In addition to the return of the summer farmers market, another thing I've been looking forward to all winter was the opening of the farms for U-pick fruit in the nearby city of Brentwood. Last summer we went and picked cherries and pluots and blackberries. We had so much fun and I have really been looking forward to doing it this year, since Bennett is big enough to do more than watch from the stroller. We made it a big family trip, waiting to do it on Memorial Day when the dads would be home. We went with my friend Melissa W and her family and we all had a great time. The fruit wasn't as ripe as we had hoped it would be, but we came home with plenty! Lance even had enough for a pie!
After picking fruit, we had hoped to go to a place called Scoops, where you can play and eat, but it was closed. So, we made the best of it and headed over to Chili's for lunch. The guys hung out at one end of the table chatting and watching Bennett while Melissa and I hung out at the other end talking and taking care of Morgan, Collin and Brandon. It was a nice way to end the outing. Here are some pictures from our fun day!
I'm not sure what the fascination with trains is all about. Not sure if it's a boy thing or just a this kid versus that kid thing. Morgan was never as into them as Bennett is. I mean, this boy if he even THINKS about a train, he starts choo-choo'ing and runs to get his Thomas toys out. So, imagine my delight when my MOPS group announced a kids outing to ride a REAL. LIVE. TRAIN. Oh, my goodness. The glee could hardly be contained, because this was a big first for Bennett and I just couldn't wait to see him experience it.
This morning, when I reminded him that we were going on the train ride today, he ran to get his Thomas toys and started playing with them immediately. He wanted to bring them with him, so we packed them away in his backpack to share with his friends. Rosie for Clare, Arthur for Kylee and some other train for Bennett (can't remember his name, again - not sure about the big deal about trains, so cut me some slack!). We packed up snacks and headed to Sunol to ride the Niles Canyon Railway.
Now, being the boy that he is, if asked, he will tell you that his favorite part was eating yogurt on the train. Because isn't that the holy grail??
Nevertheless - a great time was had by all and here are some pictures to prove it! :)
....then show pictures and videos of your amazing kids! :)
We went to see Lance's mother today. We haven't seen her since Bennett was a couple months old. We drove the two and a half hour drive with the kids plugged into a movie. Well, okay, just Morgan plugged in since Bennett kept taking his headphones off and unplugging his DVD player. It was nice to see her, but it was also a farewell since she's moving away to Washington. It's always a little strange to me to visit with relatives that you don't see very often. You are supposed to have this familiarity, but yet it's not there since you don't see them too often.
Fortunately, kids don't recognize social nuances such as these, and instead, had fun seeing their Nana. Since she is in the process of packing and someone else is moving in, we went out to lunch and then headed to this really amazing park for some play time after. This park had EVERYTHING! A little play town, a play structure, a rope web to climb on, sand, swings, water stuff, EVEN HORSES TO RIDE AND A TRAIN! I wish we had a reason to go back...
After lots of fun at the park, we loaded back into the car and dropped Lance's mom back off at her house. We said our goodbyes and then were off for our two and a half hour drive back. This one was with seriously deliriously tired children, so we got to see fun things such as this video.
That would be a quote from Morgan after a day full of fun and sun at Camporee today. After a fitful night of sleep (thanks to the cold -- sub 30 degree temperatures all night!! -- and one little girl who called out a couple of times), the day started early with us getting the girls up and ready (complete with their Camporee shirt and pink bandannas, and their day packs ready) for Flag Up at 7am. At Flag Up, each of the troops had a cheer or chant for their role call and our troop (32511) chanted, "Two-Five-One-One, we think camping's lots of fun!", which was a chant that some of the staff girls had helped us come up with during one of the meetings they came to to tell the girls about Camporee. After the flag ceremony, it was time for our first meal at Camporee, breakfast. They had bananas, fritatta, sausages, and even hot chocolate, which Morgan was very excited about. But what was even MORE! EXCITING! is that she got to wash her own dishes. You probably remember the deal - mesh bag with your mess kit. Wash, dunk, hang? Yeah, so apparently this is a very exciting task for a five and a half year old. Who knew? Maybe I need to pull together mess kits for everyone in the family and get Morgan to do the dishes for me.
