Green-eyed Frog

Small hike in the canyon a couple of weeks ago.

2011-11-01T14:32:00.000-06:00

Halloween

2011-11-01T14:26:00.003-06:00

2011-09-09T15:24:00.003-06:00

The local squirrel seems to think my lawn is a good place for his pine cone hoard. I didn't even know squirrels hoarded pine cones. I threw them all up on the dirt the other day, and the next day they were back. Then I threw them up on the dirt again, and the next day they were back. Guess I'll have to throw them away. But then he'll probably just get more.

Lily's birthday

2011-08-29T10:25:00.007-06:00

2011-08-22T14:15:00.003-06:00

The other week we were outside and found this injured dragonfly. I don't know what it is about dragonflies this year, but they've been everywhere. I'm sure it made some bird a super lunch.

2011-08-08T13:56:00.001-06:00

A really great tower defense game, if you like those.

Click.

Dragon fly catching

2011-07-20T12:52:00.001-06:00

Don't worry, they let it go.

4th of July pics

2011-07-11T13:37:00.003-06:00

Thanks to my sis-in-law Emily for the pics. I'm always seeming to forget my camera these days. The kids had so much fun with their cousins!

u

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Lily's Kindergarten Program

2011-06-01T16:36:00.000-06:00

If you can see her. This is both K-classes combined. They sang their favorite songs of the year. Next year--first grade!

l

2011-05-27T17:24:00.003-06:00

Lily is done with kindergarten! Aaron has another week of school, then...summer vacation.

2011-04-26T19:22:00.001-06:00

Thanks for the pictures dad!

Fun musical toy

2011-04-17T19:29:00.003-06:00

Otomata

Here's a couple I made that I particularly liked.

Click
Click

Really?

2011-03-08T09:34:00.000-07:00

Fictionist

2011-02-17T09:18:00.002-07:00

This really good local band called Fictionist has a chance to be on the cover of Rolling Stone. You should check them and then rate them!

Quick updates

2011-02-14T20:20:00.003-07:00

Valentine's week! I've been workin' at Flowerama. Fun times! I've been bringing broken flowers home all week much to Lily's delight.

Aaron was in the spelling bee. He got out on his second word.

Lily lost her first tooth.

Aaron registered for Jr. High. Decided on French and art as electives.

Happy V-day!

And finally I give you...

2011-02-01T13:37:00.003-07:00

Christmas, 2010

2010-12-01T12:54:00.002-07:00

The sight and sound of melting snow is wonderful. I think it's my new favorite sound. Not that I really had a favorite sound before...

A big fail goes to the church around the corner that the kids have to pass to walk to school for not shoveling the foot of snow off the sidewalk in front of it. Despite my worries, all the houses on the side of the street the kids go down shoveled within a day. As is required by law.

As the snow is melting off the roof, we've discovered that this house has great icicle potential.

Other photos at Wheeler Farm

2010-11-19T09:00:00.000-07:00

I don't love any of these, but some are okay, and I haven't had a strictly photography post for awhile. I went back there yesterday with my Holga. I'm still a total noob with it. I'll post if any turn out.

Aaron at Wheeler Farm

2010-11-18T17:39:00.003-07:00

As you can tell, most of these were taken when he didn't know.

Lily at Wheeler Farm

2010-11-18T17:27:00.005-07:00

A couple of weeks ago--the last warm day of the year--we headed over to Wheeler Farm for a little late fall outdoor exploring. There are more pictures of Lily because she actually likes and asks for her picture to be taken. I'll post Aaron's in a separate post so this won't be too long.

2010-11-10T14:51:00.002-07:00

Am I the only one that finds it amusing that the band Barenaked Ladies has a children's album out?

Fact of the day

2010-11-05T16:33:00.001-06:00

Today I learned that a clove is the dried flower bud of a certain type of myrtle tree.

Fish tank project

2010-11-05T15:40:00.006-06:00

We've had this old fish tank in our garage for years. Some neighbors gave it to us when they upgraded. We used to have fish. Like 7 years ago, but then they all died and we got a piano that took up the tank spot. So now that we have more room, we decided to get things set up again. The only thing is I kinda hated the base color. It was kinda beat up and also a sickly orange-honey-brown color. So I decided to paint it.

