Fishing Trip #1

The story, in Brynn's words...

"Daddy took me and Cannon to the water in the lake and we went fishing with the fishing pole.

This is how you hold the fishing pole. This is what it does.

Then I had to go potty, but then I didn't have to go potty. Then Cannon and me were throwing rocks into the water.

Then Cannon went kerplunk into the lake and Daddy had to go and pull him out of the water. He was crying and he was all wet, and then we had to go home."

Fishing Trip #2

The family headed up to Trinity Lakes again for another fishing trip. This time, I was talked into going. I am not really "into" fishing, shall we say? The idea of standing around and casting a hook into the water sounds pretty dull, but even worse than that is the idea that I might actually catch something. Ugh, the poor fish caught on my fishing line would have to swim around for the rest of its life with a hook caught somewhere on its body, because there is no way that I am going to hurt it by pulling that hook out. (Its a catch 22, that is why I don't fish...)
Needless to say, I went along for the hike, and the serenity of the quiet evening by the water. It was really beautiful. We met up with Sara and Marlin, and enjoyed a few hours of quality fishing time. Rich was the first and only to catch a fish, Brynn got to go "camping potty", and Cannon enjoyed throwing rocks into the lake while finishing off his dads beer. (I joke...) We even got to see some bats up close and personal as they dive bombed the water catching and eating insects. It was really cool.

Rich's Catch...

Rich's catch actual size...

Brynn helping to "feed" the fish with rocks. Wherever she was, the fish were not...

Cannon and his bottle...

Mommy and Cannon.

When Dads dress kids...

Enough said?

Another Day at The Fair

Well, I do like it alot... (read the next blog first, and then this one if you are confused...)



Can't live without some kind of "fair food" experience. My question is, how come the boys learn this kind of gross thing so early on in life? What has Rich been teaching them while I am out doing errands?

Gigi and Auntie Christi waiting for Brynn to get off of the rides. Poor Cannon was a little too small to make it this year.


Brynn on the "Turtle Race" ride. She had fun, I think. (She looks a little bit bored)

Annual Fair Adventures

Getting ready for the Fair!

Snoopy is the theme of this years Sonoma County Fair. Its pretty cool to know that your home town has played a big part in one of the most famous cartoons of our time. The fair was a celebration of Snoopy, Woodstock, Charlie Brown and the gang.

We headed out last night with Sara and Marlin, and had a great time. We have an annual tradition going now. Every year, we start by gently warning the boys (in the springtime) that we WILL be going to the fair again this year. We WILL pay the money to get in, walk around aimlessly for a few hours fighting the crowds of bored teenagers, hillbillies with missing teeth, and every other weirdo that comes out of hiding during the fair. We WILL walk through the pavilion getting our hands massaged by Mink Oil, and getting our rings cleaned by the amazing Touch of Purple cleaner. We WILL go wander through the flower show and admire all the different flowers that we can't seem to grow, and lastly we WILL fork over our money and our pride to squeeze into a photo booth, make funny faces and get our pictures taken.
This year, being our 4th year in a row, we had dinner together, got the cars loaded up and headed out. As usual, the boys were full of excuses why we shouldn't go. They like to bring up the money factor, the crowds, the incurable diseases that are passed around from bathrooms stalls, and lists of all the other things that they would rather be doing during fair time. Sara and I were prepared for all excuses.
We were armed with cash (in 'ones' so that the photo booth wouldn't take too long), snacks for the kids and boys so that no one could complain of hunger, camera, diapers, jackets, and antibacterial hand sanitizer. We wandered around the animal stalls, petted really fat Pygmy goats, and learned the

difference between Angus and red Angus cattle.

Cannon being mauled by crazy Pygmy goats..

Brynn petting the "sleeping" lamb...

We oohed and aahed over the beautiful arrays of flowers, and discussed ones that would look awesome in our yards.

In the Garden Pavilion.

Hey, I've seen those kids before...

We cruised through the vendors and watched a few demos on cleaning products and cord rollers, and even got my wedding rings cleaned. Even the photo booths worked perfectly and got us our black and white fair pictures in 3 minutes like promised. As we walked out of the gates at 10pm, with the rest of the fair goers, I sighed with content, and realized that another year at the fair was over.
Speaking for the girls, we had a great time. I can't speak for the boys, and since Rich never blogs, you will never get his opinion. They definitely survived another year. On the way out to the car, I looked over at Sara, then at the boys and said "I can't wait 'till next years' fair!"