We hiked back to the soccer fields where the girls would get lined up and would be handed over to the "Pink Beard" staff girls who would lead them around the various stations that day. They did knife safety, outdoor cooking, semaphore, skit, first aid/safety, talking like a pirate, sword fighting, treasure hunting, and a service project where they were restoring a wildlife area by pulling weeds, removing dead trees and planting new ones. They had organized the stations to have activities for all the various aged girls, to tailor it to something they could and would do. This was by far, Morgan's favorite thing. She really enjoyed hanging around with the older girls and learning knew things. They had it split into morning session and afternoon session. During the morning session, the moms took shifts helping out at the service station, digging up trees and helping older girls plant trees. We stood by as our girls came to the station and watched them pull weeds. Around lunch, it was time for the Pink Beard patrol to be returned to troops and then it was time to eat lunch. There was a sandwich bar set up for lunch and after lunch the girls got a chance for some free play time with the other Girl Scouts in the landlubbers games. Morgan spent the whole time doing the catapult, and trying to hit me with the ping pong balls. :) When the landlubbers games were over, it was time for the girls to finish their rotations, and Morgan was already exhausted! She kept asking if she was going to be taking a nap. :)
The girls were off doing their stations and the moms all had free time so we went to the cafeteria and a lot of the moms made lanyards and we all chatted a bunch, mostly about school stuff. I even managed to catch a cat nap, completely by accident. Before long, it was time to go get the girls at the soccer field and head back to camp for "troop time". We were to head to dinner (cheeseburgers, corn, and salad) shortly after and then the girls would be going campfire with their patrols. They had learned a skit at one of their stations and each patrol performed their skit for the large audience. As special guests, we had some people from the school for the blind who were camping near us and came to listen to the campfire that night. Our girls did a skit called The Invisible Bench and shortly after that, we were signaled by the staff that they were "done" and ready to go back to camp to sleep. We mixed up the sleeping arrangements a little and so Kristin and Kaitlyn, Morgan and I slept in one tent with the other moms and Daisies slept in the other tent. Although it was cold (though not as cold for as long as last night), the girls were quickly asleep again!
Today was our first night camping with the tiniest of Girl Scouts, our Daisies. I've had everything ready to go for a couple of days, and put the final touches on last night. Poor Bennett, wants to go camping so bad. He keeps seeing all the equipment and crying, "me go!!!". I worked in Morgan's class this morning and my friend Lara kept Bennett for me. The anxiety and excitement was starting to grow by the time school was over and I was rushing to pick up Bennett and get home. I wanted to get the kids fed and Morgan napping ASAP since we were to meet at Kristin's house at 3:30. One of the other Daisy moms was picking me up at 3, so I knew I had little time to waste.
We were ready, waiting at the curb at 3 with all our gear, even if Morgan was a little grumpy from being woken from her nap too soon. We all met at Kristin's house and waited a little bit for the one last mom and Daisy to show up and then we were off to Camporee! We were warned that the road to the camp grounds is very windy and they made no exaggerations on this matter. I was relieved that I had remembered to give Morgan her dramamine and had her wearing her anti-motion sickness wristbands. The girls got really excited as we drove into the camp grounds and the scout characteristics hung over our heads, from the trees. Now that the girls could read, it was fun for them to find them and read them. Loyalty. Cheerful. Obedience.
We pulled up to the first stop and were greeted by a woman dressed up like a pirate, getting our troop checked in and getting us the important information we needed. We parked and loaded up a wagon with gears, the girls with their gear and headed up this hill that we'd come to know and love over the next two days as we hiked up and down it to get to and from all the activities. The camp sites rested at the top of the hill and we were given what had to have been the world's smallest campsite. We had two 7 person tents to pitch in an area that *might* comfortably house one. No time to worry, we set the girls up with their dinners we had brought and got to work setting up the tents. One of the nicest things I found about the whole weekend were the older girls who had organized the whole event. They literally had 2 or 3 girls available to us the minute we got there to help us pitch our tent, take the girls to the bathroom, or do whatever we needed help with. It was so nice!
