Month: July 2009

  • Santa Cruz Part 2 (part 1 of part 2-lol)

    Okay, for the second half of our day spent in Santa Cruz, we decided to take the beach train from the boardwalk to Roaring Camp and back.  It was beautiful.. nice relaxing thing to do after walking around alot..

    Here are some pics:

    The red deisel engine that Austin was excited about..

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    The car that we rode in..beautiful old railroad cars.. Chris wanted to ride in one of the open gondola cars but Austin insisted on riding inside.. I think he was ready for some quiet and soft seats after all of the noise of the boardwalk..

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    Was he ever!  He fell asleep about 30 min. into the ride on my leg, the first time he's EVER done that.

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    Here he is enjoying himself before falling asleep..

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    our view leaving the boardwalk..

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    crossed several RR crossings..

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    walking through one of the gondola cars.

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    and looking out the window with Daddy, I just held my arm out the window and snapped.. I was surprised to get them both in the frame. ha!

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    I'll have to finish this next time, b/c now it is time to go and pick up my Mom and two brothers from the airport for a visit.  YAY!  So stay tuned for "Santa Cruz Part 2 (part 2)"  BYE!

     

  • Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk-Part 1

    On the 2nd day of our little mini-vacation we drove up the coast from Monterey to Santa Cruz.

    Spent a couple of hours at the boardwalk (there's not many things that A. can ride yet) and then spent the afternoon taking the Beach Train up to Roaring Camp RR in Felton.  We all enjoyed the train ride.  I didn't realize there was a Redwood grove up there.. Beautiful scenery and relaxing ride.  Austin esp. loved it, as he loves anything train related.  This train ride even went through town a little bit, so there were lots of "ding-ding crossings" as he calls them. He gets excited when we see them from the car, but this time he had a diff. perspective seeing them from the train.

    Anyway, here are some photos...

    We're here.. a little chilly in the morning.. loving it!

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    Got there before everything opened, so had to kill about 20 min. in this arcade.  Austin did the grabber thing a couple of times, with no success. But he liked putting the tokens in and pushing the buttons.

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    One of the rides he could (and would) ride.  He's getting a little braver.  I wasn't sure if he'd ride this but he wanted to.

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    These just go around in a circle, slowly, except for when you go around the ends it speeds up & slings you around fast. Here we are about to fly around the corner..

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    Toward the end of the ride, he was trying to cover his eyes with my hand.  But he liked it, he did really good.

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    We also finally got him to go on a carousel!  He's always been afraid, but I guess he had a brave streak going after riding the little race cars.  He almost backed out though.  We were at the front of the line, and he started trying to pull me back saying he didn't want to go.  But he agreed to go when I told him that Daddy would come, too.  As soon as I buckled the safety belt around him, his whole demeanor changed.  He looked happy and not scared anymore.  This boy likes his seat belts! ha  Chris stood with him and I rode next to him.  I wanted to ride on the outside so I could grab the metal rings and throw them at the clown's mouth.  Santa Cruz is the only place I've been to that has this.  So fun.  As much fun as you can have on a carousel, anyway. :)

    My brave little man..

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    notice the leather safety belt..

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    up-down, up-down..

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    The boardwalk.. the giant dipper is 85 yrs. old this year.  That is one OLD roller coaster!

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    The beach.. we were going to try to take Austin down to the water and let him put his feet in, and play in the sand a little bit, but by this time, the sun was shining bright, and the sand was too hot for his little feet.  He took his shoes off and walked about 3 feet and wanted to put them back on.  It was pretty hot on my feet too.  We should have gone down to the water in the morning when it was overcast.

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    After we walked around for a bit, we decided to ride the train.. I'll post those pics next time.

     

     

  • Pictures..Monterey..

     

    Oh, SWEET marine layer, there you are.... ahhhhhh.  After several days in the valley of temps over 100 deg., we were so glad to see this sight!  It was downright chilly that night, but we walked around the wharf without jackets or anything, and short sleeves, and LOVING it!

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    The little green ball-shaped things on the tops of these plants are artichokes, and there were fields of them ready to harvest.  We also passed fields of lettuce and greens, strawberries, almonds, citrus trees, and various other things we couldn't identify.. I love driving through the rich farmland and seeing all of the crops that are being harvested.

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    Here is Austin while we were strolling along the wharf.. Looking through the slats at the resident bunch of sea lions that live on this floating dock that's just for them. (He wasn't so happy that we gave up our "perfect view" spot, so that some other people could watch them for a bit, we moved back and this was his view...)

