Welcome Spring!

This weekend was simply wonderful. We didn't have any obligations so our time was pretty much our own. Friday afternoon I got the idea to go in search of wildflowers. We didn't find a patch as thick and stunning as last year, but we did find a beautiful park with camping and picnicing less than an hour's drive from our home. The place is called Wind Wolves Preserve and I was stunned to know that I had never heard of such a lovely and special place.

The Wildlands Conservancy purchased more than 93,000 acres to create the largest nonprofit preserve on the West Coast. The preserve is an ecologically unique region where the Transverse Ranges, Coast Ranges, Sierra Nevada, western Mojave Desert and San Joaquin Valley converge. Due to this singular geographic location and an elevation range from 640 to 6,005 feet, the preserve has an impressive array of landforms and habitats. The preserve is a critical landscape linkage and wildlife corridor between the Coast Ranges and Sierra Nevada.

So Saturday morning, we packed a picnic lunch and headed for the hills. We walked on trails, chased lizards, sniffed flowers and admired the views until we were all too tired to carry on. Sunday was also a nice day as we spent it around the house roller skating, playdoh shaping and family fun time. Next weekend is Spring Break and we will be hitting the road. Stay tuned!

Cousin Quinlan Turns 4

This past weekend we went to another birthday party. It was for Cousin Quinny. He is such a sweet and funny boy and it's always a joy to be with him and his family. I haven't posted (or taken) very many photos in a long time, so I will try to make up for that a bit in this post. Here goes.


In front of our new home on the way to the party.







This one above is my favorite. Quinny is such a ham.









Quinn's little sister Lily really enjoys the cake.

Our New Pets

Since Marty our cat died, Chloe had been asking for a pet. Dad said OK, but only to a goldfish. Chloe argued for a lizard, but accepted the idea of a goldfish with enthusiasm. So off to the pet store we went. This was back in December, but as you can see, I haven't been that up to speed on the blogging front.

We purchased a beautiful 10 gallon tank and three goldfish. One for Mom, one for Chloe and one for Pearl (who wasn't there to pick hers out). I had never owned a fish before, so I had a lot of learning to do. Of course the guy selling the fish said we didn't have to do anything. That's what the filter was for! After three weeks, Pearl's fish passed away. Soon after that, we moved. I had to empty the tank and start all over and that's when I learned about "cycling". I didn't know that you aren't supposed to add fish for the first few weeks when you start over with the water. So that's when we decided to take the whole family to the pet store. Pearl picked out her second fish and Dad picked out his fish and then we added two plecostomus (catfish/algae eaters).

A little more research and I realized that I had just overloaded the tank with too many fish. One of the plecostomus' died a week later. Then Pearl's second fish died. Pearl eagerly claimed the remaining algae-eater as her fish. Soon afterward, he died too.

Now we are down to three fish and the tank has finished "cycling". The good bacteria have become re-established and the water is clear. I don't really want to add any more fish, but we will let Pearl pick out her fourth. At least she doesn't get emotional about the loss of her pets.

Somehow, Chloe's original fish, "Coral", and my original fish, "Sea Biscuit", have managed to survive all of the chaos and change that has occured in the tank. Dad's fish "Black Thunder", a black moor, is still hanging in there too, but I don't see him eat very much. He is really cute and not afraid of bossy Sea Biscuit, who thinks she owns the tank. He is smaller, but he gets under her and head-butts her belly. He is a bit shyer too, so I didn't get a good picture of him. Sea Biscuit is so exciteable. She comes to the front whenever she spies a visitor. She gets so wild that she jumps around the tank, splashing and making noise. Coral is just a sweet little friendly fish. Who knew goldfish had so much personality?


Coral, an Orinda goldfish

Sea Biscuit being very curious

Sea Biscuit shows off

Counting To 100

Chloe is still having trouble counting to 100. She can count by 10s, but she will forget which order they go in when she counts by 1s. Now we have a new technique to learn how to count to 100. She does cartwheels. I warn you now that the video below is long and repetitive, but I wanted to document the fact that Chloe can do 100 cartwheels non-stop. She did pause at #29 because she couldn't remember that 30 came next. Amazingly, she is quite good at addition, so I think we've just about got this number thing down.

Black and White Wednesday

I am still not back into the full swing of blogging. Nevertheless, Monday I felt inspired to take my camera out (for the first time in weeks) and shoot a few shots of the local almond orchards before all the blooms were gone. I thought that I had missed the peak of their beauty until I stumbled across this orchard where the blossom petals had created a solid blanket of "snow" on the ground. At that moment I realized that sometimes the best shots are not what you expect. I only wish that the camera could have captured the "snowfall" effect that I witnessed as the blossom petals continued to fall on their way to the ground. It was the most beautiful Spring snow I had ever seen.

