Happy Birthday Jack!

Here's a video of the boys riding their scooters at the local skate park.

Here's a video of Jack riding his bike.

Happy Birthday Amanda!

We had family pictures taken when we went to Idaho. These are the best two. It's difficult to get everyone looking at the camera and smiling at the same time. Obviously, I prefer the pictures where I look the best, but I can't have Jack looking behind him in our family photo.

Happy Birthday to me- my thoughts on swim lessons, mohawks, bikes and the earthquake.

I always feel like I have to post pictures with my posts. I have no new pictures today. I need to take the camera to swim lessons and snap a few. We have been going to swim lessons for the past week and a half. Jack is, as he puts it, "learning to do bobs." (bobs are when you hold on to the side and bob up and down under the water.) Tristan has finally mastered side-breathing! He can FINALLY swim across the width of the pool. I think it's about 25 meters. It's just long enough that you really can't swim across it without taking a breath. Even though, I witnessed Tristan doing just that the other day. I said, "Wow! You were swimming so fast!" (he really was fast) He said, "Yeah, I couldn't get a breath when I raised my head and so I was running out of air. Basically I was panicking." Oh.
This is really great for him. Just last month we were at a backyard pool party and two separate moms had to go in fully clothed, it was me the 2nd time, because he panicked and was starting to drown.

Also... our other big news is that Jack learned, last night, to ride his bike without the training wheels! This sums up the difference in my sons completely. They both learned to ride without training wheels this year. One of them is 6 and one is 3. Ah yes... Jack is unique. As he was riding around the backyard he was yelling all sorts of things like, "Yeah, that's how you ride like a man." or "Who's a tough guy now?" Chad shaved his hair into a mohawk and we let him keep it for 3 days. I think it was making his behavior even worse. After we shaved it he went to swimming where his teacher asked him what happened to his mohawk. He said, "We had to shave it off because my mom doesn't like to keep mohawks." (Mohawks make troublesome pets.)

We finished painting the kitchen cupboards white and we started last night painting the kitchen red. Red is tricky and so far it just looks hot pink.

Lastly, the earthquake was scary for us. Jack and I were standing in our family room when it started. It was a big jolt and then the shaking started. Tristan was in the kitchen and I told him to come where I was and he was paralyzed with fear. I shoved Jack down into the "triangle of safety" spot, and away from all the glass of the sliding glass doors and yelled at Tristan again. He came running and I put him next to Jack. It lasted for a long time. The walls of the house were moving a lot! You could see it. All of the pictures were swinging back and forth. Just after it was over an aftershock hit. We just stayed down. Then a little while later another hit. The boys were really shaken up. They just wanted to lie in the safe spot all day. We had a lot of things fall off shelves and everything fell out of our medicine cabinets, etc. Brian works in a high rise in Orange and I was worried about him. I had no phone service after it happened. Jack announced the next day that he didn't like the earthquake and could we please not have one that day. The quake was centered in Sleepy Hollow which is in the middle of Carbon Canyon 7 miles from our house and only 5 miles from dad's. We felt a 3.0 aftershock last night before we went to sleep. I was ready to spring into action, but it was small.

We were sitting around the other day looking at the carpet. We had just had it cleaned a month ago and it was really dirty again. I think it was just past cleaning. Brian says, "I wish we could just rip it out and put down that laminate flooring." I said we should go for it. So... we ripped out the carpet in the family room and the peel-and-stick tile in the kitchen and went the next day to Ikea and bought the flooring you see here. As you can see, Andrew came by to watch.
It was a little rough going for the first couple of rows, but then we (Brian) got the hang of it. I was in more of a support position. Brian did a great job.

Last week we bought a new couch in preparation for Mom moving out. They delivered it yesterday. Brian gave us all the new rules... "No eating or drinking on the couch. No feet on the couch, no shoes on the couch or on the new floor." I'm surprised we're allowed to sit on the couch.
Don't worry, when they delivered the new couch, the hide-a-bed fell out and gouged the new floors in two long grooves. This was just after Brian and I had an argument about keeping the rug down. I said we should move the rug so the movers don't trip (I won) and Brian said we should keep it down so the floor doesn't get scratched. Aahhh.... So when it got gouged, I was a bit sheepish and apologetic.

Art Auction - May, 27, 2008

This first picture is out of focus, but this was the art auction at the elementary school. One student's art work is chosen in each class to be professionally matted and framed. The art is then auctioned in a live auction with a caller, etc. We had to bid on the art against our friends who drove the bid up. We got off easy... we ended up paying $150 for the art. The people after us paid $1,000. Their family was driving the bid up.

