Yesterday...

...we met up with a group that encourages kids to spend more time outside and visited a local botanic garden. It was so much fun to see the kids enjoying themselves and it really is a pretty place to visit.

Kelly and Naomi were impressed with the size of these leaves they found.

Everyone enjoyed seeing the turtles and fish in the pond.

We saw some baby bananas...

...and lots of bugs.

Mo was especially impressed with this big green beetle.

There were some apples on the ground in fairly decent shape, so we had a snack. They were pretty good.

Rachel also found a pear which she let me try and then ended up relinquishing to the screaming toddler in the back seat during the ride home, so Naomi ended up eating the lion's share of the fruit.


I spent most of the time saying things like, "Look at the rabbits!" or "Did you see that lizard?", but Michael always seemed to be just a little too slow focusing in on the lightening fast wildlife, so he kept saying, "Where, where?" until finally this lizard held still long enough for him to get a good look.

Naomi's New Hobby

Naomi likes popping bubble wrap online. She'll come up and ask, "Bubble?" She doesn't know how to move the mouse yet herself, so she needs an older person to help, but she pushes the left button and pops the bubbles herself. Try it, you'll like it - it's kind of addictive in a not too threatening way (we hope!).

The Return of Petsy (Sort Of)

We have a new pet. A family in our ward ended up "babysitting" a guinea pig for longer than they planned and were relieved to learn that we would be happy to add him to our menagerie. Isn't he cute? His name is Toby, which bothers some of the girls a bit. They don't think a pet should have the same name as an uncle, but the four owners have yet to agree on a new name.

He is so calm and good natured. I really like guinea pigs. We had one about a decade ago that Summer named Petsy. Petsy had almost the same coloring as Toby, so having him around is like a blast from the past.

PETSY

Gwen's Essay

Gwen had to write the classic, "What I Did Last Summer" essay and I asked her if I could post it for your enjoyment, so here it is.

My Summer Vacation

This summer I read a lot. I love reading. I went outside a lot, too. This past summer I planted a pear tomato. It is getting very big now. I taught my baby sister, Naomi, some animal sounds. I took piano lessons and am almost in the third level of my piano books. I played a lot of different sports with my family. I took level four swimming lessons. Some of the time, I played with my chicken, Daisy. She is a Jersey Black Giant. I wrote in my journal and I slept in late. I practiced standing on my head and told stories to my brother or sisters. Once in a while, I went to my friend’s house or she came to mine. Sometimes, my friend’s sister would come for a piano lesson and she would come too. It was a great summer.

A Snippet of the Last Three Weeks

A lot more has been going on around here than I will ever have time to catch up with the blogging about, but oh well, here is some of our crazy lives (whatever I happened to get pictures of).

We went on one last before-school-starts day trip, a couple of weeks ago (before school started - smile). Now that we have both a teenager and a toddler, with five cute kids in between, it is harder to find one activity that makes everyone happy, so we compromised. First, we went to Vons and used a gift card I won to buy bagels, cream cheese, water, grapes and candy (doesn't that sound like a balanced meal?). Then we headed to the coast. First, we went shopping in some of the boutiquish shops near the beach (to please the older kids). Summer and Rachel each went halfsy with me on some clothes. Summer picked a dress...

...and Rachel found a skirt.

After we were done shopping (well, some of us were done...) we headed a few miles north to a small municipal aquarium. It is just the right size to see in an afternoon. We started with lunch on the beach and then headed over to see the fish and tons of other ocean life. I was surprised at the variety of creatures they had!

Naomi was fascinated with everything in the tanks.

This part of the trip was especially for the younger kids (but when pressed I think everyone would admit that they enjoyed it) and they really liked the tide pool that you could touch things in.

Rachel and I both took our cameras and both had fun using them. Summer borrowed mine quite a bit, too and used it to take pictures of both the wet and dry wild life around her.

I'm not sure if Summer or I took this, but isn't it nifty?


And here is a slide show of more creature pictures. These are my favorites of the ones I took.





Here are a series of three pictures Summer took.

Michael tends to end up at the back of the line of women he has to follow around wherever he goes.

Sometimes he gets more interested in other things besides being the last in line. I have to keep an eye on him, or he'd get lost.

Heather, Gwen, Kelly Michael and Naomi had fun being eaten.

Gwen and Mo liked this big whale head statue.

I thought the Whale Graveyard was a good place to get a picture of everyone.

Then, the Monday after our last big shebang, Summer, Rachel, Heather, Gwen and Kelly all started school. Summer is in a public high school, Heather and Gwen (this is Gwen's first year) are both in the same public elementary school and I am home schooling Rachel and Kelly.

Here are Heather and Gwen on the first day of school with their shiny new clothes, shoes and semi-matching backpacks.

Finally, to end our catch-up, a funny story. The other evening, I made spaghetti and meatballs for dinner, with whole wheat sesame bread sticks on the side. I went ahead and gave everyone a couple of bread sticks before they sat down and when Michael saw his sitting on his plate, he asked, "Why do my meatballs have seeds on them?"

Gwen is Nine

It is hard to believe that Gwen is nine! We moved here two and a half months before she was born and look at her now :) By the way, Summer fixed Gwen's hair for her birthday.

For her birthday dinner, she wanted New England clam chowder, bread sticks and bittersweet chocolate pecan pie. After agonizing for half an hour in the aisle that held both the canned clams and the canned chowder, I decided a canned clam chowder taste test would be fun and here are the results.

Progresso - on sale for $1.99 for a large non-condensed can
I've always thought this kind was yucky but got a can anyway to make the study more comprehensive. It has a strange, unnatural consistency, probably from too much xantham gum or hydrogenated crude oil. I still thought it was yucky (obviously) but some of the kids liked it.