Swimming Lessons

Swimming lessons started yesterday. Both the kiddies are registered for a 2 week session through Santa Rosa Parks and Rec Programs. Besides a mix up with locations the lessons got off without a hitch. Cannon seems to enjoy the water a great deal, and has no problem doing the Mommy and Me class. He is no super-star swimmer, but then again, he is only 1 year old.
Brynn did great, and tomorrow she might even get in the water!! She was more interested in playing with the hand puppets than actually getting wet. She is the youngest one in her class, and I am not planning on forcing her to be as brave as the 5 years-olds.
They do both love the water, and I love the fact that they sleep like rocks when the lessons are over. Something about chlorine, cool water, and hot summer days that seem to induce sleepiness....


She did get in the water at first..


But this is where she spent most of her time.


Gigi hanging out with Cannon after his lesson.


Who knew swimming lessons could be so fun!

Cannon and I in the Mommy and Me class.

Quick Update

Cannon is WALKING!!! It is always so amazing to me the changes that they go through in the 1st year.

We bought a front loading washing machine that is supposed to save us a ton of money on our water bill. It better, or I will be very mad!

Treks is on a diet. Vet thinks that he may be eating too many table scraps....I wonder how she figured that out?

The Things I Never Knew

10 Things I love about being a Mom

1. The smell of sleeping kids

2. Finding a toy in my underwear drawer

3. Hearing Brynn sing to herself

4. Having something to do everyday

5. Watching Cannon learn how to walk

6. Being the one they bring their boogies and other treasures to

7. Getting hugs

8. Watching your kids look for you in a crowd

9. Teachable moments

10. Knowing that for right now I am the most important person to them


10 Things I don't love about being a Mom

1. Worry and sleepless nights

2. Finding a really old milk sippy under the bed

3. Wiping dirty bums

4. Cleaning up the house for the umpteenth time today

5. Seeing the tears well up in their eyes

6. Understanding the phrase "This hurts me more than it hurts you"

7. Being held responsible for them

8. Not knowing if you are equipped to do the job right

9. Being the one that they bring boogies and other treasures to

10. Knowing that someday I will not be the most important person in their lives....

Ballet

Today was Brynn's first time at Ballet Class. She has been talking, playing and acting ballet for about a year. I finally relented and signed her up for a class at the community center this month. She had to be 3, so it was perfect.
For her birthday, she received a plethora of ballet attire. Leotards, shoes, skirts, bags, etc. Somebody tipped off all the relatives that she was going to be going to class soon. We got her all dressed up this morning and headed off to Finley to take the class.
The teacher is great. She obviously loves kids, and seems to have as much fun as they do. We were early enough to watch some of the early class play, so Brynn was ready to go when the time came.
I walked her in, sat her down, and of course, had to pull out the camera. Then, after a few shots, goodbye hugs and kisses, giving my cell phone number to the teacher in case of emergency, I walked out. Now I bet you think I am going to say that I cried...You are WRONG!!! Here is what I wanted to do: go get some coffee, sit and relax and have some time for myself. Here is what I did: paced. I walked around the corridor. I walked around outside. I went up to the front desk and looked at brochures. I was just hoping that she would not hate it. I was hoping that she would not be scared without me nearby. I was worried that she would be discouraged if she couldn't do the same things the other girls could. (I seem to have forgotten that kids don't have the same issues that adults do....) I also didn't want to hover right outside the door and watch the whole time, but I couldn't stand the thought of not seeing my little girl do something amazing in there. I just wanted her to have fun!
I was hoping that when she was done, she would run out the door with new-found grace (something that does not run in the family), leap into a beautiful pirouette, and land with perfect balance, but was just as proud when she came running up, tripped over my purse, and fell into my arms. And what did she say with flushed cheeks and a sparkle in her eye? Not " Mom I learned what 1st position is" but "Mom, look at my dolphin stamp!" Ah, sweet success!

Waiting to go to Ballet


Waiting for Ballet class to start


Ballet Class (no, she isn't wearing tights...)

