Exercise

Young used to ride his stationary bike all the time, almost every day. Then he stated running a little over a year ago...leaving his bike behind. It gets used a few times, if it's raining outside. I'm glad the kids have picked up the exercise torch and are getting some use out of the bike now...although, it doesn't really seem like exercise when they do it!

Preparing for School

The week before school started was a busy, busy week for us.  Lots to do to get ready...like get hair cuts!  Gotta look sharp for our teachers this year!

 Enjoying our last few days of having no schedule to follow.  We enjoyed a late breakfast of chocolate chip pancakes at IHOP and and afternoon of lemonade in the Mission.

Dentist visit...gotta have shinny, clean, cavity free teeth!  Timo did much better this visit but wanted Cameron to go first so he could see what they were going to do.

Last minute "back to school" shopping at Target and Trader Joes...need groceries to fill up those new lunch boxes!  As you can see, the children find ways to entertain themselves on these less than exiting errands with Mommy.

And a little mid afternoon snack/treat, enjoying some much need summer sun in SF.  I'm sure we'll still find ways to fit in ice cream treats on our Saturdays or Sundays.

First Day of School!

Today was the first day of school for Timo and Cameron. They were so excited to start their second year at CAIS. They couldn't wait to see their teachers again and Cameron even made "I miss you" cards for each one the night before.  Yay for school!

I took them to Target to pick out a new outfit for the first day...and this is what they picked, not the sharp looking polo shirt or pretty floral print dress. Timo saw Jake and the Neverland Pirates tv show once at Granny's house this summer and fell in love.  We don't have cable so he hasn't seen it since but talks about it all the time.  He had to have this t-shirt.  And my little super hero daughter wanted nothing to do with the pretty shirts or dresses, she had tough time choosing between the Batman shirt with a cape or this Captain America shirt.  We went with Captain America because it matches the lunch box she picked out.  Yup, that's my little superhero!  I'm learning, as a mom, to let go of my ideas/plans and embrace the individuals that they are.

Peach Pickin' and Jam

In my never ending quest for fun, sun and summer activities, I took the kids peach picking to make some yummy peach jam. My mom taught me the fine art of canning and it's something I want to pass down to my kids.  And some of the best stone fruit farms in the country are about an hour outside SF...which means sunny warm weather. (We have been fogged in for about three weeks now and in desperate need for some sunny vitamin D.)  We visited about four farms, picking peaches at two of them.  The kids were full of energy and enthusiasm at the first farm which is where we picked the most.  The peaches were sooooo juicy and sweet!

The "fruit" of our labor...ha, ha,ha.  We picked two buckets full before the kidos got too hot.  And I wasn't looking for perfect ones...since I was making jam, I was going for really ripe, sugary ones.

We stopped at another farm for some fresh strawberries, tomatoes and squash...Timo enjoying one of the strawberries he hand picked.

The next farm was nectarines and plums.  This place had wagons which re-energized the kids on their picking campaign.  They were picking like crazy...trying to fill up their wagons.  I had to reign them in and let them know that would be way too much. 

Timo unloading the goods to be weighed.  These were smaller than the peaches so we kept these for snacking fruit.

We stopped at one more farm for some corn before heading home.  I loved it so much, I think this will be an annual trip.  Next year I'll be more prepared to get a few bushel of tomoates for canning and cucumbers to make pickles.

A few days later it was time to make jam!  We made a trip to Walmart to get canning jars and pectin which made the kids even more excited to get home and make some jam.  I decided to do the cooked jam instead of the quick freezer jam, just so the kids could see the whole process.  They helped peel, pit and cook down the peaches.  Then we weighed out the sugar and they helped stir...asking a ton of questions all along the way. 

But in the end it was well worth it.  It took about 5 hours to make and the kids got to help from tree to jar!  The work has already paid off...their new favorite breakfast is toast or waffle with peach jam and now they have some homemade gifts for their teachers this year. 

When I Grow Up...

Happy Hollow

In search of some sun and summer fun with friends, we met our buddies Matthew and Noel at Happy Hollow in San Jose.  This was our first time at Happy Hollow and we loved it!  It's the perfect mix of everything...a small zoo, a few rides, fairy tale themes, plenty of playgrounds and a puppet show.  Just big enough for a few hours of fun for the kids.

All the rides were just the right size for the kids, they could ride them all.  Cameron was so happy to finally be able to ride a swing ride!

The puppet show was a lot of fun...the Three Little Pigs.  All the kids were really into the show because there was lots of audience participation.  Timo and Cameron are still talking about how funny the dragon was...three weeks later. 

And the zoo was just big enough to be interesting but no overwhelming with large closures where you couldn't see any animals.  Making the goats look pretty and checking out meerkats!

The really smart thing about the park were how many play areas they had.  It seems each section we went to had a different area for the kids to jump, climb or play.  This gave us parents a chance to have a break of walking and the kids run off some energy build up while standing in line for a ride.

So much fun hanging with Matthew.  I wish we lived closer so we could see them more often, but it makes these day trips a little more special!  We loved Happy Hollow and can't wait to go back!

Olympic Fever

Olympic fever was alive and well in our house this year. I love the Olympics. When I was a teenager, I told my parents I was going to be a runner in the Olympics one day...and the apple doesn't fall far from the tree. Cameron announced to me that she too wanted be a swimmer in the Olympics one day. After a few days of watching, she announced she also wanted to do gymnastics, ride the horses, run track, diving and riding her bike!  You go Cameron!

Each day we would watch a little of the Olympics in the mornings and they kids would act them out the rest of the day.  Gymnastics were big.  The flipping and tumbling were getting a little out of control, I was doing more spotting than taking pictures.  But here is Timo vaulting.

Swimming was another favorite. I was so glad when the swimming was over because our bath tub was turned into an olympic swimming pool! Here the kids are practicing their back stroke!Trying to get off the starting blocks...

One day we were treated to weight lifting, so each one walked around picking up things, pretending to be weight lifters.

Timo brushing up on his javelin while Cameron practices her equestrian on her stick pony...Pinky.

One of the unexpected highlights for them was the rhythmic gymnastics.  Here Timo is trying to spin the hoop around his arm while balancing on one leg...

The only part I didn't like about letting the kids watch the Olympics were the commercials.  It's something you don't even think about but kids notice everything.  I feel like they showed every cop show, soldier, gun shooting commercial there was.  These only fueled Timo's gun passion even more...great.  But hopefully he took in more about the games than he did the nonsense violence of the commercial.  We were sad when the Olympics ended but look forward to the next summer games in four years!

USS Hornet

My friend Ana and I took the kids out on a little outing one day to the USS Hornet in Alameda.  Timo has been all about fighter jets lately, thanks to some of the commercials during the Olympics, so I thought this would be a fun way to answer some of his questions.  The Hornet is famous for it's retrieval of Apollo 11 and 12, so all the space ships were a plus too!

We wanted to tour all over the ship and took the kids down in depths.  Some of the little ones got a little overwhelmed by the close quarters and the somewhat spooky sounds that are a normal part of a ship, so our tour down below didn't last long.  But we did get to see some cool "pirate ship" models in the display room.

Timo just love the whole experience.  It was time for us to go but Timo just wouldn't walk away from the airplanes.  We finally coaxed him back inside but really wanted to watch the movie about rescuing the astronauts.  I told him Daddy would bring him back real soon on a Daddy day out and Daddy would know a lot more than Mommy does about all the jets.

The promise of McDonalds for lunch helped get him back to the car.  Such a treat!  It was nice to get out of SF for the day, have some sunshine, learn about some fighter jets, and be with friends.  We love Summer Break.