Summer Fun

Here are a few pictures from Saturday in Redondo Beach.




Chris has been gone since Friday visiting his family in Cincinnati. His Dad is retiring today and so he wanted to be there to support him and celebrate with everyone. Needless to say I have been trying to kill some time and have fun with Anders despite daddy being gone. We've managed but we will be happy to see him tomorrow!

On Friday when we dropped Chris off at the airport I took PCH back home. We stopped at the Malibu pier and got to watch the fishermen. While on the pier we wandered around to see what people were catching. There was a homeless man (looked homeless) fishing off one side. He was wearing a shirt that said "I used to be Schizophrenic but now we're both fine". I got a laugh out of that, quietly of course... We saw him catch a sting ray and then not throw it back. It was sad to see it flopping around on the wood. I almost asked him if we could throw it back and then I saw a very large knife lying on the ground it made me think twice about asking a homeless guy with an obvious mental disorder anything that might trigger the said mental disorder. So, we just left.

Saturday we spent the afternoon with my parents down in Redondo Beach where they were visiting my Dads Mom. It was fun for Anders to visit with "Great Gram" and also to spend some time at the beach. Of course Anders isn't much of a beach fan yet but he played in the sand the whole time and got a little wet on accident. I felt like he had a good experience overall. =0)

The weather has been really hot this last week which has made it difficult to do anything during the day. We've managed to stay cool in the A/C and just go out in the evenings or go from A/C car to A/C buildings. Today we went to the library and Taco Bell and we'll most likely stay in until it starts to cool a bit. The bees are also out in force right now. I had forgotten how prolific they are in August! They are just all over the pathway to our door and if we leave anything open they drift into the house. Luckily they will be gone in the Winter! I've managed to not freak Anders out too badly by acting as calm as possible although my natural instinct is to swat, scream and run... I guess it's good for me to act a little less crazy around bugs in general and having a little person watching helps.

More everyday life

We decided to take our vacation next week instead of this week so now I'm trying to find some fun things to do with the our time. The weather has finally heated up and today is quite warm although there is still a breeze thank goodness. We also have central air which is getting a good workout lately. I've started to get spoiled having central air. Growing up in an old 1930's home that was not well insulated I was used to laying low on the hottest days. We would lie in front of a fan, drink cold drinks and play in the hose. Now I don't even want to go outside when it's too hot!

Anyways, I found a couple of pictures of Anders new "big boy bed". Not the greatest pictures but something at least. Chris went and picked it up at IKEA while we were in Texas and we just set it up last week. It is a BIG hit and we really haven't had too much trouble with Anders getting out of bed or not sleeping. I really think we did the right thing waiting until he was old enough to reason with before we got a real bed.

The other pictures that I'm posting are of a fun play date that we had with one of Anders friends. His mom was my table leader in MOPS and he and Anders get along really well. They had so much fun playing the "cotton ball game" that I had to take a couple of pictures. This is a little exercise that my friend Katrina was doing with her son and it is so easy and helps with fine motor skills. It's cheap too! =0) All you need is a bag of cotton balls, two bowls and a pair of tongs. The cotton balls can be transferred back and forth from bowl to bowl until the game gets old. For some reason it is the hottest thing to do right now!

Bee's, babysitting and blistering hot vacations.

Yesterday Anders stepped on a bee and got stung. After the initial crying from the pain he was pretty calm about it. I told him all about how bees don't like to sting because they will die if they do. And how we give them space to work so that we don't scare them and make them sting us. When I told him this he said "The bee is going to heaven? God will take care of it." I agreed with him because I know that God does care even about the little bee that stung my boy. It's also nice to see a little empathy in my child.

On another note, Chris and I have been enjoying being a part of a babysitting co-op in our neighborhood. We get a two hour date every two weeks and about every ten weeks we get all of the kids at our house for the two hours. It's just enough time to have a nice meal out and chat without interruption. Our turn to babysit is coming in about 4 weeks and we are already planning out a game plan to help the time go by fast and for everyone to have fun. I highly recommend something like this for young families!

We are planning a little family getaway hopefully for next week. I've found that going somewhere blistering hot in the summer is usually cheaper than in the winter. So Palm Springs hear we come! It should be fun to lounge by the pool, rent movies and spend time together. I am really looking forward to it. I'll post some pictures when all of the fun is over.

The opposite of no where

I already posted this on Facebook but it's worth sharing here even just for posterity's sake.

Yesterday Anders and I had just gotten back from a trip to the store on the trolley. I was sitting at the computer desk and Anders was playing around at my feet. All of a sudden he asks "Mom, where are we going?" I replied "ummm.... no where...." He apparently didn't like that answer and said "NO, we go YEAH-WHERE!"

Concert in the park with cousins

I'm liking this stage

Being a mom definitely has it's ups and it's downs, but boy am I enjoying Anders this week! For some reason whenever his hair starts getting longer and curlier he seems to act sweeter too. (Maybe I have warmer feelings towards him when he looks like a cherub...). I think that coming home and getting to see how much he grew in the last two weeks of playing with, fighting with, and relating to his cousins is such a contrast. He has grown up a bit, his vocabulary is a little better and he has a new sense of his world and family now.

The day we got home he went for a walk with Chris to the park. Chris asked him if he wanted me to come with them and he said "no, just you daddy". (Heaven knows that he was sick to death of me at that point!) He was so excited to jump on his little red tricycle and pedal as fast and as hard as he could to the park. When we left for Texas, he was still a little tentative. I think that he realized that he really did know how to ride and couldn't wait to prove it to himself. Chris got a great workout following him!

