Animals, Animals, and More Animals

We had so much fun visiting a wildlife safari outside of Bandon, Oregon while we were on the coast. We even ran into a family from Chico Christian there! We live in a small world.

All three kids had so much fun visiting these animals. There were deer, goats, mini donkeys, and many other animals that just walked up to you! Little B loved following a little goat around in hopes of picking it up. Her wish was finally granted and boy was she proud!

A took this shot. The deer walked right up to his camera!

Z was not a huge fan of this lynx. I, frankly, didn't blame him! A and Little B didn't seem to mind it.

Z loved holding this baby leopard. He was pretty cute. Little B loved smiling for the camera.

The baby goat that Little B had her eye on the entire time. :)

Z even got to hold it.

Little B found a pretend horse after visiting with all of the real animals. I guess she didn't get her fix by petting and holding them. :)

Fun at the Beach

Brookings, Oregon is one of our favorite places to visit. Mostly because it is where my grandparents live during the summer monhts, but the ocean is such a fun place! Yesterday we went down to the beach and played in the sand and the water! It was so fun to watch the kids run away from the surf coming in...well, Z and A often challenged the surf enjoying the feel of the sand coming out from under their feet as the water returned to the sea. Little B didn't like falling down in the water, but continued to play afterward.

While we are having so much fun, we are also missing daddy. Our next Brookings trip will include him (thank heavens!)

Road Trip Beginnings

We began a six hour road trip to Oregon today. This time around it is one mommy and three children. Daddy had to stay home to work. We sadly left daddy this morning and hit the road. The ocean was waiting for us! We had many mini adventures along the way, but I will only share a few stories here.

After about two hours in the car, Little B said, "I am just so happy!" I asked her why she was happy and she exclaimed. "I am just so happy to go to the ocean!"

After about six hours in the car (please note that our road trip was supposed to be six hours total) we stopped (again) for a potty break. As I was buckling Little B in, I gave A a smooch and then blew Z a kiss. Z was blowing one back when Little B shouted out, "I have something on my finger!" She was holding up her pinky very upset. We asked her what it was. She answered, "His breath is on my finger!" Oh the joys of road trips...

...until next time.

Father's Day at Feather Falls

We asked my wonderful husband what he wanted to do for Father's Day this year. He went back and forth between two choices. His first choice was to have a relaxing day at home: watching NASCAR, being waited on, sitting with his feet up. His other choice was to hike to Feather Falls. Quite opposite, huh? He finally decided on the latter. You might be able to tell from the following pictures and story.

We started out knowing that the hike would be 9 miles. This was daunting, but sounded fine on paper. M had received advice from others to make sure that we brought plenty of water. So, we put on some comfy shoes, filled up our clean canteens and camel back, packed a lunch, and headed out. We began our journey at 9:15 with laughter, teasing, and excitement to see the falls.

These first pictures were taken at our first water break. We were all being a bit silly. M and the boys were "pretending" that they were SO tired (little did they know what was ahead). :)

This picture pretty much summed up the whole hike. Our daddy is such a good leader. He kept everyone looking ahead to the goal at hand. He was good about setting little goals along the way. He was silly (of course) and incredibly encouraging. At this point of our hike, we were in great anticipation of seeing the falls, but enjoying all of the nature along the way. The following pictures are of a smaller falls along the way, Bald Rock in the distance, and a tiny ladybug.

We ended up carrying sweet Little B for just about half of the hike. She sure was a trooper, but we quickly came to realize that this particular hike was a bit much for her. I was so proud of the boys as they just kept pushing ahead, complaining little, and finding joy along the way. Z and I realized that we share a love for wild flowers. We saw some of the most interesting ones along the way. Z would then proceed to give me one fact or another about a wild flower that he had read about. We also kept ourselves entertained by singing songs along the way...some serious, some silly. The silly ones were the most fun!

Finally, after hiking for 5 miles (4 1/2 miles along the trail and then another 1/2 mile to the lookout point of the falls), we reached the waterfall! It was a gorgeous view! We saw a beautiful rainbow in the mist of the waterfall. The lookout point was incredibly high up. I have a small fear of heights...ok, a big fear of heights, so I was on edge as the kids were at the fenced edge looking down at the waterfall and a cute little hummingbird hanging out. Hikers around us were pulling out their lunches and beginning to munch. Why not? It was 12:30! Yikes...we left our lunch at the car to have a wonderful picnic lunch after the hike! We did not think that it was going to take us quite so long. We still had five miles to hike back! Fortunately, we had plenty of water, glucose tablets, and grape juice in case my blood sugar went low. Thank you, honey, for packing the grape juice!

