Filed under: Leah and Eric's family
Well, Eric and I considered it and thought it would be a fun way to celebrate the importance of being a brother or a sister. Our family is organized such that we can have a Brother’s Day 6 months from Asher’s birthday and a Sister’s Day 6 months from Montana’s birthday (since both kids have birthday’s later in the year we thought it wouldn’t hurt to have a day earlier in the year to provide a reason to give them things they can enjoy in the coming summer months).
Montana was a delight to help with the gift buying, wrapping and giving. Last night she sifted through some card making supplies to make a lovely card with a message of love for him. She wrapped and labeled the gifts and then arranged them for him to find in the morning. She squealed when she told him it was Brother’s Day and helped with the unwrapping (and most times actually waited for him to ask for help before jumping in). He got a new book – Gossie and Gertie (two ducks that could be siblings having fun together), and some new cars and a Little People Garage. He was very, very excited – what’s a boy without a car in each hand?!
Montana helped to continue to make the day special by playing with her brother even more than usual and I heard her tell Eric she couldn’t do her housework today because it was Brother’s Day! I talked her into it by saying that we could go out for a fun adventure tonight if we could think of something that Asher would enjoy doing. We went and tried out Jumping Jacks – an warehouse full of inflatable slides and bounce houses. Whew! What a workout. Asher loved it, along with the rest of us. He was fearless with the slides and wanted to go more quickly than any of him could tow him up. He tried really hard to climb up himself but mostly had to resort to frantically signing, “Up! Up! Up! Up! Up!” Here are some pictures from the day, sadly there were focus issues from slides but I think you can get the drift. Enjoy – and Happy Brother Day to mine and all the brothers out there!
Filed under: Leah and Eric's family
For the fifth year in a row we have kicked off the camping season at Snow Canyon in the early spring (at the end of February this year). We were alone this time and missed having some company, but it was less stressful than having company and having them be miserable like last year. The weather was an improvement over last and we even got sunburned while packing up camp. Despite a slight altercation with some fellow campers because of an oversight on the part of the campground ranger (from which I’m afraid Montana will be traumatized and will not leave camp again fearful that someone will come and setup while we are gone), we had a lovely time and look forward to next year’s adventure.
Montana continues to be as agile and nearly as fearless as a mountain goat scampering up rocks and proved to be a real trooper when an afternoon walk turned into a 4 mile hike. Needless to say, we wore her out and each night as it got dark, 6:00 mind you since it was before the time change, she was asking if we could get our s’mores made so she could get to bed. And asked if I could go faster while roasting it so she could get to bed. I tucked her in and layered her up and she was asleep before I got the tent zipped shut as I exited. We did some star-gazing and in a picture she drew of our family camping after we got home confirmed she saw what we were point out – there were yellow dots in the sky to represent the Seven Sisters and orion’s belt. She enjoyed collecting rocks and really struggled to narrow it down to only her favorite handful to take home (in the slideshow you can see her at the table with them all lined out and wrestling with the decision).
There is not enough time for sand to suit Asher. He did a fair amount of scampering, climbing, walking up and down sand hills and was amazing to watch with his balance and endurance improving the longer we were there. But mostly he spent his time shoveling, sifting, digging, or burying the sand. We debuted a new backpack carrier on this trip and he seemed to really enjoy it – laughing, singing and pointing the way.
We saw a road runner! And a coyote. A bald eagle. A flock of CA quail. Found petroglyphs and 3 for 3 geocaches – Montana had a nose for them and found two of the three before we did (and the third she was only a split second behind her Dad). And visited the Johnson Farm dinosaur tracks – pretty cool to see the impressions made by a crouching dino, swim prints made by the toes of swimming dinos brushing the sandy bottom, and the walking prints in a straight line (rather than a parallel pattern like us). We tried out a new eatery on our way out of town, the Egg & I (a chain out of CO that has plans for one to open in SL). I love breakfast and going out for breakfast is almost preferred to dinner and the menu here had so many tempting choices it was really hard. Of course I couldn’t pass up the french toast, but I’ll go back and order some of those potatoes I sampled off of Eric’s plate and can’t wait to use that Egg and Aye-yae-yae hot sauce again. Here are some pictures from our trip. Love ya.
Filed under: Leah and Eric's family
Eric and I had the opportunity to escape for a long weekend to celebrate our 15 year wedding anniversary (back in January). We had a fun time returning to a spot north of San Francisco that we happened across a few years ago but didn’t have enough time to enjoy.
The weather was unexpectedly sunny and warm – it felt like a late blossoming spring when we were expecting blustery early springtime weather. We spent the daytime and evenings hiking on and around the beaches at Point Reyes National Seashore. We stayed at a somewhat historic lodge with lovely grounds in a room without a TV and with a large tub. On our last day we did venture into San Francisco to visit the California Academy of Sciences – it was a joke with far too many people and not the infrastructure to support it. Despite that, it was a lovely time and the kids enjoyed spending time with their Grandma and Grandpa.
Here are some pictures from our trip. The elephant seals were a highlight – some of the bulls being 15 feet long! The sunsets were awesome, and thank goodness for the rental car’s key remote to flash the lights and help us find it in the dark! You can see a couple of sights at the CAS if you overlook the crowds – the non-aquarium picture is the rain forest-dome where you can walk among birds, butterflies, leaf cutter ants and other such things living in the lush vegetation. And then there is us from then – and now a little wider, a little wiser, and in wonder at how quickly the time goes by. Hope all is going well for you.
Filed under: Monica and Trevor's family
So, it’s nothing really exciting, but kind of interesting.
Since we’re new to Texas weather, our first contact with ice rain was interesting. Actually, this first picture isn’t from that main storm; it was just raining and when I went to get the mail that afternoon I found some decent-sized frozen drips on the trees. I didn’t get the greatest pictures, but my friend did here if you want to see hers.
And, here’s the ice rain. It’s kind of interesting how the community handles “severe weather” like this. I’m sure it won’t be long until it’s scarey to me too, but for now it’s still just weather. The day had been cloudy and overcast most of the day, and the forecasters had been predicting ice rain, but it didn’t hit until later in the evening. Eliot and I were leaving a friend’s house and it sounded like the sprinklers were on in her yard. However, when we stepped out, it felt like we were being hit with shaved ice. It’s so different than hail, but I can’t figure how to explain the difference. Trevor got home that night almost five hours later than Eliot and I experienced it. He said as he and his co-workers were leaving work they found their vehicles needed to be scraped to clear the ice; Trevor was the only one with an ice scraper [not that we’ve used it, but it’s just one of those things we’ve had in our vehicles from our last climate] so he used it and then left it with them to take turns with it. It seemed that as soon as Trevor pulled in the drive the main bulk of the storm starting pouring. I heard the increase in sound and stepped onto the porch to see and met him at the front door. The next morning this is what we found:
We couldn’t believe how thick the ice was. We saw our neighbors pouring hot water on their cars in order to get inside. Trevor got out his butane tourch to melt it. It was kind of funny. Most of the schools were closed for the day, and if businesses were open at all they were on a delay to open. Most people I talked to said their spouses were working from home that day. Luckily, I didn’t have to be anywhere early so by the time I needed to leave, the car was completely accessible. It was an experience we haven’t had before. Here’s a few more pics from the morning:
- Look at the ice surrounding the antenna!
Our Family - Forged with Love 