Sweet Roses...

So I was having one of those days when Kevin comes home and I am just staring off at a wall and then wander into my room and shut the door. He came in and told me he was taking the boys out to get ice-cream. I was thrilled to have a much needed time-out for myself. When they came home, Kedrick came bouncing in with these potted roses. He said they were for me because my other flowers were getting old! Kevin said it was all Kedrick's idea. He saw the flowers in the store and said, "let's get flowers for mommy," and then picked them out himself. I was so touched by my sweet little boy!

Lions and Tigers and Bears, Oh My!

Well lions and bears anyway. No tigers on this adventure. We spent our family vacation this year in Sequoia National Park! We loved it and hope to go back someday. When we entered the campground we were greeted with bear notices everywhere and instructions on everything that had to be stowed away in bear lockers including our child seats. I was a bit stressed out the first day. Not to mention, the ranger told Kevin as he checked in, a mountain lion had been in the camp two weeks prior. She lowered her voice and continued to instruct him on what to do if attacked by a mountain lion and admonished us to keep our kids close. What a welcome!

Yes I took this picture! I know the bears can be dangerous but it's hard to believe. They look so gentle. We had 5 different bear sightings on our trip. The first night we went to sleep to the sounds of another group trying to scare off a bear with pots and pans, whistles and their car alarm. It made for a tense night. Word in the campground the next day was that a cub had gotten scared up a tree and the mother was circling the tree refusing to budge.

Notice the deer in the background right above Kedrick's head. Deer were plentiful. Morning and night they would scamper through our campground. I felt fine about this. I know of no deer attacks.

We enjoyed a quick jaunt on the Yosemite Sugar Pine Railroad. Kevin and I found the 5 mph speed lacking the thrill we had hoped for but the boys loved it.

The boys embracing the "hug a tree" program.

Well you can't really see most of Gen. Sherman. But you get the idea, it is a very big tree!

The boys LOVED playing in the river and throwing sand and rocks.

Kedrick's ready to fish!

After 3 days of no shower, I couldn't resist getting in this sparkling clear river. I could have stayed here all day. We had the whole river to ourselves, well and a few pesky bees that finally convinced me it was time to pack up.

Ahh shucks, it's nice when they get along. This was at Kevin's aunt's house in Clovis before we headed off to church.

And here they are not getting along. Brock had just poked Kedrick with a stick. I separated the boys to the sounds of Kedrick screaming, "hit him mom, hit him." He is all about justice.

A waterfall on our hike back up from seeing Crystal Cave.

We tripped upon this picturesque spot one day on the way home to our campground. The boys had a blast scrambling over rocks and throwing whatever they could get their hands on into the river. Kedrick fell in after ignoring some parental guidance. Kevin in an attempt to reinforce why we should listen to parents, asked Kedrick how he felt now that he was all wet. He smiled and said "good."

Brock showing off the first "owie" of the trip after trying to walk on a log immitating Kedrick (see below). Kedrick was thrilled as always to see the blood.

This fallen log separated our campground from the next. Kedrick has taken to practicing his balancing and was thrilled to find this log to show off his skills. One night while cleaning up camp, Kevin found himself on one side of this log whilst a black bear was on the other side not more than 20 yards away. A little too close for my liking! Too bad he wasn't carrying a camera at the time.

Another waterfall on a hike. This hike was full of poisin oak but miraculously we managed to avoid it!


We visited Crystal Cave where the temperature dropped to 50. A welcome temp after carrying both boys on the hike to get there. Brock was not exactly fond of the darkness demonstration during the cave tour. Kedrick loved using a flashlight to look all around at the cave formations.

Driving through 4 giant sequoias!

Kedrick in a hollowed fallen sequoia.


The boys had a great time helping daddy with the campfire. Smores, however, were a disaster. Kedrick was not into the sticky thing and thought we were ruining the chocolate. Brock was using all of his skills to try and scavange every last piece of chocolate bar when we were distracted. The next night Kedrick requested that his smore be made with a regular marshmellow and chocolate that was not melted.

A burned out portion of a sequoia. Amazingly, the tree thrives even with this cave at it's base.

On a whim, we stopped and hiked up Morro Rock. The views were stunning at the top but the drop-offs steep. We couldn't stay too long to enjoy the view for fear of losing a child off the side. They don't seem to have any fear of heights yet! At one point I looked down and noticed Kedrick's hand turning purple from my grip. I eased up. A lesson I'll probably need to keep learning.
This is a view of Morro Rock from the base of the trail. Great trail, with stairs and railing. A steep climb but really minimal effort for the pay-off at the top. I don't think I would have even been scared if we weren't toting up our youngins!