We managed to get the tents pitched, our gear trekked up hill, and everyone bundled up for campfire just in time. We hiked back down the hill to where they were attempting to light the camp fire. The girls hung out and waited for the fun to start, but were also incredibly tired and incredibly cold! Pretty soon, the staff girls (older Girl Scouts running the trip) came up and started teaching the girls songs. The girls were loving it (especially loving playing with their flashlights), but their age really showed when they all climbed into their mothers laps, one by one, wanting to warm up and whispering how tired they were. We decided it was time to get back to camp, so we hiked back up the hill, got the girls bundled up in hats and gloves and sleeping bags with blankets so sleep out there in the freezing cold. Once they were settled, Kristin stayed in the tent with them while the other moms went into the other tent to sleep. The girls were out within fifteen minutes! Amazing little campers! :)
As the weather gets nicer and summer draws nearer, I yearn for the carefree days of going wherever we want, whenever we want. I love going to new places and exploring them with the kids and I also like going back to some of our favorites. Today, we took our first trip of the season, to Gilroy Gardens. This amusement park is perfect because it's small enough to do in a day, has lots of rides for the five and under crowd, and it never gets too packed with people, even during spring break! We went with my friend Melissa and her daughter Clare and we had a great time! Even the trip home, with my two non-stop talkers was funny. :)
Here are a few of my favorite pictures from the day.
Today was not only the last day of my parents' visit with us, but also happened to be the first day of Spring Break. Wanting to take full advantage, I planned a trip to the Lindsay Wildlife Museum this morning.
Before leaving for the museum, my mom and I hit the gym for a little exercise. Not really knowing what to do, we happened into a Step class. Now, Step is not normally my thing, but my mom seemed interested, so we gave it a shot. Except this was no normal step class where you are just up and down on the same step. Noooooo. This was what they call "Four Step". Basically, you do all the movements between four different steps. The instructor calls out which step to go to along with the movement. Not having taken a Step class before, there was a little bit of a learning curve to figure out what a basic right or shooter was, but I figured it out. Not only was this a good physical workout, but it was a good mental workout also. My mom and I both really enjoyed the class! After getting showers and heading home, we picked up my dad and we all headed to Walnut Creek to the wildlife museum.
The museum is pretty small, so we were able to see it all in just a couple of hours. The kids really enjoyed seeing all the birds and snakes, lizards and turtles. The highlights included watching the bobcat get fed and petting the bunny. But the big fun came after we left and went to JACK IN THE BOX for lunch. Because I've apparently never taken my kids there and that is equivalent to some sort of child deprivation. Morgan kept talking about how great it was to be eating there. LOL
After naps, the weather was nice enough to get the kids out to expend some energy before requesting that they sit nicely at a restaurant for dinner. So, my mom and I took them to a nearby park and they had fun. After, they were actually fairly good at dinner. Nice way to start off Spring break!
This time last year, we were partaking in our annual tradition with our family friends where we decorate cookies and dye Easter eggs. That's the same friend whom I had the falling out with and so this year, we weren't going to be going to their house to do this. It wasn't long before Morgan wanted to know if we were going to be going to their house to dye eggs, so I had to tell her (yet again) that we weren't really friendly with them anymore and we hadn't been invited there, but I thought maybe we could continue the tradition at our house and invite some different friends. She got so excited, my little party girl, and was clamoring for a list of things we needed to do to get ready! Well, we're ready and today was the day! Yesterday, the eggs were hard boiled and this morning we baked the cookies. The goodie bags are stuffed, the table cloths laid down and then we were ready for our friends to arrive! Everyone brought a dish to share and so there was lots of yummy food. All the kids had a lot of fun, some of them just now coming into the age where they can get into things like this. Morgan and her friend Chenoa, enjoying some big girl time together. Chenoa even commented about how this was the best party she'd ever been to! I teased Lara that she's sheltering her daughter way too much! Though it can be chaotic with so many kids in one house, it was well worth it!! Here are some pictures from our fun evening!
Tonight was the My Guy and I dance for Girl Scouts. The idea here is that the Dads all get together with their girls and go have fun dancing the night away. It started at 7, so I had to have Morgan ready when Lance came to get her after work. She was so excited, she could hardly stand it! She told me that she could just picture what it was going to be like. She said she pictured it would be like a wedding. Pretty soon, it was getting to be dinner time, so I set Bennett up with some food and helped Morgan get dressed for her big "date". Lance showed up, right on time, with a white rose for his girl. This just sent her over the top! She was sooo cute! I got some pictures before the cute couple headed out to their night full of pizza, chicken dancing, and congo lines. :) Too cute!
