1st Day of Summer = Strawberry Picking

This morning, after our beach walk we headed to Gizdich Ranch in Watsonville to go strawberry picking. Of course, I have to mention, they ended up being the most expensive strawberries ever because en-route Bill got pulled over for following too close to the car in front of us - and as Ben now likes to sing "Daddy got a ticket, Daddy got a ticket". While picking the berries we were asked by a film crew from PBS if they could film our family for an upcoming TV show. It looked like they might have got some good shots of Ben picking the berries, the downside, they interviewed me...and picture this...I was in typical Saturday morning attire - no make-up, baseball cap, shorts, tank top, oh, and a bright pink bead necklace that Ben had made for me at school - fingers crossed, they'll misplace any shots of me. Not long after arriving at the ranch, despite the very hot weather, there was thunder and lightening, the lightening even started a small fire in the hills. From strawberry picking we headed to olallieberries. By which time, Jonathan was completely fed up and hungry, but, we discovered he LOVES olalliberries, which is why his face ended up covered in red juice.

June 15, 2008 - Happy Father's Day

For the last few days we'd been telling Ben we'd have a surprise day on Sunday, of course, Sunday arrives, we tell him we're going to Gilroy Gardens and he immediately says he doesn't want to go. We told him that was fine, he could stay home with the dogs and we'd go - at which point he changed his mind. Ben rode the usual rides (he's finally getting braver too, he even went on the Artichoke ride by himself - the whole time shouting "this is a sissy ride" - funny though, not 2 minutes earlier he was whining "I don't want to go on by myself"). Then we headed to the water area, the boys LOVE water. I know, all kids are supposed to like water, but they really love it, can't get enough of it, would rather be wet than dry. Even Jonathan had a blast sat among the water fountains, he's fearless, he loved getting soaked. The day ended with another first for Ben - he went on the carousel, sat on a horse, by himself, and....he didn't cry!

A Day for Headaches

We walked to the little park with the intention of the boys having fun for an hour or so...Bill [jokingly] suggested Ben should go down the slide 27 times, all was going great until the 27th time, he climbed to the top of the "curved" ladder, missed his footing, fell back slamming his head on the top bar and falling to the floor in a heap. He was a trouper though, he screamed for a few minutes, then decided he was well enough to play some football (oh, and before we left the park he did climb back up the ladder to show he wasn't afraid of it). Once home, while Ben's Lightening McQueen soup was heating up, there was a loud "bang" followed by a scream. This time it was Jonathan's turn, he'd fallen backwards and hit his head on the edge of the hearth. Like his big brother, it didn't take him long to get over it, as soon as he saw his lunch being prepared he calmed down ready to eat.

Monday, June 9, 2008

A conversation with Ben while driving to school

B: Mom, I don't like girls
M: You don't?
B: No, they're stinky. Well, I like you (and you're a girl), no, maybe I love you, but that's only 'cos you're my Mom

Saturday, May 7, 2008
We were invited to our neighbor's 3rd birthday party. Ben had a blast playing with the other kids. They played baseball, played with bubbles, hammered toys out of a pinada. For Jonathan the highlight of the party was the food, with the grand finale being the birthday cake.

Our 4-Legged-Hairy-Kids

We must be nuts, we don't have just one Vizsla, we have 2 of them (we used to have 3, but sadly, Serena passed away a few weeks ago). Meet Jasper and Rika. They're probably 2 of the most spoiled dogs you've ever seen. You never hear us say to them "get off the furniture", they sit with us on the sofa, they're constantly right next to us (yes, this includes the bathroom too). They even sleep with us (when we had 3 of them it was pretty cozy each night). When we buy a new car we consider what would be most comfortable for the dogs. When we go away we have to find not only a dog friendly hotel, but also off-leash areas for them to run (which is why we LOVE Carmel). How can you not love a dog that will cuddle with you when you don't feel good, will sit infront of you with big-sad eyes waiting for a hug, will bring you a toy the second you walk in the door. We love our crazy-red-dogs.

Supporting the Local Fire Fighters

Sunday we headed to the local fire fighters BBQ, it's something we've planned to attend for the last couple of years but always seemed to miss it for some reason or another. Of course, before we left the house Ben decided he didn't want to go, tough, we were going.
It turned out to be a lot of fun. Bill bought a number of raffle tickets (we didn't win though - blah), we had lunch and Ben got to enjoy some of the games. One of which was a zip line...as we all know, Ben is not known for his bravery (he can't even go on a carousel without screaming the place down). When it was his turn he handed over his ticket, sat on the swing and told the ride-organizer he wanted to go to the top of the zip line (because, as he likes to tell people "I'm not afraid of anything" - yeah right). Oh boy, do I wish I'd had a photo of him heading up the zip line, his face was pure fear. Once they let him go he came whizzing towards us (we wondered how long it would be before he cried) - with (you're not going to believe it) not a tear in sight - he actually had fun! Go Ben!

Ben also got to sit in a helicopter. Which at first he refused to do, but when a fire-fighter invited another kid inside the 'copter Ben decided to climb in too. Of course, he made up some excuse about "tricking" us when all along he really had wanted to climb in the helicopter - yeah, yeah, yeah

1st year pediatrician appointment

Friday, May 30th Jonathan had his 1-year physical and it's official, he's our little dot. He weighed in at 19.5lbs (10%) and 29ins long (25%). The doctor asked me the usual questions:
doc: "is he walking?"
me: "no"
doc: "is he cruising along furniture?"
me: "no"
doc: "is he pulling himself up to a stand?"
me: "no"
doc: "is he crawling?"
me: "no"
but, as of Wednesday he's been (sort of) skooting, but he really has no clue he's doing it.
Of course, in typical kid style, after his afternoon nap he makes a liar of me...he was skooting with intent! and...he even tried to pull himself up on the coffee table.

Boys and their toys

Jonathan is all boy, even at his young age he LOVES cars, trucks, etc. Sit him down on the floor with a bunch of baby toys and he'll play for a while, then fuss, whine, scream....but, sit him down with Ben's hot wheels or trucks and he'll happily play for an hour or so (maybe he takes after his namesake, what do you think Poppa?)

365 days old!

We win the bad parents award, unlike Ben's 1st birthday, for Jonathan we didn't have a party, but....he did get a triple chocolate cake from Icing On The Cake (hopefully that will make up for something).

June 3, 2008

I figured it's about time we had our own family blog. So here goes.....