All in all, we came home very tired, very dirty and very happy to have spent the last 6 days playing together.

Slow but growing

I've wanted to grow a garden for quite some time. I thought about it last year, thought about it so long that I missed the entire growing season. I'm on schedule this year though. We've planted tomatoes, zucchini, green beans, peppers and a smattering of herbs. I feared the boys attacking the plants but they've actually done really good. Kedrick is just as excited about watching them grow. Both boys love to water. Brock seems to have a respect for the vegetables he has yet to develop for the flowers. His picking has been minimal. The other day I was out working in the garden and Kedrick said, "mom, you're a good girl, you are taking very good care of the plants." It made me beam. I went around the rest of the day feeling really good about myself and wanting to make sure I said things to my kids that made them feel the same way.

Remembering Memorial Day

We took a one day vacation for Memorial Day. Not even stopping to think what Memorial Day was about, we decided to head down to Pt. Loma to see the lighthouse and visit the tide-pools. It took us a while to figure out what all the traffic was about and why all the flags on all the graves. And then it donned on us. I felt clever for stumbling upon such an appropriate acitivity. It was humbling to look out over all the headstones of so many who have given their life for my freedom.

We had such a good time in the morning, we decided not to go home for naps and to make a day of it. We spent the afternoon touring all the ships along the waterfront. We finally used the tickets you gave us to the maritime museum Mom and Dad. Thank you!

By the time we headed home we were all hungry and had no plans for dinner. We stopped and got Thrifty Chocolate Malted Crunch ice-cream, took it home and made dinner out of it. The boys were in heaven! Who am I kidding, so was I!

I spy...

Santa Claus! (If you are not convinced, click on the picture so you can see it enlarged). At our local CostCo no less. I mean, it makes sense that he shops there but who'd have thought we'd see him? Brock was the one with the sharp eyes this time. Waiting in line for gas, he shouts out, "Look, Kizmuss!" I made a quick scan for what could possibly be saying Christmas to my little one and saw good ol' St. Nick filling up.

And that's not all we saw. While waiting for Kevin to finish something at work, he suggested I take the boys for a walk along the trails. I was hesitant because it is not an uncommon occurrence for snakes to be seen around where he works. He told me if I followed the trail I'd be able to see the ocean. We walked and walked and walked because I just didn't want to turn back before I saw the view. Finally, at the very end of the trail we walked up a little crest to catch a very tiny sliver of an ocean view. And right there, not too far off in front of us was a nice rattlesnake making its way across the trail! I was horrified. Kevin showed up just in time to seem me frantically scrambling down the hill with the boys. He got a good laugh that he got me to drag the boys that far by mentioning the so called "ocean view." I was not amused. And of course, he took the boys back up the hill to get a better view of the snake. Boys.

Tide Pools

During the warm weather and before the shark attacks, back in the days when the beach was a safe place, we visited the tide pools. We found no sharks but did find several large star fish, a sea slug and lots of sea enenemies. I am seriously traumatized by the recent attacks and though the odds of me stepping in the water and getting attacked are slim, I won't be venturing out far in the water this summer. When I was young I worried about flushing the toilet for fear I would trigger an earthquake. I've gotten over that one at least!

Quarantined

Flu again. Good grief. I think we already had our turn with this recently. We have enjoyed high fevers, throw-up and some phenomenal diarrhea. With it has come refusals to eat anything, the standard "I'm not feeling well so don't dare put me down" from our sweet Brock who also tends to vocalize his discomfort very loudly and dear Kedrick hasn't had the wherewithal to do anything but watch tv. I expect tomorrow we will be in the clear of all symptoms. I hate watching my kids feel so miserable and sadly my patience and energy to meet their levels of desired care are starting to wane. At the end of a very trying Monday, my visiting teacher brought over some much needed chocolate chip cookies. I set the boys down for dinner, went into the back and indulged in some amazing food therapy. There were four cookies left that I planned on either later sharing with my family or hoarding for myself depending on how the night went. Kedrick managed to find them, happily announced their discovery and came out and said, "this one's for Brockie, this one's for Daddy, this one's for Mommy, and this one's for Kedrick." He is so good at sharing. I felt like a shmuck. Good we have kids to teach us how to be nice!