Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk

Day two of our camping trip I finally convinced Dave to visit Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk. I guess being from Southern California and living on the Central Coast he never has felt the need to visit another beach. I have great childhood memories of the Boardwalk and wanted to take the boys, so we finally went. It was much larger than Dave was expecting and good thing because there were a million people there! The boys loved hanging out on the beach and of course riding a few rides.

Riding the airplane
Gannon on the whale all by himself

Dave and Garrett on the Skyglider

Gannon loved the sea lions, so much that he really wanted down to go pet them. This child has no fear of large animals, even when they are in the ocean.

As you can see he was quite pissed when we wouldn't let him down to pet the critters. This was a no breather fit!

Silly boys.

I would say there were quite a few people there.

Happy Hollow Zoo & Park

When we were in Disneyland a lady in line had told me about the zoo in San Jose, Happy Hollow Zoo. We decided we would visit since we were camping close by.

What a fun place. They had animals, as you can see a petting zoo, fun rides, and a three story place structure. WOW - 5 hours was almost not enough time there.

Garrett and Gannon loved the goats, but Gannon spotted a water fountain at the entrance of the petting area and was pretty much stuck there for the entire time we were visiting the goats. These boys are for sure mine, they love rides! Gannon loves to sit with his brother and just check everything out as a passenger and Garrett steers or moves whatever he can on the ride.

I would have to say the favorite part of the park for the kids was the huge play structure area. There were lots of slides, two from the third floor, two smaller, and a toddler section. Dave took Garrett up to the big slide and I took Gannon on the little ones. Garrett was having such a blast going down the huge slide so I thought I would take Gannon and let him ride on my lap. Don't even think about taking him back to the toddler slide after that, it's not daring enough for him. As soon as we would get to the top to wait in line for our turn he was trying to lung out of my arms and go allow. Sorry little dude, you have to wait your turn and you're way to little to go alone. He was a little upset when we had to leave. Determined little sucker.

Practice Run and It's Pit Stop

For Memorial Day weekend we hadn't planned to really do much and at the last minute I really wanted to get out of the house. Partially because it was right after my last class was over, it was a three day weekend, and we handed been camping in a while. We also have a very long trip coming up so I wanted to make a list of anything that we may need prior to that and thankfully we did. Dave wasn't too sure about going anywhere, but researched camp locations and look for a last minute vacancy. We decided Morgan Hill was the best option. Not too far and close to entertainment.

We decided to head out on Saturday morning to avoid traffic and to give me one more night to complete my assignments. We headed out early Saturday morning and made a pit stop at Casa de Fruta for a potty break and for the kids to run around a bit. Side note - traveling with a potty behind you all the time is fabulous with a little one. Literally pull off to the side of the road and go!

We made it to our campsite by 2 and got all settled in. Not my favorite camp location, but it was really new and the bathrooms were awesome. So it worked and I can't complain when we made reservations on Friday.

I do love our trailer, not sure it's really considered camping, but I love it anyway. Now that we have a good system in place, it is very relaxing.

We had to ride the train.

A World of Fun

Yesterday we decided to get out of the house since we have Daddy back now and we took the boys over to the Children's Discovery Museum in San Jose. (Thanks for the tip Robin!) Basically, it is a huge museum with different hands on exhibits throughout the place. The boys had a blast playing in all the different areas and of course the water play was Gannon's favorite and the dramatic play area was Garrett's! No surprises there!

San Jose has a great downtown with lots of other museums so we can't wait to go back and try a new one.

The water play area had a big kids side and a tiny ones side which was perfect. Gannon was too small for the big side, but was trying so hard to get some play time in.
The little ones side was much better for him.

Until he started drinking all the water. Again, no surprise there!

The circle exhibit had a huge Asian display with this paddle boat that Garrett really enjoyed. Gannon almost whacked a couple of kids in the head with his paddle. Time to move on...

Garrett's favorite. Upstairs their was an entire room that had a play market with artificial food, a couple of tables and chairs and a pizza station. There was even a counter with a cash register to pay for your pizza.

As soon as we walked in Garrett yelled, "dinner time" and ran over to the play food and started making "dinner". It was so cute. I sat at a table and he took my order, made and delivered my food, including a cup with juice. He grabbed a couple of plates for us and joined me for "dinner". He LOVED this room.

A little play time for Gannon too. This was in the toddler section of museum in their dramatic play area. He was just in love with the dishes. He had 4 or 5 plates stacked and was guarding them with his life. A little girl came over and grabbed one and he gave her the dirties glare ever. It was pretty funny.