So I present to you before:

And after:

The guy at home depot told me it should take 2 coats of paint. Try 4. I don't know if it was something I did wrong, or if it was because it was plywood (I read online that plywood is very porous and likes to soak up the paint) but yeah. Four coats. Oh well. Thanks to Jennifer for your helpful tips!

I'll have to take an after the after picture once we finally have fish in there.

Pumpkin Carving with Grandma and Grandpa

2010-11-03T11:17:00.004-06:00

Halloween

2010-11-03T10:58:00.005-06:00

This year we had a Ghostbuster (who ya' gonna' call?) and a wizard (old school, not Harry Potter).

So for whatever reason Aaron recently has hated to get his picture taken. (And by recently I mean the past year or more.) So this first one I was trying to get before he noticed, but he saw and started running. And shaking his fist at me.

Inside, we pretty much had to tell him that if he didn't let us take his picture, he couldn't go trick-or-treating. Then he wouldn't smile. Lily was trying to "help" him smile.

And finally the best we could manage:

2010-10-27T10:55:00.003-06:00

Well the sun just peeked out, so hopefully this will all be gone in a few hours, but here's what we woke up to today.

The rest of the cruise photos

2010-09-21T11:51:00.001-06:00

The rest of the cruise photos

2010-09-21T11:41:00.001-06:00

Pictures from Puerto Vallarta.

Puerto Vallarta

Still here.

2010-09-21T11:22:00.001-06:00

Click below for pictures from our excursion to Mazatlan.

Mexico Cruise

Cabo Beach

2010-06-24T12:36:00.004-06:00

Aaron loved playing on the sand near the ocean. Lily decided she preferred the kiddie pool. Which was understandable after seeing how much sand Aaron pulled out of his swimming suit.

Cabo

2010-06-22T13:31:00.004-06:00

This is after we got to port. We later went to a resort beach (pictures there in the next post). I should mention that on a rock neighboring that crab, I dropped my lens cap. Michael heroically rescued it by climbing over the fence.

I have to say that I was not impressed by the Cabo tourist trap marina. Hey guy(s) yelling at me, if I want a ride to a beach, I'll let you know. One funny thing was that one of the booths offered me a "Mexican GPS". Which was a map. We wanted to get some cash to buy some ice cream while we waited for the beach trip. The ATM wanted to charge something like a 35$ fee. Yeah, we didn't get ice cream.

Towel creatures

2010-06-16T10:06:00.000-06:00

Every couple of days, the people who made up the room would make these:

Another day at sea

2010-06-15T15:54:00.003-06:00

As you may know, Aaron hates to get his picture taken. Mike was really good at getting secret pictures.

Lily at lunch.

The 2 magazines in our room featured Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio. Luckily, we did not run into any icebergs.

Apparently since there is nothing else to do, days at sea are often formal night. We sent the kids to eat with the kids club and dressed up for a night on the town...so to speak.

Day One

2010-06-13T10:53:00.005-06:00

We arrived at LA after an uneventful flight. We explored the ship, saw dolphins jumping while standing on the balcony, ate dinner. Pretty mellow. The ship was pretty amazing. 14 decks, complete with swimming pools, rock climbing wall, mini-golf course, and ice-rink. We were on deck 6. Deck 5 had the promenade, which was basically a several deck high indoor mall. Our dining room was on deck 4. It was nice to have a central deck, because the elevators took forever, so we'd often take the stairs.

Scenic Cruise Photos

2010-06-09T10:26:00.003-06:00

We had 2 cameras this trip, I need to upload the other camera, but don't have it with me right now. So before I begin a brief travelogue I will just post a few scenic pictures to get started.

Muppets + Lost = Win

2010-05-20T12:20:00.001-06:00

Okay, even though I haven't been totally happy with this final season of Lost, this video is awesome.

2010-05-19T14:50:00.001-06:00

Shopping for the perfect house is hard.

