Big Bear

We spent the weekend in Big Bear with the Schneider family. Dawn and I ran the Big Bear Half Marathon on Saturday. We had a great time. After the race we went to the Alpine Slide where we rode the ski lift to the top of the mountain and sled down. We took turns taking the kids and after some hesitation on their part they were begging to "go faster!" We had a great weekend and I"ll post more pictures soon. Bill put together this collage of us "hangin out" and it sums up our fun at Big Bear Lake! The boys, Matt Max and Micah, were too busy throwing rocks into the lake to participate in our jumping acrobats!
Stay tuned for more pics and check out Karl's blog for some!

Matt's First Day of Preschool

Matt started Preschool Today was parent orientation so Matt was only in his class for a little over an hour. He did great! No tears shed. I was able to choke mine back. We got Matt a new Lightning McQueen backpack and to say he was excited to wear it is an understatement! My friend Dawn came over with two of her kids to watch Luke and Micah while Karl and I went to the orientation. The picture above is of the "boys club," Max, Luke, Matt and Micah. Matt will be going to preschool two days a week for 3 hours in the morning. Hopefully his excitement carries on into next week!
We are off to Big Bear, CA this weekend with Dawn and her family. Dawn and I are running the Big Bear Half Marathon on Saturday. This will be a training run for me because Karl and I are running the Twin Cities Marathon in about 3 weeks. Dawn just had a baby 6 months ago so running 13 miles this soon will be a great accomplishment. Aside from the run we hope to have some good family fun in Big Bear. I read there is a slide you can ride down the mountain. WOOHOO stay tuned for some great pics!!

Ventura Beach

We spent Sunday at Ventura Beach with Grandpa and Grandma Bennett. They drove to our house and brought us Karl's grandma's piano. They then went to Ventura and stayed in a hotel on the beach for the long weekend so we drove out to Ventura on Sunday to spend the day with them. We had a great time playing in the sand and water. It was awesome to see how great Brad is doing since his surgery. He is a new Grandpa! The boys are so lucky to have boogie boarding grandparents! After the boys took naps in the hotel room we went to the harbor and had ice cream, Matt rode a pony, and we looked at the boats. It was a great visit and everyone had a blast. I'm sure the boys will talk about this day for a long time.

Daddy and Micah built some cool sand castles!

Micah has Matt right where he wants him! Matt was buried in the sand and loved it.

Grandma and Grandpa hit the waves with the boogie board.

We dug a "house" of big holes then filled them up with water. The boys quickly "swam" and splashed before the water disapeared.

Micah and his trucks. That kid is happy anywhere as long as he has a truck and his mom close by!
Matt rode a pony at Ventura Harbor. His pony's name is Casper. Matt was in deep concentration during his 10 minutes of being a cowboy. Micah was too scared to ride and we decided not to push it with him.

Sand is everywhere!

The Past Few Weeks

I have a good reason for not posting in so long...Micah switched from his crib to a toddler bed two weeks ago. I'll explain how this is related to me not posting! Usually I post after the kids go to bed. It has been taking us from 30 minutes to over and hour to get Micah to stay in his bed so by the time he is asleep I am too tired to post! The reason we transitioned him to the "big boy" bed was because he started climbing out of his crib. If it was up to me I would have kept Micah in his crib until he was 3 but safety must come first! Anyway, times are better (thanks to the tips from the Super Nanny show) and Micah is going to bed with minimal protesting!We watched Luke last weekend while Louise and Jon went on a cruise to celebrate Jon's graduation. Karl made the boys bunny pancakes on Sunday morning! Having 3 kids age 1,2, and 3 is TOUGH!!! WOW that is the only way to describe it!Last week we took the boys the to AV Fair. They had a good time looking at all the animals, checking out the lights from the carnival and eating funnel cake. Matt liked the swing ride that lifts swings up high and spins in a circle. Yikes, I told him when he is 6 years old Daddy would do that with him!
My sister and I took the boys to Griffith Park last week and let boys do pony rides and ride the little train. Matt was so proud and said "I'm like a real cowboy!" Later that day Matt told me he wanted to be a cowboy when he grows up. He had told me a few days before he wanted to be an astronaut. I asked how he was going to have time to be both and he explained that, "first I will be a cowboy, then an astronaut, then a fireman." Oh, silly me!It has been hard to get an appropriate picture of the boys playing at home because I'm having a difficult time keeping cloths on them! Every time I turn around a little boy has stripped! Here is a pic of them playing in their pool outside and of course minus cloths! Today Karl suggested since Matt is starting preschool soon we implement a clothing rule. We decided that the boys need to have underwear or a diaper on at all times when home. Except if swimming!This was the view from our front yard on Saturday! My sister was evacuated in Acton, CA. The fire looks really close but we are very safe. Hopefully my sister and her family can return home soon. Their house is in less danger because the winds have shifted although I don't think they can go home for another day or so.