Of course they both loved the bubble room. Garrett for the bubbles and Gannon for the fact that the bubble were all in water tables and he could just play in the water.

80's Party

Dave and I were invited to an 80's party and for weeks I have been driving Dave crazy with questions about our outfits. When you don't work, you really to look forward to a crazy evening out. So here is what we ended up with...I'm sad this picture doesn't show my leg warmers and turquoise shoes. Our weather this year has been a little out of wacky so it was a bit on the chilly side, but I have to say, the leg warmers do the trick!!! Don't worry, I'm not trying to bring them back. I felt like a clown in this outfit, but it was a fun night!

Thanks to my to aunt for the necklace & leg warmers, Taylor for the bracelets, and Kathy for the ring.

Gannon's Chores

Gannon loves to help unload the dishwasher which usually means I have dishes scattered all over the floor. I have figured out that he likes to stack the cat bowls so I have made those his job. I quickly unload the bottom and he is in charge of the cat bowls.

Stacked Perfect!

5 Generations

It's not very often that family has 5 generations so we decided to capture the moment! They all turned out so good. We even managed to get a picture of Uncle Bob & Aunt Virginia, which is a first in 50 years.

Aunt Ruby, Uncle Bob, Mom, Me & Garrett

Uncle Bob & Aunt Virginia

Oh Garrett...

Garrett has entered the dress himself stage of life! Ever sense he was old enough to make a choice we have given him options of what to wear, well now that has all changed. He can pick his own clothes!

Let me back track a little. During our potty training we switched him from jeans everyday to sweats for the obvious reason that he could quickly pull his own pants down. We only had a couple of pairs of sweats (since I'm not a big sweats fan) so we even had to pick up a couple of new pairs while he got the hang of potty thing.

So now that he has been wearing sweats, I guess he like them. Everyone that knows me know that I don't really run around in sweats unless I'm having a very lazy day at home. Even the days that I don't go anywhere I'm still showered and dressed in jeans and shirt. So the fact that he wants to wear sweats everyday kills me!

We had a birthday party a couple of weeks ago and Garrett needed to get dressed so what does he want to wear - sweats! NO child you can't wear those. Prior to taking the sweats off he picked his football shirt. I explained to him that the jersey had holes so he would have to wear an undershirt, aka wife beater! Once he had the wife beater and his sweats on he looked at me and very seriously said, "I'm dressed"! Nice try dude you are not attending a birthday party in sweats and a wife beater. It was a challenge to change him, but it finally happened.

He did make it to school one day last week with a pair of grey sweats on and a floral button down shirt! What a fashion statement. They did kinda match at least! I asked if he was sure that is what he wanted to wear and he answered, "it's not jammies". You are rights it's not jammies.

Over the past couple of weeks on days that it is warm we have pulled out the shorts. He does not approve of this move. If he can't wear sweats, he asked for jeans like Mommy. And then picks out a long sleeve shirt. I try to explain that it is going to be hot and he really doesn't care. He wants to wear what he has picked out.

I finally replaced his jeans in the dresser with shorts and hid his long sleeve shirts in the closet. So this morning when we went to get dressed we opened the dresser to the old jean/new short spot and he dug around for a minute until he found a pair of jean shorts. He pulled them out inspected them for a minute and said, "hey, where are my pants?" I explained that they were "missing", so instead of picking shorts he moved on to picking a shirt. One shirt that he hasn't worn in a really long time was tucked behind his short sleeve shirts, a button down plaid shirt. He spotted that and it was of course his selection for the day. Thank goodness he allowed me to unbutton and roll up the sleeves and I also got the privilege of selecting a pair of shorts that matched. Today he actually look quite cute!

I'll try to grab some pictures of the outfit selections and post. Until then, wish me luck on the sweats!

A Year in Numbers

I have been home now for 17 months and what do I do? Well, lots! Some of these number are approximated (I don't have time to track the real numbers! ha ha)

Over the past 17 months I have....

Changed approximately 4,500 Diapers

Prepared 1,250 Bottles

Talked 400+ hours on the phone (most of which are to Stephanie!)

Watched 500+ episodes of Mickey Mouse, Wonder Pets, or Backyardigans combined. I wish there were really this many different versions of the three, instead there are many 75 and we've seen the all 4 or 5 times each!

Washed, folded, and put away 280 Loads of Laundry (probably and understated number since I love laundry!)

Unloaded the dishwasher 224 times

Posted 190 entries to this blog

Created 32 Scrapbook Layouts

Tried 24 New Recipes, Dave wonders why I don't just stick to the "regular" ones - because I get sick of cooking and eating the same dishes!

