Some pics of what we’ve been doin’ at home this summer..

Workin’ in the yard..

Daddy put together this sandbox for Austin while we were in Missouri visiting my parents in May.. he LOVES it.  It has since gathered many more sand toys and he spends tons of time in the backyard now..

While he is playing, I have been gathering some of the landscape rock that I have found buried in the dirt and making borders with it.  Apparently, when the house was built in the early 1990′s, the original owners used this rock for groundcover, b/c now I can’t dig a hole to even plant something without unearthing LOTS of it.  But I’m happy for the free materials.

I used the step stones that were left here to make this path to the sandbox, bordered by rock, and filled in with bark.. and then on the other side, I made a little bark trail also. 

It’s a major work in progress.. I just like to tinker around out there working while A. is playing in the sand.  The people who lived here also left this garden bench in the backyard along with some other stuff, like sea shells and patio furniture.. weird. 

Guess they didn’t want the stuff at their new house.. I moved some more stepping stones that were left here and put them in front of this bench that is pretty well situated where it’s at and would be hard to move, so I cleaned it up to make it a nicer place to sit.

Before I was done..

and done..

Those are my little projects.  I need to re-paint the 3rd of the 50′s metal lawn chairs that were Chris’s g-parents’ and find a place to put it by the sandbox, too.  I want to paint it orange.. it is just like the red one but wearing a coat of faded yellow paint and rust right now.  I also need to re-paint the patio furniture that was abandoned here.  It’s iron.. I think I want to paint it black… We’ll see if I ever get that done.   They left 2 tables, 8 chairs, 2 lounges and 2 side tables.. I think I will be covered in black spray paint by the time that project is done!

When Austin’s not in the sandbox, he’s found lots of other things to do..

Spray Mommy with a spray-bottle .. and water things in the yard with it..

Oh, yes, it’s REALLY funny to get Mommy wet..

Watering..

Playdough..

And riding around in the “trunk” of the bike trailer.. Without a helmet! But Chris assures me that he was only towing him around in circles in front of our house like that.. Of course, he was loving it.

Well, that is enough for right now.. I will post more summer pictures next time! , Kelli

Day 3 of our little mini-vacation was spent at the Day Out with Thomas event at Roaring Camp.  I think I got these tickets 6 or more months ago.. Austin had been soooo looking forward to it.

The bonus of the whole thing was that it was right next to Henry Cowell, so we strolled around a trail that was almost a mile long through and old growth redwood forest after we were done at the Thomas fair.

The Thomas train ride wasn’t too very long, maybe 30 minutes, but it was all good, since we took the beach train the day before.  A. got his fill of trains on this short trip.  He even rode a little train when we stopped at Casa de Fruta on our way over on the first day of our trip.

Anyway, here are some more pics..

Waking up and getting ready to leave to go meet Thomas the Tank Engine..

First glimpse.. showing little Mickey..

..and waiting in line to get our pic taken with him.. we took the souvenir photo and then they let me snap this one myself really quick..

..and then it’s our turn to ride!

(^ waiting for people to board, and getting sleepy..)

..and being pulled by Thomas..it was cute, they had Thomas songs playing the whole ride, and riding through the redwoods was really nice.. shady, great views, good weather.

And then all of the other Thomas attractions..

..like the gift shop..

(everything “Thomas” that you could imagine-we got there before they even had it all the way set up!  It was CRAZY later in the day!!)

Temporary tattoos.. (Thomas on his hand..)

Imagination Station.. which was just a bunch of tables set up with Thomas toys..

..the wooden train tables were super crowded so he settled for playing with some lego-type toys for a little bit..

..Bounce House area..

(this is the first time he’s been brave enough to go into one of these-he hung close to the netting)

but started to get the hang of it..

..and some other sites of the day..

Chris bringing our lunch..

..people riding in the open car..

the depot..

..one of the buildings..

Enough Thomas.. now for our little nature walk thru the redwoods..

Austin has never seen such huge trees in his life.. He kept saying, “Look at those really really big, HUUUUGE TREEEEES.”  Exciting stuff for him.

(someone is having a long day..)

They look so tiny walking through there..

monster tree trunks..

**and a pic of the little train that we rode at Casa de Fruta and the little caboose they have outside for kids to climb in**

there..I bet you thought I’d never stop posting pictures of just that 3-day trip!! But I’m done. NO MORE.

Okay, my two brothers came to visit for 4 days.. and today their visit is over..   They are now on a flight back home.  We were all sad to see them go, esp. Austin.  He loved having them here.

But.. they are gone, so now back to my blog.. time for part two of the pics from our day in Santa Cruz.  More pics of the beach train.  I posted pics before of the train, and leaving the boardwalk, so now I’ll post some of the trip and of Roaring Camp.

Here is where we got off of the train at Roaring Camp.. which is where we would be coming the next day for the Day Out With Thomas event.. they were already setting up for it.

Some of the buildings..

(caboose-like snack bar)

(little barn for kids)

They also have other trains there that you can ride, tour on, etc. (don’t know who that guy is, but he wasn’t budging.. LOL)

And some views from our ride back to the beach.. Henry Cowell State Park was literally only a few feet from the train depot, so we passed lots of hiking trails, etc. on our train ride.  Beautiful area!

It was a relaxing and fun thing to do.  Later that day when we got back to the boardwalk and headed back to our hotel, Austin got sick in the truck and threw up all over himself, his car seat, and anything else nearby about 3 times.  He was swimming in it back there.. but he didn’t cry which I found shocking!  I’m 40 and I still cry when I throw up.   It was not a pretty site, but still ended up being funny, because about a minute or two after it happened and I tried to wipe it up as well as I could when driving down the road and reaching from the front seat, he stated very calmly, “Mommy, it got on my HOT ROD! (it didn’t just get on it, it was COVERED completely-ew.) …. ….. (moment of silence) … I need a BAFFFFFF.” He said it so dead-pan, it cracked us up.  He DID get a baff when we got back to our hotel.. it was nasty!   That was the high- (actually I should say LOW) light of our trip back to the hotel.  But all in all we had a fun day and the weather just could not have been better.

Next time I will post day 3 of our little mini-trip.  Day out with Thomas pictures.. woo-hoo! LOL  It was actually really fun, and I’m glad we went on Friday b/c the people working there said it gets crazy crowded on Saturday and Sunday!

Bye for now-miss you B&K!  Thanks for coming to visit us!!

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..

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..

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

Here he is enjoying himself before falling asleep..

our view leaving the boardwalk..

crossed several RR crossings..

walking through one of the gondola cars.

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!

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!

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!

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.

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.

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..

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

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..

notice the leather safety belt..

up-down, up-down..

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

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.

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

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!

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.

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…)

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.)

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

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

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.

Next time, Santa Cruz pictures…

See ya for now! Bye

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..

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?)

(now THAT is a TREEEE.)

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

Must go to sleep now… zzz.

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..

..doing his stretches before class starts..

..log rolls..

..forward rolls..

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

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

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

..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. 

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.

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.. )

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)

Here is another pic, still puppy but getting bigger.

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?

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?