Plants vs Zombies Music - Choose Your Seeds (piano version)

2010-05-12T11:45:00.000-06:00

2010-04-20T10:10:00.003-06:00

Aaron, Lily, and I went to the dentist this morning. The first amazing thing is that Lily let the dentist examine her. Not only that, she got x-rays and everything.

The second amazing thing is that none of us had cavities!

2010-04-09T17:14:00.000-06:00

In other, less angry news, we booked a cruise leaving the end of May. Hooray for vacation!

Warning: Angry rant with swearing ahead.

2010-04-09T14:11:00.010-06:00

So Mike's insurance changed at work this month. And while I recognize I am lucky enough to have insurance, I am also "lucky" enough to have to be on two different prescription drugs for the rest of my life. I am a bit pissed off.

I hate telling people this, but if you didn't know, I have epilepsy. I've had it since I was a teen. I'm lucky that it is mild and can be controlled entirely when I'm on the right meds. The old insurance covered my (brand name) epilepsy drug for $40 a month. While that is still over a dollar a day, it was doable.

Enter new insurance. Imagine my surprise when I pick up my medicine and they want to charge me $130 for a month's supply (and that was with the insurance company footing 60% of the bill, I believe). Are you fucking kidding me? I understand that drug companies need to compensate for research involved in developing a drug, but really?? How much per pill can they charge and get away with it?! It can NOT cost that much to manufacture a drug, especially when the generic costs so little. Please someone correct me if I'm wrong here. I'd love to see some numbers on this.

Of course I had to pay it. I HAVE to have this drug, and I was out. Mike talked to HR at work. Turns out the brand name of this particular drug is not on their "preferred" list. There is a generic available, and they would "prefer" me to take that.

There are a couple of problems with this.

1) Despite FDA approval, and active ingredients being the same in generics, there are differences. Especially (from my research) in absorption rates, and how fast the drug goes through your system.

2) I've had problems in the past with generics not working as well for me. Last time I went in to the dr. he expressed concern about me switching because of that, and said if my insurance covered it reasonably to go ahead and stay on the brand name. It is not now covered reasonably. Does my insurance company really want me to go off a drug that has been working very well for me for the past 2 years? Against the advice of my dr? What the hell? Do they think it is really in the best interest of my health to do so? Do they not care that I could lose my driving privileges (at the least) or that I could fucking die or injure someone (at worst) if the switch to generic is not successful?

Combined with a scientific article stating "Switch to generic lamotrigine was significantlyassociated with increased physician visits and hospitalizations," and many bad reviews on the forums on epilepsy.com (though I realize these are anecdotal), plus my Dr.'s reluctance to have me switch mentioned above, I guess I'm going to be forking out the bucks. We are signing up for a mail order plan--the insurance company will cover more if we do it that way--but it is still going to be a hell of a lot more than I was paying before.

2010-04-01T16:45:00.002-06:00

Seen on the back window of a mini-van on the freeway:

"You've been New-Mooned!"

(We'll give the driver the benefit of the doubt and pretend she has a teen daughter that wrote that.)

But what? You can't tell me I've been "new-mooned" unless I'm looking at vampire ass. The tail-end of a mini-van does not qualify.

I don't know why this made me laugh so much.

2010-03-19T17:12:00.002-06:00

San Diego--this time, kid free!

2010-02-22T10:45:00.013-07:00

The first weekend in February, hoping to escape the cold, Mike and I headed to San Diego. Unfortunately it was rainy, but the 60 degrees sure beat the 40 degrees at home. And there were a few hours of warm sun while we were there. Anyway, I don't think to bring the camera out as much when it's raining, but here are the highlights.

There were some cool sounding museums that we didn't go to with the kids when we were there last summer, so first we headed up to Balboa Park. We first tried to go to the Photography museum, but they were changing out the exhibit and said there would be much more to see if we could come back tomorrow. So we did. There wasn't a lot to see when we did make it back, so I can't imagine what they were actually showing the day before. There were some interesting photos, though.

Oops, let's try that again.

This cool building was an arboretum filled with cool plants. We ran into it on our way to an art museum. Here's a close up of me under the yellow flowers you can see on the left above.