"I want that one Mommy"

Micah's language has exploded the past two weeks! He said his first real sentence yesterday. "I want that one Mommy." He was referencing a pink popsicle and after I gave it to him he said, "Tank To Mommy." Actually the sentence that I am bragging about sounded more like. "Iwantatwon Mommy." That isn't the point though, my baby is growing up!
The picture is of Micah eating a "special treat" Drumstick. Grandpa Tom introduced Matt to Drumsticks when he was here awhile ago. Matt definatly remembered all about Drumsticks. That kid has the biggest sweet tooth. I hadn't eaten one in years...sure was yummy!
Three year olds crack me up! Yesterday in the car Matt asked me what goosebumps were. I tried to explain and then asked him where he heard about goosebumps. He couldn't tell me but is now very ecxcited and nervous to see goosebumps this winter! Maybe I will take him to the freezer section at the grocery store to show him!
Our produce box was especially colorful and in a way beautiful this week. The peaches were the size of softballs and so good. The grapes are called Flame Grapes and taste like candy. I ordered extra grapes this week.
Have a happy Friday!
Louise's husband, Jon, graduated from his MBA program, FINALLY! We are celebrating on Sunday with a small party. Louise, Jon and Luke have made huge sacrafices the past two years while Jon worked on his degree. Congratulations to their family! We love you and are proud of you all!

Beach Day

The boys and I went to the beach with a few friends last Friday. We had a great time! The kids loved the water and had a blast in the sand.
We are currently laying low at home because Micah is fighting a nasty virus. Hopefully we will see his smile again soon. I miss those little dimples!

Matt and his "best buddy" Max.

We dug a huge hole and the kids played in and around it for over an hour. Who would have thought there was so much to do in a hole! Micah discovered it could be a sand slide.

Matt is jumping into the hole. Great action shot!

Rockin to Crocodile Rock

Mammoth Lakes, CA Camping Trip

Warning: We are about to bore you with LOTS of pictures!

We got home today from a 4 day 3 night camping trip in Mammoth Lakes, CA. We had a great time and arrived home this afternoon tired and filthy! Mammoth is a 4.5 hour drive from our house. Other than my paranoia of bears and no showers we had a great time. Enjoy the pictures! We plan to go again next year. There is so much to do and it is absolutely beautiful! We would love company next year...join us!

The boys in front of the tent.

Micah was into jumping off of everything this weekend! Matt is king of the tree stump and so proud!

We hiked back to this lake. It was beautiful and the boys had a blast playing in the water and sand on the shore.

We rode the gondola to the top of the mountain. Matt was REALLY scared at first. After throwing a major fit/tantrum for the first part of the ride he realized how cool it was! He then kept talking about how cool it was. Micah called it the "gong-gong ride."

Family picture at the top of Mammoth Mountain. Some of the Mammoth lakes are behind us. There was snow in some places at the top but the temp was in the high 60s.

Devil's Postpile National Monument. You can't drive into this part of the park. We had to take a bus that stopped at various sites for hiking. We originally planned to do a couple hikes during this outing but we had two tired little boys so we settled on a short one to see the Postpile. This is a really cool natural rock formation. There are hexagonal shaped pillers that were formed after a combination of lava, eathquakes, and cooling (We were wrestling two very tired boys as the ranger was explaining!) Regardless of the details is was pretty awesome.

Yummy breakfast of eggs, bread, and fruit. Good hiking fuel.

We capured Micah in a rare moment not in the dirt! He loved shoveling and running his dump truck in the dirt. I have never seen a child so dirty! We bathed the boys in a plastic bin each night.

Matt's favorite was cooking in the fire. We made hotdogs, veggies, pizzas, pie and LOTS of marshmallows.

Here is what kept us up until 10:00pm on Sat night from the campsite next to us. Both Matt and Micah were doing the "country jig" in the tent.

Here is Micah recreating his dance moves from the night before.

Kidspace

Karl's dad, Tom, came to visit from MN a few weeks ago. He was only here for a few days but we packed in the fun! We went to Kidspace, swimming, and Karl, Tom, Clark, and my dad went to a Dodger game.

Micah- you forgot to jump!

My sister and her family moved this weekend. They now live in Acton. She is a 22 minute drive away! They moved from a third floor condo into a cute little house with a yard! They are so happy to have a yard for Luke to play in. This move makes Jon's commute to work a little longer but shortens my sister's by 20 minutes. As I type this we have a really cool little "digger" grading our backyard. We are having a small wall built, additional drainage pipe put in, and lots of sand in preparation for a future swing set. This is phase one of the yard plans we had drawn up. This and preparing for a garden are probably all we will do this year in regard to the plans. We had to start somewhere!
We leave on Friday for our 4 day camping trip in Mammoth Lakes. I am excited to spend 4 days in the beautiful mountains and fresh air!

Karl Completes 30 Mile Run!!

Check out Karl's blog for details about our busy weekend!
I have great pictures of Tom's (Karl's dad) visit the weekend before that I will post soon. We are still in minor recovery mode from the big event last weekend! Karl is doing great and I am so proud of him! 30 miles on his 30th birthday! I'm still unsure how supportive I will be if he decides to pull this same stunt when he is 40! Only joking...we had a great weekend surrounded by close friends and family. More pictures to come...