Baja Mexico

Well I must say we had a simply wonderful time in Mexico.  I had my doubts as to traveling with the kiddos, but they loved it. The plane flights were easy, and getting to experience the trip with them made it that much more amazing.

Nick and Gabe handled most of the organizational business, all though I instigated a 3-day stay at a resort in La Paz.  We spent most of our time in Todos Santos in a rental unit owned by Gabe's parents.  It really made staying for 2 weeks possible and kept me from feeling guilty for splurging a little here and there.  The Todos Santos house was beautiful and surrounded by an amazing garden full of flowers and wild birds.  The kids had a blast exploring the garden and getting muddy in the canal watering channels.  The beach, a lagoon, and the Tropic of Cancer were just a short walk from our door.

The resort in La Paz was top notch and we all got a little spoiled with the swim up bar and poolside service.  In La Paz we hired a boat to take us out to the island of Espiritu Santo, it's a protect nature reserve and was the highlight of the trip for me.  We watched a pod of dolphins jump and dive around the boat for about 30 min, saw a whale, leaping manata ray, sea turtle, frigate breeding colony, and Sea Lion colony.  Gabe and Cythia even jumped in for a quick dip with the sea lions.  The boat stopped off at a secluded beach for lunch and pointed us to a great snorkeling reef and all the adults took a turn and then since it was shallow enough to walk Moira even took a gander at the undersea world.

We certainly made some memories to last a life time.

Disc Dog Logos

So every couple of years I get tasked with creating a logo for a disc dog event.  Since I'm not an artist by claim or by trade I somewhat dread, but also delight in the process.  The first step of simply coming up with an idea always takes some time.  The thing that surprised me this time around was my trepidation at even starting the project.  First off I have zero graphic arts training so I'll need to watch online tutorials and do most aspects of the project in a round about sort of way (like tracing stuff on the window).  I envision it taking me much longer to complete the project then someone with actual training.  Once I finally get up the gumption to get started it usually only takes a day to produce a near finished product (so I'm not sure why I always hesitate at this step). 

This year I finished the logo on the left (salish dog) and proudly put it out there for the others on the event committee to agree on.  I had a few slight variations, but they were all fairly similar.  So one guy never responds, another likes everything, and the last say in the matter said "what's up with the robot dog?  and can we get a coastline instead of mountains?"  I was pretty bummed, but I thought if you are going to ask for people's opinions you better suck it up.  So Yesterday I produced the one on the right.  I really like both of them, but feel the logo to the right is more representative of the event (clubs from 3 states are hosting it together), and better in the end.  I have not heard back from everyone yet, but my guess is we'll go with the newer version.  I'll still recycle the artwork from the first version so all is not lost.

It was a good exercise for me to actually listen to criticism (even if it was a bit harsh), and use it to produce something better.

Valentines Day

I had fun setting up a little Valentines Day surprise for the girls.  Roses for both of them and pink donuts with sprinkles, what could be better.  They both had a great day and really enjoyed exchanging valentines with their friends.

Christmas 2012

We enjoyed a wonderful holiday season.  Nick stayed home with us for the duration of Christmas break.  Our days were a mix of lounging around and exploring fun stuff to do around town.  Highlights included playing at the indoor bouncy house park, getting to see real dinosaur bones, lunch at Chuck E. Cheese, sleep overs at grandmas, and of course lots of Christmas presents.

We celebrated Christmas Eve in Bellingham with family and had a small dinner at home on Christmas.  Mom brought over a massive Prime rib, which Nick cooked to perfection.  He even made yorkshire puddings to accompany the amazing meal.






The butterfly wings were a big hit auntie Carol






The dogs even got in on the act :)


We wrapped up 2012 with 3 days of gaming and feasting with good friends.  Thoroughly enjoyed playing Cards Against Hummanity, MTG, and Race for the Galaxy.  Had an awesome NYE dinner, and a fun 8:30 pm toast and celebration for the kiddos.
We woke up to a cold clear New Years day and took the kids to the park for one last romp before our friends headed home.

Bummer

So my attempts to be more active on the blog have been stymied the last few months by google.  They recently purchased both youtube and blogger.  They have a very invasive policy of sharing multiple online accts if they are shared on one computer.  They have linked the family blog, my private youtube, picasa accounts, Nicks gmail and google plus acct and some defunt accounts from a website that doesn't exist.  This has put the blog way over its storage limit making it impossible to add pictures.  Google has been no help in resolving this other than to remove Nicks gmail and google plus acct from the mix, which basically did nothing. 

I have however figured out how to add flickr images to the blog, so I should be able to post more often now.  At least until google takes over the rest of the world

no training wheels!!

Last summer Moira made a few feeble attempts at riding her bike without training wheels.  She took a few tumbles, scraped her knee and decided to wait.  After talking with her she was ready to try again, especially if she had some wrist and knee pads to help keep her from getting banged up. 

