Pancake Diving...

...or "The Things We Did in San Diego This Year"

Yup. Just returned. What a trip.



We saw some pinnipeds basking in the gloomy overcast and otherwise hidden sun.



We met up with friends and played in the local park.



We visited the beach and built sandcastles, also in the July gloom.



We found ourselves surrounded by millions of legos. Millions...and millions...



...and then there was pancake diving...oh boy.



For the video, click here.

Twenty Questions

Having Bear around is like a game of twenty questions, except there's no final answer and the questions just keep on coming.

Mommy, why do people get sick?

Lately Bear has been asking a lot of questions that I'm not quite sure how to answer without getting too deeply philosophical, theological or ontological.

Do ambulances help a lot of people in trouble?

Some questions I can answer, but she always follows up with a stumper.

Why do people die when they get hurt a lot?

You know that feeling when you're trying to come up with a reasonable answer and your mouth is hanging open and you're hoping that the right words will come out on their own? Yeah, that's me...except the only word that comes out is, "um."

What happens when we die?

There's also the moments where you feel like you're in over your head and the best course of action would be to just give a cop out answer even if it means fibbing a bit.

How do babies get in mommies' tummies?

Of course, does knowing that you fibbed to your child make you feel better in the long run, or would it be better to answer truthfully and risk the consequence of confusing your child or better yet, having more unanswerable questions shot back at you?

Why do people do mean things?

And you wish you could just maintain their childlike ignorance and shield your little ones from knowing about the dark side of humanity...you know, those things we read about in the news and feel a deep pit of ick in our stomachs while we read about it.

Why do I do mean things sometimes?

And you wish you could protect your dear ones from sadness and pain and ever having to feel regret or shame.

Mommy?

Yes, my darling little girl?

How much do you love me?

Now, there's a question I can answer. I love you more than I can express in words...much more.

4th of July

The first year we took Bear to see the fireworks, she fell asleep. This year, she excitedly yelled "Wow, that was a big one!" after every couple of fireworks.

The first year we took Chipmunk, he stared wide-eyed at the flickering lights while I covered his dainty five month old ears. This year he watched for about ten minutes then got bored and read his Thomas the Tank Engine book by the light of each pyrotechnic blast.

I see. I guess the Independence Day celebration just wasn't exciting enough to capture his attention. I just don't understand how he could pick cherries nonstop for three hours, but give up on twenty minutes of fireworks.



Oh well. Hope you all had wonderful 4th of July moments.

Hanging with the Fishes

I actually bought an annual pass to our local aquarium. At first I thought it was a bad idea, especially since the first time we managed to go, I spent the walk back to the car carrying a kicking and screaming 2 year old.

The next time we went, it was much better. Although we didn't get to all of the exhibits, it made the next ten months of having an annual pass not seem so daunting.



Maybe it was because we had friends to go with and extra time to run around the outdoor fountains. Whatever it was, I get the feeling that Chipmunk had a much better time on the second go.

Perhaps next time we'll get to hit up the otter exhibit.

Picking Cherries

"Pih-king Cheh-wreeeees...Pih-king Cheh-wreeees..."

Chipmunk wrote a little song this weekend that he sang for hours as he delightfully picked cherries.



It was delightfully fun watching him pick with such dedication. Speaking of which, I have never ever seen him so focused on one task for so long. He hopped around picking cherries for hours, only stopping to drink some water and brush the dirt off his hands. He even listened to directions when I told him not to eat them until we washed them later. Amazing.



Bear seemed to be having an equally good time. She danced around and "supervised" her brother's choices in which branches to pick. He didn't seem to mind. He just picked and continued to sing, "pih-king cheh-wreeeees!"



Before we knew it, we were dragging home bags and bags of cherries. Chipmunk didn't mind. He sat with his bowl of washed cherries and sang, "Eat-ing Cheh-wreees...Yum-my Cheh-wreeees!"

Mother's Day 2010

Sorry, this post is a bit delayed...I haven't really posted much lately. I hope the four of you who read this blog don't mind that it's a bit tardy.

For Mother's Day, we spent the day (and the next day as well) gallavanting through the "Happiest Place on Earth."



Chipmunk had fun with all the rides. Surprisingly, the wait time wasn't that bad.



The longest wait times involved meeting Fairies and Princesses (seriously, an hour and half to meet a princess?!?!)...which was deemed mandatory on Bear's to-do list.



I have to say, our kids were excited to meet all the over-sized characters...even Chipmunk.

Which was a vast improvement on an occasion two years ago...do you remember this debacle with over-sized theme park characters?



I guess two years makes a difference.