Snow's - $2.19 for a small condensed can
I had high hopes for this one, but it tasted really weird, not at all like clams.

Wolfgang Puck - on sale for $1.50 for a small non-condensed can
Despite the drawback of having a large face on the can, this was one I might buy again. It had good clam flavor, with the addition of celery which I like in chowder, but it also had a kind of smoky flavor that I thought was distracting. Not yucky, just unnecessary.

Bar Harbor - $3.99 for for a small condensed can
At almost twice the price of the others, I probably wouldn't have bought this one if it wasn't a birthday dinner and a scientific inquiry to boot, but I am so glad I did! Now I know what to buy at the grocery store when I want to splurge and treat myself. This was really good. It had straight forward, simple ingredients, nice big clams with good flavor and there were even a few grains of sand. Definitely authentic and mostly delectable.

After dinner, Stan took the five oldest ice skating while I stayed home with the two youngest and made Gwen her pie. We ate it with whipped cream while Gwen opened her presents - clothes, candy, a book, a Polly Pocket and a crossbow. Yep, that's our Gwen, a well rounded girl.

Happy Birthday Gwen!

A Busy Day

Friday night, we decided to go to the beach, so Stan and the kids packed the car and I made muffins. We left just after eight Saturday morning and had our breakfast on the beach.

Michael had fun playing with seaweed.

Kelly has been dropping teeth like leaves in the fall...

Here are Gwen and Heather, looking as happy as we all felt to be at one of our family's favorite places.

Rachel took some time enjoying her new hobby, playing with her new camera (which she earned the money for and bought herself). She now has her own blog to showcase her work.

Pictures by RM

That night, Summer went to a multi stake dance. I had fun curling her ponytail.

If you click on this picture, you can check out the full size version and you will be able to see that her eyeliner matches her shirt...go Summer!

Who needs...

...a teddy bear when you have a pink glittery baton and a piece of wood to fall asleep with?

Summer and Rachel are at camp this week.

Despite agonizing all the way up to camp about not having her cell phone, Summer appears to be having fun anyway.

Thanks Mike for the picture!

Na...o...mi

This is post # 200 for us!

To celebrate, we thought we'd give you something REALLY cute.

Here is Naomi practicing saying her name...sort of.

More Dance Festival

Here are some other blog posts about the dance festival, with Kristin's first (hi Kristin!) -

Mike & Kristin

day-207

what-weve-really-been-doing-all-summer

california-dreamin-2008


If any of you know of more, leave them in the comments, it would be fun to see them.

:)

Dance Festival

This past weekend, after months of practice on the part of the youth and two years of preparation on the part of their leaders, Summer, Rachel, and a few thousand other kids performed in -

California Dreamin'

A Stadium Spectacular

California Inland Empire Dance Festival 2008

It was fun! The best part was seeing our kids out on the field in such a huge production (and the fireworks).

Summer and the other kids her age danced the cha-cha to
"Oye Como Va".



Summer and her partner were couple #1 in square #1, so she is the outermost girl in the video.





Rachel and all the other Beehives did different dance moves from the past few decades to "Come So Far" from Hairspray.



Rachel is smack dab in the middle, the farthest to the left in her square, in a blue dress, in the last row facing the camera.





The teenagers weren't the only ones dancing.

There was an opening dance with all the youth, and for the closing, here they are in the process of making a gigantic human American flag.

Funny Things the Kids Have Been Saying #2

The other day, we were out somewhere and someone was asking Michael about his siblings. He was being a little hesitant answering, so I prompted him, "How many sisters do you have?" Now this was a question he knew the answer to.

He promptly said, "Three and a half."

This next comment you may not find that funny; you may think to yourself, "Summer is right and Amy is completely in denial." I still think it is just silly, but, anyway, I needed a break the other evening. This happens every so often and Stan is kind enough to keep things going at home while I go off and do whatever. My cure for stress relief this time was shoe shopping - what better way to recalibrate my equilibrium? I was happy to get a great deal at Payless - some nifty brown sneakers for only $5! Definitely cheaper than psychotherapy :)

I came home recharged and happy with my new purchase. Summer is our resident, self-appointed, fashion cop, so I showed her my new footwear and asked what she thought. She considered them for a moment and said, "They're too young for you."

What ?!?

Odds and Ends

I came home yesterday from visit teaching and found this giant heart made out of tomatoes. Then, when I was uploading pictures this morning, I found a picture of it on the camera. I am glad they got a photo of their creation because it is gone, gone, gone and we now have Salsa by Stan in the freezer (yum!).

and...

What a funny kid.

Keep looking...

...for someone familiar in a green shirt.

here

Stiches

I guess Michael wanted to follow in Kelly's foot(mis)steps.

Just like she did last April, he fell off a bench and landed face first.

I'm tempted to ban benches and make everyone sit on the floor.

Dinner

Last night for dinner, Michael had a peanut butter, watermelon rind preserve, cheddar cheese and dill pickle sandwich.

Yum!!!

Bracelet

Last night, I went to Home, Family and Personal Enrichment Meeting. It was "Camp Relief Society" and we each had a Pine Cone Pal (Secret Buddy) whom we gave a final gift to. The sister I had likes to wear pink and frequently wears pale, warm pink fingernail polish, so I made her a pink bracelet (she said, "You got my colors!").

It is always fun to get out my beads and mess around and while I was figuring out what to make for Clara Ann, I was inspired by some others beads I've had a while. I think the round enamel ones came from my mom (?) and I bought myself the fish in Chinatown who know how many years ago...