The Facts of Life

I just looked out the kitchen window to see the two kids staring, frozen, at the ground below their vantage point from up in the play structure. I looked to see what could possibly keeping a 5 and 4 year old standing still for that long, to see a rooster and a hen mating. She was not pleased.

I watched my kids for a second then tested them by asking " hey!? What are you looking at?" Josiah turned to me and gave me the rundown...

"He's putting fertilizer on her. She was running  all around before because she didn't want him to put fertilizer on her....daddy told me that"

Quote of the Day

Want: To leave the table without eating much dinner.

Logical Arguement from a 3 year old: 
Mom and Dad: K, you need to eat a little more dinner if you want some dessert.
K: I can't I cant! I don't like it, I can't!
Mon and Dad: Thats fine, but you hardly ate anything so if you want dessert you need to have a few more bites.
K: I cant I can't
Mom and Dad: Why not?
K: Because I can't breaaatttheeee (whiney voice) when I eat. I can't breathe!!

Want: To not put her clothes on in the morning.
Logical Arguement from a 3 year old:
Mom: Kaila, go put your clothes on please.
Kaila: (starts whining and whining and whining)
Mom: (ignoring the whining)
Kaila: (whining, whining..)mom?...I can't! (points to the giant baggy neckline of her pajama shirt)...it hurts my neck every time I put a shirt on....

Technologically Savy

In this day and age they say it's important to train our kids up being technologically savy. This afternoon I found Kaila practicing on the Ipad all by herself.

She is playing the computer game "cut the rope" on her "ipad" (yes that is a rock).
Our little over-achiever.

Random Glimpses

A few glimpses into our last few months, 

 Ryan took this ladybug/flower photo on his phone...amazing! I love my man!

 

 Church Picnic, face painting, fun, pie eating contest, potluck..

 Cuteness, a puppy and a tiger..

...and a really, really sad puppy realizing that face paint must be washed off some day.

Early sunrise run with my sister! Gorgeous!

Birthday Season Begins!

The Big One 

Happy Birthday to our baby boy! 

You have been such a blessing every day since you were born. Grandma and Grandpa came over and gave you your first birthday gift ever on Oct. 6th, and the next day Great Grand Mommy, Carolyn, had us all over for a sushi lunch and cake and ice cream.

 Eyeing the cake, grabbing a fistfull,...followed by ferociously smashing it in his mouth.

 Movin' on to the the ice cream, grabbing a fistful...followed by ferociously smashing it in his mouth.

He found out he has a bit of a love-hate relationship ice cream, at least when eating it like this!

After a few uncomfortable whines he left the rest to melt on the plate.

Let the Birthday Season Begin! Josiah's birthday is tomorrow...

Kids First Backpacking Trip

The last time I backpacked I was when I was between 7 and 8 months pregnant with J. 

Then, a couple of weeks ago, we got a wild idea and decided it was time.

Time to make it happen and go again.
With the whole family.
In 5 years time we went from two adults carrying super-light packs...

to this...

Me, him, an almost five year old, an almost four year old and an almost one year old.
Five years passed and we became a family of five.

 

...and life marches on, we were ready to hit the trail again. 

We left Friday around noon and drove up to Yosemite National Park. Our hike began off the Murphy Trailhead up in Tuolumne Medows. The hike was 2.5 to 3 miles going in with a gradual uphill incline. Ryan's pack weighed around 70 pounds and mine weighed between 35 and 40. We figured we could carry almost anything for 3 miles. Canned chicken, the big 6 man tent...Why not? Throw it in! it's only 3 miles.

It had been a solid five years since we backpacked. It was our first time with kids.  Turns out there were a few things I had forgotten. A few things I didn't expect, and

 a few things that were amazingly perfect.

A Few things I had forgotten.

1.We're not 25 with no kids.

The first night we rolled into Yosemite with no camping reservations. We got to the "open" campsite at 8:30 at night, 2 hours into the park, to see the depressing "Campsite Full" sign...I jumped out of the van and introduced myself to great Austrian couple peacefully enjoying their campfire, who happily let us park our van in their spot for the night. We're not 25 with no kids, but we still try to be ; ). 
Welcome to your lives, kids.