Unproductive Day

It seems like when the husband is home, things in the house go downhill fast. I don't want to spend the time cleaning and picking up and doing all the mundane tasks of daily life. I just want to spend my time with him and the family. I also put off all errands, grocery shopping, etc, so that we can do more family oriented stuff. Well, Rich was off last week, and we went camping, so the house, and my life were in total disarray all last week. When we got back from the lake, we had limited food, and lots of laundry to do. I focused on the laundry, and got pretty creative with our meals. We had pancakes for dinner (minus butter and syrup of course, since those were gone) and then quesadillas made with American cheese (the kind you have to peel out of the wrapper) for the rest of the meals. It was slim pickins.
Needless to say, I had a list of 30 things that I had to do to get this household back in ship shape. Grocery shopping, bread store, bank deposits, returns and exchanges of items purchased, etc.
So today was the big day. I left the house, armed with my returns, and my list of errands which had 10 stops. I grouped them together according to location, and pretty much had a timed schedule to follow. I dropped of the kids a few minutes before nine and had to be back at 1:30. My first stop was the vet, where I received the news that my dogs bad breath was not a result of eating delicious dog food, but due to the excessive amounts of plaque on his teeth. And my day went downhill from there. I dropped the dog off at home, prayed that he would somehow miraculously let me brush his teeth tonight, and headed off for the bank. At the bank, I managed to completely confuse the teller and myself with my deposit. (Aren't they trained to handle people like me?) I still am not sure that it worked out, but I don't know how to figure it out. I then headed for Rincon Valley to do some returns. OK, so I know that driving from our house to the other side of Santa Rosa for less then $10 of merchandise returns sounds ridiculous, but it all fit into my master plan, and at the end of the day, I figured I would have made a little money for myself. Turns out that the 2 items from the Dollar Store (each only a dollar) could only be exchanged, not returned. Next door at the Ace Hardware, the 8 items that I walked into return turned out to be only worth $2, and were purchased LAST YEAR!!! What the heck was I thinking? I asked the clerk, with a bright red face, if we could just forget the whole thing, and they could just keep the little sprinkler thingies because I didn't want to throw them away. Just keep my money AND my returns ok?
Walmart managed to refund my $3.10, and Home Depot gave me a store credit of $11, which I don't feel counts, since I have to use it to buy more stuff from Home Depot. So, after all that, basically driving around for hours, I came home with $3.10. To look on the bright side, my house is less cluttered, the laundry is almost done, and we are having leftovers for dinner tonight....

Camping, The Not-So-Fun-Adventure...

We decided to go camping at Lake Mendocino for the 4th of July with the family. This is Brynn's 4th time, and Cannon's 3rd. This is a trip that I think I could have skipped.
Its hard work camping with two kids under the age of 3. The constant dirtiness, fire ants, yellow jackets, wasp nests, hungry mosquitoes, poison oak, late bedtimes, no naps, and dirty bathrooms are all easy to handle when you are living in the woods. Temperatures above 100 degrees? Not my bag, baby....
We were lucky enough to have access to a boat and all the lake water you could ever want, but even that wasn't enough when it was still 90 degrees at 7:30 pm. The kids were beat, and bedtime couldn't come soon enough while we were there. To top off the whole event, our air mattress (the only way that I was going to get a good night of sleep) popped because of the heat, and we were stuck sleeping on the hard packed dirt.
Ok, so I really do like camping. I love the campfires, the s'mores in the evenings, sitting around laughing and talking with loved ones. I love the smell of the dust and the oak trees, and listening to the sounds of the night life from inside my cozy tent. I enjoy waking up early in the morning and seeing what life is like outside of my house before 7 am. I love cooking and living outside. I like to be able to show my kids different plants, and animals, and watch nature in a controlled sort of way. I love being out on the water, floating lazily in the sun, knowing that I will regret the sun damage in a few years, but being too warm and happy to care. The thing is, when its that hot, you can't enjoy one single thing. There is no place cooler to go, no cold drinks to quench your thirst, and everything is sticky and sweaty at 8:30 am.
So, when we packed up the car, and discovered that we had parked on a swarm of red fire ants, when we had to throw away everything in our not-so-cool-cooler because it was so hot inside that the bag of shredded cheese melted, we started to re-think our upcoming planned camping trip in August. Is it really worth it?? I guess to have countless great trips, and just one bad one makes me willing to give it another go. We will see.


Brynn at 8:30 am...No Joke!

Brynn at 8:30 pm...I am really not kidding...More tired and hot, but still just as dirty!

Daddy and the Tank after a hard day of heat.

There are no pictures of me, because I actually melted away.

Birthday Bonanza!

Brynn turned the big "3" today! I can't believe that I have survived this long. We actually had two parties for her. Last night was the family party, and today was the little girl/friend party. Both were wonderful. She wanted everything pink, and so we went for it. Pink invitations, pink cake, pink frosting, pink ice cream, pink party supplies, pink punch....the works. (I am seriously over pink!)
I had the privilege (can you feel the sarcasm) of making two cakes....but I do think they turned out OK.
The girls played in the pool, enjoyed their lunch on the lawn, and ate cake until the party was over. It was a blast!


Birthday Girl!

Birthday Cake #1

Enjoying their lunch after a swim

Pretty excited about today???

Mommy and Brynn....aaawww.

Picnic

We had an outdoor picnic last night. It reminded me of something that you might see in the movies. Rich set up a blanket on our lawn, and I spread out the food on paper plates for us to eat.

Unfortunately the meal was spaghetti, and I was wearing a white shirt.

The kids loved it, but Rich had to give them a "summer bath" before I would go near Cannon again.