And with that, here is my first entry into B/W wednesday.

If you click on the picture, it will take you to my flickr account. From there you can click on "all sizes" to see it larger.

Pearl is Student of the Month

Last year in Kindergarten, Pearl was chosen as student of the month for "responsibility". This year, she was chosen for "caring". Her teacher was too choked up to read her own words about Pearl, so she passed on the speech to another teacher. Pearl really does have a way with people.

I went out and shot some pictures today. Maybe things are getting back to normal. Chloe is now asking me lots of questions about what she has to do to become Student of the Month. I don't know what to tell her other than, participate more. She can do over a hundred cartwheels in a row. I am going to try and tape it for proof!

What A Weekend!

It started off great. With the cash in hand from selling one of our old Avalanches, we stole away from work early on Friday afternoon to test drive some Hondas. We looked at the Fit, the CRV and the Impulse. I am thrilled to write that we came home with a red Honda Fit. It is so cute, yet so roomy inside. It's a tiny little thing with amazing flexibility in the storage department. The rear seats are "magic seats". They can fold up to accomodate tall items. They can fold down to reveal a spacious flat cargo area. Even the front passenger seat can fold flat to allow for very long items in the cargo area. It's a zippy little car and comfortable for all but the very tallest or largest of people. We even think we'll be able to fit five passengers in it. That's right! We are expecting to have another person joining our family, at least for a few months. We plan on hosting another Chinese exchange student in the coming school year. We are so excited, and I'll tell you all about her in a future post.

The next morning, we held our very first yard sale. We got up at 4:30 in the morning to make signs and begin putting all the items under our carport in the front drive (rain was predicted). Fortunately, Pete had asked his employee Elena and her brother Gus to help us out. We never would have survived without them. Even though the time was set for 7AM, people started showing up at 6AM in the dark and fog! By 7:30, it was a madhouse. We had over twenty people there at a time, some even fighting over things. Items would sell as fast as we could bring them out of the house and people were clamoring for more things. They would just hang out in the yard waiting to see what we would bring out next. By 9AM, most everything was gone. We had time to go find a few more things inside to get rid of and by 12:30, there was nothing left. That's when it started to rain. It couldn't have worked out better.

Last year during the Superbowl, a very strange thing occurred. We saw the most amazing HUGE raccoon peeking in our living room window at us. In seven years, we had never seen a racoon before. We never saw him again, but we did have quite a few more raccoon visits after that. This year, again during the Superbowl, we were enjoying the game, when we heard sirens in the neighborhood. Pete remarked, "I bet the firefighters hate it when there is a call during the Superbowl". Just a few moments later, Pete is looking out the living room window screaming "Fire! Fire!" I look, but I cannot believe my eyes as we see flames shooting high in the sky. It looks like it's at the back of our property. After a moment, we realize it isn't at our home, so we dash outside (like all of the other neighbors) and rush to the house, two houses away. There is another house and a street between this property and ours. If you are looking at the picture below, our home is to the right. What is it about Superbowl Sunday?

Sorry, I am still not much into taking pictures this week. We are moving next week and I am spending all of my free time organizing and packing. So only a traumatic event, like a fire, was enough to tempt me into breaking out the camera. As far as I know, the occupants were out of town and no one was hurt.


What a crazy weekend!

Yes. We're Still Here

I haven't felt like blogging lately........for a various number of reasons. This may continue on for at least a couple more weeks. I have been battling a cold for two weeks now. My computer and internet have been on the blink. Our weather has been mostly dark and rainy and that hasn't motivated me to go out and take pictures. I have pictures on my camera from Chloe's birthday two weeks ago that I haven't even looked at yet.

So for now, I will just post an update and hopefully, sometime soon, I will return with original pictures and fun tales of our adventures.

January 19th was Chloe's 6th birthday. It was a lot of fun. We had her party on the Saturday before at Pump It Up and I think it was well-received. We got her roller skates for her birthday. She wanted them for Christmas, but I waited for her to ask several times to make sure that was what she really wanted. Pearl has shown no signs of jealousy or interest in roller skates, but I suspect she is. I keep telling her to ask me for whatever she wants for her birthday (coming up in April), but she just asks for something basic, like a Barbie doll. I think the girls already have a dozen of those. Chloe is really developing her own interests and skills. She can do amazing cartwheels (self-taught) and often does them with one hand or just on her knuckles. I wouldn't be surprised if she starts doing them without touching the ground at all, but then I guess that wouldn't be a cartwheel.

