San Francisco

We had to drop Jared off in San Francisco today so he could fly away from us to Asia again for a few weeks. I decided to be brave and spend the day down there with the kids... more about that once I actually download the pictures.

Here is a video of my favorite part of the day. We spent about an hour at the beach, and the sand was nice and wet, so I was making buildings with the boys and they were having a blast knocking them down. Max was so funny, because he wanted it to go down, but he didn't want to be the one to do it (I'm guessing he was worried that I was serious when I said "Don't knock my castle down!!!!"). Then, when it did go down, he was so tired and slap happy that he laughed hysterically. I got a few looks:)

School Pictures

So, I know, I'm totally a blog slacker. I admit it. But, tonight I had my good friends Sherri and Tami come bring their kids and we took school pictures. They think I did them a favor, but there's no way I would have washed and dressed all of the children if they hadn't been coming. And I really needed to get these pictures done, since I boycotted school pictures. (seriously, they never turn out well anyway...)

So here they are. Pearl is in second grade... so crazy, she'll be 8 soon... and every time I look at her mouth I wonder again where on earth she is going to fit all of her permanent teeth...

Sam is in his second year of preschool. I look at him, and think, oh, only one more year before kindergarten! Then I feel a little bit sorry for Mrs. Dyer...
Just look at those green eyes! I'm so glad he got those from his daddy!

And, we couldn't leave Max out, though he was a little on the fussy side... I'll get him again when he's in a good mood. He's now 14 months old and so close to walking we all can almost taste it! How nice will it be for him to have clean hands every once in a while?

Love all my blondies!

Air Show

Last week on Friday night for our fun adventure we went to Costco to buy some composters. That's where we saw the airshow tickets. Jared has always wanted to go, I've always meant to get tickets for him but I always forget until it's over. So, we got tickets. Sam watched some videos on line and spent the next 7 days asking if it was time to go to the airshow yet.

The only plane we really went inside was a big refueling plane. This is the spot where they guy lays down and deploys the tube for re-fueling. We got to talk to one of the operators... it sounds difficult.

Max looking at all the controls.
They all got to take a turn in the pilot's seat. So awesome.

Sporting our cool ear protection. Doesn't Pearl look so enthused about it?:)

Robosaurus... we've been waiting all week for robosaurus... he's cool. He's huge and breathes fire... and eats cars.
I thought Sam was just loving it, then all of the sudden he asked where the rescue airplanes were? Weren't they going to stop the dinosaur!
Then I hear him crying... just too much for him. Now he says his favorite part was the last airplane (I don't remember what it's called... it's the one the military is currently using... Jared will have to post the airplane pictures).
We did get some awesome pictures of the airplanes. Jared really enjoyed the zoom lens on the camera... it was kind of like a binocular and you get pictures too! I'll see if I can convince him to post about them becuase I still don't know all their names. It was fun, but I think it's going go have to be a father son (and maybe some uncles and grandpas too?) thing. Max every once in a while did see a plane, but it was a long day for Pearl and Max. Sam and Jared, on the other hand, I think could have stayed forever:)

War.

I am at war. It's the end of the season, and the aphids are once again NOT my friend. Those little buggers just give me the willies and what's worse, they're almost impossible to get rid of. You leave just one tiny bug alive and tomorrow you have about a million.

Usually by this time of year, I'm about gardened out and the pests pretty much have their way because I'm tired of zucchini and I just rip them out when they get too infested. Not this year. This year everything went in late and I'm still sad about it and darn it, we're going to get every day out of this growing season that I can!

So after a weird mood led us to the pet store (and ultimately to a fish, that's another post) we found a solution. The calvary. The ladybugs. We told Sam they were his pets, and he took good care to make them happy and give them lots of aphids to eat but he didn't name them because there were just too many. (as in, 2000).
Ooh, nothing makes me happier then seeing the troops hard at work!
Happy little ladybugs, stay, stay!!!!

PUSH!!!!

Is there anything cuter than a 13 month old who thinks he can push a flatbed at Costco containing two large composters and his brother and sister? I think not:)