Braving the Diving Board

We went swimming at a friend of Grandma Lindy's house and much to our delight she had a diving board!

The triplets have jumped off rocks and the edge of the pool but never a diving board. It took Fletcher about a minute to "pull out some courage" from his heart and jump off but he finally did and repeated the feat several times. Parker jumped with so much gusto in the wrong direction that I was glad he didn't hit the step and Bailey flew off and swam right to the edge. After a little practice we figured out proper technique to jumping off the diving board and all loved it!

Home Days

Fletcher, Bailey, Parker and I manage to pack quite of bit of activity into each week. Given my tendency to always been "doing" something I've actually learned to treasure the days when we just hang out at the house with no agenda.

It is usually on those days that creative things happen around our house. One such day was when I was packing for all of us to go in different directions. Bailey and I were headed to Fresno for my high school reunion weekend and Danny was taking the boys on a Father/Son camping trip. Since I was pulling winter clothes out of old pins and running all around my three geniuses entertained themselves...

Bailey asked to cut the back cover of my National Geographic magazine. I wasn't until her project was taking shape that I figured out what she was doing... she made her own iphone! She even went to the drawer and pulled out some tape so that she could make the "glass."

Meanwhile the boys were having some fun of their own in the bedroom. They decided to do some grilling on their pillows. Apparently left over Rice Chex and dried blueberries in baggies make for a yummy dinner for Beaver. They set up the grills and pulled out all the necessary tools.

I LOVE seeing the creative side of our children. It is because of these days that I remind myself that it's okay to not always have an activity planned and that this is the season to enjoy the spontaneous moments of each day!

State Fair - Round 2

We made another visit to the State Fair, this time with our friends the Ko's who were visiting from San Francisco. The triplets were excited to see their buddies and show them around.

This time we started with the exhibit halls and scored some serious raisins in the Sun-Maid room. Parker & Bailey wanted to see what they would look like as the SunMaid raisin girl. Even though I'm not a big raisin eater I have a soft spot for them in my heart since Fresno is the "Raisin Capitol of the World"

We also managed to squeeze in a tour of New York with Ms. Sun-Maid

Bailey wanted me to take her photo with all the horses!

We ran into several mascots walking around. Seriously, who needs Princesses when you have the Golden 1 Bear and the Antelope from the department of Fish & Game!

Fletcher proved he is still a champion hanger!

Who can pass up a photo with good ole Smokey the Bear!

Do you ever have those mom moments where you realize you've damaged your children? Well, I had one at the fair. We never ride the rides at the fair because frankly, we're cheap. I'm not willing to pay $4/child for a ride that lasts 2 minutes. Since it was $1 ride day at the fair I told the children they could each pick out one ride. Hindsight is 20-20 but if I were to do things differently I would have:

1) Not made it the last activity before naps and therefore avoided standing on asphalt in the 100 degree heat in the middle of the day.

2) Previewed the rides and narrowed down the selection

3) Checked height requirements prior to arrival

4) Planned on spending more than $1 each

Instead, this is how things went down. Each child took their dollar to the booth and exchanged it for a ticket. Then we wandered around overcome with indecision for 45 minutes. Finally the boys decided they would do some big slide only for us to walk over and it was closed because it was too hot. Then Bailey thought she'd do the ladybug ride which happened to break right when we walked up. The roller coaster was vetoed because it was too fast but the cars were vetoed because they weren't fast enough.

I then realized that my children were paralized. They only had ONE ticket so they wanted to make it count. I'm the same way when I get something special. I never want to use/eat/drink it because I only want to do so when I can make it count. That's why I only drink Frappuccino when I can sit and really enjoy it! Perhaps that is why the children's Beatrix Potter chocolate bunnies from Easter are still in the cabinet. Obviously I need to work on this area of my life!

Fletcher broke the ice and picked out a flying ride. We all went over and got in line. He was the first to hand over his ticket and enter the ride. Parker and Bailey stepped up to do the same but the attendant stopped them and said they weren't tall enough. My Mother's heart broke! Fletcher was already strapped in so we tried to make the best of cheering him on while strategizing about a ride for Parker and Bailey. We went back to the planes that Parker picked out the first time (then changed his mind after waiting in line for 10minutes) but the problem was that Parker needed someone to go with him so I ended up forking over more $ for additional tickets so we could all go. That meant that Fletcher then had two rides under his belt and Bailey and Parker only had one. More $ to Mr. Ticket Man and off we went to walk around and find one more ride that Bailey and Parker could ride without an adult. We finally settled on the cars. We started this adventure at 3pm thinking it would only take 15minutes. By the time we finished it was 4:45pm and I was sweating and short on patience. We had company coming at 6pm and still had to make a stop at Costco. On the way to the car we saw a little girl being handed over by a ride operator to the Chaplin because she was lost. The four of us stopped and prayed that she would be reunited with her mommy soon and it served as a good teaching moment to reinforce our Kapic Lost & Found procedures.

It was a "no-go nap day" (not good for the kids or Mommy!) but we made it home 10minutes before company arrived. Just in time to wash hands, throw out a table cloth and chop some fruit to go with the pizza.

What a day! Even though things don't always go as planned I'm so grateful for the opportunity to be a stay-at-home mom and enjoy these moments with our wonderful children!

