Vaseline, Mama?

This morning I made the grave mistake of sleeping in until 7:45AM. Brent had gone biking; the house was quiet. The boys were apparently occupying themselves in their room, and Tati is old enough to find something to read. Sadie woke up several times throughout the night, one of which resulted in replacing her diaper...so I knew that would not be needing attention.

Finally, I rolled out of bed thinking how lovely it was to get an hour extra sleep. And then I saw this:

Yes, those are clumps of Vaseline on the wall and in her hair, and yes, she is trying to poke a thermometer in her eye.

I could cry. Not out of concern for her, mind you, but out of pure, unadulterated self-pity. Let's look at the mess while using a flash. (The natural light photos showed the clumps on the wall better, but the flash shows you just how shiny she became...)

Everything that has been safely stowed on the wall shelf was pulled down. Wipes were removed and thrown everywhere. Drawers, emptied. Vaseline clung to toys, shoes, and clothes.

Not to mention to her. She kept rubbing her face as I do when I put moisturizer on in the morning. She is an attentive, if overly exuberant, student.

Oh, Sadie Lou. I don't even know what to say.

She has now had three hair washings with dish soap and cornstarch (look it up on the internet), but she still looks like a greaser. I managed to adequately clean up the mess, but I still need to remove anything that she could possibly get into trouble with. Yes, that cute, colorful pennant might need to go, along with the piggy bank, and the flower vase on the shelf, and the painting by my grandma. It's going to be a while before she can be trusted with anything!

The Faces of Sadie Lou

This girl keeps us laughing. Can you see why?

Too Hot to Think

Some days, when it's straight up too hot to think, this is what we do.

One of the bummers about living in Southern California is the ever-present underlying guilt regarding water use. I wish I could be rid of it at times when it is appropriate to just have fun. It helps to remember how exhilarating it was, as a kid, to run through sprinklers. And it helps to think about how we aren't golfers, nor do we wash our cars very often, or our dog, for that matter, and we have super low-flush toilets, and we often wear our clothes a couple times before throwing them in the hamper (those of us aged 12 and over). TMI? Perhaps. This is how I think, though, people. I'm sorry.

Anyway...here is evidence that I, we, can have fun - pure, frolicking-in-the-water-on-a-crazy-hot-day FUN. And when I see the delight on every child's face, I am unapologetic.

Tati is our chief rainmaker. And Maks, well, he can ride around blinking with the best of 'em.

And then there is Sadie. Look at her, all perched atop her slippery water slide.

She is as happy as she can be. Shrieking and squealing with delight. Climbing to the top, swishing down and landing on her bum, then running on her tip toes back to the ladder to scurry to the top again.

Look at the facial expressions. I see a future athlete.

And down she goes.

So welcome to our 105 degree afternoon play time. This is how we do it.

Summer Reading Reward: The Air & Space Museum

The kiddos participated this summer in the library's reading program and were rewarded for their 10 hours of reading with tickets to the San Diego Air & Space Museum. This place was way more fun than I remembered it from my youth. (Perhaps because I was there with boys. Or maybe because they have added all kinds of interactive stations; although I do remember some space exhibit where we got to taste freeze dried Neapolitan ice cream - the kind an astronaut might eat.)

The museum starts out with the early innovations of flight and moves into WWI. There are lots bi-wing planes and army paraphernalia. We also saw those crazy barnstormers and some WWII specimens.

The exhibits move through the eras to present day space travel. I was fascinated with the early commercial passenger planes. Can you imagine flying in this aircraft? I mean, check out those curtains!  The display of Pan-Am flight attendant uniforms was also entertaining.

The boys were fascinated with their 3-D glasses. A theater now shows three different short films in 3-D/4-D with simulators - seats that move and air that puffs out at the right times. I thought the boys would freak out - they didn't, but they also were all done after the first film.

We took photos in the little red plane before I realized a sign declared that it was only for ages two and under.

Oops.  The boys didn't seem to mind.

Does Benjamin look like he's flying? It would help if he had left on his helmet, I suppose.

The next display was in what looked like an old airplane hanger in some remote place. Another display was in a replica Japanese WWII aircraft carrier. Pretty cool.

By the time we left, we had two very happy boys!  And then we went on to our free kids' meals at Applebees...another perk from the reading program.

Papa Time

Sometimes, when The Papa has videotaped his latest mountain biking expedition with his GoPro and loaded it onto his computer, the little people in the house like to climb up on his lap to watch it. Sometimes Miss Bright Eyes likes to bring a book along, because sometimes the footage of rapidly passing brush and clattering bike wheels on stones is a bit repetitive. Sometimes it doesn't matter how repetitive it is; Benjamin is simply enthralled with the virtual biking experience.

Some day, these two littles will likely be joining The Papa on the path.

New (Hand-Me-Down) Boots Pair Well With a Tutu

BenTV 027: Sadie at 18 Months

Because we can't get enough of this girl. Five minutes of what life is like around here.

Dainty and Dirty

Just in case the previous post did not convince you of her love for dirt...

She just wanted to play in the sprinklers and mud!

Under Construction

Let's go back a few weeks...pre-Maks and Tati. Due to the disruption of my garden by a certain 4-year-old who could not be persuaded to drive his construction trucks through the sandbox, I realized it would behoove me (and my plants) to turn a section of the planter box into a construction zone.

I put up a few barriers and planted a few bushes to designate said zone. The Papa also graciously removed the sandbox which was the source of much personal bother as no child could play in it without throwing buckets of sand around the backyard. This works much better.

Now the construction zone appeals to more than the boy for whom it was intended. Miss Sadie, who has discovered the joy of playing with "monstoo twucks", quite likes to spend her time in the dirt.

In fact, this joyous scene occurred one morning shortly after breakfast.

Rolling, rolling, rolling around...

And that is that. This girl loves the dirt as much as any little boy.

Hot Daze...I mean, Days

It's been hot around here. I guess I should not complain...we do have family in Ohio, a place I've heard can be miserable. But it has been close to 100 degrees lately.

So I signed Benjamin and Maks up for swim lessons at the Y. And the day came for their first lesson. I packed everyone up with sunscreen and snacks. I got there early enough to drop Sadie off in the childcare. I wore my bikini so I could try to get some color on this lily-white belly of mine. We were actually in the water five minutes early. And then...

Then roll call happened. The boys' names were not called. I inquired about the problem. I managed to confuse the sweet young teacher. And then I realized that I got the dates wrong - we would not be starting until NEXT week.

Ahem. Can I blame it on the heat?

We went in the lap lanes and swam anyway, so that was a nice little break to our hot days. Silly Mama, we'll try again on Monday.

Bright Lights

Saturday night was full of light. Fun, colorful, neon light.

Our little municipal art group brought the Glow light installation event to our humble park, and loads of community members came out to make a night of it.

Hula hoops in front of City Hall

I went with Benjamin, Maks, and Tati. We saw rainbow lit hula hoops making brilliant shapes in the dark.

Kiddos outside the glowing teepee

We went into the Dancing Bear teepee and made glow-in-the-dark bracelets.

Making bracelets

We watched the faces of children performing karaoke projected on a floating "moon" at the bella LUNA.

Karaoke with the moon

There were also places to walk through a tunnel of black lights, to see folks twirling light sticks, and to dance in a teepee filled with strobe light and smoke-machine smoke.

The "moon" over City Hall

And the evening was gorgeous. It is so fun that our family is getting old enough to enjoy events like these. Now...just waiting for Sadie to be able to stay up this late...