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    Our birds-eye viewing spot.. (I have no idea how those two got up onto the skinny railing, much less how they are balancing there and sleeping.)

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    ..just a photo of a fishing boat.. still loving the coolness of the evening..

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    The marina.. Austin insisted on wearing his p.j.'s and bringing little Mickey, and Chris is of course drinking coffee.

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    These pics are kind of dark, but this is the little Italian cafe by our hotel that had the really superb house-made hazelnut gelato (single scoop on a sugar cone PLEASE! )  WOW, it was the best!  We ate dinner there, some really great deli sandwiches.  Yep, he's still in his jammies.   They are warm, it was cool out, and that's what he wanted to wear, so if it makes for a happy diner, then I'm all for it.  And he was a pretty happy diner that night.

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    Next time, Santa Cruz pictures...

    See ya for now! Bye

     

  • Henry Cowell State Park

    Just got home from a FAST 3 day trip to Monterey/Santa Cruz area.  A little beat right now, but will post more pics in the future.  Here is a teaser..

    Day out with Thomas 2009..

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    was right next door to Henry Cowell State Park.. I LOVE old growth redwoods.. used to camp in the coastal redwoods about 6 hours north of here when we were little kids.. this brought back lots of fun memories.. (right Bryan?)

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    (now THAT is a TREEEE.)

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    This one looked like a great big paw with a tumor on the side of it or something.

    Must go to sleep now... zzz.

     

     

  • Gymnastics pictures...

    Today was gymnastics day..

    Last week, Nana&Papa surprised Austin by showing up at his gymnastics class.  He knew they were coming to visit, but he didn't know they would show up there.  So today at gymnastics he's doing the little stretches and all of the sudden stops and says, "(gasp), WHERE Nana&Papa??"  I guess he thinks they should show up every week now.

    He did really good with his stretches and had alot of improvement jumping on the trampoline today.  He loves that place..

    Here are just a few pics from last week,that Nana snapped of him doing his "mastics".

    ..the rock wall, actually they are colored letters.  He likes to say the letters as he climbs..

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    ..doing his stretches before class starts..

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    ..log rolls..

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    ..forward rolls..

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    ..don't know what this is called, something to climb on, in, etc...

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     ..walking on the beam with Miss Jessica, his teacher..

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    ..and playing in the fountain after we ate lunch at Rubio's..

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    ..got so wet that we had to take his shirt off to dry him off with it, wring it out, and then put it back on him to keep him cool. 

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    Yep, it's been in the hundreds here for several days.. ick. HOT.

    I'm so glad they came to visit.. it did great wonders for Austin's security post-losing the dog.  He acted sooo happy and even a little relieved to see them.  He kept hugging and hanging onto his Nana, and kissing her over and over.  I have never seen him so beside himself happy to see someone.  Then while they were here even, he would go into the other room and play by himself, or just play by himself talking to his toys while we were all visiting.  What a relief.  He was acting like his normal self.  So hopefully the worst of the loss is behind us.  They spent the night, and after they left the next day he says, "Nana and Papa gonna come baaaack?" And looked kind of sad.  I reassured him that they would be back and we would go and visit them too.  I think he just wanted to make sure that someone else wasn't going to disappear from his life.  It has been a real learning experience watching him and helping him go through this loss.  But like I said, hopefully the worst is behind us.  Having Nana&Papa visit really helped alot, too.  He will still talk about Duke and say things like, "Duke need a drink.. Duke need-a eat his dog food.."  But he doesn't look so sad or distressed anymore, and he always follows it up with a comment about a new dog and what he wants to name it.. which is always something random that's in his field of vision.  Like Stop-sign, or Corvette, or Pick-up truck. Other times he'll insist on naming it "like Duke." We shall see what is in store for us.

     

  • I wish I slept this good!

    Phillipians 4:6 ~ Be anxious for nothing..

    (note: this is not a photo with a soundtrack, it is actual video.. notice the whiskers twitching.. too cute.. )

  • Newfoundland

    I borrowed these pics from a breeder's website.. (shh, don't tell)

    As far as we could tell, since Duke was adopted, we think he was a Golden Retriever/Newfoundland mix.  He had the sweetest temperament, and we would like to get another big dog for Austin.. SOO, this is the kind of dog that we are thinking about.

    This is a Newf puppy, a Landseer (which is the black and white version-my fave I think)

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    Here is another pic, still puppy but getting bigger.