We are signing the girls up for Chinese dance class. It was too hard to make the one hour round trip on Sunday afternoons for the Chinese language class. Just one day missed for illness sets you too far behind to catch up. We will have to try that again when the girls are a bit older. Dance class will be on Monday nights. Chloe still has vision therapy every Thursday evening.

After being for sale for 2.5 years, our home is in escrow!! We are not allowing ourselves to get excited just yet because we know how easy it is for these things to fall through. Nevertheless, we are in negotiations to rent a beautiful new 3000SF home right by the girls' school. I hope to sign the lease by Friday.

I also started to lose weight. I am 23 days into my new lifestyle change (i.e. "diet") and I am down 19 pounds. I have such a long way to go that I am afraid to get too excited about that too. Next month I turn 45. It is really starting to feel like a new beginning. That's it for now.

Farewell To Marty

This new year has brought me a lot of motivation, excitement and inspiration..........just not about blogging. I will have to fill you in on the end of our glorious vacation in Carmel in a future post. This post is dedicated to the memory of our dear friend and family member, Marty the Cat.

When we left on vacation, Marty was active, healthy and alert. Much to my chagrin, he was a talented hunter. His favorite choice of prey were birds. Then on the day before our return, we received a call from Elena, our friend and caretaker, who informed us that Marty was limping. We didn't ask her to do anything since we would be home within 24 hours to assess the situation.

We arrived home on Sunday but could not find Marty anywhere. We called for him and searched our whole yard, but out attempts were unsuccessful. We left food out and he did not eat it. We looked for two more days and then by Tuesday, we were pretty sure Marty must have met with foul play. But our little adventure was not over yet.

On Wednesday, we had an appraiser come to our home to review our property. They looked it over from top to bottom. Then suddenly, one of the appraisers came back into the house with a concerned look on her face. She said, "Do you know there is a cat locked in your shed?" Panic struck, I darted out to the shed to find Marty, crouched and crying and pitiful. His eyes were fully dialated and he acted like he couldn't see. I carried him in and gave him some food and water. He only ate two bites. An hour later, I was at the vet's office and Marty wasn't responding. It was beginning to seem like he was suffering from more than dehydration. The vet looked him over and exclaimed "Your cat is blind!" I had no idea. He was just hunting two weeks ago.

Apparently, Marty had suffered from some sort of trauma, probably just after going blind, while we were on vacation. He had been hiding in the shed because he couldn't see and he was sick. My husband was in the shed only the day before and didn't notice Marty. Sadly, he hung on for a few more days. At least we had the chance to say goodbye and hold him until the end.

I know there are a lot of people that don't care for cats, but we liked to think Marty was special. He was friendly and greeted visitors, but didn't fuss all over them. He was a constant companion whenever we were in the yard. He seemed to watch over us like we were in his pack. He didn't act all finicky and snooty like some cats. He always knew when to keep his claws in and he never bit or nibbled on us. Marty would walk with us four blocks down to the corner market and then back home. He wasn't on a leash; he just liked being with us. Farewell sweet Marty! You were a wonderful pet.

Too Much Fun to Blog

I thought that being on vacation would mean lots of posts and lots of pictures. I thought wrong.

We are having a great time and every time we do something fun, my husband says "You have to blog about that." Then we do another fun thing and I forgot all about the last one.

I will just have to do my best with a brief and incomplete summary of the past few days. On December 23rd, we joined our long-time friends Kevin and Christie as they finalized the adoption of their twins at the Monterey County courthouse. Afterward, we went out to breakfast and I received a phone call from my realtor that she had just opened escrow on our house. It has been for sale for 2.5 years, so this is a momentous event for us. There are still a lot of hurdles to be jumped and so much that can go wrong, but if things are still on track in another couple of weeks, I may just get excited.

Later that night we went to Bubba Gumps for dinner and it was one of the best times we have ever had eating out as a family. I am not sure what it was, but on this one evening the food was just right, the girls were happy, the service was perfect and we were entertained by live carolers singing Christmas classics. It was just one of those magical family moments that you can tuck away in your memory box.

Christmas Eve wasn't what we had hoped, but we did get to visit with family. We returned home from vacation to sign the papers for our home sale and to exchange gifts with the relatives. It was a little sad because the grandparents weren't up for the party. They were the primary reason we had traveled all the way home.

Christmas day we returned to Carmel and our vacation. We didn't buy any extravagant or fancy gifts, but there was plenty of presents under the tree and the girls were all smiles anyway. After a nice long nap, we went to the beach and let the girls play until sunset. The beach was much busier today. I guess others thought it would be nice to see the sunset on Christmas day too.

