What we've been up too, part 1

I was terrified of this! Find out why when you read my new post below ;)

Hi There!

I sit here and am overwhelmed as to where to start? Looking at our blog, one would think we fell off the face of the earth. We have been so busy and I have been without some very helpful resources, for example, my husband and a good working internet connection. So I'm not sure what is best, if I make a thousand different entries or lump two months of life all in one post? Maybe someone can leave a comment and tell me what they prefer for future reference. (Oh, please just leave a stinkin comment!)

Bruce Turned 2!

First things first, Bruce turned 2 and we had his birthday party at our new house! At the time he LOVED Elmo, now Elmo is pretty much toast and Lightening McQueen and Mater are always on the t.v. But anyway, his party was cute. I had a pinata, sesame street decorations, sesame street veggie trays and goodie bags. We even fished for dorothy in our water fountain. Unfortunately I can't find all the pictures, but you can check them out on facebook. Bruce, I believe is a typical two year old, just check out that tantrum in the above picture ;) Moving on.

And then Luke turned 2

Party favors

My sister Frances had a Hungry caterpillar themed birthday party for my nephew Luke, it was so cute. The kids dug in dirt for fake caterpillars, made caterpillars out of toilet paper rolls and ate every food the hungry caterpillar ate. It was a super cute party and I took the chance to take a few self portraits with Rhyan.

kids entrance

Food table with all the good eats

The giant caterpillars got to climb thru the tunnels that lead
to the door.

To the right was all of the food that the hungry caterpillar ate through before he turned into a butterfly and the super cool hungry caterpillar cake that my sister made out of powder donuts.

Digging for caterpillars

close up of the cake

Travels

Since Kiel still lives in L.A., I've been trying to keep the kids busy with a lot of stuff to do so they don't miss him as much. Our first trip was a camping trip at Lake Tahoe with my Aunt Diane and my two sisters and all of our kids. It was a cousin camping trip and soooo much fun (for about two days and then I couldn't handle the heavy work load and went home while everyone else stayed for two more nights.) Anyhoo, here are some pictures. I will warn ahead of time, they are very dirty pictures ;)

All the cousins playing in grosshopper field

On the way there we had to pull over because Luke threw up. So while we cleaned that up (being an adult is SO much fun!) the kids got to run in the meadow that happened to be covered with grasshoppers. Luke and Bruce loved catching the bugs and putting them on the girls (typical boys already) and the girls loved to scream. And Rhyan was a berry mess as well. She had dumped blueberries and strawberries all over herself. I guess that's what I get for telling an 8yr old to feed her. He just gave her the entire jar.

The naughty twins

Here is Bruce in his camping outfit. He was so cute and loved every minute of it. He slept so well in a tent! I was quite surprised. Bruce and Luke were inseparable and mostly getting into trouble. We quickly nicknamed them the "naughty twins." They are strong little boys too. They dragged an ice chest that takes two adults to carry from one end of the camp to the other.

This was Rhyan's set up for most of the time we were there. A giant tarp, blanket, a jumper on top of that, a bug repellant fan and then she was also sprayed. She stayed pretty clean, especially for camping. And she was a happy girl until night fall came around and every noise woke her up. And that's why mommy only stayed two nights!

And this is what Bruce looked like MOST of the trip! He switched it up a little, he wore a dirty eye patch the first day and a creepy Spaniard dirt mustache the next. He also wore matching dirt gloves and threw dirt in his cousins Avril's hair as much as possible. He was all about the dirt and this time he liked to share!

We deserve big high fives! Especially Fran, who survived the first night in the tent with her two kids and Bruce. I tried to sleep in the fifth wheel with Rhyan but Rhyan cried all night so there was no sleeping involved.

The second night we both tried to sleep in the tent but Rhyan also got woken up from various noises, ahem and screaming Luke ahem, at 2am. And by 5am Rhyan would not go back to sleep so we decided to go home but not before we hit the lake.

We BBQ'd on the lake and had a blast. All of the kids had fun catching pollywogs. While we were there, we also went on a lot of bike rides, checked out the creek, ate great food, roasted marshmallows and told camp stories. It was so much fun! Thanks Auntie for a great trip, I'm sure I will enjoy it more when I don't have two toddlers who like to eat dirt!

These two are crazy! 

Avril, with mommy's bra!

She had fun, just chillin on a blanket and eating veggie sticks!

And Bruce liked veggie sticks too! He also loved the water.

And they enjoyed eating together! Too bad I can't get them to look at the camera at the same time!

The crew at the beach

P.s., those geese drove me crazy! They were everywhere and tried to eat me at least 5 times. I hate birds, I think it started when I got pooped on in the 7th grade by a seagull (another post, another time ...traumatic is the moral of the story.) Anyway, when we were trying to pack up our camp we were invaded by geese and unfortunately they are not afraid of people but fortunately nobody was harmed.

And a group picture for the road, minus Rhyan who is asleep in the car. And one more goofy picture below! Hoorah! And that's how I did Tahoe, the kids first camping trip, by myself (because technically I wasn't by myself.) We had so much fun we are going back this Wednesday with Kiel and the Keogans. But this time we got smart and rented a condo. I'm looking forward to it!

Oakland Zoo

Next we took a day trip to the Oakland Zoo with my sister Michelle and her five kids. She has season passes and we got to tag along for free. It was a lot of fun and Bruce had a blast, playing in their play area. Rhyan really enjoyed the animals. We didn't get to see everything, but we saw enough.

Rhyan absolutely LOVES carousels! Her first time on one was when we took a family trip with Kiel to the Alameda County Fair. She bobs her head and kicks her legs as if she is riding a real horse (she gets that from me.) She had a lot of fun riding a carousel at the zoo. She just hates when it stops!

Bruce also loves carousels and kiddie rides. There hasn't been one ride he has not liked! (He gets that from me.) His favorite is the choo choo train.

Pretty hair flower, designed by pure and posey!

Animals we saw while riding the choo choo train

Bruce posing in front of the giraffes

Bruce and Avril had fun climbing up and sliding down this tube.

And I think I will end here and start again tomorrow. By the way, I decided to group alot of events together, so if you've made it this far, bravo! Part 2 won't be as long! Or it might because Rhyan turns one. Can you believe it? She is literally growing up right before your eyes, it's amazing what just 2 months can do. Wait until tomorrow, you'll see!