Oh, how we miss daddy

I have tried to stay busy (and out of the house) while Cyrus has been away. I really misseed him this week and staying busy made it better!

Yesterday I took the kids to the FAIR...so fun. Alas I don't have any pictures because I had four kids and two hands once again--no daddy, no pics. Some things I noticed about the fair:

...They still have the same rides as when I was a kid in IDAHO and also the same one tooth lady running them.
...Marin county fair food stinks. Idahoans know how to make fair food--the good kind that uses up an entire days calories in one sitting.
...Darth Vador never came to the fair in Idaho. Neither did those other Star Wars guys whose names I don't know. That was cool.
...I couldn't find the pumpkins that are bigger than my children. Don't people grow those here?
...The pig races were the funniest thing I have seen in a long time.

We had so much fun at the fair. It was great!!! I loved how excited the kids got and how much fun they had.

Other highlights of the ten days Cyrus was gone (all sans pictures because I need six arms instead of two):

*the girls signed up for the summer reading program at the library then Carolyn promply finished it in one week. Hannah is not far behind. She will be finished this week. Carolyn has read three and a half Harry Potter books this summer. The fact that my 8-year old stays interested in books that are THAT FAT is a real tribute to JK Rowling.
*We walked down all the stairs to the Pt. Reyes lighthouse. That was fun. Walking back up with Sam in the backpack and Katie in front (for about 1/2 of the way) was less fun but I think it counted for one of my missed workouts. After that we went to Drake's beach. It was nice. The kids played for about three hours then we drove home!
*We watched Vance while Annie B. had her baby. CONGRATULATIONS. That is a cute boy. He and Sam were cute together. Vance kept calling him, "Son, Son" when he was trying to get Sam to do something. Sam wasn't a very good listener...Vance shouldn't feel bad though, Sam doesn't listen to me very well either.
*Sam was really bad at church. He gets so excited every time we pull into the church parking lot then he runs right in. You'd think he likes it but afer wrestling him for three hours, I think he just likes teasing his mom.
*Carolyn started Achievement days. We have been twice. She loves it. This week we get to fill out a pedigree chart and a family group sheet. Fun stuff!!
*I bought a new phone with answering machine but this time I got one of those Costco phones with like four extra handsets so that if Sam puts another phone in the toilet, we will have backups. HAHA, I will beat that boy at his little toilet game this time!

I think we did more stuff but I can't remember. I am getting old, plus I don't think I get enough sleep :).

THE RICHARDSONS

We have some dear friends from Idaho--Jason and Jasmin. They have six kids under the age of 10 so we have lots in common!! They also lived two doors down when we lived in Rigby. Well, they were in California visiting family and we spent the day going to Jelly Belly (again--I could give the tour) and eating at In and Out (yum) then we to this really fun little park in whatever town we were in...

Aren't these a bunch of beauties?




The park had swing and a fun play structure, a climbing mountain and a sand box...the kids were in heaven...











About ten kids decided to dig to China. They didn't make it. They thought they were close though.



Oh yes, and this park had a little water play area. You can never combine Richardson kids with water and not end up in some kind of fight.









Of course when you talk about Richardson kids, there is one kid that is REALLY BIG...and he is the worst water fighter of all.



There is a big kid at our house too...




Sam didn't think water fighting was that fun.




This is Shayanne, the second to last Richardson...what a beauty!!



By the end of the day no one was dry and no one wanted to say goodbye. Jasmin and I sat on the swings and laughed at our kids and chatted. It was a beautiful and fun day.

Oh and, can you believe it? All these kids and nary a single soul said, "Boy you've got your hands full." Maybe that phrase is exclusive to Marin County. One of the Richardson's is missing--she stayed at home with Jasmin's sister. Jason and Jas had just come back from celebrating their tenth anniversary in Thailand.

Some pictures I just liked

I love my kids. They are all just so sweet and great. Today I was riding (tearing is more like it!) down the hill on my bike with my two big girls in front and my two little babes behind me in a trailer and I was bursting with joy. The girls had just puumped up their tires and were so excited for how fast their bikes wwould go (remember that feeling). They were laughing, Katie and Sam were giggling at how fast we were going. It was fun and sweet. I couldn't think of any place I would rather be or anything I would rather be doing than riding with my children. Boy, some days are so hard but many are so great. I might want a whole load more of them if I didn't have to be pregnant or do the laundry. Oh yes, and if there were an unlimited number of hours in the day...then I would have 10 kids :).

Doesn't Hannah look tough in this picture? She takes swimming and school and everything she does so seriously and she is good at everything. She is still so shy but she is confident in her own abilities. What a kid.


Katie is sort of a mystery to me. She is such a sweetheart and such a little scoundrel. The thing that sticks out the most about Kay Kay is that she loves music. She sings when she plays, when she goes to the bathroom, when she goes to bed. Such a princess.