That's Tristan standing in front of his artwork.

Why did these pictures upload sideways??? The originals are not like this. Weird. They're still cute. You'll have to tilt your head. Jack is into having his picture taken. For example, we were walking the dog and he said, "Mom you should take a picture of me kissing Quick (the dog). It would be so cute." He also wanted me to take a picture of him playing Brian's guitar.



Everyone needs a place to practice their snorkeling.

I was lying in bed this morning in that stage between awake and asleep. Brian started to pester me... i.e. poking me in the nose, sticking his finger in my ear, etc. (see what I have to put up with?)

I said, "Stop it."
He said, "Why?"
I said, "Because I feel crabby."
He said, "That's just because you're awake."

Meaning that's my natural temperament... I'm awake...ergo... I'm grouchy.

I don't think that was necessary.

Mile Run

Old time: 10:49

New time: 9:23

Old # of push-ups: 24

New # of push-ups: 31

I'm proud of myself. It's nice that they test you on all of this stuff so you can see progress even if the scale doesn't move.

Wed. May 7th

Only two more days of boot camp. I have only missed one day and that was due to injury. I somehow hurt my left foot. I can't recall any trauma, so I'm assuming it's an overuse injury. I was on crutches as much as possible at home, but I continued to go to the boot camp. I went to the hospital and had them X-ray it and they said it's not broken. I also have patellar tendonitis. This is also an overuse injury. Too much, too soon. I hobble around like a 100 year old woman.

This Friday we run the mile again and also do our push-up test. I'll post the results to see if I've improved. I have a week off and then, I've signed up for 2 more months!

May 3, 2008- Andrew came with us this time. He took all the pictures so there are no pictures of him.

Both boys are ready to ride.




Brian says that he doesn't know which picture is scarier... the one where I'm riding a motorcycle or shooting a gun.

This picture is of Brian. He was having fun without Jack as a passenger.

Our first trip to the desert.


I took this picture just as Brian was accelerating and Jack's head is thrown back and the helmet is totally obscuring his vision.

Jack wore Coleman's clothes to be cool. It was a really nice day at 70 degrees. Jack rode with Brian a couple of times and I even took a turn riding all by myself... like a big girl. I think Brian was more nervous than I was that I would crash.


I feel bad that I didn't take any pictures of Tristan riding. He did really well. He even rode his bike in this dirt bike riding track. We had a good time. I think by the time we get to Idaho, Tristan will be an expert.

Last Month we went to the La Habra Children's Museum. The traveling exhibit was on public works jobs. The kids dressed up as a firefighter, mail carrier, mayor and garbage collector.

Bootcamp Days 3-5

By the 4th day I was walking a little easier and by the 5th day I was no longer in pain. That's not to say I wasn't still sore, it just wasn't debilitating and painful. It really has opened my eyes to people with chronic pain problems. I didn't want to do anything! Cleaning was hard, cooking was hard.

On day 4 she set up rotation stations. At one station we would shuffle through a cone maze on a basketball court and then sprint back to the start and go again. At another station we would throw a medicine ball up against a wall as high as we could. Another was pulling apart these big resistance bands, another was doing 1 minute of squat thrusts (where you bend down, put your hands on the ground and jump your legs out and back), another station we bent down low, like downhill skiers with our arms out back and then jumped in the air. We did all of the stations for a minute and then jogged to the next station.
Most of the days we have some sort of circuit to do. It will be really hard and long and as soon as you're back she makes you do it again.

Day 5- Friday

I had to be timed in the mile. First we jogged for a quarter mile to "warm-up" then we were all timed in the mile run. I'm proud of myself on several accounts. The first is I ran the WHOLE MILE and didn't stop one time to walk... not once. I think I've only done that one other time and it was a long time ago. I wanted to run it in under 12 minutes and I ran it in 10:49. The only reason I post my score here, is so that we can all see the improvement when I have to be tested again in 3 weeks. I also had to do as many push-ups as I could without stopping. If you have to stop and rest, you're done. You could do them on your knees. I did 24 before I had to rest. They do the push-ups test again in 3 weeks too. I'm not as starving as I was at first. I'm eating something small every 2 hours and it seems to be keeping the hunger monster at bay.

My Adventures at Bootcamp

Yesterday I started a 4-week exercise bootcamp. I've decided to share the experience through a journal. The bootcamp goes from 5:30am to 6:30 am., Monday-Friday. I have to bring a thick mat, 5 lb weights, water and a towel everyday. It's dark when we get there, but light when we're finished.