Today when I took him to the park near our house he really enjoyed playing with the older kids that were there for day camp. He stuck by me for a little bit and then ran off to mix it up. What a relief it was to just watch from the shade! I loved seeing him relate to other kids and not want to hang out with me the whole time. I guess that it's his age. He is three and just starting to (barely) want to share. He is noticing others playing and really wants to join in.

At one point today the kids were taking turns sitting on the back of his tricycle as he "taxied" them around. Then he wised up and let someone else have his bike to do the taxiing and ran off to play airplane with two other boys. When I came to collect him I asked the boys where they were flying to. One said "space!" the other said "Mongolia, that's where Gangues Kahn lives!" Anders thought that Texas was the destination.

I'm looking forward to this new "big boy" stage. Babies are cute and all but getting to see your little person grow up can't be beat!

A few coming home emotions

A few of things I felt when I got home on Sunday -

- Sadness about not being closer to my sisters.

- Relief that I got to sleep in my own bed, cook in my own kitchen and enjoy my little apartment.

- Major love for my hubby who I ended up missing more than I thought I would.

- A little smugness/warmth that Chris missed me as much as he did and that he decided that bachelor life wasn't all that it is cut out to be.

- Happiness for Anders who really missed his toys, his bed and his daddy (they wrestled for an hour the first night we were home!)

Time with Erin

Here are a few pictures from my stay with Erin and Garrett. As you can see Garrett is ADORABLE! One of the funny things he did while we were there was close his eyes in a coy way whenever we would get in the car. I did catch him with his eyes open for the second picture though. We thought maybe he was overwhelmed or feeling shy or something. Whatever it was it was cute. =0)

Erin and Jim are in the middle of a big move from Texas to Colorado for Jim's work and she has to stay in Texas until the house sells while Jim has had to start his new job and hold down the new rental in Colorado. The week we were there she had a lot of things to get done before taking a trip out to see the house they are going to be living in and visiting with my parents who came out to Colorado to vacation. I loved getting a picture of Erin and her to do list!

One of the last nights we spent with E and G we went to their favorite hamburger place called Kincaid's. The meat is super fresh and it's the closest thing to In-N-Out I've had. It's a fun family place with lots to look at and a nice noise level (which helps with toddlers!).


Anders had fun pretending to be a train and "coupling" up with Garrett's high chair.

It was such a joy to be able to spend such quality time with Erin and to get to know Garrett better. I can't wait to see their #2 boy when he is born in October!

A few more random photos

Here are a few more photos that I couldn't leave out.

On Saturday we got to attend Abby's last soccer game of the season. It was so much fun to see her in action. Anders liked it until the parents starting screaming and yelling and the noise level got really bad. So he chose to stand outside most of the game. I had to watch through a little window in the door. It was a bummer!

Heidi and Williams friends the Petersen's hung out with us a few times and their twin daughters Emily and Becca thought that Anders was great. They followed him around, played with him and mothered him. It was so fun to see him being so loved on!


When we came out of the house on Friday to go to the Stockyards, we realized that William had the car-seat in his car! There was no way to get it so we just strapped Anders into the back seat next to Madeline. It was fun to see him looking so grown up reading his book with everyone else.

Lastly, I had to put in one picture of Anders enjoying the great city run water park. That place was amazing! I wish we had something like that close to our house!

I've kind of gone backwards in chronicling my trip. I started with my stay at Heidi and Williams and my next post will go back to my first week staying with Erin and Garrett.

More Stockyard Pictures

One of the major highlights was watching the big vintage train pull into the stockyard area. It is extremely loud and overwhelming especially for those who love trains and think about them, read about them, watch them on t.v. but have little experience seeing them in person..... (poor Anders). I'm surprised that I even took a picture of my petrified son when I should have had him wrapped up in my arms! But I did so now the full experience is recorded.







We also visited a fabulous candy store with every kind of candy you could want. Anders chose a huge orange lolly pop and then changed his mind and went for a smaller one. I didn't stop him!

I love the statue of the man taking down the steer. I've admired it both times I have come to the stockyards. It's so dramatic!

Fun in the Garage

At Heidi's house we had fun hanging out in the garage. The boys loved climbing on Will's motorcycle. And as you can see Abby had fun bouncing on a big red ball when she wasn't immersed in Harry Potter.

I also had to include another picture of the cutest Basset Hounds in North Texas! Dolce and Roosevelt Graymander. Such noble beasts!

Cabela's Aquarium

Way too much fun!

I can't even begin to recount all of the fun experiences Anders and I had while in Texas. I'll try to with pictures!

Visiting with the sisters was the best thing I've done in a long time. I spent the first week with Erin and baby Garrett. We enjoyed relaxing, swimming and watching the boys play cars. One of the nights we all got together and had a summer dinner together which was wonderful! Garrett is getting so big and it was fun to spend such quality time with them.

Then I spent the longer part of the next week with Heidi, William and the kids. The quality time I spent with them can't be measured. The only glitch was that both my hubby and Erin's hubby were absent because of work. They were both so missed!

Among the many fun events we celebrated Abigail's 11th birthday at the local water park.

We got to know the Heidi's family dog Dolce. She was a real love! Another fun thing was getting to meet their new dog Roosevelt who they brought home today. He's a little more wild then Dolce but still so gentle and loving.

Visiting the stockyards in Fort worth was so much fun even though I've been there once before. It's the typical tourist thing to do while in Dallas and it is quite entertaining.

It was fun to weather a few summer storms as well. Last night Anders and Sam ran around in the rain until they were drenched. It was a great way to get their wiggles out and stay cool in the humid Texas heat.

There are a lot more pictures and a couple of fun videos to come.