It's getting to be the time for big boy bikes. Today we practiced outside on the front court. The boys did so well that we celebrated with a bus ride over to Baskin Robbins afterward. Lennox really liked that idea because there was no pedaling involved. ---SM


[Above: The bike riders and their cheering squad]


[Above: A bus load!]


[Above: Just can't get enough!]

This year marks the second annual Fathers and Sons camp out for our family. On Friday afternoon, while the boys headed to the Gilroy hills, the girls (and one baby boy) headed to the Gilroy Outlets (no pictures of that, unfortunately!).

Grant tented with Justin and Kellen tented with my dad; they all roasted marshmallows, and returned Saturday morning at a bright and early 8:30 a.m.! 'Twas a quick but memorable trip! ---SM




[Above: Grant discovers the banana slug!]


[Above: Banana slug take two.]


[Above: Roasting the marshmallows.]






[Above: The motley crew: Grant, Papa, Justin, and Kellen]

We met up with some friends at Ardenwood Historic Farm in Fremont today. The boys weren't the only twins there (they usually aren't)---a pair of baby goats was born the day before and the boys got to pet them.

There was plenty to do, despite all those blasted school kids who clogged up the train rides! Instead, we were schooled in making chicken feed from different kinds of corn, and Grant and Kellen got to churn it up and later feed it to the chickens.

Auntie Staci was with us, too, and we all learned about (and watched) sheep's wool as it was spun into yarn. ---SM


[Above: Lennox points to the sheep]


[Above: Grant pumps water from the well]


[Above: Auntie Staci and the boys look at the pigs]


[Above: Lennox wants to ride in the truck. Not gonna happen.]


[Above: Chicken in a basket!]


[Above: Touching the wool that has been washed then will be spun]

Breakfast time, mid-morning. Grant is bouncing a giant plastic ball while I am making toast.

G: "Bouncey, bouncey, bouncey, bouncey, bouncey . . . "

CRASH!

I look up and see the ball has "bouncey-d" right onto my kitchen sink, cracking the orchid flower completely off, knocking the temperature gnome into gnome heaven, and knocking the avocado seed out of its bowl and rolling onto the tile.

Goodbye orchid. Goodbye gnome. Goodbye avocado seed.

Sigh. No more bouncey-ing in the kitchen. ---SM

My parents and Auntie Staci put on Lennox's two-year-old birthday party today. When we walked in to their home, we saw party hats set out on the front table and balloons hung from the ceiling and the boys gasped! This was going to be a real party. Uncle Steven bbq'd and Gramps was there, too, just days after his umpteenth surgery in the last few months. The day was a true celebration. ---SM










[Above: Kellen and Papa]


[Above: The family---including my Uncle Steven and Great-Grandpa (to the boys) Gramps]

Maggie and Lennox turned two this week, and we had an unofficial birthday bash at Happy Hollow today. The little partiers opened their presents in the back of my car after a full afternoon of petting and feeding horses and goats (who licked, and licked, and licked their hands!), digging in the sand, and riding in pretend cars. ---SM


[Above: Maggie and Lennox]


[Above: Grant, Ben, and Kellen on a wooden horse]


[Above: Lennox on the wooden horse, because there wasn't room for him when the other boys rode, and he was much happier all by himself!]

While I was away, the frogs jumped out to play!

Justin said some of our polywogs sprouted legs and began hopping right out of their container in the last few days. I was just glad they had shallow enough water that they could avoid drowning.

So today the boys, Auntie Staci, and I hiked up to the creek where we originally found the tadpoles, and let them free so that they can begin eating flies and gnats instead of the vegetarian diet we've been feeding them. Justin says they'll end up as bird food before the night is over, but I still have hope that hops as well as they do that they survived to see the sunrise again.

I've come to love these little amphibians, probably more than the boys ever did. I posted a picture of Kellen a few weeks ago who was memorized as he held the bowl of tadpoles, but a picture doesn't exist of me doing the same thing, long after the boys had lost interest. I was just amazed at how fast they moved, how their hind legs developed first, then their front, then they lost their tails, and boom---frogs!

And here's what we discovered along the way:

1. The optimal process of transferring them out of one bowl and into another to clean out their tub (because the things poop. A lot.) includes one spoon and a strainer. And it's a process that 4-year-olds love. With little supervision, the boys practically were doing it on their own.

2. Those little swimmers have appetites; although they didn't like the turtle/frog food from Wal Mart. Just lettuce, please.

3. Fresh water from the tap kills 'em. So, we let the water sit out at least 24-72 hours before letting them swim in it---to let some of the chlorine evaporate. During their stay with us we had a bucket of water on the counter every day that we'd filter in future days.

We will miss you, frogs. ---SM


[Above: The boys and I watch as the frogs hop away and some remaining tadpoles swim in the stream. They are difficult to see as their natural coloring blends well with the bark and grass in the stream.]


[Above: Grant rides on Auntie Staci's shoulders as they talk about mountain lions that roam around these trails!]

This weekend was my cousin Emily's wedding. I remember the day when my aunt told us that she was pregnant with Emily, her fifth child, while we stood under my grandma's carport. My aunt said she would be 60 by the time Emily was in college, and boy how time flies. It's hard to believe we're all that grown up.

Justin stayed home with the boys while I flew by myself to the weekend's events then road-tripped it back with my mom, dad, and sister, marking the first time we've been together as a nuclear family since I was in college. We got to see relatives from both sides of the family as we stayed with my uncle then later met up with many members of my extended family whom most of us hadn't seen for years. My only wish was that more family members could have been there, but we had a blast anyway and my grandma was smiling at us from the heavens. ---SM