There were a lot of cool orchids and other tropical plants.
Next we went to an art museum. They had some cool Russian religious icon stuff all done on wood paneling. Also they had a bunch of religious themed sketches by Rembrant. Yeah, I didn't know he sketched either. I think our favorite painting was The Torment of St. Anthony by Giovanni Girolamo Savoldo , which you can't really see in that picture. There's all these little demons or something chasing him, which are really pretty whimsical. Here's a sneaky close-up mike took (we didn't know if photography was allowed). I mean, what kind of demon stops to read a book? Next we went to the Museum of Man. It was an anthropology museum. Ancient civilizations and all that. They had reproductions of Mayan pillars and Egyptian mummies. Also information about the Genographic Project. It's about how you can track your ancestors through your mitochondrial dna. It's really interesting, and we have considered participating, if only the kit weren't so expensive. While we were looking at the exhibit and random guy came up and wanted to try to explain it to us. I thought that was pretty weird til he finally told us he was in training to become a docent.
We also spent time in Little Italy. We ate dinner (and breakfast) at Cafe Zucchuro.
Dinner was great, but what would vacation be if I didn't leave my purse behind? And it was raining?

I realized I had left it as we were on the trolley back to our hotel. So we got off to reverse course. As we were waiting, we were approached by some guy. "Oh, great, a crazy", I thought, though he seemed clean cut unlike most crazies you might meet on the street.

He proceeded to tell us about how he had up and left from Florida, planning to just leave his life (and cell phone) behind for a couple of weeks. Sounds adventurous, right? (or curiously like a man fleeing the law.) But apparently he wasn't that smart in planning his finances because he told us he dropped an envelope with 4 grand somewhere on his travels.

"Oh, the angle," I thought and expected him to ask us for money. Surprisingly, he did not. We chatted a few more minutes before the train came. Mike and I talked about it and thought maybe he was just lonely from leaving his life behind and needed someone to talk to.

So, the trolley arrives and off we go again through the pouring rain (we did have an umbrella, but still), back to the restaurant and got my purse back. Yay. I really gotta stop doing that.

I'm getting out of chronological order. I can't remember which night we did what. One night we went and listened to a blues band in a club right next to our hotel. Another night we went out to a Spanish tapas restaurant and enjoyed live flamenco band and excellent sangria.

After the breakfast and Cafe Zucchero (did I mention they have the best espresso ever?), we hit a small farmers market, even though it was raining. I was hoping it would be more Italian themed since we were in the Italian district. But it was just your typical market. We did find a cool booth with a woman who made spice mixes.

We walked around Seaport Village which I swear we wandered around when our cruise ship on our honeymoon stopped briefly in San Diego. Later we had dinner at a really good seafood restaurant that I can't remember the name of. But they have their own fishing boats and reprint the menu daily to reflect what they have. Below is Mike at Seaport Village. That is the Coronado bridge and we could see the hotel where we stayed with the kids.

The last morning Michael wanted to sleep in but I got up to wander around where there was supposed to be good shopping. I didn't find any shops that really caught my eye, but I did run into another farmers market and found a jewelry maker who makes pendants and things out of glass and got a really cool necklace.

There it is! Thanks Teri and Grant for keeping the kids for the weekend!

2010-02-19T09:15:00.002-07:00

The Olympics

2010-02-19T08:39:00.002-07:00

I don't watch tons of events, but if I happen to catch figure skating, I'm hooked. Here is Evan Lysacek's gold medal performance from last night*. I swear I've never seen anything so graceful. The video is 10 minutes long, but the routine is only the first 5 minutes. Watch it!

*I couldn't find a way to embed it or I would have. I had to install a new plug-in to be able to watch it on that site.

And now a pause to geek out...

2010-02-18T11:55:00.000-07:00

As you may or may not know, Mike and I (and various friends and family members we've dragged after us) play a MMO called Lord of the Rings Online. Anyway, here's a comic that I think anyone who is familiar with Labyrinth and Tolkien will enjoy. Click to enlarge.

Thanks for the valentine jackets grandma and grandpa!

2010-02-17T10:28:00.002-07:00

Lily and her crazy face.

