A Snowman in May

Last night, just before bedtime, Trace and the kids went outside to build a snowman.  After a few minutes, I followed them to take a few pictures of their creation.  It was harder than I thought, since by the time I got outdoors there was a snowball fight going on between Trace and Jack.  I got a lot of pictures like this:

 Caroline already had her pajamas on, so she added a hat, boots, and mittens to complete her ensemble.  We had to look for the mittens, since I had already put them away for the year.  Apparently I was premature in my switch to summertime accessories!

 Caroline was entranced with the snowman, maybe because they were the same size.

 Putting on the final touches--wait, weren't those sticks supposed to be arms?  Do your arms come out of the side of your head Jack?

 Coming back across the yard after visiting the "stick store" as Caroline named it.  Only since she doesn't say "s," you can only imagine how hard that was to understand!

 Run from the snowballs Jack!

 I tried to get a posed picture with Mr. Snowman, but everyone kept talking.

 This one was cute, but I was done taking pictures as soon as this snowball hit me.  I took off running!

Happy May!

A Day with the Wards

Yesterday my kids got to spend the afternoon with their friends Marilyn and Graham, while their mom took her mom to a doctor's appointment in Sacramento.  We're all glad that Gigi is recovering well from her surgery, but shhh! don't tell, but I don't think we missed them at all.  These four friends had so much fun playing together that I thought I'd share the photos I took of the day.  These are in chronological order. 

First they played dress-up and I took pictures so that we could make a frame craft later.  Do you think the lizard and the princess are good friends?

Miss Caroline in her elephant costume which she loves--it's size 2T and somehow she can still squeeze herself into it.

Three kiddos all dressed up.  It's awfully hard to get a snapshot with all three looking at you/smiling.  I can't imagine how professional photographers take family photos.  Experience I guess.

Mister Graham was willing to wear a hat for about 30 seconds, and he was very serious about it.  This was pre-nap, which may explain the look.

Jack the lizard is one cute boy, but I may be a little prejudiced.

Gluing buttons on popsicle stick frames.

Marilyn has an amazing sense of order and an ability to concentrate on detail work that you don't often see in a three year old.  She glued on her buttons and said, "now I will wait for my friends to finish."  Darling!

While our frames dried and Graham took a nap, the three other kids planted flowers with me.  The best part was that the rain stopped, so after planting they could run around outside.

Caroline helping plant in her third outfit of the day.  She loves to get herself dressed, and re-dressed as the day progresses.

The finished product.  They were good helpers, and my pots are full!

We printed the pictures we took earlier and put them in the homemade frames.  Aren't they creative?

This was my favorite part of the day.  The kids went out back and had fun "golfing," swinging, climbing and generally running around.  After an hour, the girls came inside and had a bath.  They were done, but these two boys, age 5, and 1.5, played golf in the backyard for another hour.  Graham followed Jack around, carrying his golf club and trying to imitate Jack's every move.  They were both completely entertained. 

Graham and his ball.

Trying hard to hit it.

Big boy and little boy, playing together.

Thanks for sharing your kids Lindsey.  I'll babysit anytime!

A Weekend at the Beach

Last weekend we came up with a spur of the moment plan to go to Pajaro Dunes. It's located just west of Watsonville, halfway between Santa Cruz and Monterey, and we last went there when Jackson was six weeks old, so four years ago. We called last Wednesday to see if they had any available condos for the next night, and they did, so off we went! We arrived just before sunset on Thursday night, and stayed until checkout at noon Sunday. It was a true vacation: we played on the beach, and didn't leave except to buy groceries once or twice. Andrew and Will were not able to come since they had previous plans, so it was just the four of us: Trace, Holly, Jackson, and Caroline. We went for lots of walks down the beach, collecting sand dollars, practicing our letters in the sand, and we built sand castles and played in the waves. Every day. That's all we did, and it was completely relaxing. Jackson and Trace watching the sunset Thursday after our arrival. Both kids had some trepidations about the water at first, but in the next three days they certainly overcame their fears! Looking at a shell perhaps? Caroline and I watching the sunset with our shades on. We saw a lot of pelicans, sandpipers, and seagulls, with or without the sunsetting. The kids loved the bunk beds in their bedroom. They both slept through the night every night--no worries about new beds with these two! Caroline slept on the bottom bunk, and although Jackson played on the top bunk all day, and called it his, he slept on the queen bed also in their room at night. That was fine with me, since I didn't have to worry about him falling. I packed their warm pajamas, which they haven't worn much since last winter, and Jack found a hole in his foot. Our first full day at the beach was Friday, and it was a sunny, beautiful day. Trace and Jack built a sand castle together, which surprisingly lasted the whole trip, although hit by waves a number of times. Caroline built her own sand castle, further back on the beach, because she was a little intimidated by the waves coming close to the big one. The kids loved playing in the big sand castle, and spent time in it every day.