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    And here is the full size version.  Aren't they cute?  And big... and fluffy?  But they are very furry, and very drooly, I think.  Our house would prob. just be a big mess all the time and we would prob. lose all of our friends, no one would come to visit us. ha!  But aren't they SWEET?

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    We may go and visit a breeder just to look at their dogs and learn more about them, to see if it is the right kind of dog for us.  If we end up with one, it won't be for a while.

    Austin is doing okay.  Yesterday morning, he was playing all by himself talking to his trains, and singing, etc.  Music to my ears.  Since Duke died, he has been so clingy, I wondered if he'd ever just play by himself again.  But then last night, he woke up in the middle of the night again.  So who knows?  Will prob. just take time. He's still acting ultra-sensitive about things and getting his feelings hurt super easy.  Just trying to be extra patient.  Which some days I'm pretty good at and some days I need to work on.  

    I wonder if getting a new dog so soon would help him or if he would feel like his friend got replaced? hmm.  He loves dogs, I know that. It was even his first word at 9 mo. old or so.  He started saying "uh-GOG" every time he looked at Duke.  I was slightly offended that his first word wasn't "mama".  In fact, "mama" wasn't even his 2nd word! But I digress.

    So aren't these little furballs (turned BIG furballs) adorable?

  • A Grieving 2 yr. old

    In follow up to my little photo tribute to Duke.. I realized after putting it together why Austin must be grieving so hard.

    I figured he'd feel the loss.. like feeling insecure maybe b/c a member of our family up and disappeared on him.  I figured that it would shake his feeling of security.  Which it did.  The night after we took Duke in to the vet, he woke up crying and calling, "MOMMY!!" at 2 in the a.m. and wanted me to just sit and rock him for an hour before he would get back in his bed.  It has been a LONG time since he has been awake in the middle of the night for very long, usually just for teething, but he told me that night that his teeth didn't hurt.  I figured it was b/c of the dog.  Well, he's awakened in the middle of the night about 4 or 5 times in the last two weeks!  Always crying for mommy.  A couple of days after Duke had been gone, he was playing with a car and I heard him say "Bye bye, Duke... goin' to the DOCtor!!"  Which made me burst into tears, b/c it was so sweet and innocent. And sad.  He was reinacting our trip to the vet, the last time we saw Duke. We had told him we had to take Duke to the Dr. b/c he was too old and sick to live with us anymore.

    After we left the vet that day, he asked a few more times where Duke was and we told him, and he would say, "better go back and GET HIM!"  But he gradually accepted it.  I figured he might be a little clingy due to the security thing, which he was.  The day after we took Duke in, I had an appt. and then was going to take my Grandma to run her errands.. well I was gone for about 5 hours, and when I got home, he said "FANK YOU mommy for coming HOME!" and gave me the biggest hug.  Odd, yah.  Then 2 or 3 days later, I hadn't even left the house, all day.  He helped me do something so I said, "Thank you Austin for helping mommy" and again he thanked me for coming home. ?????  Yes, he felt like the carpet was yanked from under him, I think.

    What I didn't figure on, was the tantrums.  Yes, he started throwing tantrums and SCREAMING.  I thought, "oh great, he's finally entering THAT stage!"  Well, after about a week it disappeared.  A few days later I dug up a book I have called "What to Expect in the Toddler Years".  It had a paragraph on death and loss and listed 4 or 5 things you can expect anytime there's a major change in a child's environment at his age...

    1. Irritibility (did I mention how cranky he had been?)

    2. Clinginess (ultra-clingy!)

    3. Temper trantrums (ahh, so it's not a stage he's entering, thank you thank you THANK you!!!!)

    4. Sleep disturbances (yep)

    He had been exhibiting all of the normal signs.  I figured it'd rock his security for a little bit, but I was not anticipating all of the rest.  WOW.  I can't believe that I was thinking that he would get over it fast b/c of his age..  I figured "out of sight/out of mind" for him maybe. Boy was I wrong.  I felt really bad for him, b/c he himself probably didn't fully understand why he was feeling the way he was.