Flowerama

2010-02-16T13:26:00.002-07:00

So last week was my week long job. It was crazy but fun. Monday we got in a shipment of thousands of roses and had to process them all. This consists of stripping bottom leaves in a cool little machine (this became my job), then cutting the roses underwater, then immediately putting them in a hydrating solution for a few seconds, then plopping them in a bucket of water. I wish I had taken a picture of the buckets and buckets of roses. We could hardly walk.

Tuesday and Wednesday consisted mostly of greening vases, and designing half dozen and dozen arrangements. So many of the roses were red, we got sick of using them and tried to find the more interesting colors, like orange or yellow. There were some cool purple ones too.

Wednesday night they called me and said we were so far ahead of schedule that they didn't need me to come in on Thursday. While I wouldn't have minded going in for a few hours, it was nice to have a day off. My hands were pretty scratched up from the roses.

Friday was insanely crazy. All day we were labeling arrangements for pick up, putting them in bags, wrapping up flowers, keeping the cooler filled, taking orders, helping people figure out what they wanted, finding and wrapping up specific bouquets. I had one guy who just wanted tulips, another who wanted daisies. I was running around all day and by the time I left my feet were totally sore.

Anyway, I had a lot of fun, though it was tiring and hard to keep up on the housework and dinner and making sure the kids did their chores and stuff.

Job!

2010-02-01T12:13:00.002-07:00

So as some of you might know, I have been interested in floral design for awhile. I had often heard that flower shops hire extra help for Valentine's Day, so I had been looking around. I got hired at Flowerama in Draper for the week leading up to V-day! I'm really excited to get some shop experience!

2010-01-14T10:05:00.001-07:00

Christmas

2010-01-06T15:02:00.008-07:00

This year we decided to sleep Christmas eve at my parents. It was fun to have all my family together. Lily could not get to sleep and was probably up til 10 or so. Which turned out okay because she slept in. :) Which worked out fine because my parents woke up to a leaky water bed that needed attention.

I wasn't super good at taking pictures this year, but here ya go. We got a lot of fun stuff and probably gave Dad way too many books, but he's hard to shop for.

While we were waiting for Dad to finish up with the water bed. Not sure what Kiersten is doing here. Leading us all in Christmas Carols?

Umm, apparently Michael didn't want me to take his picture.

Boys getting dart guns in their stockings.

Followed by an action shot of Aaron's glasses falling off his face from an apparent direct hit to his face. Click so you can see the glasses in mid-air!

Other random pictures.

Camera war with Dad.

I don't know who took this, but we're trying out Lily's new game.

After lunch we came back to our house and opened some stuff. For some reason I only took 2 pictures and one isn't very good. And the other one Aaron has a goofy look on his face. I'll have to ask Mike if he took any with his camera. Thanks Grandma Pam for the blankets, the kids love them!

Felix Family Christmas Party

2009-12-21T14:39:00.006-07:00

Cute kids:

Epic Dodge Ball

2009-12-21T14:33:00.004-07:00

After a couple weeks on the counter, I finally tossed the masterpieces that were our gingerbread houses. Here are the pictures for posterity.

Lily's preschool Christmas program

2009-12-11T10:52:00.007-07:00

Lily's school had a singing program. They sang a few Christmas songs and some other songs they had worked on. It was your basic cute program.

After the program Santa showed up in their classroom. Once Lily realized that she might have to sit on Santa's LAP, she started crying. Here she is being scared to death of Santa.

Cold!!

2009-12-10T09:30:00.002-07:00

I can't believe how cold it has been lately. It's been close to 0 every morning. I feel a little bad for Aaron walking to school, but it's only 5 minutes and it would probably take longer than that with the crazy traffic of everyone else taking their kids to school.

So he bundles up--been wearing boots, snow pants, coat, gloves, stocking cap, and hood. They have been having indoor recess because of the cold. So yes, the heating bill is going to be horrendous, but I'd rather have it cold and sunny than having to deal with driving in more snow.

Mike drove to work earlier this week and saw a car in front of him driving sideways across the road, then the car right in front of him did a 360! He stopped in time, luckily. Next time it is like that, I'm going to insist he works from home. I was really hoping we'd be moved by now so he wouldn't have another whole winter of driving up there in the snow.

