I Want A Sandwich

OK, for this one, you'll need to turn on your speakers and listen the the 1st song on my playlist. It's called Damaged by Danity Kane. This is a fairly recent song playing on the radio lately, and last night on our way home from a family evening out, Gunnar made up some new lyrics to the chorus. First, start listening....

Now, once you have the hang of the chorus, insert instead,

I want a sandwich, sandwich

I thought that I should let you know

That I want a sandwich, sandwich

Peanut Butter, Jelly, To go

(Repeat )

So are you gonna fix it, fix it, fix it?
Are you gonna fix it, fix it, fix it?

(Repeat)

Can you fix my sandwich for me?

Cuz I'm H-U-N-G-R-EE

I want a sandwich, sandwich, sandwich

I want a sandwich, sandwich, sandwich

SO FUNNY!

I think my boy has inherited a love of making up silly lyrics to songs from his Mom. Most of the time when I do it, he tries his hardest not to smile and tells me to STOP IT, it's making him mad. Right......

Lost Artform?

When is the last time you've skipped rocks? I have to admit, for me, it had been so long, I just about forgot what a wonderful pasttime it is. What a pleasant surprise that my kids loved it as much as I used to. On second thought, for Gunnar it wasn't since he throws rocks at and into everything whenever the chance presents itself...

We headed to the Bear River mid-morning one day with peanuts in the shell and plans to find some rocks to throw in the water. My Mom took the time with Savannah to show her the best rocks, the way her arm should arc and what stance to take for maximum skipping potential. (Nice form, Mom!) It was pretty sweet, and I'm sure she'll remember that Grandma taught her how. It was fun to see her face light up when she finally made it happen. I even got a few to skip myself! Sydney sat on the shore and plopped them in one after the other, and Gunnar was throwing them out as far as he could and betting me I couldn't beat him. We also shelled and ate peanuts and floated the shells down the current, like little boats. Good times.

Cousin Capades

Thursday before we headed out to the coast to see Dad, some of us got together at a park that has a fun fountain and sand boxes and we reacquainted Sydney, Levi and Hayden, all about the same age. It's hard to believe that these kids were just starting to sit up last year when we were all together, now they're off and running! The older kids just picked right up where they left off. It was a fun couple hours of sun, sand, water and watermelon!

There is nothing better than a cousin vacation. (unless you're talking about a totally kidless vacation to Costa Rica :)) My kids are already talking about when they are old enough to trade off between homes for a week or two at a time. "Is that 10, 12? What do you think, Mom?? Huh?" We have 10 cousins and counting in the same area of CA on my side of the family, and they are really good at getting together when we come to town. It is sometimes chaos, but it is nice to see them relating to each other, and building the friendships that their parents have hoped they would develop. Here's the whole bunch. We're just missing those Florida, soon to be Arizona cousins!

Eye of the Tiger

I still want to post some more from our trip, but I wanted to share this with you first.

Savannah was in her annual dance recital on Tuesday night. They did a 2 hour production of Aladdin at Kingsbury Hall. It's the real deal folks, and that's what makes the school she attends so much fun. It is really cool that she has the experience each year of performing in front of a huge crowd on a real stage. This year she was a tiger and did a tap routine with 9 other girls. It was really sassy with wagging tails and kissing their arm muscles along the way to the tune of,you guessed it, "Eye of the Tiger". Fun for all. She did a great job! She didn't miss a step and we couldn't be more proud of her.

Tidepools, Redwoods and Beach, oh my!

Chris and I have both been to Moss Beach before, having been raised in the area. I think most of the schools do this as a fieldtrip at some point....the last time I had been was with my Marine Biology class in college.

The kids were pretty excited to get to touch starfish, and were stoked when we found some. The day we were there, there were some orange cones set up that we couldn't venture past. Turns out there were a bunch of seals and their pups on the rocks and they didn't want them getting spooked and abandoning their babes. It was a bit windy and cold but the kids weren't afraid to put their hands in the water and touch the sea urchins and anenomes. Sydney stayed in her backpack the whole time and was pretty content just watching the waves and all the people around her. Afterward we stopped at a little fruit stand that was selling artichokes. We didn't get any, however we did pick up some apricots, nectarines and grapes that came in handy as snacks on our road trip that day.

We then ventured to Great Basin Park, home of the Giant Redwoods. It was amazing to see 2000 year old trees and imagine all that has been happening their life span. The kids of course loved climbing on the fallen trees and standing in the middle of hollowed out ones....we got out with just a few splinters in all. Not too bad!

Once we were all pooped out we decided to take the scenic route back to the hotel through Santa Cruz. We drove along a windy road and ended up along the beach. We tried to find a place to park so the kids could play in the sand and waves, but not a spot to be found. Must've been one of the first nice weekends I guess - I'd never seen it that busy. We drove all the way to Capitola with no parking luck, then back on to the hotel....where we had a swim in the pool. In fact, we were in the pool all 3 days we spent with Dad. The kids were in heaven!

We're BAAACK!

We've finally started to recover from our whirlwind trip to California. We did a family trip to the coast, visited extended family on both sides, welcomed a new cousin, bounced, bowled, hiked around redwood forests and tidepools, played, shared meals, splashed, slid down slides, skipped rocks, and a whole lot more. We even got to welcome our newest cousin, baby Ava, to the family, what a treat!

We had a wonderful time all around and came home totally exhausted and with lots of happy memories. Thanks to all the Grandparents, Aunts, Uncles and Cousins who are so accomodating and always ready to play when we decide to descend on them! We loved it!

I'll spend the next couple of days posting pics of specific happenings so I don't hit you with one LONG post. Stay tuned!

tHe RuLeS, by Savannah

Our Sweet Savi wrote her own version of the Family Rules on her whiteboard today. She is my pleaser, and therefore needs a set of rules to follow so that she can make sure she is doing everything expected!

Here they are, misspellings and all...although not as many of I normally would expect! Her spelling is getting better the more voraciously she reads.

Family Rules:

1. no fiting

2. no hiting

3. no kicking

4. no scraching

5. no pushing

6. no chompping

7. close your mouth when you choo

8. no punching

9. no throwing food

10. no pulling hair

11. no yelling at Sydney

12. no yelling.

13. no saying bad words, like the s.word (stupid)

14. no friends on Sunday

15. no playing in the springklers unless it is 80 or hier

16. help our family or others

17. no coloring on the wols

18. do not stand on your chair

19. love others

20. love your family

Thank you!

Pretty cute huh? I love my little rule enforcer.