Category Archives: spring

Week In Review – Sunshine!

Happy Monday!

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

This past week felt like a bit of a hectic one.  Probably  because we had quite a bit going on.

  • The kids had dentist appointments, which they are both great about. We started taking them around 18 months to get them used to it at an early age and now they both lie down without issue and do everything they’re asked. Total pros.
  • We also picked up our first meat package from TC Farms this week!  Really excited about joining our first CSA and I’ll post more about it later.

  • On Wednesday I made a pie for my sister-in-law who had an unfortunate run-in with a piano and lost her fingertip, so I decorated her pie appropriately.  She’s a trooper for sure, and has handled the whole thing really well.

  • Phoebe hasn’t been the greatest sleeper this week, and honestly they have both been a tad cranky. I’m not sure what all is up. She and I ended up watching a re-run of The Great British Bake Off when she couldn’t get comfortable or sleep one night.

  • On Friday night Enzo had a birthday party to attend, so I went with him to that while Josh had a daddy-daughter date with Phoebe.

  • Then on Saturday we went flower shopping!  The weather was perfect for it and we got some lovely assistance at The Mustard Seed!

  • We had lunch and then headed back home to get everything planted.  The kids wanted to help a lot and I set them to work filling pots and teaching them to carefully plant our purchases.

  • We then made Uzi’s day and pulled the leash out for him.  One day I hope to have a bigger yard and not be so close to a main road so he can more safely wander.

  • Then it was Sunday and after some cleaning and refereeing the children, made the yummiest strawberry rhubarb pie and pretty much called it a day.

I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend!

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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Road Trip Part 1 – Packing and Colorado Springs

We (Josh and I) love road trips. He loves to drive, and I like to watch the scenery go by.  We are hoping the kids will also grow to love road trips in time. So, why did we decide to drive rather than fly?  The biggest reason is that it’s just cheaper, but it was also a good excuse to get to see lots of family, if only for a brief amount of time. Next time, we’ll probably simplify and shorten the journey, but for some reason we decided that we were going to go big and be gone for 16 days.  At the time, it didn’t really seem like that big of a deal, until we got nearer the day and especially once the packing commenced.  I have never been a light packer, but even I thought I was doing pretty well for 16 days.  In reality?  I didn’t wear everything I packed and absolutely could have packed fewer clothes. The bigger trouble always comes with all of the toiletries and stuff and hair dryers and everything takes up so much room.

The kids each finally got their own suitcases and it seems like I just barely managed to fit all their clothes inside.  Once again, in hindsight, we could have done with less, so now we know for next time.

Okay… brace yourselves.

Notice Vega in the background trying to sneak in with all of our stuff?  Also… I apologize for closeups of all undergarments. Probably more than you want to know about us, but oh well. I like to document the massive amounts of craziness.

We also neglected to bring any emergency cold weather things like long-sleeve shirts, which we will do next time.  Whoops.

On to the fun!  I picked the kids up from day care around the usual time while Josh was napping (after the bed was packed up) and they were excited to get on the road. I finished packing our smaller cooler and the rest of the snacks and we were ready to drive overnight to Colorado Springs!

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Day In The Life – Spring Edition

It’s time for another Day In The Life post!  I decided to use the new camera again, but I’m still getting used to it (which explains some of the graininess and whatnot).

Cast:

Josh – 37 years old

Heather – 34 years old

Enzo – 4 years old (for 2 more weeks)

Phoebe – 3 years old

Ziggy – 14, Uzi, 12, Vega 1

In typical fashion our Saturday started early.  Enzo and Josh were up first because Enzo is not a fan of sleeping in, and I stayed snuggled up in bed with Phoebe for a while longer until she woke up wanting to know where Daddy was.  She then dramatically whined that she wanted Enzo and Daddy to go back to bed, cuddled with me and then started talking about how she wanted a pink house with pink duckies and penguins to snuggle.  Then she asked if I would get up and play with her.

So, I crawled out of bed and our day began.

I don’t know how kids just wake up and go go go.  As soon as we walked into the playroom, she started pulling out ponies and I just kind of sat waiting for the sleep to leave my eyes.

Vega soon wandered into the room as well, probably wanting breakfast.

At some point I talked Phoebe into letting me go get some coffee and check out the sunrise.  I knew it was going to be a beautiful day and the birds were happily chirping outside.

Coffee and a book.  Someday, Someday, Maybe is one of those easy reads I figured I’d try out since I like Lauren Graham.

I went and snuggled up on the couch with Enzo while Phoebe played… somewhere and Josh I think was with her.

He doesn’t snuggle that often anymore, so I’m all over these moments when he out of the blue comes and sits as close to me as possible. Alas, I had to get up at some point, so he sat with his Dad and they both played video games for a while.

I checked on Phoebe who was in our bed and asked if she still wanted to go to Costco with me (she did), so I figured I’d better get things moving so we could get there earlier rather than later.

Time to feed the kitties!

And myself… blurry, but yummy and satisfying.

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