After that, we showered the girls and took them to Fisherman's Wharf in Monterey to enjoy the Christmas lights on the boats and to eat dinner at the Old Fisherman's Grotto, one of our favorite restaurants. The lobster ravioli was to die for! We were having such a nice time together and then the waitress informed us that the couple next to us had just paid for two desserts for our girls. No one had ever done something like that for us. It sure made a special evening even more magical, such a sweet and friendly gesture.

I hope you all are busy making some special treasures for your memory box!

Ready For Christmas

.............well almost. The girls are certainly ready. They are having a great time on vacation. It's a little hard to keep them off of all the antique furnishings in this vacation home, but we still manage to keep our cool (after a time out or two).

I have been working on this picture for two days. It didn't quite meet my expectations, but I still think it looks pretty cool. There is so much more for me to learn in Photoshop. I guess that will have to wait. I am looking forward to the time when my editing skills can match my imagination.

I hope you all are enjoying the season. Now off to finish my shopping!!!

Day 2 - Maybe a Little Too Much Squeezed Into One Day

We didn't want to waste one moment on the fun meter for our first full day of vacation.

We slept in, but only just a little. We all had breakfast in the house and dashed off to see "The Princess and the Frog". I really liked the story, but I was greatly disappointed with the artwork. I thought I was watching something on Cartoon Network; the quality was so poor. What has become of Disney? There was so much potential for creative expression in the swamp scenes. Oh well, I guess the era of Disney setting the artistic standard has ended.

After the movie, we went shopping and purchased some pajamas for the girls. Then we took them to see Santa Claus to sit on his lap and to ask for him what they wanted for Christmas. Even my shy Chloe was brave and direct. Chloe tells me she wants some Polly Pocket toy, but then I hear her ask Santa for roller skates! They took nice pictures of the girls with him, but I don't have a scanner with me, so I cannot share on my computer.

We came home, ate lunch, and then went out to pick out a Christmas tree for our vacation home. The girls had a fun time running around and acting crazy.

After setting up the tree, we decided to give the girls one of their presents early. Little did we know that the scooters required full assembly, but we all worked together as a team and had both of them put together in a very short time. It was getting dark, but there was still enough time for the girls to try them out on the short dead-end street where our home is situated. They scooted around until they were tired out.

We had dinner reservations for a nice restaurant nearby and one of the girls was acting up. I'll leave out her name because I try to keep this blog focused more on the good stuff, rather than the bad. She was moody, ill-mannered and obnoxious throughout dinner. Dad and I were both exerting all the patience we could muster, but the quality of the experience was sadly lacking. We realized that we were partly to blame because she was tired, cold and hungry (not a great combination). Amazingly, as we left the restaurant, we had several people, including the hostess comment on how well-behaved our girls were. I wonder what they're used to!

Today's pictures weren't the greatest, but I only took 10 all day, so there wasn't really much to choose from. I'll try to post pictures of the tree tomorrow.

Tomorrow is going to be a much slower day.

Christmas Vacation Begins!

I haven't had much time to blog lately. That's because Dad and I have both been working extra hard night and day in order to get ahead at work to be able to take two weeks off with the girls for Christmas break.

Thursday afternoon was the grand opening ceremony for our new animal shelter that I designed and built for our city. I love that my job allows me not only to design, but also to manage the construction....all the way down to ordering the final equipment, hanging the pictures and selecting a Christmas tree to dress up the place. It was a cold and foggy afternoon, but there was a good turnout. Since the shelter opened two weeks ago, there has been a noticeable increase in adoptions and there is room for future expansion.

You can click on any of the smaller pictures for a larger view.

Our animal control officer cuts the ribbon to her new animal shelter.
The front facade has animal imprints and pawprint cutouts.
A new lobby. The old facility didn't have a lobby. It was a small trailer.
New well-lit and heated kennels with outdoor runs for the dogs to go inside and outside at will.
Cat condos with separate toilet space. They have interior ventilation.
A "Get Acquainted" room for prospective parents to play with the dogs and cats.

Friday, I worked in the morning and then Dad and the girls picked me up just before noon to head off to glorious Carmel-By-the-Sea for a two week Christmas vacation. For the second year in a row, we rented a home. There are so many nice houses here for sale and a lot of owners rent them out while waiting for a buyer. It only took us 3 hours to reach our destination, leaving us with plenty of time to unpack, settle in, and make a trip to the beach before sunset.

This looks like the beginnings of a beautiful vacation! There are a lot more pictures and posts to follow.
This is the entry to our vacation rental in Carmel. The hydrangeas are in full bloom.

Chloe does the Happy Dance on the beach to celebrate.