I have taken 12 classes towards my Credential and Master in Education,

in which I have completed 108 Assignments and 48 discussion boards

We have taken 6 camping trips in our trailer.

Read only maybe 3 books that are not for school. (This number needs to be higher and will be over the summer!)

Mother's Day

A baseball game for Mother's Day...really!?!

Since Taylor lives in Fresno and other than her coming to Merced would mean a long day of driving for her and my need to get out of the house, we decided on a baseball game in Fresno. This way Taylor didn't have to spend 6 hours in the car and we got out of the house, plus we had free tickets.

We had lunch with the family in Fresno and then headed to the game. Dave was excited because the Salt Lake Bee's were playing the Grizzlies and the Bee's are the farm team for the Angel's. Potential LA Angel's meant Dave could sport is Angel's attire. As you can see in the pictures, there were plenty of open seats, but the weather to start was pretty nice. In the 7th inning the Bee's were losing pretty bad and the storm was coming so we thank goodness made it to the car just in time for the downpour.

Pizza Villa picked up on the way home to end a great day!

Watching the teams warm-up
Destruction trying to break everything

A ball full of autographs

Family shot

Sky Diving Mommy!

For as long as I can remember I have wanted to go sky diving. I have bungee jumped, been parasailing, been hot air ballooning and always talked about going sky diving. So for Christmas Dave bought me a sky diving gift certificate with video and pictures included in my jump.

We drove up to Lodi on Good Friday, but the weather did not like my plan and did not cooperate. Thank goodness! Kendra and her sister, Katrina, also really wanted to go so we decided a couple of weeks ago that May 5th would be our day. I am so glad I waited until someone could experience this world of craziness with me!!!!

We left around 11:30 to head up to Lodi and thought we would get there and spent an hour or so in a "training" class and man were we wrong. There was not talk or training - sign here and head to the gear room! We were each assigned a tandem jumper and a camera person and off we went.

AMAZING IS ALL I CAN SAY!!!!

There we went, loaded up in the plane and the only instruction I got was, "cross your arm and keep your legs up until I tap your shoulder then spread your arms and legs. And if you forget don't worry it will still work!" Thank goodness because in my video I had my legs pulled up for a long time and my arms stayed crossed for a while too!

I really didn't like the cold air going up my nose so I blocked that for a lot of the free fall, but was still really cool. My poor tandem guy tried to block it for me so I could see more, but it didn't really work so I block my own.

Kendra and I pre-jump
Our plane - me, Kim, Kendra, and Katrina

Load Up!

1st one in = last one out!

There we go

That's a serious fist! What the heck?

Poor Joe trying to block the air for me! Notice my legs are still tucked!

And here we come

Perfectly smooth landing on two feet!

Okay, I'm ready to go again! Any other crazies out there that need someone to jump with, give me a call!!!

Crazy Coupon Lady

Do you ever get in line behind someone that has so many coupons that people glare and it holds up the line. Sorry, that's me! I once had a checker tell me not to get in line behind people that use the WIC vouchers because they take a lot of time, hey my coupons hold up the line too - whatever!

I am actually very proud of my coupon skills. For Christmas this past year Dave bought me a really cool coupon organizer that allows me to separate my coupons by category. (I know OCD) But, hey proud to say that I save somewhere between $25.00 and $50.00 dollars a month using my coupons, maybe more. Last week alone, I saved $12.30 at the grocery store, $12.45 at Walmart, $10.00 at JC Penny, $6.00 at Costco, and only $.75 at Target. That's $41.60. Holy cow that is a lot of money. This doesn't even count what I saved from items that were on sale!

We get the newspaper for Merced and Modesto so on the weekends I go through the coupon ads and clip only coupons for products that I would buy on a regular basis. I file them away in my cute little organizer and go through them when I make my shopping lists. I get so mad when I let one expire without using it! I do try to shop when the store is not going to be very busy so I don't hold up lines too bad. I always have so many coupons at the grocery store that they have to call a manager to approve my transaction!

Glare at me all you want people behind me - I'm saving money!

And Butterflies...

Last week one by one the chrysalides turned into butterflies! Garrett was so excited everyday to see how many butterflies were in the "garden". We thought it would be fun for Garrett to take his butterflies to school to share with his friends for a day and release them the next day as a class, so that is what we did. The kids were so excited to see the butterflies and very excited to watch them fly away. Okay not really, they wanted to grab them, but still so cute!

Garrett getting ready to feed the first butterfly

Not a great picture, but you can see the butterfly

So excited to share with his class

Smile for the camera - BIG!