Field Trips

Last week, Claire's class went on a field trip to a "pumpkin patch". You should know that in the southwest, the term "pumpkin patch" is loosely defined as a gathering of pumpkin(s) in an outdoor area. Each year I am in search of an actual field where pumpkins grow, but thus far all patches/farms/fields have been highly suspect and greatly disappointing, for me. The children, knowing nothing of what a real pumpkin patch might look like, seem to enjoy the brief time spent at them, as long as we aren't actually there for long.

Reagan and Claire are enticed by the promise of cotton candy. None of the other pumpkin patches we have visited have offered this delightful treat.

Luke and his Daddy, utilizing Luke's favorite method of transportation.

BFFs.

So glad he got to go on the school field trip, even though he was more interested in the trucks on the freeway on the other side of the fence, and refused to pose nicely in front of a pumpkin.

Did I Ever Tell You About Our Drive Back From Oregon?

We chose to travel home on the busiest weekend of the summer: the one right before the littles go back to school. No worries, we were only planning to stay at Lake Tahoe on a Saturday night. Tragically, I spent my 3 hours with internet service in Oregon acquiring hotel reservations for Sydney, leaving Tim to attempt camp reservations whilst still in the Middle East. Poor choice, I know.

We thought at least our first night would be an easy one: Tim had secured a spot on a LAKE! As we approached the "lake", we noticed a certain smell in the air. Sort of like that swamp smell? And then we pulled up to our "campsite" and Tim began apologizing to me, as I crinkled my nose and asked, "Are those gnats? Or is it foggy? OMG, what color is that water?" We left the children in the car for safety, and approached the owner of the "campsite" explaining that we were the ones with reservations (we were clearly the only fools there for the night). The kind man gave us a map, which we promptly used to find another nearby campsite.

Playing a game called Dump Dirt on the Bench Where Mommy Will Sit, & Then Eat Some Rocks For Good Measure.

Perhaps the most hilarious picture of Kate, ever. I have no idea why she looks so dejected, but I suspect it has something to do with burned hot dogs or that someone made her wait until after dinner to eat marshmallows. Future blackmail potential of this photo was worth whatever caused it.

Whatever you do, do NOT enlarge this photo. Doing so will likely cause you to want to shower immediately afterwards, and perhaps to eat a roasted marshmallow or 3. Luke ate approximately half a bag while at Lake Tahoe.


Yes, the girls are eating graham crackers and chocolate milk for breakfast. It was day 3 on the road. We had each had approximately 4 hours of sleep per night by then, and I was ready to let them eat s'mores and jujubees for breakfast if they would just be good on the drive.

More of My Favorites

On a walk with Aunt Buji. We picked blackberries and Luke ate them by the handful.

Life on the Farm

Blowing dandelions all over Great Grandma's yard.

Wheat fields captivate Kate.

She was so excited to climb the apple tree her Daddy climbed when he was a boy.


Walking out to pick blackberries with Great Grandpa.

Completely unrelated to this post, but so endearing:

Kate eyed me in the mirror tonight after everyone was [finally] ready for bed and sternly told me, "Mom, God wants us to let go of our anger." Yes, baby girl, but He also wants children to obey their parents.

Letting the Pictures Tell the Stories

First time camping; Lake Taco was a huge hit. It turns out the children are surprisingly adept at surviving on little to no sleep.

Kate helps Aunt Sheila milk a goat at 6:30am. **Stunned silence.**

She is loving this vacation.

McLaren and Luke in awe of Snow White's house at the Enchanted Forest. Both could have stayed there all morning.

Water!

Signs That I am Losing My Mind

1. In a moment of weakness several weeks ago, I succumbed to Kate's fierce and persistent declarations that she wanted needed purple fairy curtains with a pink butterfly segment at the bottom. They are the ugliest curtains I have ever made. Note that they are not pictured here. Not only are they unsightly, but I have only completed one panel. And the curtain rod is still on Kate's floor. I am the queen of unfinished projects.

I also somehow ended up with fabric to make dresses for both girls.

