Hey - Go Shop - Or Else!!!

We're Back!

We had a great 6 days in Lake Tahoe camping!! Ryleigh and Austin were absolute troopers. Dusty, dirty, filthy troopers, but troopers none-the-less!



The lake was beautiful, the weather HOT, and the people around us, very nice (and quiet at night, a major plus in my book).

We had a few small setbacks in the beginning. Our BBQ broke, and had to buy a new one, and our air matress deflated the first night.

The kids had fun on the beach, and playing in the lake.


We went on a paddle wheel boat cruise on the MS Dixie across the lake from Zephyr Cove to Emerald Bay. What a strange thing to cruise on this vast blue lake in 90 degree weather with snow on the mountains....


Ryleigh liked climbing on the logs that seperated our campsites, because the big kids were doing it. We went over to Carson City to the Children's Museum, and then up to Virginia City for a Mine Tour Train Ride (very cool).

Our campground was very close to a wonderful brand new park. We visited it everyday, sometimes twice a day!!

Milk Bath

What happens when you leave a measuring cup full of milk too close to the edge of the counter, and you have one small girl with arms that must telescope out to pull things down on top of herself?????


Check out one of our dogs, Shadow (who happens to be on a diet right now) lapping up the milk like there's no tomorrow!


I know it's blurry, but it gives you the idea of what poor Ryleigh looked like....

Playing in the Sink

Washing the Car

Happy Fathers Day, Mark!

Mark received an automatic adjustible wrench (grunt, grunt, grunt) for Fathers Day! Our kids are lucky to have such a wonderful dad!! He's the best at wrestling and playing and reading books!


Art by Austin, Ryleigh and Stacey


Art by Ryleigh (who was a bit obsessed with painting....)


Art by Austin (not the most artistic kid in the world, but he tries)


Art by Ryleigh (still obsessed)

Riding our bikes!

I honestly think that Ryleigh will be pedaling the trike by herself in about 2 months! The kids had a great time yesterday riding around on the street!

Austin's "bike" is a Kett-Car, and is pedal driven...and heavy, but he LOVES it!!!

Cool Women...

How cool are the women in my town....we have sort of a core story-time group that sees eachother once a week...I am at the library Wednesdays for Ryleigh and Thursdays for Austin's storytime. A group has formed, very casually, from families from both storytimes...well, we now have Happy Hour at the park on Thursday nights....how cool is that, folks? Last Thursday it was champagne, this Thursday Mai Tai's....our town is small and touristy, but deep down there are some cool folks living here....

Suggestion to new parents, or parents of soon to be walkers....go to your local parks....go to storytime.... You will meet some great women. Put yourself out there and break through your comfort zone. I have never, not once gotten any sort of negative comment or vibe from anyone for having Ryleigh...

Today I am....cough....cough...choke....

forty years old....

Austin got me a wonderful little fan on a necklace at the Dollar Spot at Target. I also received 2 fireplace lighters (huh??? I'm still confused about it). The kids also got me a Rachel Ray cookbook. From my mom I received some BBQ accessories and some moulah to buy a new knife set. Mark had bought me a new Weber grill before Mothers Day!!!!

For my birthday, my family and I went up to Santa Cruz and went on a train ride at Roaring Camp Railroads. It was fun. We rode up to the top of Bear Mountain and it was a beautiful and sunny day.


Last Saturday, I bought and adorable childrens rocking chair at a garage sale for ten bucks, and then my mom and I sewed a little cushion set for it......

Here's Ryleigh saying "YUCK, this thing is hard as a rock!"

And here she is showing off the new cushion....it matches a wall hanging that I made during the wait.....


I've been quiet this week...I went back to work (sort of). While I've been out we've meen minus a full time Administrative Assistant in our office, and we finally hired one. A GREAT one!!! I went in this week to train and give her a little bit of an orientation. She's wonderful! I return to work "for real" on July 3rd!!

We're going to go camping on the 20th in South Lake Tahoe (anyone of my lurkers live there???) for 6 nights or so and we can't wait!!!!

Honoring my children....

In celebration of the birth countries of my children:



Yep, that's a tattoo....designed by me, art by Rosie at Gold Coast Tattoo in Monterey....it's on my left calf...I love it!!!