Category Archives: outdoors

Road Trip Part 2.5 – Smelly Sea Lions

Is it any surprise that the kids were really excited about seeing the beach?  It was one of the things they wanted to do right away, so the day after we arrived in California we had an easy, lazy day that included seeing at least one beach and the sea lions (as one does).

The kids were okay with not actually going swimming that day and they had fun just getting their feet in the sand and finally in the water. Enzo was more cautious partially because it was cold, but Phoebe doesn’t really care how cold water is.

The kids started to get braver and ventured slightly further out and would giggle and run when the waves came in, however, the tide was also coming in which is something the kids know nothing about.  Enzo was taken off guard and ended up on his face with a (thankfully gentle) wave washing up over him.  He was not impressed.  I had extra clothes in the van, so we got him changed and then we went to see the sea lions.

Oh, the sea lions. Never have I smelled anything so awful in my life.  It was hard not to gag and we only lasted a few minutes up close and personal with them.

Oh you smelly, smelly things.

We ended the day with lunch and a Target run because… always Target.  It was also important to get the kids to bed at a decent time because the next day was Disney Day!!

Tune in…

Road Trip Part 2 – California

We got up bright and early to leave Colorado Springs to head towards California, but first we had a stop in Winslow, Arizona to spend the night and get to see family I haven’t seen in far too many years.  Alas… somehow we didn’t get any photos, so you’ll have to imagine it.  We got a picture of lunch, though…

So glad we had AC for the desert portion of our drive.  We definitely aren’t used to 100 degree temperatures coming out of a cool winter and we would have been miserable. However, for the most part, we were quite comfortable.

At around the Route 95 point in California, however, the smiles ended and Phoebe became carsick and extremely unhappy and vocal about all of the dips in the road.  She cried, she kicked, she yelled, and then finally she passed out.  We will never drive on that road again.  She asks almost every time we get in the car if there are going to be dips.

Eventually, the kids had to go pee again and we figured we would check out Joshua Tree National Park for a bit.  Alas, we really only checked out the bathrooms because a pass was more than we wanted to spend considering we only had so much time in the area.

The kids were tired and a little cranky, so they stayed in the car while I got out here and there to explore and look at flowers and use the little Sony a bit more.  There were so many pretty plants and after living in a very different climate for so long, it was nice to see new things.

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Week in Review – Mostly Just the Weekend

Happy Monday!

Linking up with Meghan from Clean Eats, Fast Feets for another Week in Review!

 

Random occurrences and accomplishments – this week there were few accomplishments, let’s just be honest.  It was a fairly typical week with extra sugar and treats in the mix thanks to V-Day.  As if the kids really need extra candy… or me for that matter.

  • We rented The Girl on the Train and didn’t finish watching it.  We probably would have watched the whole thing had Phoebe not decided to crawl into bed and watch it with us (not exactly kid friendly) but we had already reached the plot twist point and figured we’d turn it off.  I read the book when it first came out ages ago, and remember it being fairly good, but the movie was so sloooooow and just didn’t work for us. It should be noted, though, that Emily Blunt was fabulous as always. She’s great.
  • Phoebe has been on a major Sleeping Beauty kick lately (wanting to read the book every single night) so we watched the movie on Saturday.

  • On Saturday night we went over to my sister-in-law’s house for a gathering, which was fun. The kids are always up for hanging out with their cousins. I made fondue, and I’m going to have to do that more often… only I think with a smaller pot. I always forget just how much it makes and the recipes are enough for probably a dozen people eating copious amounts of chocolate.
  • We also went to the library Saturday morning. I had a book on hold, and the kids were happy to grab a few new books to read as well.
  • The best part of the week was the weekend because we were able to spend some time outside. Hello awesome weather!

I attempted to teach the kids how to play tag in between them riding various toys. Enzo got the rules, but Phoebe was a tad confused. Haha!  I definitely got in my workout, though!

  • There was some gaming to be had, though.  I even kicked the boys off the TV so I could play my game for a bit.  After all that running around and a late night on Saturday, the kids were more than ready to just chill on the couch for a while.

