Sail Away...

I am tremendously excitited for my Alaskan adventures this summer on the motor vessel Thunder, which departed Long Beach yesterday with Captain John (my dad) and first mates Brett and Brandon (little bros.). Unfortunately, there is something I am not terribly excited about: I have a 2 GB compact flash card filled with wonderful pictures from the past week, from Brett's graduation, my family, a family photo session I did on the beach, etc. that was dropped and went bad. The good news is that all those priceless photos are not lost, because I backed them up on my dad's laptop right before Brett's Eagle Scout court of honor. The unfortunate thing for me is that the laptop is now on its way to Alaska via Port Angeles, and I don't know when I will actually be able to have them send me a CD of my photos! Sail away shots...until we reunite!

Farewell My Favorite

Last week the day came that I dread more than any other day in the growth and development of my children (thus far): the day that I scrub up the infant car seat to be used no more. If you have seen me with my young babes, you know that I am always hauling this thing around because I cannot function without the option of free hands, which is easily facilitated with the infant carrier. For a week an a half now, I have been infant carrier-free, and quite frankly, it really is a pill, but I am getting used to it, and Jessa is just so cute because she climbs up into her carseat by herself--she already knows right where she belongs.

Mi little secret...

I have quickly and quietly started training for a series of boxing matches where I will, quite literally, knockout my oponents. At least that is the plan. Yesterday, I began learning and studying the techniques to help me succeed, and was able to put them into practice for 4 matches, all of which I easily won by KO. Yes, I am sore today, and have already worked up a sweat defeating 3 more skilled opponents without even standing up. I am having to be quite sneaky, so that I do not get caught in training, as I want my skill to be a total surprise to all of those that know me best. You see, I have this horrible tendency--be decent at most things right off the bat, but while I am content, other Miis are working dilligently to beat me (while I am not even playing). Such is the case with the Nintendo Wii Sports. From the get-go, against other opponents, I would always whip them right into submission and rub it in with a nice little victory dance to go along with the music. More recently though, everyone else has been playing and practicing (as if a video game is worth practicing!) and thus have become much more skilled than myself. The prime example of this is the boxing tournaments that magically come into existence: Chad whom I, yes I, used to laugh at, has become unbeatable (who's laughing now?), though to his credit he is the only one that actually has any real-life experience in this department (as if that matters); Doug only rarely drops a match, normally to Chad, if anyone. People don't even want to play with me I am SO bad, and I don't blame them; I don't have any fun playing either if my little Mii does a backflip with the first combination! The last two tourneys I have quitely watched and waited--feigning weakness (well, there is not much feigning involved at this point), and now I am waiting and training with a vengance until the day comes when I will unleash and put them all right back in the place where they belong. In the meantime, I have a lot of work to do. I know the "manly" men around here wouldn't think of reading a "silly" blog unless they suspected something, so I am trusting you not to let it leak.

Pinata Party

May 28th was Jose's birthday and we decided to surprise him with an unexpected salmon and rice dinner and a birthday cake with the mmmmmm so good frosting. Doug shopped around for a pinata for a week--he had his mind set on a donkey, which we finally found at WinCo. It makes sense NOW, but he checked out at least 3 tiendas before we just ran across a whole wall of pinatas while grocery shopping, finally finding the elusive donkey instead of cartoon characters and stars. Kate was thrilled about the pinata and had to carry it arround the store and tell the cashier about her pinata. I corrected her a million times, "It's Jose's pinata, not yours." We told her she had to keep it a secret from Jose, which she didn't even attempt. As soon as Jose and Lalo arrived, Kate tried to take them into the other room to show it to them--she was just SO excited! Kate and Jessa attempted to beat the candy out, but as Chad observed, "The weather will break it down before they do." When Jose and Lalo had their turns, really swinging away, Kate suddenly realized the donkey's fate and was upset that we were going to break the donkey. I had to explain that it was the only way to get the candy out, so if she wanted some candy she was going to have to let the swinging continue. She didn't like it, but she decided the donkey was worth the sacrifice, and kept saying that there was another donkey at the store we could keep. Jose or Lalo would sneak in and swing the pinata to knock his blindfolded brother in the head with it. Finally the donkey could stand no more, and released the goods. We all had to fight off Lalo, who was quickly gathering up the candy right out of everyone's hands; Chad monopolized the laffy taffy (his favorite), and I scrambled for the peanut butter cups (the only kind I liked!).

!Feliz Cumpleanos!

TWO is TOO CUTE!

Doug calls them dog ears, I call them pigtails, and surely they are being called something else these days. Whatever you call them, are these not the cutest? I can't believe her hair is long enough for TWO. Also, she was screeching for a cracker a week or two ago and I noticed more teeth that I never even knew came in--TWO molars up top in the back. All at once she is growing hair, walking and talking, and getting molars I don't even know about. My little baby is suddenly a toddler and I can't figure out how on earth that one snuck up on me! At least she still likes to cuddle.

Fishin's Great & Tastin' Bait

The opportunity to spend some time in nature with a good book is normally the thing I look the most forward to when it comes to fishing. Deep sea and creek fishing are the only two exceptions, with the former being something I have only done once in my life. Of course, I love creek fishing because of all the lively action--you catch a ton of fish all the time, and then throw them back in. It is so exciting to always have something on the hook, never having to wait for a bite, and I just feel so....Huckleberry Fin with just a worm and hook on the end of a string. Lucky for me, last weekend we took our annual family fishing day, and it was better than ever! In just a short amount of time in a single spot, I caught a dozen or so. Kate caught "5" (which to her is a whole bunch) all by herself. It was so nice to get up into the Owyhees while everything is all green, the flowers are blooming, and there are badgers just out cruising across the road (that's right!--Doug stoned it to death). It was a real treat to get out and spend some time together--just the four of us. Kate's favorite thing was certainly the fishing, while Jessa enjoyed throwing rocks (that kid has quite an arm!) or testing the flavor of the bait, which from the looks of it was more fun to play with than actually EAT! We'll leave that part just for the fish next time!