I've seen in a long time, if not ever.  We saw it in 3D and went to a matinee and it cost us $46.00! Are you kidding me?  That's just ridiculous.