New tree--finally!

2009-12-07T11:55:00.005-07:00

So here's the new tree with it's usual hodge-podge of decorations. I had to convince Lily we couldn't use ALL of the tree decorations we have, or it might look even crazier. I think it is a foot taller than our old tree so we'll probably have to get some more matching ornaments (or "ordaments" as Lily says). Though the kids don't care if they match or not.

I found this at Target and really liked it but they were out--so we stopped by Home Depot, and even Wal-Mart, but didn't like any there. There was another one I liked at Lowes, but it was also sold out. Finally Aaron and I went to the Target in Sandy and got the one I liked from the first Target. So it was quite the trek to get it.

Look guys, posting it the same day!

2009-11-24T15:05:00.002-07:00

Lori, Kirsti, and I were pretty much inseparable during high school. We had so much fun going to the dances, planning parties, etc.

It's been awhile since we all got together, but luckily Lori penciled us in while she is here visiting family. The kids got along great, and it was fun to meet the newest member of the Shawcroft family, Kyle. He is such a happy boy.

It's great to have friends you can pick up with again right away no matter how long it's been since you've seen them. Love you guys!

At long last...

2009-11-16T17:41:00.001-07:00

Halloween photos:

So behind in posting

2009-11-04T18:43:00.002-07:00

A couple more pictures from the canyon. What the heck is up with these leaves? I promise I did not put them there.

Mike's idea in the canyon.

2009-10-23T09:30:00.000-06:00

Mike started finding leaves of varying colors to make a rainbow of sorts. It turned out really cool! As you can see, he had a lot to work with.

Orange!

2009-10-22T14:46:00.002-06:00

2009-10-22T14:43:00.000-06:00

Super good posing in the canyon:

Pumpkin Patch

2009-10-20T09:54:00.000-06:00

This past weekend was beautiful weather. Friday afternoon (after the dishwasher repairman finally finished up--Hooray for automatic dishwashers!!) we met up with Teri and the kids to choose some pumpkins. After getting all the pumpkins a wheelbarrow could hold (sadly, I was too busy making sure it didn't tip over to get a picture of the boys trying to push it), we stayed and let the kids climb all over the tractors and go through the "maze" (really, there was only one path--it was free, what did I expect?). I was amazed how much the kids loved climbing on the tractors. But I didn't mind. It was nice to be warm in the sun, and just chat away while the kids played.

Pictures from Aaron's visit to Denver

2009-10-19T21:45:00.002-06:00

Bird Pool Party

2009-10-14T12:06:00.002-06:00

2009-10-13T09:56:00.004-06:00

Anybody have any tips for getting a 4 year old to open her mouth at the dentist? At least the hygienist coaxed her into the chair to watch the movie. That was a step in the right direction. She gave me the smuggest look when she realized I had finally given up and we were going to go. She knew she had won that round. But I'm taking her back on Thursday. Ugh. I'm going to keep takign her back every few days (f the dentist will permit it) until she realizes she didn't really win. If she ends up with any cavaties, we're going to have to sedate her to get them taken care of.

Aaron yet again has a tooth growing in behind his baby tooth, so he's got to get the baby tooth pulled.

2009-10-09T10:52:00.002-06:00

Aaron's birthday gift was finally realized last weekend. We arranged a trip for him (and only him!) to fly out to Denver to visit Ryan and Mary Kay. He took his camera, but of course took no pictures. I'll post them when I get some from Ryan.

From what I can tell they totally spoiled him and kept him busy all weekend long, including trips to an alpine slide, corn maze, and cirque du soleil!

He came back Monday morning (he had no school that day). That night he went to bed at 6:30 and slept allll night. Talk about party til you drop!

Honey, what's for dinner?

2009-09-27T09:14:00.000-06:00

You are!

close up: green tomatoes in my garden

2009-09-25T15:19:00.001-06:00

2009-09-24T16:32:00.003-06:00

Yesterday there was a major dust storm in Australia. There are some amazing photos. Check them out here.

