A Day at The Beach

The girls and I spent the day at Capitola Beach today. It's Capitola's annual Begonia festival. The sand castles were amazing. The weather was perfect. I think the girls favorite part was flying their new miniature kites.

 

These are the girls favorite sand castles they saw today.

 

The girls loved spending a day just playing at the beach.

 

  

  

The girls flying their mini kites. What fun!

 

On our way back to the car, we were able to choose some Begonia's to take home. These did not make it onto the floats that will be on parade tomorrow. We didn't mind. We will enjoy them at home for a few days.

Lunch with Old Friends

Since middle school I had wanted to learn sign language. In middle school I had a friend who was deaf. Not being able to talk to her upset me.

Not being able to communicate with my friend bothered me so much I took a sign language class in junior collage. That wasn't enough. I loved sign language. I ended up getting my minor in Deaf Education at SJSU.

Today I was able to tell my friend, JC, I learned sign language and received my Deaf Ed. minor because of her. We had lunch together today. Joining us were two other friends from middle school, E and I. It was wonderful to be all together after all these years (30 years, JC made sure to tell us.) Having lunch just like when we were 11 years old, but now it's better. We are able to communicate. Talking with our hands, we were there signing away for 2 hours. If there was something we did not know how to sign JC was happy to show us the sign.

CK, O, E's daughter and I's cousin were there as well (all the same age). CK and O loved signing to JC. They had been practicing. The kids loved learning sign language from JC. She sat and taught them many animal signs. Such a wonderful afternoon!

Sometimes you don't realize how you effect other peoples lives. I hope my beautiful friend realizes how special she is and how she has effected so many lives. She helped us grow and learn. I am so thankful for knowing her in middle school. I am enjoying getting to know her better now and look forward to our next lunch.

JC signing horse

Signing the letter D

JC teaching the kids signs....this is fish

CK signing mouse

O signing mouse

signing tree

Our Mouser

Enough about the kids....gotta post about the cat. I'm a little behind on my posts. There are a few I haven't had a chance to post, but this one could not wait.

Some of you know, Genie was born on a farm. Mousing is in her blood and she's really good at it. I have found many mice and birds at my back door (half eaten). The girls have sat and watched (from inside the house) Genie eat crickets and grasshoppers....loving every minute.

Not too worry...the catch of the day never comes into the house. We do not have a cat door that goes from outside to inside. Only from inside into the garage, for this very reason.

Tonight, during dinner, Genie was outside sitting at the bushes in the backyard. The girls and I were in the kitchen eating. We knew Genie saw something in the bushes. She would not leave that bush. Moving into attack position at the slightest movement from inside the bush. This went on for about 15 minutes.

The girls and I, still eating dinner, kept watching Genie. All of a sudden I saw something race from the center of the bush to the top (at the lattice). Oh my gosh I jumped up. Genie walked away with her head held down. I felt bad for her.

Leaving the girls inside, I went out to take a look. Sitting right there at the top of the lattice was a HUGE MOUSE. This was a very healthy fat mouse. No wonder Genie was sitting there for so long. I went back inside and the mouse took off somewhere deep in the bushes.

Genie went in and out of the house for about 45 minutes after this. Always going straight to the bush to check for the mouse. The girls encouraging her every time she went outside. "Go get the mouse Genie!"

Another day Genie. You will get that mouse. I know you will.

My next project....remove all the bushes and ivy from the back fence. Not really looking forward to that since I know for sure now what lives in there. Of course, my smarty pants daughter tells me exactly what I need to wear while I do this....jeans, knee highs, long sleeves, tennis shoes, gardening gloves, and a helmet. The girls also offered to help. (don't think so)

First Day of School

Today was the first day of school. Summer went by much too fast.
No more babies! Both girls are in school full day. It's going to be an exciting year.

My big 3rd Grader! I can't believe it! She has another great teacher this year. She came home, on the first day of school, with homework. I love it! She found her sister at lunch to eat with her. Such a great big-sister!

No more baby! Here is my big 1st Grader! Again, I can't believe it! O also came home from the first day of school with homework. I love it! She has the same teacher CK had for 1st grade so that made it easy. She was very tired when I picked her up from school, but woke up quick when we stopped at the park before going home.

The house was so quiet today. I missed the girls, but I'm going to love this new chapter.
Here is to a great year for both of my smart girls!

Need I Say More?

Baby Blues says it the best.

Tahoe - Friends and a Wedding

We are in Tahoe for a last little Summer trip before school starts. Our good friend is also getting married today.

Last night we went to the wedding site and met the bride and her daughter. It did not take long for CK and O to make a new friend.