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Sammy certainly is a boy...Cyrus gave him a butch and while I like the sweet little locks he had before, this haircut kind of fits his personality a little better--he sort of looks like a convict (at least like the convictsw on Prison Break :))




Carolyn is my social butterfly. She is always in the thick of the school drama and is up to play with ANYONE at ANYTIME.

Little Devils

One of the fun things that all the kids do for swim team is write on their bodies with sharpie markers so for the last meet, Cyrus drew all over the girl's backs...EAT MY BUBBLES was my personal favorite!

His mother's son

When I was a little girl, I loved playing in the mud more than anything else in the world. I still love feeling mud smooshed between my toes and I love the smell of good clean soil. Silly thing about me. Well, we went to the beach and had a picnic and my little son showed how much like me he is...



Sam was walking around on the grass and found this marshy place...he stomped and splashed his way so far in that he was up to his little knees in mud and couldn't get out. Once I got him out, he wanted to head right back in. After this we went to the beach and got even dirtier. It was heaven.

Peek-a-Boo

Sam learned to do peek-a-boo by himself. It is so cute!! He even sometimes says, "a-boo"

Stinson Beach and THE RED SOX

Finally, the last little bit about what we did when my parents were here...we went out to Stinson Beach which Sammy LOVED so much. That kid loves the water and the sand and everything that goes along with the beach. Cyrus and the girls made a great castle and Hannah found lots of treasures (shells and san dollars, etc) to bring home!!!

I was so disappointed in the Red Sox game. My parents love the Red Sox so of course it was fun. They brought each of the kids a Red Sox shirt and got all dressed up in their best Red Sox gear and we just loved seeing them play. But, boy Oakland is a piece of crap. The stadium is a dump. The fans are awful. I was very unimpressed.

...but still it was the Sox so it wasn't all bad. They lost, but the manager got in a fight with the ump and was so mad, unfortunately he always chews this big wad of gum so he couldn't yell properly--he had to take his gum out of his mouth to throw a proper fit. Classic. Some things are just funny. We really did have fun. My mom and dad want to visit as many baseball parks as possible in their life and this was their first time in Oakland and my dad said, "Well we can check that stadium off our list--we don't need to come back." We'd all go back to SF though. We still talk about how fun that game was last year.




We spent an afternoon at Stinson beach which was just wonderful. Hannah and Sam would live in the water if they could, Hannah loves nature treasures so she combed the water for little hermit crabs and sand dollars and shells. The girls and Dad made a great sand castle and Grandma and Grandpa got to walk on the beach. It was a perfect day.

Jelly Belly

We took Grandma and Grandpa to the Jelly Belly Factory. It was fun but it made Grandpa a little nostalgic for his days (nights really) making potato flakes to pay for missions.

A Day in the City

We had a fun day in the city!! Last year when my parents were here we did some of the usual stuff--peir 39 and Fisherman's Warf with a stop for some chocolate--so this year we decided to do some other stuff!! We had such a fun day...........

We walked down Lombard street and then back up--Sam refused to be held and climbed every last one of those steps. Boy that took forever!!




We rode the trolley again. It is always a favorite activity of ours...I think it is a fun way to see the city.




Sam-Bam the standin up ridin man!!!


We went to the cable car museum--that was so fun and interesting. Katie was absolutely amazed at how the trolleys work!!! So was Grandpa.



We also went to China town but we didn't take any pictures. They had some really gross food hanging up in this one window--it looked like a jelly fish, all slimy and yellow and just hanging there next to some kind of bird with its head still on and a piece of rib meat with all the bones showing. It was very good for my diet.

After that we caught the trolley back to Ghirardelli square for a free chocolate sample (yum yum). We then went to In and Out because we had forgotten about the Fried Jelly Fish in China Town. Of course we spent the next ten minutes waiting for our burgers and stalking any tables that looked like they might be almost done so we could sit. Gotta love how little space there is--no matter where you are in California!!! And that was our day in good ol San Francisco. Oh yeah and we also looked at the ocean and oooohed and aaaaahed at the beautiful boats in the bay.

Just a quick aside--has anyone else ever noticed how much the wind blows in SF? Boy, I don't think my hair has ever looked normal in a picture taken in that city. I am very afraid for graduation next year. Lots of wind, lots of bad hair, lots of pictures. What a day that will be!!!

Muir Woods

Muir woods is the coolest place!!! It is a state park that has huge and beautiful groves of coastal redwoods. We had so much fun bringing Grandma and Grandpa there and are so excited to go there again this summer and spend a whole day hiking and exploring. Just a little aside--Sammy has taken to making faces when we are taking pictures of him. It is hard to see but he is making the kookiest face in the third picture from the top. What a nut.

This is a beautiful red wood.



Carolyn, Hannah and Katie climbed inside a hollowed out log. Certainly, it is beyond my girls to stay clean for more than two minutes!



The kids had so much fun climbing on and into any trees that were near the trail.

We saw a cute deer really closely. She was a very nice poser. She had a friend with her but she only wanted to show is her bum so I won't post any pictures of her.