I especially like this one and this one, though there are a lot of good ones.

2009-09-24T15:08:00.002-06:00

Aaron turned 10. Yikes! For his present he is going to fly to Denver (solo!) to visit my brother for a weekend in October. He had a small party--we just took some of his friends swimming.

2009-09-03T14:27:00.001-06:00

Last night at dinner Aaron asked Lily what her favorite thing in the world is.

With hardly a pause to think, she said, "video games."

Some scenic pictures from Coronado

2009-08-20T16:17:00.001-06:00

Lily's 4th Birthday!

2009-08-18T13:05:00.005-06:00

I can't believe she's four. I must be getting old.

She got a few presents before Mike left for work, a couple little things from Aaron, and the main thing being a bike. I was worried it would be too big, but with the seat down all the way it's just right.

Later she had friends come over for playing in the pool and sprinkler, cake, Popsicles, and presents. Followed by family over for a bbq. Thanks everyone!

Sea World Day Two

2009-08-17T21:08:00.003-06:00

After breakfast at a wonderful cafe in little Italy, we headed back to Sea World. Shamu!

Coronado Beach

2009-08-17T20:47:00.006-06:00

The kids loved the beach!

Balboa Park

2009-08-17T20:38:00.005-06:00

The next day we headed to Balboa Park. It is huge! We wanted to go to some of the museums. Unfortunately for us, it was free-if-you're-a-resident day, so the museums were pretty crowded. (Also the BodyWorlds exhibit was going on)It could have been worse, though. Not too many pictures here, but we went to a science museum and a natural history museum. They were okay, but seemed a bit underwhelming for the money.

The science museum was your typical hands-on place. The natural history museum had some dino stuff, but really, nothing can compare when you've been to the museum at Thanksgiving point. The coolest thing I thought about the natural history was the photography. There was a nature competition which had some good shots. Also they had an exhibit of aerial photography that was really cool.

Coronado

2009-08-14T13:38:00.007-06:00

After the kids were worn out from Sea World we headed back to the hotel. After a quick dip in the pool, we walked down the bike/walking trail next to the hotel to find a place to eat.

Here's a view from our hotel.

A view of the San Diego-Coronado bridge.

Lily found a big flower on the ground and had to wear it.

They had these bikes for sale that were made for 4. Two people peddled, one had steering and brakes. Lily was small enough to ride in the front, but Aaron squeezed in between Mike and me. He wasn't quite tall enough to pedal. It was pretty fun!

Sea World Day One

2009-08-14T12:48:00.005-06:00

The next day because of some traffic we got into our hotel later than expected. We had dinner at the hotel which also took forever, so we didn't end up having time to explore the trail and nearby shops.

The next day we went to Sea World!

We sat close at the dolphin show I totally don't remember as a kid that they actually train the dolphins to splash you with their tails. We got wet and Lily started crying so I had to take her up to the top. Aaron didn't much like it either.

Circus circus

2009-08-12T10:09:00.011-06:00

We drove to Vegas on day one and stayed at Circus Circus. The kids liked to run down the hall and jump from design to design to avoid the lava. :)

The hotel has a full-fledged indoor amusement park. Lily wanted to ride the carousel, so we decided each kid could choose one activity. The carousel ride clearly stated that a paying adult must ride with a child. So we bought 2 $4.00 tickets. Yet when we got to the front of the line he only took one of my tickets. Most expensive carousel ride ever.

I thought Aaron would opt for the roller coaster, but he wanted mini-golf.

Later we went down where all the games are and won a few stuffed animals.

2009-08-10T16:03:00.002-06:00

Back from our trip and now we've got a week til Lily's birthday, a week and a half til school starts, school shopping to do, parties to plan and attend, as well as various open houses for schools to get to.

Pics from the trip soon.

Dropping the boys at camp

2009-07-13T16:25:00.005-06:00

After an hour and a half in the car, the kids were ready to get out and see what this Camp Roger thing was all about. We got a brief tour of the grounds, then had some yummy hamburgers. Aaron and Carter were so excited and decided to bunk across from each other on the top bunks in their cabin. Maybe they'll flash secret codes with their flash lights. :)

See you Friday night Aaron! Have a great time!