It's going to be a beautiful wedding!

New friends

The wedding site

A new family

The Bride and Groom to be

What My 6 Year Old Worries About

O: "Mommy, will a boy ever like me?"
Mommy: "Yes, of course!"
O: "Why?"
Mommy: "Because you are beautiful, funny, sweet, and have a wonderful devilish sparkle in your eyes.
CK: "You are very funny."
O: "Thank you mommy."
Daddy: "Don't worry the boys will love you."

A Must Read

My cousin, Windshield Rosary, posted this story on her blog.
It is a MUST READ! I want everyone I know to read
this essay, by Laura Munson.

.

Girl Scout Day Camp

This year my niece joined us. I thought she might enjoy some girl time and a week of Girl Scout Day Camp with two of her girl cousins should take care of that. It did....big time!

The three girls got alone great. There was absolutely no fighting, crankiness, or bickering, until the 6th day when CB was going to be going back home.

CB missed mommy and daddy, of course, but Auntie T was right there with big hugs when she felt sad. We called mommy and daddy every night. O took good care of CB all day at camp. They were in the same little unit and O made sure CB wasn't sad. She took very good care of her cousin.

Make new friends, but keep the old.
One is silver, and the other gold.

A circle is round, it has no end.
That's how long, I will be your friend.

One of the many Girl Scout and camp songs the girls and I sang all week. Many...many...over...and over....all year long.....

Crafts, creek walking, Girl Scout traditions, new friends, old friends, bonding time with cousins. What a wonderful week. Nonna even came out for creek walking day. What a treat. The girls loved it!

The Monkey Bridge (rope bridge) was about 6' off the ground. It took 3 hours to put up, 45 minutes to take down, but a lifetime of memories! I'm so very proud of CK, CB, AND ME for going across the bridge! O got scared. She wanted to go, but was just too scared. That's fine. I told her she didn't have to do it and there were other girls who didn't do it either. O cheered me on big time when I went across. I was scared to death and told O that. I don't like heights, but I did it, I did it for my girls. For O. I wanted to show them that even though you might be scared there are some things you still need to do. I'm so glad I did! What an experience.

Look at that face! My beautiful sweet niece. I enjoyed getting to know her better, hugs, girl time at camp, her laughter and that beautiful smile. Thanks J and B for letting her stay with us for the week. We had a fantastic week. Memories to last a lifetime!

Family Camping Trip

So much to post, so little time....

Two weeks ago we went on a family camping trip to Mt. Madonna. I had never been there before. C had...years ago.

It had been two years since we went camping as a family and we really needed this time away. Enjoying the outdoors, no phones, no computers, no TV. It was heaven. I even cooked! C usually does all the cooking while we are camping. I've become quite the little camper.

Curious to know what our camping menu was? I've posted that on my BMCC blog-pictures and all. You can check it out here.

Nothing like sitting outside under the redwoods with a glass of wine and a crossword. That was C as I was making dinner the first night.

C obviously had the camera..I think this is my better side....at least during a camping trip. The girls loved going in the tent to play.

This is around our campsite. The girls found lots of little caterpillars. We called them inch worms since that is what they were doing. We also found this little green grass hopper/cricket thing on our cooler. It was so little.

We, of course, went on a hike. It was a short one because C had hurt his back, but we had to go and see the twin redwoods. We saw wild berries on our hike. They looked SO good.

CK is becoming quite the little photographer. She took this picture of me and C.

On our last morning we woke up to beautiful fog. It was cool, quiet...so peaceful.

Welcome Home Arnold Family!

As I have mentioned in a previous post, our friends (the Arnold Family) have been sailing around the world for almost 3 years. They arrived back in the Bay Area on Saturday!

WELCOME HOME!!!!

We have been following their travel adventures on their website and online daily log, gonesailing.com for the past 2 years, 11 months.

My girls have loved following "Adventure Bear" and everything he has seen the last three years.

We can't wait to see our friends. We were all so excited to see them in the newspaper this morning!

What a wonderful experience! Again, we welcome the Arnolds home and can't wait to see them!

Aaaah Baaacon!

The other day the girls and I were at the grocery store. We walk by the bacon and I hear CK behind me, "Aaaaaah baaacon."

CK, I ask, do you want me to buy some bacon?
"Yes, please."

Later that day, C opens the refrigerator and I hear, "Aaaaaaah baaacon."

Like father, like daughter. I just laughed.

This morning C made pancakes and bacon. It was a good morning.

Swimming Lessons

The girls started swimming lessons this week. They have only had swimming lessons once before and that was two years ago.

They are both doing great. By the end of the first lesson CK was swimming to the deep end and back and O was swimming from one side of the pool to the other.

