Kite Adventures

Ok, so I need to preface this post with a story from our vacation last year. Last year, we thought it would be fun to fly a kite at the beach. Well, it got stuck in a tree. The boys thought long and hard, and decided to throw a football at it to get it out. The football got stuck in the tree. I'm pretty sure they don't want us coming back there.

So, this year, I got 2 kites, each of the kids picked one out. Pearl got a squid, and Sam got a dragon. This is a sweet picture of Jared and Sam and the kite. How cute, right?
This is a picture of Jared giving Sam the kite string to hold. What a big boy!
This is a picture of what happens when a three year old is in charge of the kite string and LETS GO (duh, who would have thought that was a possibility?)
This is Jared and Uncle Tim looking very intelligently into the tree where the kite string was stuck.
Yep, it's up there. And the tree just doesn't look sturdy enough to climb...
Jared's brilliant plan - get kite #2 tangled up with the first one and bring them both down.

Luckily, while Jared was at the beach getting the other kite in the air, Uncle Tim climbed the tree and passed me down the reel. I brought it in far enough that the kite fell, and Peter unhooked the string so we were able to thread it out of the tree. Phew! Good thing we didn't bring a football this year...

Pictures on the Beach

I love the beach. I don't mind the sand, I love how it's always colder there, and the smells and the sounds. Jared could tell me we were moving to the beach tomorrow and I wouldn't complain. The kids had such a great time there! I have about a million pictures, here are some...

Uncle Peter found a WHOLE sand dollar!
Seaweed is cool - apparently
Yup, we spent a lot of time in our undies and sweatshirt on the beach. It was easier that way, though we did have to take a lot of baths to get rid of the sand in unmentionable places!
Playing in the sand with the new sand toys he got for his birthday... so much fun. He's been really into his sandbox lately, and this was the biggest one he's ever seen!

Sam also enjoyed playing with his cousins:)

Pearl was on a mission... to gather all of the kelp on the beach and bring it to us to feel it. Not sure why this was necessary, but she worked VERY hard at it...

Pretty pretty girl.

Monterey Bay Aquarium

Another thing we did on our vacation was visit the Monterey Bay Aquarium. The kids loved it, and we decided to get a pass, so it looks like we'll be back within the year. Sam liked the sharks, and he keeps talking about the jellyfish. Pearl was fascinated with the touch tank, and especially the kelp and "my favorite color starfish." It is always fun to see the kids experience new things:)

Santa Cruz

Well, here is the first of our Weir family vacation adventures. We went to Santa Cruz, where they have 1907 nights and all rides are 75 cents. Who knew my kids would love it so much! Their dad bought 60 tickets, and kept them on the rides until 9:45 pm! They were tired, but had fun. These are a few of my favorite pictures...

Lizzie was in charge - that's how it is between those two!
Amazing - Pearl actually requested to go on the roller coaster. I'm not sure who enjoyed it more, the kids, or Uncle Peter and Dad!

This was one of the first rides. Pure joy.
And no, it was not that fast - I'm not sure where Pearl learned to put her hands up in the air on rides...
Hilarious. Waiting for the ride to start.
This was one of the favorites, a mini free fall that kept them going up and down.
Don't worry, more pictures to come!

Helping.

Pearl and Sam were helping Dad mask off the walls so he could refinish the kitchen floor. I was wondering why they were laying down to put the tape on...

Then I realized, well, of course, when Daddy did it, he was laying down... they want to follow directions exactly!!!

Supper in the morning, Breakfast at night...

We got these cool new pancake molds from Williams Sonoma, just in time for my "I don't really cook dinner anymore" days. The kids love to mix the batter and watch them cook. Lots of fun!

Cement Slides

We went to the cement slides with my family last week. Jayson's idea, of course. He's the fun one. They are fairly steep, and involve cardboard. Well, Pearl went down with Uncle Jayson, then Lizzie and Jack went down with their dads.

Sam, however, insisted on going by himself. This was him on the way down (the slides are FAST!)
At the bottom, he paused for a second, then got a big grin. I guess he decided he DID like it!
Let's do it again!!!!
Well, after Sam's bravery, Lizzie decided to go solo as well. Pearl really didn't want to be shown up by her three year old relatives, so she decided to go alone as well...
Well, maybe not...

For the Record...

Max, it's your fault I have been super sick and miserable THREE TIMES since I've been pregnant with you. Before that, I don't remember the last time I was sick. I just want to make a record of this so I can pull it out when you're a stinky teenager... maybe then I can make you feel guilty for KICKING MY SORE INSIDES!!! Even if I do have a great and easy labor with an epidural (which is, of course, the plan) I want you to know all the pain and suffering I went through to bring you into the world.

I'm pretty sure none of the other kids did this to me... which is why I need to write it down, so I don't forget (I think labor brings a forgetfulness hormone, or else, why am I doing this to myself AGAIN?!):)

My Dad's the Greatest Guy, My Dad's the Neatest Guy...

About a month or two ago, I decided I wanted a DVD player for the car. Yep, so much for all my high ideals, it was time to give in. We're in the car A LOT since we live in the middle of nowhere, and I had started handing Sam the ipod to watch a movie, which didn't work too well if Pearl was anywhere in the vicinity...I tried sitting them next to each other to share... well, I got a lot of "I can't see it" and "Sam's not sharing" even though Pearl had the ipod in her hand...

I have been seeing a lot of clients lately, so I thought it was reasonable to drop some money for such a luxury for my children (and, let's face it, some nice quiet time in the car...). So, I go to my geeky husband and tell him what I want. Some pretty high demands. I wanted to be able to control it while I was driving, which can get expensive in an after-market DVD player, as it involves a $600 replacement of the stereo as well as the installation of the screen. I also wanted to be able to hook it up to the ipod so I didn't have a million DVDs sitting around in my car. (my geeky husband shrinks our DVD's to fit on the ipod, he really is useful to have around...)

So, he purchased a monitor (not a dvd player) for about $170 and tore my car apart and cut a hole in my ceiling and this is what we came up with...

I sat in the car giving moral support, though I was a bit nervous watching him take so many pieces off... he is a self proclaimed "not a car man," though, strictly speaking, this was electrical, which he is very good at. Still, when a man is drawing on your beloved minivan with a sharpie, it makes you nervous...

It is HUGE - 13 inches. The first time I looked at best buy they had a 7 incher for $500...

This is now what my kids will look like in the car. Utter zombies. Will I regret it? I certainly hope not...
And this is the amazing end result. He threaded all the wires through the ceiling, down to the steering column, and now they are in the box where I kept CD cases (since I have the ipod, kind of unnecessary, don't you think?) and I end up with one wire sticking out (which I had before to hook into the sound from the stereo) in a location where I can manage the movies and music in easy reach while driving! Now, I just have to get a lesson on shrinking movies and loading them on so I don't have to keep bugging him... though, frankly, there are about 20 movies on there right now, and though they may not be the highly requested ones, I think the kids are not going to complain any time soon....

Our dad REALLY is the coolest!

Happy Birthday, Jack!

Jack's second birthday party was this week. We had TONS of fun!

Happy birthday, Jack!
We got our faces painted!
My kids had their first experience with a semi organized baseball game. There was much of running everywhere - pretty much we ended up with an adult at each base so the kids would run to the right spot. Pearl especially enjoyed it - after I told her about getting a point for every time she made it home. She gleefully recounted her points to me every time she made it back:)

This picture was one of my favorites. We got the badminton net out so the big boys wouldn't be so bored, but the little kids were pretty sure it was another game for them. They just weren't quite sure how to play...

So much fun! Great party, Aunt Annie!