 

2. The Sierras are COLD. 

I didn't "bother" to bring a beanie or gloves. A blazing hot summer on the Central Coast makes it hard to imagine needing those things. We tried just putting the Colombia Puff Onsie on Donovan the first night and he woke up with cold little hands and arms. I had to bundle him in my down jacket for the remainder of the night and the second night I doubled him up with his fleece. He barely put his arms down and he couldn't roll over if he found himself on his back. Crawling was slow going and made him pant from the effort...but he was toasty warm all night long after that!

 

3. Camping with a Crawler is my least favorite age to camp.

Over the years I have slowly convinced myself that the pulverized camp-dirt around heavily used campsites, is basically clean.
 Good clean campsite-pulverized-dirt. Nice.
 If you can convince yourself of it's cleanliness when camping, your life is really so much easier. There are so many fun things to grab in that sweet dirt though...cold chalky black embers, fire rings, hot backpacking stoves on the ground...Little D. was our hardest kid. Someone had to be holding him much of the time. Plus, the being 11 months he's not as 'flexible." Late for dinner? Whine. Miss a nap? Hold me.

By the second day we had him figured out. We plopped him down on pine needley areas and he would play with pine cones, sticks, rocks and logs and entertain himself for chunks of time.

A Few Things I didn't Expect.

3. Diapers weren't that bad.

We just rolled them up tight and packed them out. Pack it in, pack it out.

4. K. Peed her bed the second night.

It doesn't happen very often anymore but of course it happens when we're backpacking. It was the one thing I thougth would be disastrous. Turns out when its 4 am and your kid pees their sleeping bag and its 34 degrees out you stick them in their hiking pants, cover the damp part of the sleeping bag with a layer you're not wearing and tell them to go back to sleep. At least that's what we did. It worked.

5. Yosemite has bears. Lot's of them. It wasn't that bad.

I think it was those good clean campsite-dirt-baths each evening before bed that killed the scent. We saw bear scat everywhere but never saw a bear.

A Few Things that Were Amazingly Perfect

1. The kids did great! We just "expected" them to be flexible, and they were.

3 miles with packs was by far the most intense hike they have ever done. We didn't tell them that, and they didn't complain (m&m's helped too). Their regular "lovie blankets" were too big to bring backpacking, so beforehand we told them to pick out and bring "backpacking lovies" for the trip. They loved on their little rags and softies for the weekend without missing a beat. We ate backpacking food all weekend, Breakfast= oatmeal, hot chocolate  Dinner= quinoa with chicken, sweet potatoes, apples and raisins,  and cheese Lunches = trail mix, salami, dried fruit, cheese...and by the second night K. figured out that she wasn't getting any more food after dinner was put away so she ate her quinoa and sweet potatoe bowl clean! 

I won't lie, the first evening setting up camp was tough. It seemed like there were tears of life-ending desperation every 15 minutes. Kids falling on the ground everywhere, occasional banshee screams expressing the unjust torture of childhood. 

But after a hot meal and a good night's sleep they recovered fully for the next day.

 

 

2. Jumping in the lake, drying off in the sun on hot rocks, and dozing under the pine trees to a perfect deafening silence.

The silence was heavy in the mountains. The lake mirrored the pines in the early morning before the breeze created a ripple, with a shadowy hint of the teal green rocks under the water. There are even less distractions backpacking than car camping. In some ways our Sunday in the mountains was the most peaceful day I have had, anywhere, in a long time. 

 

3. We Shared our Love of Nature with the kids. 

We all got to stare in awe at the silent night sky, lined with pine trees and intense with stars. We got to appreciate the flora and fauna of the Sierras, mushrooms, burnt trees, sitting on fallen logs, lichen on the granite and beautiful alpine landscapes.

 It feels so powerful bringing our kids, and ourselves, once again, to such amazingly different places and just saying, 

"Now rest. Stop and listen. Look. Touch. Climb. Explore. Imagine....and see the beauty that our Creator has given us to tell us He loves us. It's overwhelmingly beautiful and amazing. 

Worship."

Painting

Wipes face, "Mom, is it off?" He asks...

I snap a picture.

Where's Waldo...I mean, Where's Donovan?