So, we began the journey back. We were in complete awe of the waterfall and talked about it as we made our way back to the 4 1/2 mile trail. Little B was beginning to wilt at this point. Again, we carried her and she walked here and there. When she walked, she would stop and pick up a stick, pause to break it in half, and continue on. At one of these pit stops she said, "Hold on, I'm going to throw this into the country!" I giggled. Along the way our little cutie fell asleep! Carrying 33 pounds is tough as you are hiking along an uneven trail, but carrying a sleeping 33 pounder is even more tough! Fortunately, she did not sleep too long. At one point of her nap I decided to put her "into" the camel back. I used it as a Baby Bjorn almost. Boy, did it help with the weight!

At this point of our hike everyone was having a hard time. We were so tired, hungry, sore, and grumpy. Who came to the rescue? Daddy! He gave us another goal. If we could make it back to the car by 3:09 (two hours), then we would go to Gold Country casino's buffet for dinner (and make healthy food choices of course). Boy, did this put a skip in the boys' steps! They were so excited to have something to work for!

Well, we did it! We saw cars ahead and the boys started hollering and jumping around. We did it, we did it! We walked into the parking lot at 3:07. Phew! We sat down and ate the picnic lunch that we had brought. Boy did that food taste good! Little B was in her carseat eating her sandwich as I was watching. She would take a bite and as she chewed she would doze off. Then she would wake up enough to take another bite and then doze off again while she chewed. It was so cute.

All in all it was an amazing Father's Day! We accomplished our goal, daddy was blessed, and we had fun! Our sore bodies are proof that we hiked every one of those ten miles!

Conversation with a Three Year Old

Little B has been fascinated with letters! We have been doing a lot of writing and spelling aloud lately. This makes me struggle with the idea of when to start her in Kindergarten. I thought about waiting until she was five going on six, but I'm not sure if she will make it two more years without beginning...we'll see.

Last night we were sitting on the couch spelling together. I asked her to spell her name out loud. She did without even hesitating and then asked me to spell all of her family members' names. She would then comment on which ones shared letters with her name! Too crazy.

We then headed to her bed for tuck-in and some song singing. As I was singing her favorite song, she plugged my nose. This was our conversation.

Little B: Snow!

Mommy: What?

Little B then blew through her nose while still pinching mine.

Mommy: Oh! Blow!

Little B: No, Mommy! Snow! A-S-T, Snow!

My husband's great feat...

So my husband is pretty resourceful when it comes to bike riding. His motto...burn calories not oil...well, it's one of his mottos. :) So, we rode our bikes to church on Sunday morning (a normal thing for us to do) and my husband decided that we should do our grocery shopping on our bikes too! Keep in mind: we only go to the grocery store once a week and feed five people.

This is my husband with all of the groceries on his (extracycle) bike. Impressed?

Here is what he is carrying:

7 yogurts
loaf of garlic bread
2 loaves of regular bread
flour tortillas
tub of butter
8 lb bag of oranges
2 packages of tilapia
2 bags of frozen veggies
multigrain tortillas
2 cartons of vanilla ice cream
fudgesicles
jar of salsa
package of microwave popcorn
tortilla chips
3 bags of cereal
pita bread
2 packages of deli sliced ham
2 containers of crystal light
box of crackers
12-pack of Diet Rootbeer
clover sprouts
apples
applesauce
honey
ketchup
2 bags of romaine hearts
mushrooms
bananas
brown sugar
7 ears of corn
croutons
flat of strawberries
2 cans of green beans
avacados
grapes
jar of pasta sauce
sesame seeds
cauliflower
honeydew melon
watermelon
olives
one gallon of milk
two gallons of lactaid
two dozen eggs
2 pounds of cheddar cheese


Whew! Yes, my husband is amazing!

Paint, Paint, and More Paint

I have to admit that I am not a fan of messy projects. Who gets to clean up the fun? Me! But today I was finally ready to tackle the long-awaited "painting day". Dear friends of ours donated all of their painting supplies to us (quite a while ago). They have been sitting and waiting and waiting and waiting. Today we set up the easel, made a makeshift easel for Little B, poured the paint, gathered the paintbrushes, and grabbed the camera.

Let's PAINT!