Happy Monday everyone!

I see spring on the horizon!

We’ve had some incredibly warm days and while I know we also have some more wintry temperatures on the way, I am ecstatic that we are going to be in the 50s this weekend!  I have a feeling the kids will be just as excited to be outdoors and with that in mind, I suppose we’ll say our farewells to snow as it is unlikely to be memorable from here on out. We meant to get out in the snow more often this year, but it either iced over, got too cold, or we were busy doing other things, or there really wasn’t all that much of it.  It was a very mild winter overall…

I swear we only pulled out the snowblower a handful of times, and by we, I obviously mean Josh because feminism be damned – that’s men’s work as far as I’m concerned. Ha!

I’m looking forward to when the kids actually have more fun in the snow. Right now I think they only have a so-so amount of fun because gloves never fit right because for some reason no one has figured out how to make snow gloves/mittens that truly fit tiny hands without pissing off the wearer to the point where they just want to go back inside.

I think we were maybe outside for like 10-15 minutes this day before the kids were over it and ready to go back in the house. So we spent as much time outside as it takes to get them in their snow gear. Not really worth it in my opinion.

I’m really just more of a summer person… there’s no doubt about it.  Perhaps we’ll actually do more fun outside things next winter, but I think we’re all just looking forward to warmer temps sticking around. Even the cats have been thrilled about the warmer weather and I can’t wait until that first day we can really open up the windows and air out the house and do some deep cleaning.  Okay, so I could really care less about the cleaning, but fresh air sounds amazing.

Okay, enough weather talk.  In all honesty I feel like I’m just drawing a blank and don’t have much to say lately.  I’ve got a lot on my mind, but for some reason still feel like I’m dragging my feet and avoiding everything and I’m not sure why. How, oh how to get myself out of this… not really a funk per se, but general blasé attitude about everything.  I’m really hoping sunshine will help.

Solitude on the Road

I’ve always loved going for drives in the car, mostly as the passenger, but I’ll gladly do the driving if it means being alone and recharging for a bit and possibly doing some exploring. One thing I miss from Colorado is that feeling of remoteness that I often had. I didn’t live in a big town or even that near a big city so it was very easy to drive a short distance and feel like there weren’t a lot of people around. It’s been a little more difficult to find that here nearer a big city without having to drive too far.  So, I had the idea to take day and do a lot of driving on a weekend and Josh said, why not stay the night somewhere so you don’t have to do all that driving in one day?  Sold!

I think everyone needs to be on their own at times, but as an introvert it’s a necessity for me.  I do often get quiet time each day, but it doesn’t always feel like enough, especially when one or both kids has trouble sleeping and that time is interrupted. Also, as much as I love the cats, Uzi has somehow become even clingier and the second I relax, he’s on my lap. There are times when I am just touched out – by kids, by cats, by everyone and everything and even my own skin feels like it’s too much. So, this time away was very much needed and overdue.  I drove… and drove… I think I spent about 10 hours in the car total?  I went with the intention of looking for birds and did find some, though, not as many as I had hoped.  I didn’t take any amazing photos, but I did find a very funny squirrel and most of all I found space to breathe deeply and in silence.

I mentioned in a previous blog post that I accidentally left my really warm clothes at home, so without my big hat and gloves I wasn’t able to do much of the wandering by foot I had wanted to do. It was around zero outside, and with just a light knit hat and gloves I didn’t want to wander too far.  The snow was crunchy so I managed to scare a deer or two and some other birds, but once I got farther away from a road (with barely any traffic) I just stopped and it was… perfect. I could hear birds even if I couldn’t see them, many of which I had never heard before.  I could hear the scurry of squirrels and what I imagine was another deer or two as the crunch of the snow was louder, but more delicate than my own trudging.  It was in that moment that I knew when we got our own cabin it has to be more remote. I need a place to recharge on a more regular basis.  I need my place, you know? Now if we can just find that perfect spot near a lake for Josh. Granted, my ideal place would be in the mountains, but I’ll take what I can get.