Jack did a good job with his shovelling! The next day dawned foggy, but still warm, and the fog didn't slow us down much. This is the view from our condo.The kids spent a long time running in and out of the waves, and Caroline would run back and forth between Trace and I. She always held a hand, but Jack by day two was pretty fearless, and he got soaked falling down in the waves, perhaps intentionally.

They even did ballet in the water, and their shadows were pretty cool too! For dinner that night Trace made fresh oysters. Both kids tried them--this was definitely their first oysters, but contrary to her face, Caroline actually asked for more.Caroline's first bite of oyster. Her reaction.

Then we finished up with clams for dinner, which everyone enjoyed. Eating seafood sitting outside at the ocean. What could be better than that?

Sunday morning I didn't take the camera with me, so that I could get a little further in the water. It was cool that morning, and the kids had on sweatshirts with their shorts, but as you can imagine, that didn't stop them from getting soaked to the waist. We had a lovely trip, so much fun that we're hoping to do it all again soon. Want to come?

Archery and Blackberry Picking

Today we went out to the chapel at the fairgrounds and cleaned (or mostly Trace did--he's one hard worker!), and prior to that we made bows and arrows, and picked blackberries with Becky and Tracie.

I think I just listed all of that in reverse order. Let's try again: so the kids and I got up this morning, had leftover homemade pizza for breakfast, and then checked in with Aunt Becky, who was going to meet Mike, our friend, and deliveryman extraordinaire, after his archery tournament. I tried to explain to Jackson and Caroline what archery was, only to end up on YouTube, looking up videos of longbows so that Jack would understand.

In the meantime Trace got home from working his coffees, and he and I made bows and arrows for both kids. They loved them, although it was more complicated to their minds than I would have expected. Then the kids and I went to meet Becky and Tracie and pick blackberries, the wild kind, while Trace headed out to the fairgrounds to clean up before the fair starts on Wednesday (which is like running a third store for us, and always a little crazy, but also lots of fun, both for the kids and for Trace and I. There are lots of animals, which is the best part for the kids, and all the other county exhibits, especially the photography, the art, and the quilts, are my favorites. We're looking forward to it. At least I am, but maybe not Trace, who opens the coffee shop at 6 every morning and closes the fair at 11 or midnight every night for five days). It's a busy week. We're also finishing Jackson's swim lessons this week, so that should be another dimension of the busy-ness.

Back to today, here are three photos of our morning archery:

Caroline and Jackson. Trace demonstrating. Jackson trying to figure out how to do it himself.

Jack berry-picking. It was serious work. Jack and Tracie taking a break in the shade.

Caroline and Becky checking out a tree that was just Caroline's size. Caroline is giving her "camera smile," which she saves for those who say: "smile!"Caroline with all the berries that Becky and Tracie picked. Caroline's bucket, on the other hand, reminded me of the book "Blueberries for Sal," where the bucket is perpetually empty since the little girl keeps eating them. Hers is the empty easter basket in the background, while the other two bowls (both overflowing) are Becky's and Tracie's. Becky is going to make jam with her berries, so Jack is convinced that we should do the same thing, although we don't have nearly as many berries, since so many got eaten! I'm considering jam tomorrow, and I have a simple recipe (not even any pectin: I mean really simple), but we also have work, swim lessons, and Monday Night Dinner going on tomorrow, so we'll see if it actually happens or if we just eat all our berries. Either way, I know it will be delicious. Don't you just love summer food?