2. Despite currently owning only a 2 person tent, I booked us (Tim, me, Kate, Claire, and Luke. At last check, this is 5 people) a campground at Lake Tahoe for Sunday night. We have never camped with children. Tim and I have not camped for approximately 10 years. The adults own proper camping gear, but the girls' sleeping bags have fairy and princess decorations and light up when the bags move. I am certain that they will be useless and ineffective in the much-cooler-than-we-are-used-to mountain air of the Sierra Nevadas. The boy one has no sleeping bag, and would be unlikely to nest in one if he did. I also fear that the boy one will be unlikely to sleep at all given the lack of containment device he knows as his crib.

3. We leave in 1.5 days. I have not packed more than shirts and shorts for myself, and have only managed to gather Kate's pajamas for the kids. We will be gone for 3 weeks, in weather that I presume will be vastly different than our current 110* highs/90* lows. We are all bound to be stunned by the cold that 55* mornings will bring.

4. I am blogging instead of packing.

Operation: Pigeon

We have a bird problem here. Starbuck is useless in helping combat them. He's aggressive inside, but a weenie when outside, faced with actual birds. We decided to wait until we reached record-breaking temperatures to apply our new bird spikes, so as to maximize the discomfort involved. The children didn't mind so much, as their job was to stay inside and provide guidance and moral support. And to tell us which tools to use.

Future dentist.

Dad, you totally need to use this one.

Operation: pigeon is an initial success! There is still room for that pesky mockingbird to land on the owl's ear, so we'll have to wait to declare complete victory.

Afterward, we swam. Because we're setting records for heat here. Also, the boy one looks so stinkin' cute in his swim gear.

Unauthorized Yams

It might finally be fall here, as of today. When I ran this morning, I wished I had been wearing long sleeves and gloves. And that the wind would stop blowing. It's cloudy, and the temperature is only in the 60s. And the wind! We're having gusts to 70mph today, according to the weatherman.

We knew the weather was turning colder soon, so we took the kids to the park to feed the ducks on Sunday afternoon.

I love the golden hour. And the children loved throwing stale bread at feeding the water fowl. No one fell in the water, which is always my biggest fear. Tim was completely grossed out by the disgustingness that surrounds ducks and geese. But I was relaxed, knowing that it could be worse, like the week prior when Claire let a goose eat out of her hand. Ew.

Seriously? Stale garlic bread? Ohhh, yeahhhh. They aren't picky, those fowl water fowl.

Fighting over who got to have the next chunk of concrete-like bread.

And then they flew a kite.

And then it got dark and they called me repeatedly on my cell phone to inquire if I had finished grocery shopping and picked up the pizza yet.

I knew Luke and I would grow restless after the feeding of the birds, so I agreed to take him to the store and then to pick up dinner on the way back to the park. When shopping at our local grocery store, I generally go through the self-checkout lane. It's faster, and I don't have to talk to anybody. Every once in awhile, though, I mistakenly pick out produce with no code sticker on it, or I accidentally hit the button for 'celery hearts' instead of plain 'celery' and then I have to wait for the checker to come over and fix my mistake. My favorite incident so far, though, was the one on Sunday. I put my produce on the scale and typed in the code on the sticker. My machine beeped and a picture of a pharmacist came up on the screen. It read, "unauthorized purchase", in bright, shameful red letters. I finally got the attention of the supervisor, and she scoffed. "We really need to fix that code." Yes. Unauthorized yams, indeed.

A very busy weekend

We drove to Mt Charleston on Saturday morning for a day out in the Spring Mountains. The girls LOVED it. We loved it. I was anticipating something akin to Mt Lemmon in Tucson, but we found it to be different in a few ways. There are a lot more houses (do you call it a house when it appears to be at least 3000 sq ft and the average sales price is over a million dollars?), and a lot fewer commercial establishments.

We found a trail to a waterfall and started walking. Next time we will bring the backpack for Claire, as she spent half the time begging to be carried. Both girls loved walking on the rocks, balancing on the fallen trees, and exploring in general. We loved being in the fresh air, the smell of the pines, the bright colors of the aspen trees and the cool weather (it was about 63* and rained off and on)! We are seriously considering going camping up there in the next two weeks. I am a little concerned that we are deluding ourselves into thinking that this will be a good time, but we'll probably try it anyway. How hard could camping be with two toddlers? Ha.

After our "hike", we headed to the restaurant for lunch. We didn't have pie, but the food was good, and as expensive (or more so) as the Mt Lemmon Cafe's nosh, and there was a lot more seating.

On Sunday evening, Tim and the girls made vanilla ice cream. Claire enjoyed it tremendously.