Wordless Wednesday - Look, Mom! I'm Nicki Minaj!

First Camping Trip Of The Year!

CAMPING IS...

HARD WORK...

FUN AND GAMES...


WHERE FAMILY TIES ARE STRENGTHENED...

WHERE NEW BONDS ARE FORMED...

WHERE BIRTHDAYS ARE CELBRATED...

WHERE NATURAL THINGS ARE RETURNED TO NATURE...

AND WHERE FAMILIES JUST PLAIN HAVE FUN!

The Lifecycle Of A Painted Lady

Last Christmas (2010) Little A received a butterfly garden and ladybug land kit. With life's craziness managing to get in the way at every turn, we never ended up ordering the caterpillars or ladybug larvae. Little A asked and asked and finally, this April, Grandma sent away for the insects. It seems that our order got lost in the mail somewhere along the way, but the company was kind enough to replace the lost order and in early May, we received 5 caterpillars and 11 ladybug larvae.

Here are the five caterpillars in the food jar. At this point they are probably about a week into the process, but when they first arrived they were less than half an inch long and about as thick as a piece of spaghetti.


The first caterpillar has changed into a chrysalid and is hanging from a thin paper lid on the top of the cup! The other four still have no interest and continue to eat and eat and grow and grow.

All five caterpillars have changed to chrysalids and we have moved them from the food cup to the butterfly habitat where they will emerge as painted lady butterflies.

And now, all five butterflies have emerged and we are releasing the last two. We released three in the garden at home, and two in the forest at Hendy Woods. The butterflies didn't want to leave. I guess they liked us!

If you've never watched this process before, I HIGHLY recommend it! It's quite possible that I was more fascinated by it all than either of the kids! Want to get your own Butterfly Garden or Ladybug Land? Check them out here!

Hendy Woods Saved From The Chopping Block

What do you do for family time during summer vacation? Who can afford to take long trips? Our family loves to camp, and some of our favorite places to camp are the California State Parks. We have quite a few of them within 3 or 4 hours from home and one of our favorites is Hendy Woods.

As you may or may not know, about 60 of our California State Parks are slated for closure effective July 1 of this year. This is a sad thing, considering that more and more people seem to be camping and will now be competing for fewer campsites. Unfortunately, one of the parks slated for closure was Hendy Woods but just today I found some great news! Hendy Woods has been saved from the chopping block!

It turns out that a group of locals from the Hendy Woods community got together and formed a "Save Hendy Woods" group. This group has done fundraising, lobbying, rallying, etc., and has successfully saved Hendy Woods (at least for the time being)! Who knows what will happen next year or the following year, but for now we still have a place to go!

Thank you, Hendy Wood supporters, THANK YOU!

Happy Mother's Day

A few thoughts for Mother's Day...


Ah, Mother's Day... A day to celebrate the one who gave you life and to be celebrated by the ones to whom you gave life. In our house that consisted of breakfast in bed (scrambled eggs, sausage, toast, coffee, juice and milk), fresh flowers, lots of cards and homemade gifts and enjoying being together.

It's so easy to take life for granted... You go about your everyday routine knowing that you'll wake up tomorrow and do it all over again until *POOF*! One day that changes...

In my new normal I want to learn to enjoy every minute... To not hold grudges... To stop and smell the roses... To spend every second with my family that I can... It's hard... Change is hard... I'm a work in progress!

I want to thank my mom for all she does for me and all she has yet to do for me. She is there for me in my lowest of lows and my highest of highs. She is my teacher, my mentor, my shoulder to cry on, my outlet for frustration, and my best friend. Mom, you mean the world to me, and I love you SO much. THANK YOU, for being my mom!

More Playdates

The kids are really enjoying the fact that they are able to have playdates at our new house. There is much more room than our old house, and there is SO much to do!

It's interesting to watch the dynamics of the different groups that are here. The day started with each child playing with their own friend, but by the end of the day they had all played together and at one point Little A's friend and Big A's friend went off and started playing together because Big A and Little A didn't want to do what the other kids wanted to do... (Of course this was short lived once they realized that their friends were gone, but...) It's all very fascinating!

Today started with a tea party...
Followed by some time on the play structure...

Then a gator ride to see the dinosaurs (Those of you who have spent any time here, know EXACTLY what I'm talking about... if you don't know, COME VISIT!) - No pictures, because I can't drive and take pictures at the same time!

And finally a romp in the forts!

The kids and I are always thankful for good friends, and good playdates!

Chicken Coop

Big A's first grade class was assigned a 'Homes' project. The assignment was to research a type of home (anything was fine as long as it was A) Not a standard house and B) Something that is real - i.e. No hollowed out trees that would be where Big Foot lives). The kids had to answer a couple of pages of questions about the type of home they chose, and then build a model of the home.

Together we decided that this project was right up Grandpa's alley, so Big A and Grandpa set out coming up with their project idea. Since we've been wanting to build a chicken coop for our property (Grandpa and Big A... WHERE IS THE CHICKEN COOP???) they decided to make a 'prototype' and use it for Big A's school assignment.

Grandma and Big A researched chicken coops online and answered all of the questions, and Grandpa and Big A built the coop. Talk about AWESOME!

Grandpa did the cutting but Big A did the measuring and marking...




And the screwing and nailing...



And they made One. Awesome. Chicken Coop.

Well done, boys... Well done!

More Puns... I Just Can't Help It...

I know some of these are repeats, and I know some of them are very bad, but I just can't help it! My mom taught me to share! It's okay, you don't have to thank me.


I changed my iPod's name to Titanic. It's syncing now.

