Apparently Mommy has spent far too much time lately with her nose stuck in a ... er, electronic reading device.
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
Gone Fishin... and Other Adventures in Spokane, WA
We left foggy San Francisco for a bracing dose of country in the form of Spokane, Washington over Memorial Day weekend, getting up close and personal with fish, tractors, horses, and heat! Thanks John and Methea for another wonderful weekend, and for putting up with our own form of wildlife -- children!
We headed to Spirit Lake in Idaho on Saturday to show our city kids where fish come from. It looks like John is teaching Joey the finer points of fishing here, but in reality, Methea had the only catches of the day, while Tim, Joey and John came up empty-handed ;)
When all else fails, they can show off their guns.
Joey got to reel in a few of Methea's catches, and ferry live worms back and forth from the cooler to the rod.
Both kids got to touch the fish before Methea threw them back in the lake to "find their mommy and daddy," according to Joey.
Clara didn't do any fishing, but she did excel at getting filthy!
It's hard to say which weekend adventure was more fun for Joey -- Saturday's fishing trip, or the opportunity on Sunday to "help" John mow his acre pasture on a tractor! His attention span never wavered for the almost 45 minutes it took to accomplish this... he was almost too engrossed to even give us a thumbs up!
2) thus ensuring lots of fun in the sun
and in turn allowing the adults to
We headed to Spirit Lake in Idaho on Saturday to show our city kids where fish come from. It looks like John is teaching Joey the finer points of fishing here, but in reality, Methea had the only catches of the day, while Tim, Joey and John came up empty-handed ;)
When all else fails, they can show off their guns.
Joey got to reel in a few of Methea's catches, and ferry live worms back and forth from the cooler to the rod.
Both kids got to touch the fish before Methea threw them back in the lake to "find their mommy and daddy," according to Joey.
Clara didn't do any fishing, but she did excel at getting filthy!
It's hard to say which weekend adventure was more fun for Joey -- Saturday's fishing trip, or the opportunity on Sunday to "help" John mow his acre pasture on a tractor! His attention span never wavered for the almost 45 minutes it took to accomplish this... he was almost too engrossed to even give us a thumbs up!
The rest of the weekend was spent:
1) investing in a $7 inflatable baby pool and assorted water toys
2) thus ensuring lots of fun in the sun
and in turn allowing the adults to3) drink wine and beer, and
4) place exhausted children in front of the portable DVD player
so that
5) the adults could drink more and play obsessive, competitive board games!
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
Beach Babes
We were missing Marco, but Grandma got to celebrate her birthday on the beach today with three of her grandchildren... here's the best shots of the windblown, wiggly bunch:
Is This Retirement?
"Mop" celebrated her retirement with a week-long stay in San Francisco -- and Shawna and I promptly celebrated by scheduling date nights, daylong wine festivals, and lunches with friends. If only we had a live-in grandmother on call all the time! I think she might have been rethinking her working status on her flight home today!
The Whys
The Whys have officially moved into our house, rudely ousting the pleasant Ohs, trampling over the That's Rights!, and making one long for the What's Thats? We hope it's a short stay.
Monday, May 11, 2009
Happy Mommy Day!
Mother's Day wasn't even half over before Joey proclaimed that it was "Joey Day." Luckily, he doesn't make the rules. I hope all the new moms and veteran moms we know had a fantastic day!
We decided to head to Tahoe for some down time this weekend, and although there was some brief excitement on Friday night when the cabin's garage keypad didn't work, two locksmiths let us in by the time Joey and I returned with Chinese food. (Lessons learned: Always bring keys as a back-up, and never again order Chinese food in Lake Tahoe!)
Tahoe in springtime is almost deserted, with bare ski slopes, and a still chilly lake. On Saturday, we took advantage of the lack of crowds, and decided to play tourist! We rented bikes and a trailer and took our double-wide load on the trails around Camp Richardson, Pope Beach, and the historic lakeside Tallac cabins. The kids loved the scenery, and Joey never stopped a running commentary on who was pedalling faster... Mommy or Daddy. If he had had a whip, he definitely would have used it to make Daddy go faster!
The kids in their chariot before we set off:
Here's Tim the workhorse on a break at Pope Beach.
Clara crashed almost immediately... I think we need to own one of these suckers!!