CK swimming to the deep end on the second day.

O swimming from one side of the pool to the other on the second day.

The second lesson, they were both going to the deep end and back. YEAH!

O is in the upper part of this image and CK is at the bottom.

Today, CK jumped off the diving board and O got a toy off the bottom of the pool! The are doing great!

Bowling Play Date

Sadly, this was the first time my girls have been bowling. I know, I'm a horrible parent. Believe me, this will not be their last. They had so much fun!

We got together with a Summer Kinder Play group some of us parents formed from O's Kinder class. The group gets together once a week. A different outing or park each week. It's been great.
Last week we went bowling.

We have got to go back. The girls did great and had a blast! CK scored an 83 and O an 85! Yes the bumper guards where up, but still...



Each time O finished her turn she would run to the computer to see her score. She then would run to tell her sister and I what her score was. It was so cute to watch.

4th of July Weekend

What a weekend! It started on Friday night with the girls in the Patriotic Sing. What a wonderful event. A wonderful way to celebrate our country's birthday!

The girls with the poster they made, with absolutely, NO help from mommy or daddy!

Getting ready to sing.

O getting a little sleepy. We thought for sure she would fall over. Thank goodness for big sister.


Saturday morning was the 4th of July Parade! The girls were on the Patriotic Sing Chorus float! O was so excited to be able to join her sister this year. They had a great time. Mommy and daddy, on the other hand, had a very long wait watching for them in the parade. They were about 5th from the end.

The girls were a little disappointed they did not get to see the parade....being in it and all. Not to worry...mommy took plenty of pictures for them. Here are just a few...

There they are! The BIG RED TRUCK!!! YEAH! A very long 2 hours later.

We had a wonderful BBQ dinner at my parents house. (daddy was working) We took a walk after dinner then the girls and I headed home just as fireworks were going off.

We saw fireworks as we drove home, but it's not the same. I had told the girls we could stop. We found a perfect new spot. Up the hill from our house, where we had seen the cowboy riding at sunset. It turned out to to be the best little spot. We saw all the fireworks, from Santa Clara to Morgan Hill. The girls loved it. They want to go back to "our spot" next year, hopefully with daddy.


Today, the girls and I did a little gardening. I'm not good at knowing how many flowers to get for a given spot or what to put together, etc. We'll see how I did....we're not finished yet.

First was the planter box on the front porch. I do hope these flowers do well here. They are so pretty. Gotta remember to water them. That may help.

Next was this little strip of lawn by the mail box. I want to put flowers here, so we had to remove the lawn...ah, weeds....dead stuff. That took one hour. The girls did help. They were great! I wanted to stop after less than half way (it was already late & close to dinner). The girls wanted to finish. They wanted to plant at least one flower. So we continued. I'm glad we did.

Our new Lavender plant. Pretty.... It should fill that little section. They get pretty big. At least my mom's Lavender plant does.

These are the rest of the flowers we bought for this section. I hope they fill in nicely after they are all planted. This is the part I'm not good at. I'm also hoping I bought the right plants to do the whole layering thing....large to small. We'll see.

I'm pooped.

Life Lessons

A friend emailed this list to me. This is such a great list. I sent it out by email as well, but thought it was a must post list! We should read it often!

As I was getting ready to post the list here I thought I would look for the original online. I'm glad I did. The email said Regina Brett was now 90 years old....she is not. Here is the original column.


Regina Brett's 45 life lessons and 5 to grow on
by Regina Brett
Sunday, May 28, 2006, 10:13 AM

To celebrate growing older, I once wrote the 45 lessons life taught me.

It is the most-requested column I've ever written. My odometer rolls over to 50 this week, so here's an update:

1. Life isn't fair, but it's still good.

2. When in doubt, just take the next small step.

3. Life is too short to waste time hating anyone.

4. Don't take yourself so seriously. No one else does.

5. Pay off your credit cards every month.

6. You don't have to win every argument. Agree to disagree.

7. Cry with someone. It's more healing than crying alone.

8. It's OK to get angry with God. He can take it.

9. Save for retirement starting with your first paycheck.

10. When it comes to chocolate, resistance is futile.

11. Make peace with your past so it won't screw up the present.

12. It's OK to let your children see you cry.

13. Don't compare your life to others'. You have no idea what their journey is all about.

14. If a relationship has to be a secret, you shouldn't be in it.

15. Everything can change in the blink of an eye. But don't worry; God never blinks.

16. Life is too short for long pity parties. Get busy living, or get busy dying.

17. You can get through anything if you stay put in today.

18. A writer writes. If you want to be a writer, write.

19. It's never too late to have a happy childhood. But the second one is up to you and no one else.

20. When it comes to going after what you love in life, don't take no for an answer.

21. Burn the candles, use the nice sheets, wear the fancy lingerie. Don't save it for a special occasion. Today is special.