My children had SO much fun! Why didn't we do this sooner? The answer to that question came to me as we were cleaning up. (But I have to admit that it was COMPLETELY worth it!)

Loves Her Cousin

Little B and I have been having many discussions about her favorite cousin, my sister's second son. They are about three months apart and they love each other (most of the time). Little B has been writing a lot of letters lately, so I began to write I heart B. So, we read it together. She was so excited to read it! So, she began writing letters, most of them backwards, but they were letters. You can see a backwards L next to her B and then an O, and a P (per Little B), then an I, and finally a D. She informed me that this said her cousin's name. She then asked me to draw a heart and she colored it in as I had done mine. And finally, she wrote an I at the top. Then she read proudly, "I Love K." Her cousin's name begins with a K, but to protect his identity we are only sharing his initial. :) What a sweetie.

Today we had another conversation about this very same cousin (and so much more).

Little B: Mommy, K and I are going to play the Wii togeder when Auntie's baby is getting ready.

Mommy: Oh really? What does Auntie's baby need to do to get ready?

Little B: Well, she (Auntie) has to put air in it (the baby).

Mommy: In the baby?

Little B: Yes.

Mommy: What else?

Little B: Then the doctor needs to check the baby's eyes.

Mommy: Oh, yes, that would be important. What else does the doctor need to do?

Little B: The doctor needs to put make up on the baby and then the baby is ready to come out!

Oh to be three and a half!

My Wonderful Husband

I have realized that I do not blog about myself or my husband all that often. I tend to blog about our children! While our children are wonderful and amazing, so is my husband! So, I wanted to take some time today to write a little bit about my best friend.


M has been working a lot lately providing for our family and working on his health! His work schedule is busy, busy, busy. When he is not driving the bus for B-Line, he is delivering safes for his store. When he is not delivering safes for his store, he is driving the bus for B-Line and so on.

On that rare event that he has some time off (no deliveries scheduled for example), you can find him on his bike. No, not his motorcycle, his bicycle. He has been riding his bike to work almost every day. During his lunch break, he will often ride out to Durham or another desitnation. He has also been riding in many local bike rides. One in Gridley (60 miles), in Chico (65 miles with some climbing), in Redding (65 miles with 4000 feet of climbing), and in July he will be riding in my hometown (100 miles with a lot of climbing). Part of me thinks that he is crazy, but the other part is just so proud. He has lost 50 pounds because of his effort! Go, honey!

But, he doesn't just work and ride his bike. He is also an amazing daddy and husband. A few weekends ago, I traveled to Sacramento to spend the day with two of my dear friends. M stayed home with our children so that I could be gone for the whole day. When I returned from my great girl time, I walked in the door to a new home. M had cleaned the entire house from floor to ceiling (it seemed), he weeded our planter box, made the beds, cleaned the bathrooms, cleaned the kitchen, did the floors, all of the laundry, and dinner was on the table! I took a picture of our dinner table. Needless to say, I cried. :) I couldn't believe all he had accomplished in one day when I am lucky to do a few of those things. I was incredibly humbled and blessed.

God knew what I needed when He created my husband. I am just so blessed to have found him!

Latest Little B-isms...

I have found that Little B just loves working with letters, numbers, and sign language. It makes this mommy's heart so happy! Last night we were holding up fingers and asking, "How many fingers am I holding up?" I love that she can look at my fingers and know without counting them! When it was her turn, she held up one finger first and then got silly and started holding her fingers up in ways to try to trick me. She held up her thumb and her pointer finger. I said, "TWO!" Little B's reply, "No, it's an L, silly!"

In our home, the word stupid is a no-no. For some reason Little B just loves this word! She finds it in almost all movies/shows and catches all of us if we happen to say it. She will either gasp and say, "You said the s-word" or "You said stu-pid" with a lot of emphasis. The biggest offender is my grandma by far. She is the first to admit this, so I thought that it would be ok to "tattle" on her in this post. The other day someone said "the s-word". Little B responded by saying, "You can't say stu-pid! Only grandma can say stu-pid!" Oh boy...

While riding her big girl bike, Little B was speeding right along. All of a sudden, she pressed down hard on the brakes and came to a quick stop while squealing. "A bug!" Thinking that she was afraid, I ran over to her spot on the sidewalk to inspect. Before I could say anything she finished, "My favorite bug!" She hopped off her bike and picked up the little rolly-polly (or pill bug) that she had spotted. No fear there!