Life after the Break

Thanks G.G. for the money to buy a special book! Thank you Grandma and Grandpa for all the fun games and for the great time together...Thank you Aunty Lyndal for the tank tops...To my entire family, especially my amazing mom, for stepping right in as Ryan and I rushed to the hospital and taking care of the other two kids (including Donovan) while still camping for two days. Thank you for my dad who did a trip to the hospital late at night to bring Josiah his blanket, for the care package Terra put together (and more recently Terra for helping me set up my classroom and helping with the kiddos!) Thank you to Andrea and Joey for sitting with us when Josiah was in surgery and for bringing Donovan and Kaila to visit...

...amazingly, his broken bone will be fully healed just 4 weeks from the day he broke it. This little blue cast will come off in perfect timing...my first day back to teaching.  I "get" to drive down to Santa Barbara after I teach my first day to get it cut off.Thankfully I work on the block so I can at least spend the night down there and not drive back late at night. 

Maybe I'll go camping ; )

Which one of these things does not belong?...Beach Camp 2015

Camping in San Onofre, three days of almost my perfect dream vacation. Amazing, warm surf with my hubby, good food and margaritas, campfires on the sand, family everywhere, fun runs...Each day was perfect in it's own way...until Monday evening. 

Like the little song, Which one of these things does not belong?

 

 

 The kids slept with my mom and dad in their tent trailer...

 Morning coffee and hot chocolates from our campsite...

 paella, Thanks mom and dad!!

 A bunch of my extended family drove up to visit...Love them!!

 

 Eda Jean stories with Tata around the campfire...

 ...and then this happened. The monkey bars. ( Actually, Josiah would correct me and say it was the bar next to the monkey bar. His hands slipped and his feet caught.)  

 One surgery, two days and three pins later he was wheeled out...

 

 Recovered one night at the campsite with the family (see Josiah in the stroller?) He was in so much pain, he was so brave and such a trooper. The nurses said he was "the toughest kid they'd ever seen."

 

Ryan took Josiah home a day early and Grandma and Grandpa from Chico got to spend some quality time with him. I spent Thursday finishing off day at the beach and then drove back Friday with the other two kiddos.

If nothing else, Beach Camp 2015 was a memorable one. At least we were in a great area with awesome hospitals and Josiah's break was a standard, common break for kids. I have my hopes high for a better trip next year!

Liggle Eyes, Big Wonders; Part 3

Zion National Park

Favorite Moment-  I think I can speak for both of is when we say that our favorite thing about Zion was just. slowing. down. Up till now we had been staying for about a day and a half in each place we were at. When we hit Zion, we got to park, use the public shuttles and just relax. The kids did better with a little more routine, and we did better with a few more slow mornings exploring local restaurants and coffee shops. We hung out in the warm river and campsites with the kids and our newfound camp-ground friends Karmen and Eric (hello Karmen!...if you ever found us!)

For me, this was a time of re-connecting with my loves. I re-connected with my sense of adventure and nature by going out alone on long runs in new places and hiking the Narrows. I reconnected with my independance and stregnth by running some tough trails by myself and feeling great as I was doing it, then being rewarded with the awesome sights Zion has to offer. Ryan got to re-connect with his younger, stronger, river romping self by hiking far up into the Narrows at the break of dawn by himself. He was alone in the canyon and was able to hike fast over the river rocks carrying only his backpack and a light jacket. He enjoyed relaxing at the campsite and scored some great views on a few bike rides up and out of Zion Canyon.

Least Favorite Moment:  By far, my least favorite moment was precidented by the fact that we did not make reservations in Zion National Park ahead of time. We arrived in Zion mid-day and aggressively (sprinting from the car to the front desk in front of other campers pulling in the parking lot), snagged the last tent spot in a terrible campground that resembled a dirt parking lot with about 5 feet of "camping space." Fortunately Zion has a "first come first serve" campground, so I got out at the break of dawn, biked in and patrolled the campground for an open spot like a shark circling a wounded seal. It was crazy. I was crazy. They were crazy.

Competing campers avoided eye contact as they scoped out potential spots. One car nearly ran me off the road. I stalked the poor college kids who were innocently sleeping under the stars because their campsite tag said they were leaving that day.  

 I can't say I'm proud of my aggressive transformation but oh well. It worked. We got an awesome spot close to the river with perfect access to the bike trail and shuttle. Even Ryan said it was worth it.

Dance Party in the car on our LONG drive home.