Kids on the 4th

2009-07-13T16:16:00.003-06:00

Here are the pictures Teri took of the kids on the 4th of July.

MIsc.

2009-07-10T13:47:00.002-06:00

We're surviving the summer so far. I keep forgetting to take my camera places. We've been the the aquarium and the aviary and the farm.

I tried to upload some pictures of the kids, but it isn't working for some reason.

Aaron is heading off to camp next week with Carter. They should have a blast. After that, some swim lessons. Hopefully Lily won't freak out. I'm trying to talk it up, but that doesn't always work with her. Though she did sound hopeful when I said it was like pre-school, but in the water.

Then we'll be off for a quck road trip to San Diego. Here's hoping the kids don't kill each other in the car.

I've been frustrated lately. I've been exercising more regularly and eating more fruits and veggies. Yet I haven't noticed any changes in my body or energy level. Maybe I should just go back to snacking on M&M's along with dried fruit. Doesn't seem to make a difference. And peanut butter M&M's are yum.

Hells Canyon Winery

2009-06-10T09:09:00.000-06:00

More Boise

2009-06-10T08:29:00.000-06:00

We toured several wineries near Boise. Most picturesque were St. Chapelle's and Hells Canyon. These are from St. Chapel.

Mike took te one of the windy road.

The guys were really patient while Teri and I took pictures.

Baby birds

2009-06-09T17:16:00.003-06:00

I saw these little guys hanging around today. I think they are robins. They seem to be fledglings. We could get really close without scaring them away.

2009-06-04T09:44:00.000-06:00

Which one do you like better, and why?

No dorks allowed.

2009-06-04T09:35:00.001-06:00

This sign was posted outside a club in downtown Boise.

This was a window on the same building.

2009-06-03T17:20:00.006-06:00

We were in Boise a couple of weekends ago with Teri and Grant. Little known fact: There is a large Basque population in Boise. Teri and I went exploring with our cameras and found this on the sidewalk. I found the lyrics amusing, so here I post them for your own amusement.

This is a little washed out, but that is the Basque flag reflected in the window.

And then below, just another building.

Close-up: Dried Sunflower Head

2009-06-03T17:14:00.003-06:00

2009-05-28T18:33:00.002-06:00

The 4th grade at Aaron's school did a "Rock Concert." They actually really sang about rocks.

2009-05-11T14:34:00.002-06:00

I went outside on the deck and a bird huridly flew off. Because in the past we've had neighbors who have had birds try to take up residence in their grill, I opened mine up only to find this(actually, there was more grass than this. I already took a big handfull off):

I just used the grill last week! Why can't you birdies live in the little birdhouse Aaron and Michael made just for you?

Curling dandelions

2009-05-11T14:25:00.003-06:00

Lily brought in a bunch of dandelions. I remembered curling dandelions in water with my grandma when I was little, so decided to try it. It works best with long-stemmed flowers. First you peel the stem into 4 or 5 pieces.

Then get a bowl of warm water and put the dandelions in.

Finally, watch them turn into tight curls!

Macro--Tulip

2009-05-06T09:46:00.003-06:00

I went to the Tulip Festival at Thanksgiving Point last week. I wasn't blown away by any of the shots I got, but here ya go anyway.

2009-04-30T11:55:00.002-06:00

We didn't do anything too exciting as a family for my birthday. But Lily, having learned what birthdays should be like from TV, insisted on decorating. We didn't have any balloons that went up, like she wanted, so we compromised by hanging them from the ceiling.

Belated Easter post

2009-04-30T11:48:00.003-06:00

Though I did get eggs, I forgot to get an egg-dying kit, so that fell by the wayside this year. We did however make yummy sugar cookies. We did the decorating at Grandma and Grandpa's house, and of course I forgot to take the camera there.

2009-04-22T12:57:00.000-06:00

Lily just told me the kinds of horses she likes: Ponies. And unicorns.

2009-04-09T16:47:00.003-06:00

After a rainy morning it warmed up enough to play outside. Austin is Lily's friend that lives next door. They were having fun on the slide!