Day 1

We started by running for 5-7 minutes around the school for a warm-up. I was dying during the warm-up! I knew it didn't bode well for me. We did A LOT of squats and lunges...every variety you can think of. There was jump roping, sit-ups, push-ups, etc. You're supposed to eat something small before you come. They suggested to eat half of a zone bar. I did and the whole time it threatened to revisit me. Ick! I was ok right after the workout, but by about 10:30 am I was kind of walking funny. I tried to drink a lot of water to help flush the lactic acid build up. I also tried to eat as they told me.... tried. I was STARVING! They want you to eat 6-7 small meals being sure to get enough protein to repair the muscles we're tearing down. I couldn't seem to get enough to eat. I'd eat, feel full, and an hour later be starving. We went to dad's house last night so I could sit in the jacuzzi, to relieve some of my stiffness.

Day 2

I woke up VERY sore. The instructor really pushes you to come, especially if you're sore. In theory it's supposed to help relieve some of the soreness. Ummm... not so. I didn't poop out during the warm-up today and I didn't eat the zone bar before. It was better. I still can't keep my weights in my hands the whole time. I have to drop them about half-way through. We did... MORE LUNGES AND SQUATS! We did the exercise where you keep your legs together, pretend to sit down and then JUMP UP. She takes you through this insane routine and then when you think you are going to die... she says, "Ok, do that routine three more times. Then we'll do abs." AAAaaaaaaahhhhh. I'm very, very, very sore. I can't emphasize that enough. I can hardly move. My visiting teachers are coming over today and I was trying to clean. Ha! Reaching the ground is so difficult. I also have to run to the bathroom every 5 minutes because of all the water I'm drinking. I'm supposed to drink half of my body weight in oz. of water.

They measured my body fat and measured every part of my body. The idea is that you'll be able to see the results at the end.

More Dirt Bikes

Tristan in his gear


Jack in Coleman's gear


Tristan Practicing

Dirt Bikes

Brian has been buying dirt bikes for the boys. So far we've acquired one for Coleman and one for Tristan. Jack will not be riding his own bike... obviously. As part of the dirt bike riding, we've been collecting the dirt bike riding clothes, pads and protective gear. Yesterday Tristan was in the garage with Brian trying on his stuff. I was in the house. He got all suited up and I hear him say, "Dad, I can't move my arms very well." Brian says, "Oh, that's not important. You really don't have to move your arms." Sheesh... moving arms... soooo overrated. Of course Tristan had to keep his gear on for the rest of the day. I mean... he might see someone and they would probably want to see him in his outfit.
I'll post pictures of the bikes later. Don't worry, I get that it's all a big ploy on Brian's part to get the kids bikes because HE really wants a dirt bike. I caught on to that right away.

The Aquarium of the Pacific

Coleman came for a visit and we went to the aquarium and walked around the Long Beach Harbor area. We also went on the 45 minute harbor boat tour. It was just ok. I wouldn't do it again.

This was a fun quiz..

You Belong in London

A little old fashioned, and a little modern. A little traditional, and a little bit punk rock. A unique soul like you needs a city that offers everything. No wonder you and London will get along so well.

What City Do You Belong In?

Old Pictures

I downloaded all of the pictures off of our camera. I also sent all of my pictures to be developed. We haven't developed pictures since before Jack was born. In total I sent 223 picture files to be developed.

Here are some pictures from our trip to Idaho this summer. The first 4 pictures are from floating the Salmon river near Brian's mom's house.





This last picture is where we (the kids, not me) went swimming in a mountain lake near his mom's house. I can't remember the name of the lake.

Tristan's big news!!!


So, Tristan had two loose teeth. One tooth already had the permanent tooth growing behind it. Tristan decided that he wanted Brian to pull the tooth that had the tooth growing behind it. So after some amount of struggle, Brian pulled the tooth. But... he pulled the wrong tooth! There was a lot of blood and Tristan then didn't want him to pull the other tooth that needed to come out.
This picture is from the first night of teeth pulling.

He agreed to let Brian pull the other tooth the next night. Unfortunately, Brian only could get it "mostly" pulled out. It wasn't until the next night, as Brian was kissing Tristan good night that he reached in and twisted it the rest of the way out. Now he has a very cute tooth gap and Jack-O-Lantern smile.

Losing teeth is a very big deal in kindergarten. Tristan was very excited to show everyone at school and get to mark 2 marks on his paper tooth on the wall.