Tractors and Preschool

Daniel is loving preschool. They took class and individual photos last week. These kids were all so cute. After class, Daniel asked if he could stay there with his teacher because he likes school so much. Then Tuesday rolls around the following week and he forgets he likes school.

One new game the boys have been playing is hiding between Gavin's crib and the wall. They just sit there. I like looking at their feet all sticking out the bottom. They love each other and play well together...some of the time.


We got to tour the Caterpillar factory last week with Megan and Dominic. It was so cool. The boys got to climb all over lots of different tractors. We had a ton of fun.






After the tractor fest, we had a picnic at the park. Daniel and Vincent had fun climbing the hill & sliding down with Auntie Megan. I spent many hours climbing that same hill as a kid.

Vancouver! Finally!!

This last weekend, I had the pleasure of going up to Vancouver to visit Sheryl & Frank and their sweet 5 week old cutie, Anya Faye. I surprised Sheryl who had no idea I was coming. They had a baby shower on Saturday and it was wonderful to be able to spend some time with their family and meet the friends in their community.
Little Anya is already using these feet to scoot forward, inches at a time, at only 5 weeks old.



Sheryl and Frank are such good parents. It was so much fun watching them dote over the new gal who has just changed their lives forever.
We took some long walks around their beautiful neighborhood. They do a lot of walking and biking there, and surprisingly little driving. Almost every home had amazing landscaping and a great veggie garden which could be admired from the alley. It was inspiring.

Emily was my roommate in college before Sheryl. She is from Vancouver, so we got to have tea with her. Emily and I also went down to Granville Island for a little shopping. It was so fun getting to hang out with her after 10 years. Crazy how fast the time has gone.

For the baby shower, Sheryl and Frank asked that friends bring a small trinket for a custom mobile. What a great idea! It took a little time for Frank to get it balanced, but it was so cool that they have all the personal touches for Anya to entertain herself with.

Sunday afternoon, Sheryl's mom and I rode the bus to Gastown while Sheryl got a much needed nap. We've travelled together before, 11 years ago, Sheryl & I toured Europe with both of our moms. We had a nice lunch overlooking the water and arrived just in time to see the world's first steam powered clock toot a little tune on the hour.
For my long weekend, the boys split up between my parents and Auntie Megan's house. Gav and Dom got to have a slumber party. Those two are so cute together. Then George had them for the weekend and Jess came over all day Monday. The boys all represented at the first annual family picnic for my side of the family. George looked mighty exhausted when I walked through the door Monday night. He's a great Dad.

Welcome Baby DJ

We have a new nephew/cousin in the family.

Nikki and Derron's son DJ was born August 17th. His big sisters are very proud and happy to have a baby around.

We were very excited to meet DJ. So tiny and mellow and cute.

They all did great for their photo shoot. Something tells me these girls like the camera and have plenty of practice in front of it.

Schwinn

Last February I got a really cool Valentine's Day gift...an old Schwinn bike. It was in great shape, just needed new tires. The tubes kept popping each time we tried fixing the tire. So after the bike sat unused for over a year, George fixed it for my birthday and got a child seat for Gavin to ride in so we could all go on family bike rides. We had a great time on our family rides, all two of them, before the tire popped again. There it sat for another few months until today. I got the tire fixed again. Apparently you're supposed to pump them up each time you ride.
I took the boys on a short bike ride this afternoon after lunch. I was inspired after reading Tami's blog about her five year old riding TEN miles! This is the first time I've done this alone, without my much needed hubby. It was fun, but...we had to cross the main street near our house on our way home. This is always a hair raiser, whether we have bikes or not. The light changes too fast to make it across with 3 small kids. Daniel did fine (lost the attitude from the previous street crossing when I told him he had to hustle.) Vincent, on the other hand, headed out diagonally into the center of our huge intersection while 6 lanes of traffic watched this helpless mother shout directions at him while "trying" to hold onto my bike with Gavin in the child seat. I say "trying" because I actually dropped my bike with Gavin in it (no tears or injuries). After getting about 10 feet into the intersection, I realized we weren't going to make it in time. Daniel was almost all the way across, so he stayed on the other side while I backed up to the sidewalk while sounding the retreat to Vincent. The light had turned red by the time Vincent got back to the sidewalk. A kind mother got out of her car and waited with Daniel across the way until the light changed for us again. My, my, it might be awhile before we do anything more than circle the block! And that was my third bike ride in 2 years.
I went dumpster diving today. Okay, I wasn't planning on it, but I happened to be on the back side of a framing store walking past the dumpster, so I peered in and found this beauty. Is that legal? That's what they told us to do as art majors in college. I think it will make a fun prop for some family photo shoots. Should I paint it black or white or leave it as is?

Labor Day at Moss Beach

I always love going to the ocean. It's a trek these days. I think this is the farthest I've ever lived from the ocean and we'll probably be here awhile. It used to be a pretty short bike ride down to Newport Beach, but we didn't even take advantage of it while we had it. Isn't that how things go. Now I rarely see a sunset, much less the sun setting on the water.
Anyhow, we made it to Moss beach- it took about 90 minutes with Labor Day traffic. It was a beautiful drive despite the kids asking why it was taking so long. I love driving along the coast and we took a new route this time, through Pacifica and down passed Devil's Slide.
The tide was high when we first got there, but not long after lunch, the tide went out far enough to start looking at the tide pools. Daniel had such a great time running around on the rocks and seaweed looking at the tide pools and "exploring".

Vincent got his feet wet...a little. Vincent and Gavin spent most of the time playing and digging in the sand with a new friend they met at the beach who had some fun shovels. I never remember to bring that stuff, just p,b & j's with juice cups and camera for us.
Vincent always seems to lay his face down in the sand when we're at the beach too. His whole front was covered with sand, but since it was pretty course sand, it wasn't too messy.

George was a trooper walking through the beach with his broken leg. Incidentally, we saw two other dads on crutches at the same beach which was weird because you had to walk a ways down to the beach and then clamber down steps and across a stream to get where you wanted to go.

Vincent and Gavin borrowing toys

Fearless Daniel exploring anemones

Gavin with his daddy discovering tide pools