Movie Night

Danny was out of town for his men's weekend in Oregon so I thought it would be fun for the kids and I to have a Movie Night. We don't watch a lot of TV in our home so our movie selection is fairly limited but we tracked down a few from a friend.

I've decided that children's movies aren't really for children anymore. When you watch things through the eyes of four year olds you see things differently. Choosing a movie ended up being quite a challenge!

We brought home Toy Story 3 and The Incredibles. I ruled out Toy Story 3 because as I thought more about it I remembered the evil bear and Chucky type doll. Let's face it, there were some scary toys in that movie not to mention the idea that the bear was going to let Andy and Buzz die.

Into the DVD player went The Incredibles which I remember being a fun movie. The first scene was bank robbers speeding down the street shooting machine guns. The kids immediately were saying, "This is too scary..." so it went off after one minutes.

Next up was Madagascar 2. Everyone was a little traumatized by the kidnapping of the baby lion from his father in the first three minutes of the movie. I tried to work around it by saying that the people were just taking the baby lion to another place. This time the movie was ejected after the animals were slingshotted out of tree and there was too much turbulence in the plane for our three to handle. The quote of the night was Parker saying, "I like the giraffe" which was followed by Fletcher responding, "Yeah, but I don't like the zebra because he said butt head." Eject!

Three strikes and we ended up with the stage version of My Little Pony. Not the Movie Night I had envisioned but my little peeps were thrilled. As expected, no nightmares.

I think next time we're going to try for movies with real people and reach back to the days of Marry Poppins.

Last Day of Swimming Lessons

I was a bit naive when we first started swimming lessons. I figured we would do a few swimming lessons and bam, the kids would be good to go. I must confess that I would get very antsy when the instructors would have the kids float on their backs, go bath and forth on kick boards and blow bubbles in the water (head in the water = not a problem for my "jump in" kids). These lessons have been my first foray into the world of spectator parent and I must admit it was a struggle for me. Several times I wanted to give the coaches suggestions or ask them their strategy. When you think of each lesson being $ you tend to want to speed up the process! Fortunately I made a friend at swimming. Laura has an older son on swim team (therefore, I consider her a professional swim mom) and twinsin the triplets class. She was able to talk me down and explain that learning to swim is a process and that good mechanics are important. Del Norte's goal is not just that your kids can get to the wall but that they learn good strokes and to swim well.

Once adjusted my expectations I calmed down a bit. Sure enough, week after week I saw amazing progress. At the outset of swimming lessons Bailey would sink and now she's an amazing swimmer who has taught herself the backstroke and butterfly (it's hilarious) in addition to all her versions of freestyle. Parker's skill is catching up to his enthusiasm. No one can quite match his belly flops into the pool and we're thrilled that he is now water safe. Fletcher's strokes continue to get stronger and stronger.

Above and beyond the swimming skills the children have acquired I'm most proud of their hard work, willingness to try new things, dedication to doing their best, respect for authority and encouragement of each other and their classmates. More than anything, I hope these are the qualities they will continue to exhibit their whole lives.

Coach Clarissa hangs with the bunch while they wait their turn

Coach Bailey and all the multiples (us + twins Justin & Clara) heading to the end of the pool for sit dives

Perfecting "The Float"

Stroke practice

Here are the kids on the last day of swimming...

Fletcher:

Parker:

Bailey:

Daily Tidbits

Daily tidbits...

Promotion Sunday: Our last day with Mrs. Dorothy. She's been an amazing Sunday School teacher who pours out so much into the lives of all the children. We made her a special table cloth of handprints that she said she is going to hang in her home.

August River Park Playgroup. Piper, Elise, Audrey, Bailey, Madeline, Jack, Fletcher, Parker & Conner

Danny's Bible time (+ kids)

Jack and the triplets coming up with a fun way to contain the crazy ZuZu pet

Girls night out for Sal's birthday

Playing with Space Monkey. The kids like to drag each other across the floor using his arms and legs for handles.

Odwalla faces. I think Parker looks a bit like the Joker


Bailey wanted to wear one of her dance outfits (compliments of her cousins) out to run errands. She was the fanciest girl in Safeway!

Chick-fil-A family dinner

Fletcher sportin' the Olympic Spirit.

Vandergriff Visit

We had some Texas friends in town! It was fun to get to hang out with Dean, Shanel and their family while in route to Tahoe.

Danny and Dean were best buds at UCLA and roommates in San Francisco so they go way back. It was fun to see all of our children having such a great time together!

Bailey made the fruit salad for dinner by herself! All I did was split the pineapple and she did the rest. I love having a kitchen helper!

We took the Vandergriffs down to the river for some evening exploration.

Bailey loved hanging with Kate. They were two peas in a pod.

The kiddos at breakfast

Danny and Dean

Mopping the Floor

With the triplets everything is a game! This is how we mop the floor in our house...

Scuba Bailey

Bailey has turned into a fish this summer. She loves nothing more than being in the pool. Actually we call her "The Shark" because she likes to swim back and forth along the side of the pool and practice all her strokes.

One afternoon at the wading pool she put on the snorkel gear and had the best time fishing out rings while not having to come up for a breath. She was so cute with her swim cap, snorkel, mask and fins!