    Even after the symptoms of all the behavioral stuff started going away and he was acting like his normal self again, it was still on his mind.  About a week and a half later, when he was doing better, all of the sudden he runs in the house one night and goes straight to the sliding glass door and yells, "Heeeeere, Dukie Dukie~Duuuke, where ahhhhhhh you?"  It was the sweetest thing.  Again.. sad.  I had started casually mentioning to him that Duke died, whenever he would bring it up.. well, it occurred to me that he doesn't know what that word means.. so I took him aside and explained to him that "Died" means that Duke is gone.  He is not a dog anymore, we can't bring him back.  A light seemed to click on in his eyes.  Then for the first time he mentioned naming another dog something besides Duke.  Before that he would randomly say things like "better get anudder Duke" or "better get more Duke", and insisted that if we got a diff. dog, it would be named "like DUKE".  Well, after I told him what died meant he said we could name a new dog Buttons or Tiger. (he said this looking at the buttons on my shirt.. and I oftentimes call him Tiger when I talk to him.)

    Well, after this, things had been going swimmingly well.  He was back to himself, he was accepting that Duke was gone for good and could NOT come back...

    Then on Sunday afternoon, we were in the car and he spotted Duke's collar which had slid under the seat, left there from "the day" when we all took the last journey together in the car.  He got excited and said "Mommy!!  Duke's LEASH!!!!" So I said "..yes, that's his collar, remember when we had to take Duke to the Dr. and he died?  Mommy loved Duke, did you love Duke?"  He looked me square in the eyes and very adamantly said, "and I MISSSS him!!!!"  OK, I almost burst into tears that time, too, but was able to hold it back until after he went to bed that night.  It's hurting me to see this little boy grieve.

    Then that passed, and he was talking about getting another dog, telling me we better look at puppies, saying things here and there, etc. when he walks into the room yesterday (while I'm working on the little slide show I made.)  He saw the pictures and said "OH DOGGIES!!!...... Duke....." and I could see his posture change.  Well, I needed to get ready for church so I said , "let's turn this off for now, we can look later," and went to change my clothes and shoes.. he clung to the back of my skirt and was whining the whole time.  When I told him to stop whining, he burst into tears. When he stopped crying, I tried talking to him and he burst into tears again, muttering something about my shoes.  He was absolutely beside himself that I was changing my shoes.  Then through his tears, he insisted that I tie the sweater around my waist again. (I had been wearing it like that all day.)  He was acting so irrational and not like himself.. it had to be from seeing the pictures on the computer of him and Duke together.  That was all the change he could handle at that moment, and he wanted everything else to stay THE SAME!!!  So I wore my dirty shoes and sweater to church to console him.. When we got to church, Chris went to get him out of the truck and he started crying and wanted me to do it.. I asked him if he was okay, and if he was upset about Duke, and he looked at me with possibly the saddest look I've ever seen, like he might cry, and said "better bring him home.."  I sad we can't remember? and he just kept looking at me and said "(sniff sniff)bring him home".  OKAY.  We almost had to turn around and come back home b/c I was on the verge of the big ugly cry again.  It was soo sad.  He hung onto me for a long time.

    He seems to be doing okay today.. he got better after he got his mind off of it last night.  Today he found a little tiny plastic dog in his toybox and started calling it his Duke.  I'm gonna go along with that.  He needs something to direct his Duke feelings to.  I think we will end up with another dog sooner than we thought we would.  This little boy seems to need one.  He has never known our family to be without one.  Since he was born, our family has always been a mommy/daddy/dog and baby.

    When I put the pics together, I realized that it's no wonder, Duke was always right there by his side since he was born.  From sniffing him or licking him when he was a baby, to watching over him while he played as he got older.  All of those pics of them together were not posed, sure a few were, where Austin is propped next to him or something.  But the rest, that is just how it was.  He was next to Duke or Duke was next to him.  So, while I'm SURE that Duke is better off (he was suffering so much at the end), now and then I feel the overwhelming urge to cry, not for my loss, but for the loss that my little boy feels, and doesn't fully understand.  It's a process, and I'm sure he'll get over it soon, but in the meantime, I think we will be starting to think about a puppy..

  • In Memory..

    I've been wanting to do this for a while, but haven't had the time or energy to sit and go through these photos on the computer... We lost our dog, Duke on June 22nd.  He was almost 13 years old.  He was just a puppy when I met my husband.  We really got to know each other taking him for walks.  All these years later, he was a big part of our lives.  Saw many changes.  Protected me and made me feel safe when I lived alone..  it was while walking the dog that Chris, my husband, proposed to me.., he was there when I sold my house and moved into Chris's house, when we brought our baby home from the hospital, and when we moved to the house we now live in.  I feel lucky to have had such a good dog.  He taught Austin a love for animals and how to be gentle and kind to the elderly since he was already a "senior" when Austin was born.  He was such an easygoing dog.  Anyway, here is my little tribute to him, along with some listening enjoyment..  We will always love our Duke the Dog!