I got Moira geared up in her battle armor and after about 15min she was making short 20-30ft solo rides.  I had a dog training class in the evening so she went out and practiced more with Juju and Dad.  By the time they managed to drag her inside she was able to start out on her own turn and stop without assistance.  We're all very proud of miss Moira, and she is just pleased as punch with herself.  Took me outside first thing this morning to show off all her new skills.  Here's footage of her first few moments of riding free.

Skagit Valley Tulip Festival

So it just so happened that the entire family was up by 7am last saturday, and it was sunny, so I suggested we all head out to the tulip festival.  The girls were game so we hustled everyone in to the car and off we went.  We arrived at the first field by 8:30 am.  Kiah had her first face plant in the mud by 8:31am.  Luckily she handled it well and took it as a free pass to wallow in the mud some more.  After checking out the flowers for a bit Moira asked where the festival was . . . whoops apparently she was expecting a full on vendor/crafter fair.  So after getting over that little set back Moira settled in to checking out the flowers.   The first field we stopped at was just that a muddy field w/lots of flowers.

The next stop we made was Tulip Town.  This is the tourist version of the festival.  You had to pay $5 for adults to enter, but hey they had bathrooms.  Tulip Town was much less muddy and had statuary, music, manicured grounds, and many other things the girls thought enhanced the experience.  We rolled in a little after 9am and there were maybe 25-30 other people milling around.  The clouds finally started to break up and out came the sun.  You were allowed to go down the rows a bit here, which made for great photo ops, and it was a hilly piece of property, which also allowed for some pretty fantastic scenic vistas.  After several warnings about playing the "puddle jump game"  Moira had a spectacular fall in to a puddle and was not only covered in mud, but soaked.  After a fair bit of crying Nick managed to convince her to walk around a bit more, and we madly shot pictures in an effort to beat the kiddo clock.  We left the 2nd field just after 10am and it was getting really crowded, and difficult to get a shot without some random person walking through it.  The roads were also insanely backed up as we left town.  So the lesson for next time we go is to bring mud boots, towels, and multiple changes of clothing.

 

Time for a little catch up . . .

As usual we've been insanely busy the last couple of months. Some of the highlights include Moira's 6th birthday. We had several of her school friends and family members over to celebrate. It turned out to be a cold and rainy day, but we had fun playing games and the rain let up just long enough for the kids to whack open the much anticipated pinata.

After Moira's birthday we had Easter to celebrate.  This year I finally remembered to buy white eggs specifically for dyeing.  The results were happy girls and brightly colored eggs.

Then we headed north for Rykers 2nd birthday.  The weather was great and the kid had a blast romping around the yard hunting down easter eggs.

Next up was Kiah's 4th birthday.  She opted for a rock n' roll superstar dress-up party,  We purchased no less than 3 different outfits for our little fashionista who finally settled on the combo below for the party.  She did however undergo 3 wardrobe changes during the event.  

Here are a couple of online albums with even more kiddo cuteness:

2012-04-22

April 9, 2012

If all that plus work wasn't enough to make your head spin we managed to squeeze in Nick's birthday, and a ton of projects around the house.  We've had amazing weather for this time of year and every one's taking full advantage of it.

Moira's Academic Achievement Award

Each class at Moira's elementary school chose one student for academic achievement and one student for life skills achievement. The students were recognized at an assembly for the whole school.

1st Report Card

Moira has received her first report card. Students are evaluated 2 times a year in kindergarten.

My how times have changed, gone are letter grades in favor of the numbers 1-4. I'm happy to report that Moira exceeded the standards set forth in mathematics, writing, and reading.

She got a glowing a glowing report from her teacher who says she's simply a joy to have in class and that Moira can always be counted on to be hard at work.

Nick and I have been a little disappointed with the rate of learning at the school. At this point they still haven't covered any new material for her, but Moira certainly enjoys spending time with all of the other children and likes her teacher.

In the mean time we will continue to supplement Moira's school with fun games and activities at home.

In other news both girls will be starting gymnastics classes this week. Kiah is so excited she's about to pop. She's been prancing around the house in her new leotard in preparation for the event.

The final sled ride

So we took the girls out on wensday for some more sledding. It was the third day in a row of winter fun so the girls enthusiasm was a little diminished. Nick was in charge of sending the girls down and I was there to capture the moment on film and help them shuffle back up the hill. Now only Nick will ever know if he meant for Moira and Kiah to hit the jump . . . either way the girls were not interested in anymore sledding after this.

snow, snow, and more snow

Well the last few traces of the snow are finally melting away after two days of rain. The girls and I manged to make a very iconic snowman, ticking off the final winter experience on the girls list. Unfortunatly right after we built him there was a warming period followed by a few more days of snow. He fell over the first night and was quickly burried.