We spent the rest of the weekend lounging around the cabin, playing baseball in the back yard, enjoying meals out, and drinking margaritas on the deck. Heaven!
I promise, they really did want to be read to (My Big Boy Bed, a favorite of both Joey and Clara right now)!
On the drive back home, we picked up dinner in downtown Davis, and ate and played at Central Park.
We confused many people whenever we called Davis, who was panting heavily in the Sacramento heat, and thanking his lucky stars that he actually lives in foggy San Francisco, and not in his namesake town ;)
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
Big Bed, Big Bike, and (Sniff) Big Boy
At three years, four months, Joey is finally shedding some of the last vestiges of babyhood... his binky and his crib. I'm not sure who is more traumatized this week, me or Joey! Losing two of my most powerful parenting tools in one fell swoop may lead me to drink.
On Monday, after a grumpy, binky-less morning, and a grumpy, binky-less nap, both of which involved a lot of sobbing ("I'm NOT a big boy, I'm a BAAAAAYBY!!"), we headed to the bike store, where, as a reward for giving up his binky, we planned to upgrade Joey from trike to ... BIKE!
Our little moose has become absolutely obsessed with his two tricycles. We've been taking the "outside motorcycle" along with us on all our playground trips (and Joey has suddenly become that little boy who zooms around like a maniac, imperiling toddlers and other moms), while the "inside motorcycle" stays at home, allowing Joey (and Clara in her makeshift sidecar) to terrorize the dogs as they do lap after lap in the family room and garage.
Joey immediately saw the light as soon as we were in the bike store. Leaving behind tricycles and all other babyish things for good, he approached the row of "big bikes" with awe, and started sampling them all. His knees were knocking against the handlebars on the 12" bike that kids typically start with, so his new 16" bike looks like it belongs to a seventh grader. It's a touch too big for him right now, but he gamely climbed on, and steered his way around the whole store, suffering only one collision. He gained a lot of street cred with the sales guy for toughing that out and climbing right back on. (By the way, the staff at Sports Basement in the Presidio were amazingly helpful! They assembled the whole bike for us, which Tim LOVED!, and then kept adjusting and fine-tuning until it was a perfect fit for Joey.)
Here he is trying out the 12" bike, while they assembled the bigger one:
Clara really wanted to join the fun, and tried to convince us that she was ready for a big bike, too ;)
She'll have to live with hand-me-downs for now... no more joyrides in the trike basket! She's ready to pedal herself :)
Stay tuned for more big boy adventures: the bedding (and waterproof mattress pad) have been ordered for Joey's new full-size bed!
On Monday, after a grumpy, binky-less morning, and a grumpy, binky-less nap, both of which involved a lot of sobbing ("I'm NOT a big boy, I'm a BAAAAAYBY!!"), we headed to the bike store, where, as a reward for giving up his binky, we planned to upgrade Joey from trike to ... BIKE!
Our little moose has become absolutely obsessed with his two tricycles. We've been taking the "outside motorcycle" along with us on all our playground trips (and Joey has suddenly become that little boy who zooms around like a maniac, imperiling toddlers and other moms), while the "inside motorcycle" stays at home, allowing Joey (and Clara in her makeshift sidecar) to terrorize the dogs as they do lap after lap in the family room and garage.
Joey immediately saw the light as soon as we were in the bike store. Leaving behind tricycles and all other babyish things for good, he approached the row of "big bikes" with awe, and started sampling them all. His knees were knocking against the handlebars on the 12" bike that kids typically start with, so his new 16" bike looks like it belongs to a seventh grader. It's a touch too big for him right now, but he gamely climbed on, and steered his way around the whole store, suffering only one collision. He gained a lot of street cred with the sales guy for toughing that out and climbing right back on. (By the way, the staff at Sports Basement in the Presidio were amazingly helpful! They assembled the whole bike for us, which Tim LOVED!, and then kept adjusting and fine-tuning until it was a perfect fit for Joey.)
Here he is trying out the 12" bike, while they assembled the bigger one:
Clara really wanted to join the fun, and tried to convince us that she was ready for a big bike, too ;)
She'll have to live with hand-me-downs for now... no more joyrides in the trike basket! She's ready to pedal herself :)
Stay tuned for more big boy adventures: the bedding (and waterproof mattress pad) have been ordered for Joey's new full-size bed!
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