When they got home, she was talking a mile a minute about all the fun stuff they did and saw. She even managed to get Daddy out on the dance floor a few times. You go girl!!
We had a kids' outing to Pump It Up today. This place is packed for of jumpy houses, inflatable slides and all kinds of fun stuff for kids to enjoy. Want to know what my son enjoyed the best?
1. Eating his snack. As soon as we walked in, a friend of mine's daughter had a bag of goldfish in her hands. That was it. I knew it when I saw it. No matter where we go, the first thing Bennett wants to do is eat. And if he sees someone else eating, even more so.
2. Self service water fountain. I actually thought I was taking a cute video of him trying to figure out this fountain, but apparently I got the on and off reversed. :) Anyway, every time he tried to drink it went like this.
push button water flows put mouth to water and let go of button, no water back away in confusion
push button water flows put mouth to water and let go of button, no water back away in confusion
Over and over until he figured it out with a little coaching. Oh, and a little soaking of the front of his shirt.
Eventually, I got him warmed up to the idea of actually exerting a little energy on the inflatable slide and in the bouncy house. He ended up having a ball and asking over and over again after we left, "Momma we go back sometime?"
Yes, baby. Sometime. After you've been properly fed and watered on the way there. One of these days I learn.
Some of you may have heard about the horrible tiger attack at the San Francisco zoo on Christmas day in 2007. Since then, you can see how the zoo has secured many of it's animal enclosures much better than they were before. One thing that they haven't done was to get rid of the crazy savage squirrels they have running around.
It was a beautiful day at the zoo. We were enjoying giraffes, turtles, birds, and other creatures. We went into the children's zoo and saw there was a fairly large petting zoo. We all parked our strollers outside the petting zoo, as instructed, and went in to enjoy some fun with the goats and sheep. While we were in there, the batteries in my camera died. I wanted to take a picture of Bennett on a tiny little tractor, so I ran out to get replacement batteries from my diaper bag. I noticed a rather large squirrel on the handle of my friend Melissa's stroller. It was trying to get into a bag of wheat thins she had and was dangerously close to her Starbucks coffee cup. I shooed it away, grabbed my batteries and headed back in and took this amazingly cute shot.
We spent a lot of time in the petting zoo and then it was time to move on. We went to the gate where the hand sanitizer was, sanitized our hands and then went out to get the stroller. I looked at the ground and saw a bag of cookies that had been opened. Hmmm....I brought some with me just like that. That's when it dawned on me. They were MY cookies. Like, the ones that were in the thermos cooler bag that was completely zipped up. I checked my bag. Yep. The little bastard had managed to unzip the bag and in doing so, ripped the zipper up so badly that it completely ruined my cooler bag! So not good. And the little shit had the audacity to sit there, eating my Sensible Portion S'mores cookies right in front of me (apparently he has to watch what he eats with such a smorgasbord of options every day, fat bastard). I'm pretty sure that he was laughing at a decibel level that I just couldn't hear. Savage, I tell you. Completely savage.
As we were walking away, my friend Lisa noticed that her girls' bag of Pirates Booty had been ravaged also. Forget the tigers! Watch out for those sneaky savage squirrels!
A small taste of what I have missed since this summer....Morgan was out of school today for a teacher's work day today and we took advantage of that fact and the great weather and took a day trip out to the zoo. We brought our lunches, our friends Kristin and Kaitlyn along and we all had a great time! I know that when summer comes, we'll get to do more of this, but maybe since this is a mid-school-year getaway, it's a special treat and seems even sweeter.
Not to mention that we are now completely out of the sick and bad weather funk.
Here are a few of my favorite pictures from our trip today.
In addition to the return of the summer farmers market, another thing I've been looking forward to all winter was the opening of the farms for U-pick fruit in the nearby city of Brentwood. Last summer we went and picked cherries and pluots and blackberries. We had so much fun and I have really been looking forward to doing it this year, since Bennett is big enough to do more than watch from the stroller. We made it a big family trip, waiting to do it on Memorial Day when the dads would be home. We went with my friend Melissa W and her family and we all had a great time. The fruit wasn't as ripe as we had hoped it would be, but we came home with plenty! Lance even had enough for a pie!