The dogs also thouroghly enjoyed the snow. Suki likes to chase frozen water just as much as the wet stuff, and Kess well she's always happy.

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SNOW!!!

Because we live on the top of a hill in the convergence zone we always have way more snow than anyone when it finally hits Seattle. The girls were super excited to see the first flakes fall, and once fully bundled up spent hours playing in the backyard. The only way to lure them inside is hot cocoa.

It's really fun to enjoy the winter weather with the kiddos. The girls were quite convinced it wasn't really winter until it snowed. We found a great sledding hill by Moira's school. It's a little to far to walk, but a level and easy drive. Moira and Kiah had a whole list of winter activities to cross off. Snow angels (sorry no pictures), snowball fights, and sledding. Build a snowman has been deyaled as the snow is to light and dry to form up well at this point.






The first hill we tried was smaller and ended in a slushy puddle so not the best. Nick went first to show the girls how it was done.

We could hear a fare amount of whooping and yelling coming from across the park so we decided to investigate. Our reward was a far superior hill on the other side of the park, which was awesome for kids. It was steep enough to make it exciting but then finished off on a nice flat ballfield. There was even a set of stairs with a handrail to go back up, can't beat that!



After a few runs with mom and dad Kiah was the first to request a solo mission on the big hill. Moira had already been taken out by an unknown assaliant with a snowball to the face and a pretty spectacular sled crash so she was just fine with letting Kiah taking the lead.

Kiah was adorable screaming the whole way and then just glowing full of adrenaline and pride at the bottom.

After Kiah survived her trip down there were many many more. Sadly Nick can't remote in to work as he's using a Mac for his iphones programming so he'll be taking off in my Subaru today leaving us stranded :( Oh well sounds like a great reason to make cookies.

Rope Swing

So we have made numerous kid friendly additions to our backyard to help entertain the girls and keep them occupied for a bit outside. The girls favorite outdoor toy by far is the rope swing. I used an old dock line courtesy of Juju, and a round piece of scrap wood for a mini seat or foothold. The swing was a big hit from day 1, and the girls are always innovating, and finding even more dangerous ways to play on the swing.

You should have seen Nick swell with pride when Moira came running in to declare that jumping off the chair on to the swing was the best way yet. Moira is also usually really keen to help Kiah out on the swing, which leads to lots of super cute giggling and playing nicely with each other and who can resist a photo op like that.

Halloween Costumes

So last year I was going to make costumes for both of the girls, but quickly ran out of time and enthusiasm for the project. I got Moira's finished, and decided I would head to the store for Kiah's. When we got to the store Kiah was actually a little sad that I didn't make hers, but quickly decided on a princess dress. I felt like a horrible parent and resolved to make both costumes this year. Of course both girls wanted to be princesses again, so I imposed a princess ban.

Moira decided that she wanted to make up her own super hero costume with a star for her symbol. I cut out a bunch of colored starts and we moved them around until we came up with a final superhero symbol. Here's the finished product.

Kiah was at a bit of a loss for a costume so we flipped through some of the patterns I've amassed thanks to the $1 pattern sales at Joann's. She decided on a parrot costume. It was certainly more involved than Moira's but not particularly difficult. It turned out warm, fuzzy, and adorable. Both girls are primed and ready for their candy haul this year, fingers crossed it's not raining.

Spiders

Came across these two spiders in the backyard

Kiah Knievel

Well miss Kiah finally figured out peddling her tricyle a couple of weeks ago. Apparently she needs another lesson in steering. Poor little Kiah sent her tricycle end over end off of the retaining wall and broke her collar bone.

I of course wanted to wisk her to the ER right away, but Nick pointed out that there wasn't any swelling and she seemed to be able to move all of her parts the right way so we didn't think anything was broken. Assuming she just had a hard fall and would bruise up and be sore for a day or two we put her to bed. After putting her down she continued to wake up crying every few hours. At 3am I decided it was time to head for the er. 2.5 hours later we were headed home with Kian's arm in a sling and a prescription for liquid vicatin.

Thankfully she got a full nights sleep last night and she sems to be figuring out how to move around without aggravating her injury. She must wear the sling for 5-6 weeks, and no running or playing :( We're meeting with her preschool teacher today to see if she will be able to manage Kiah's injury at school.

First Day of Kindergarten

We've really enjoyed the last few weeks of summer and it has all been a big build-up to the much anticipated first day of Kindergarten. Moira has school from 9-11:30 every day of the week. I drop her off in the morning and a bus brings her home after class. Moira's a little nervous about the bus, but the giant laminated notecard pinned to her chest includes all her bus info and my phone number so I'm sure it will all work out fine. Parents have to wait outside for the kiddos and I'm sure I'll be out there more than a few minutes early.