22. Overprepare, then go with the flow.

23. Be eccentric now. Don't wait for old age to wear purple.

24. The most important sex organ is the brain.

25. No one is in charge of your happiness except you.

26. Frame every so-called disaster with these words: "In five years, will this matter?"

27. Always choose life.

28. Forgive everyone everything.

29. What other people think of you is none of your business.

30. Time heals almost everything. Give time time.

31. However good or bad a situation is, it will change.

32. Your job won't take care of you when you are sick. Your friends will. Stay in touch.

33. Believe in miracles.

34. God loves you because of who God is, not because of anything you did or didn't do.

35. Whatever doesn't kill you really does make you stronger.

36. Growing old beats the alternative - dying young.

37. Your children get only one childhood. Make it memorable.

38. Read the Psalms. They cover every human emotion.

39. Get outside every day. Miracles are waiting everywhere.

40. If we all threw our problems in a pile and saw everyone else's, we'd grab ours back.

41. Don't audit life. Show up and make the most of it now.

42. Get rid of anything that isn't useful, beautiful or joyful.

43. All that truly matters in the end is that you loved.

44. Envy is a waste of time. You already have all you need.

45. The best is yet to come.

46. No matter how you feel, get up, dress up and show up.

47. Take a deep breath. It calms the mind.

48. If you don't ask, you don't get.

49. Yield.

50. Life isn't tied with a bow, but it's still a gift.

Tahoe - Our Last Full Day

Our last full day in Tahoe was Father's Day.
Happy Father's Day my love. I hope you had a wonderful day.

It was also M's birthday. TC made a very yummy chocolate cake and we ate it all day.

After celebrating Daddy Day and M's birthday we went on a hike. That's two in one trip! A first for us.

This was #8 - Vikingsholm and Emerald Point in best easy day hikes Lake Tahoe by Tracy Salcedo. We did not walk the entire hike listed in the book. We walked to the Ehrman Mansion then back.

Ehrman Mansion has beautiful grounds. You can purchase tickets for a tour of the inside (which we did not do this time).

We sat on the beach. The girls and I imaged what it must have been like to take a boat out to the teahouse. We went to the little museum. They have the suitcase of Helen Henry Smith. As a little girl, Mrs. Smith spent 14 Summers in Tahoe at this mansion and going to the teahouse. It was fun to see what kind of things she brought with her every Summer. Her fancy pink dress for tea, books, her camera, her teddy bear, her miniature silver tea set...etc. O was amazed that another little girl brought her teddy bear everywhere just like she did.

As we were admiring the beautiful grounds and the girls wishing they could go out to the teahouse, we saw Mrs. Smith!

I snuck a picture. I couldn't help it. To think this women spent so many Summers at this house, sitting on this beach, going for tea in that teahouse on the little island. I wanted to talk to her. Just sit for hours and listen to her stories.

I asked CK if she wanted to meet Mrs. Smith. If she did, I would take her to say hello. We could introduce ourselves. CK thought for a moment and said no. O immediately said, "I do!" Okay, I told her let's go. I thought CK would then change her mind, but she didn't. I didn't push it. It was up to her.

O and I walked over to Mrs. Smith. She was talking with a few rangers and other people. Family or friends I imagine. I said, "Excuse me, Mrs. Smith?" I told her we were here visiting and my daughter and I wanted to say hello. She was very kind. She asked O how old she was and if she liked the house. O spoke in a soft clear voice, answering her questions as she looked up in ah at this old women who spent her Summers at the teahouse. Mrs. Smith told O the house was like a castle. All O could say was "Ooooooh." O told Mrs. Smith she liked the teahouse. Mrs. Smith said that was fun. They would have tea and little tea sandwiches there.

I didn't want to keep Mrs. Smith too long. We said thank you and good bye. She said "Come and visit us again."

I am very proud of O. She did very well. What a treat to meet Mrs. Smith.

There was a lot of wildlife on this hike and on the grounds of the mansion. Beware of this wildlife on the grounds. They are NOT afraid of people! It was great to photograph, but if you aren't feeding the geese they will nip at you!

The three little hikers.

The three hikers, overlooking Emerald Bay. What a view!

Monday we cleaned the house, packed up and all went home. Another wonderful Tahoe vacation.

We look forward to going back in August. We'll be able to spend time with friends who we don't get to see and celebrate a wedding! I'll make sure to post that trip as well.