Abby got to go on her first trail ride with 3-4 other riders, one of them being Grandma Farr. Abby did great. Eli and Caleb both got to ride individually in the coral with Ian walking them. That was good for Ian to be walking them (because of his Wegener's). Just after arriving at the ranch, Caleb spotted a rattle snake. So Susan and Vicki contacted the workers and they came quickly with a shovel and took it's head off. Eli and Caleb were soo soo excited to go fishing but the pond was empty because of the sea otters. Eli was so disappointed. Now I have to figure out how to go somewhere local like Lake Chabot!
Eli+: Last Saturday, I woke up early to go for a run at Lake Chabot. Eli was already awake and lying at the foot of my door. He asked where I was going and when I told him, he said he wanted to come with me. I told him he would have to sit in the stroller (which he doesn't like to do anymore). He surprised me by saying, OK! So he hopped in the car with me and when we got to the lake, he changed his mind about sitting in the stroller. He wanted to run along with me. And he DID! He did so amazing. He ran for about 2.5 miles. I was so soo impressed. When he would start to seem tired, I'd say "you can sit in the stroller if you like". Or I'd say, "just sit down in the stroller". He would tell me no, speed up and then want to race me. It was super cute. He would say hello or good morning to everyone we passed. I told him was doing such a great job that maybe he should be a runner or be on a running team like track or cross country someday. He asked what that would be like and what it was. Then he asked if I was ever on a team. I said yes. He then asked- will you tell me about it? He loves hearing stories of what happened to me as a kid. Abby likes hearing those kinds of stories too. I just had SUCH a great time with my running buddy and hope we do it again soon. I was planning on going again with him today, but he, Abby, and Caleb had a sleep over at Aunt Vicki's house last night. That was fun. They've had a couple sleep overs at her house this summer and Rachel's slept over here a few times too. We will be (I will be) potty training her later next week. I hope it goes as well as I'm hoping. I will feel super bad if I mess anything up. It SHOULD be ok. It will just be letting her pee her pants until it doesn't feel good anymore and she WANTS to go to the potty instead.
We just had Reid's family here with their 6 great kids this week. It was so great to have them here. We stayed in most of the time. The kids played a lot of wii, we played Settlers of Catan with Reid, Heidi, Evelyn, and Abby. We went to the park one night and played a short game of football and the next night we played soccer.
Just before that, mom's sister, La Rae and her 5 of 6 kids came for dinner. That was great too. I love having people over.
Ian's brother, Randy and their great family came on either side of La Rae's visit. We got to meet the only boy cousin on the Farr's side for our family....Andrew. He is such a handsome, sweet little boy! We all so enjoyed holding him, making him laugh and smile. We got to walk across the Golden Gate bridge with them (well, we walked maybe 1/4 of the way across before we turned around). Abby had been wanting to do that for a couple years now. It was pretty windy and very crowded. Bikes and pedestrians fought for space on one side of the bridge since the other side was closed. Eli got knocked over when a bicyclist fell over on him. And it wasn't Eli's fault.
I took the kids to the park (Parson's Park) and played tackle football with them for about an hour. We had soo much fun! I loved it and so did the kids. Luckily we were able to go while Ayla napped at home with Ian. We rode bikes there for about half an hour too. Eli can ride a two wheeler all by himself, Abby had her new bike with gears (that we got for her on Craigslist this summer) and Caleb had his tricycle. I had to run along side Caleb and push him up the hills. It was a good workout. :)
We took the kids to the Solono drive-ins with the Wirig family. We saw "Cars 2". It was a late night full of sugary goodness.
We did a few puzzles and that was really fun to do together as a family. It got Ian involved too while he was home not going anyplace.
We've made a lot of fresh lemonade from the lemon tree in our backyard. The kids love making it and now we have a recipe for successful lemonade. 2 parts lemon juice, 1 part sugar (maybe add a little more) then the water to taste. So for a 2 quart pitcher you'd add 2 cups lemon juice, 1 cup of sugar, and then fill the pitcher the rest of the way with water. YUMMY.
We got to go swimming a couple times at Sandi Parker's pool in Martinez while she was visiting. That was fun for the kids to reunite and for us moms to get to talk again. Of course, Christina Ballin and her kids were there too. While we were there, I brought up a weight loss challenge that was well received by Sandi, and reluctantly accepted by Christina. We all got on board though. It's been 2 and a half weeks since we first started and I've lost (Sandi too) 5 lbs. Sandi has a new man in her life and we're excited to see where it goes. His name is Taylor and we are hoping for a fun party when she gets married. :)
We have a good rhythm for chores these days. The kids take turns cleaning the bathroom (with my help) while the other two do something else, like sort the washed laundry and pick up all the apples off the ground in the backyard. They each have to put away their own clothes. This has been great. The kids don't fight it as it's just an expected part of their week. Caleb just let me cut his hair the other day without a single fight! That was big progress. Right now though, I'm just clipping their hair with a number 3 for Eli and a number 5 for Caleb. Eli has thicker hair so I can go shorter for him, but Caleb's hair is much thinner so I don't cut his as short. But I do trim with scissors around their ears and at their neck/hair line.
Ian's buddy, David Hansen, and his family came to visit their family and stopped in for an evening for dinner. It was nice to visit with them. They've got such nice kids too.
I took the kids bowling, to park b-day parties, Abby to a rock climbing b-day party, which she did great at, and to a friend's place to swim. They've helped me clean the church a couple times this summer on Saturday mornings. Abby has had soccer practice/camp type things on Saturday mornings too.
Jack came and stayed with us for a few days all by himself. We loved it.
My friend Kim, came to town and we had a lot of fun. We met up with Sara and Tea at the Cheese Cake Factory for dinner one night. A few days later Kim and I met up in Rocklin and spent the afternoon with Sara at her place. She had her 6 week old little girl with her (plus her other 2 kids too). We bar-b-queued, talked, and the kids got to have water fights and jumped on their bounce house for hours. I met up with Kim at the park by the Farr's for some traditional crawdad fishing too. So fun!
I have to share a Caleb-ism. Lately when he wants to tell me something, he says to me, "can I tell you something in your ear?" So he grabs my head in this weird head lock kind of way and tells me that he wants a turn on the wii or something. I'm pretty sure it started when we had a lot of people over and he didn't want to tell me in front of everyone. Now it's happening all the time.
He also does NOT like it when anyone lays on his bed right before bed time because it makes his bed hot. It's hilarious. It's been going on for a few months now and I'm wondering if it will pass, but for now it's kind of funny, well, not for Abby or anyone who lies down. Caleb will get pretty upset if his bed gets hot!
Ayla has her molars almost all the way in now. It seems like it's been taking a long time for them to fully come in. Ayla talks so much. Abby will tell her, "Ayla, say ball....say Ayla, say potty, say......" So Ayla's getting a lot of practice at imitating.