When chemists die, they barium.

Jokes about German sausage are the wurst.

I know a guy who's addicted to brake fluid. He says he can stop any time.

How does Moses make his tea? Hebrews it.

I stayed up all night to see where the sun went. Then it dawned on me.

This girl said she recognized me from the vegetarian club, but I'd never met herbivore.

I'm reading a book about anti-gravity. I just can't put it down.

I did a theatrical performance about puns. It was a play on words.

They told me I had type-A blood, but it was a Type-O.

PMS jokes aren't funny; period.

Why were the Indians here first? They had reservations.

We're going on a class trip to the Coca-Cola factory. I hope there's no pop quiz.

I didn't like my beard at first. Then it grew on me.

Did you hear about the cross-eyed teacher who lost her job because she couldn't control her pupils?

When you get a bladder infection urine trouble.

Broken pencils are pointless.

I tried to catch some fog, but I mist.

England has no kidney bank, but it does have a Liverpool.

I used to be a banker, but then I lost interest.

I dropped out of communism class because of lousy Marx.

All the toilets in New York's police stations have been stolen. The police have nothing to go on.

I got a job at a bakery because I kneaded dough.

Haunted French pancakes give me the crêpes.

Velcro --- What a rip off!

A cartoonist was found dead in his home. Details are sketchy.

Venison for dinner again? Oh deer!

The earthquake in Washington obviously was the government's fault.

Be kind to your dentist. He has fillings, too.


A FEW WORDS FROM THE VISIONARY STEVEN WRIGHT*:

(* I don't know who Steven Wright is, so I looked it up. According to Wikipedia, Steven Wright is an American comedian, actor and writer. He is known for his distinctly lethargic voice and slow, deadpan delivery of ironic, philosophical and sometimes nonsensical jokes, paraprosdokians, and one-liners with contrived situations.)

All those who believe in psychokinesis raise my hand.

The early bird gets the worm, but the second mouse gets the cheese.

I almost had a psychic girlfriend but she left me before we met.

OK, so what's the speed of dark?

How do you tell when you're out of invisible ink?

If everything seems to be going well, you have obviously overlooked something.

Support bacteria - they're the only culture some people have.

When everything is coming your way, you're in the wrong lane.

Ambition is a poor excuse for not having enough sense to be lazy.

Hard work pays off in the future. Laziness pays off now.

Everyone has a photographic memory. Some just don't have film.

Shin: A device for finding furniture in the dark.

Many people quit looking for work when they find a job.

I intend to live forever - So far, so good.

If Barbie is so popular, why do you have to buy her friends?

Eagles may soar, but weasels don't get sucked into jet engines.

Dancing is a perpendicular expression of a horizontal desire.

When I'm not in my right mind, my left mind gets pretty crowded.

What happens if you get scared half to death twice?

I used to have an open mind but my brains kept falling out.

I couldn't repair your brakes, so I made your horn louder.

Why do psychics have to ask you for your name?

If at first you don't succeed, destroy all evidence that you tried.

If at first you don't succeed, then skydiving definitely isn't for you.

A conclusion is the place where you got tired of thinking.

Experience is something you don't get until just after you need it.

The hardness of the butter is proportional to the softness of the bread.

The severity of the itch is proportional to the reach.

To steal ideas from one person is plagiarism; To steal from many is research.

You never really learn to swear until you learn to drive.

The problem with the gene pool is that there is no lifeguard.

The sooner you fall behind, the more time you'll have to catch up.

A clear conscience is usually the sign of a bad memory.

If you must choose between two evils, pick the one you've never tried before.

If you think nobody cares about you, try missing a couple of payments.

Bills travel through the mail at twice the speed of checks.

Borrow money from pessimists-they don't expect it back.

42.7 percent of all statistics are made up on the spot.

A conscience is what hurts when all your other parts feel so good.

I was sad because I had no shoes, until I met a man who had no feet. So I said, "Got any shoes you're not using?"

I spilled spot remover on my dog. Now he's gone.

There's No Such Thing As Monsters...

Unless of course they're MONSTER trucks!

And that's EXACTLY what they were (and dirt bikes and derby trucks and dune buggies and...)!

The kids had heard about a monster truck show that was coming to the local fairgrounds. Both B and I tried to win tickets on the radio but were unsuccessful. Big A took this VERY hard but at the last minute we were able to purchase tickets and see the show. I wish I had before and after pictures of Big A's face. The facial expressions and tears when he found out we weren't going to the show and then the ones when he found out we WERE going to the show, were about the same! I love that boy and his emotions!

Little A and I rode in a monster truck. SOOOO FUN (And maybe just a LITTLE bit scary!)! The boys (Big A and his friends we'd run into on our way into the show) wouldn't ride although after watching the show they changed their mind so Grandma took them for a ride at the end.

The show started with introductions of all of the monster trucks and their drivers as well as introductions of the two dirt bike riders. After the introductions the dirt bikes put on an awesome show! The show consisted of two riders and two ramps. They did crazy stunts, flips, etc., and ended with BOTH riders doing flips together! AMAZING!!

Then the monster trucks took the 'stage'. I've never seen anything like it!

After the monster trucks practiced a little bit, the street legal derby trucks came out followed by the dune buggies and then the suped up derby trucks. Finally the monster trucks returned to do their competition. I'm a little confused as to why it's called a "Monster Truck Show" since of all the time we were there, only about 1/4 (And that's being VERY generous!) of it was actually the monster trucks, but it was fun, nonetheless!

Don't tell Big A, but I can't wait to go again!