New Friends

Checking on their new friends ...

Mommy, look at what we found!

Making some adjustments ....
... ensuring everything is in place.
Two heads are better than one.

Who are these new friends you might ask? Why, they're our snail friends of course! Hayden LOVES finding snails all around the backyard at my parent's - last summer he and his cousins attempted to keep some as pets, only to wake up in the morning to find them gone. Imagine! During the three weeks we were with my mom & dad, the boys found several dozen snails, of all sizes, to "keep" and check on throughout the day. Most we lost, either due to the warm afternoon sun (yes, that kind of loss) or because snails just don't seem to stay in one place, but a few baby snails managed to stay put for a few days inside this tub and Hayden made sure they had plenty of leaves and branches and dirt to be comfortable. Also adding to the fun was that I had just finished a unit in Science with my students about caring for and learning about land snails, so it was neat to be able to show Hayden some things that my students and I experienced together in class. Though eventually even these little guys slugged their way on to better places, both Hayden and Noah had fun finding their friends day after day after day. See you next summer little friends ...

Riding in the Rig

Hayden is ready to ride!

Away they go! Hayden, Grandpa, & the "Big Rig"

Before Grandpa had to drive out of town for work today, Hayden had a chance to take a short ride in the big rig. Though the "drive" consisted of about a mile on I-5, Hayden was so very excited to ride with his Grandpa in the truck. Next time he says he wants to go for longer so he can try out the bed in the sleeper. Someday maybe he just might!

A Magical Monday Morning

What could be better than waking up to the beeping and downshifting gears of a garbage truck coming for an early Monday morning pick-up? For these little boys (whom I might add look pretty adorable in their matching "jammies") it doesn't get better than this! Wide eyed and full of excitement at 6:30 in the morning, these two flew out of bed and raced to the front porch to watch the magic of the garbage man ... ah, what a way to start the week.

Happy Father's Day

Happy Father's Day Dad!

Dad & the girls

Dad, my sibs (w/o Danny) & me

The whole gang squeezes in ...

A quiet Father's Day was had as we finished up our celebrations for Grandpa's 80th birthday and headed back to mom & dad's for a quiet afternoon and much needed naps! Though missing Chris (we sent him video messages) and Dan, Jen & the kids, my two other brothers, sister and I spent the evening with our dad doing what we all love to do: hanging out at our parent's home, together as a family. With Jeff, Brandi, and Miles living in Idaho and us living in Arizona, it's not very often that we all get to be together so anytime we have is time that we cherish. Being that it was Father's day made it more special for all of us to be together ... even though it wasn't anything fancy, you can't beat pizza for dinner and ice cream cake for dessert. Good times!

80 Years to Celebrate

This weekend my mom, two aunts, and Nana worked hard to plan and put together a surprise 80th birthday celebration and camp-out for my grandpa. It was a true family collaboration! As far as grandpa knew, we were camping for the weekend - little did he know when he woke up Saturday morning that we had a BBQ planned for him later that afternoon. At some point in the day, we all started to put on our yellow shirts with grandpa's picture on the front as a way to honor his momentous birthday. He kind of chuckled a bit, put on his own shirt and the surprise was out .... Happy Birthday Grandpa! Soon after, friends and family started to arrive and the fun and celebrations continued. It was a wonderful tribute to a wonderful man and a great reason to get our entire family together - all the children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren were there to camp, eat, drink, laugh, cry, sing, and rejoice in the 80 years of my grandpa. "Ho Hum" as grandpa would say .... in other words, what a memorable weekend!

Forever Friends

Today we met up with two of my very best friends from high school, Wendy and Courtney. Wendy is expecting her first baby in October and Courtney has two little ones who are close in age to my boys. Hayden, Noah, and I had time to play at Courtney's house (& sort of chat) before meeting Wendy for lunch at David's Pizza, where Auntie Katie was working. Wendy and I have known each other since we were little girls and she was in my mom's Girl Scout troop and then in high school, I met Courtney through Wendy and we became the best of friends. It has been over 20 years and they are both just as important to me now as they ever have been. I love that though our lives have changed and taken us in different directions, we are still able to find time to get together whenever I am "home" and it seems just like old times, except now we have a few kids added in, with a new one on the way. Each time we are together, whether it be listening to our kids play together, or reminiscing about the "good 'ol days", or laughing at ourselves, we have the best of times and it makes me feel so blessed and thankful that I am part of such a strong friendship with two amazing, beautiful, and strong women.

San Francisco Zoo

We drove into beautiful San Francisco today with Uncle Danny, Auntie Jen, Brandon, and Ashley for a visit to the zoo. Meeting us there were my cousins Leslie & Ed, their kids Pilar and Jacob, and Ben & his wife, Kristi. It's been a few years since we've all been together and it was wonderful to be able to spend the day with them at the zoo. Once we were all set with admission tickets, we set out for the Gorilla exhibit to catch a glimpse of the baby gorilla on display. It was a bit hard to see him because he was pretty tiny and very much protected by his mama. We were able to get a quick peek though before it was time for he and his mama to go back inside. The keepers came out after and began to prepare for feeding time by throwing a variety of vegetables around the grassy compound. Immediately following this, the HUGE, and I literally mean HUGE, Silverback Gorilla came racing out of the indoor pen and jogged around looking for his lunch. I was awestruck at how large he was and we all spent a lot of time just watching him interact with the other gorillas. I could've spent all day just observing the interactions between these amazing animals, but given there was much more to see, we moved on to check out the rest of the zoo.
This zoo is beautiful, the setting and location can't be beat, but besides the gorillas and the California Brown Bears, sadly there wasn't much to see throughout the zoo. There were other animals of course: a Koala (which is NOT a bear we learned), some birds, a Polar Bear, a tiger, a lion, and a few giraffes ... other than this, the zoo seemed to be in need of a boost. Several places did note renovations were under way, like the hippos, but unfortunately there were no elephants and the lion house which I remember as a little girl was gone too. Despite all this though, we did have the best time walking through the zoo, catching up on lost time with cousins, and the kids had a blast, of course, running and zooming ahead to see what was coming next. If I look at it from their perspective, I suppose my view of the zoo changes because for them I am positive it was great ... it's my adult thinking, along with my expectations of what I thought the zoo would be like, that had me a bit disappointed. I am certainly grateful though for the time I had with my family, for it shows that no matter what you do, or where you go, the most important thing is that you're together.