Gotta Love the Fair!

The fair is one of those annual events where every bit of nutritional knowledge in my brain is disregarded and instead we indulge in the greasy, fried & sugar-coated. This year my selections included an enormous combo plate from the Greek Gourmet and a generous helping of the deep fried zucchini (that was the "vegetable" of my meal). The boys opted to share a corn dog and Will satisfied his curiosity of the Aussie Potato Wedges (note: they look better than they taste). However, even I, in my fair food revelry, could not bring myself to try this year's latest fair food creation: The Jelly-Filled Krispy Kreme Doughnut Chicken Sandwich. Who in their right mind thought that this would be a good idea?! Wasn't last year's deep fried Twinkie going too far? Of course, we couldn't just walk by this sign without seeing one of these things, so here is my brother-in-law Joe braving the first bite:
The boys also had a fun time checking out the animals. Here Ethan is delighted to discover that Luke is wearing a picture of a coy while looking at a live cow--amazing! When we took them to see the 6 week old piglets Ethan looked at one sleeping in the corner of the pen and exclaimed, "Oh, it's just like our Luke!" Not sure where that came from.

The bubble machine vendor was a hit.
Luke showed off some interesting gangster dance moves during dinner.
And, this could be my new favorite picture of the two boys: their first fair ride together sans Mom or Dad. Just look at the joy on Luke's face!

Halloween in July?

Here's our little pirate, complete with eye patch and a telescope (which continually got lifted up to the eye with the eye-patch, making this pirate's navigating skills a little impaired). Thank you to Grandma Bollard for bringing home the pirate garb from a trip to Alcatraz in San Francisco. ARRR!


And, showing his softer side, the week before Ethan dug up the bunny ears from our Easter decorations and decided to be a bunny for several hours (no easy feat to stay in character and bunny-hop around the room that long). He also--NO JOKE--ate this entire carrot before he was done. I guess this is one way to get your kid to eat his veggies.

Beth's Tag

Okay Beth, I know you've probably given up on me, but I'm making good on your tag of asking me to post 8 facts/habits about myself. I know I'm now supposed to tag 8 other people, but I'll just leave it open to anyone who wants to comment and tell me a few facts of their own.

1. I love to eat pasta--any kind, with almost any type of sauce. I actually crave carbs more than sweets (even chocolate!).

2. My mood is largely dependant on how much sleep I got the night before. I do not do well when sleep-deprived (making the first three months with a newborn a serious challenge).

3. I swam competitively for 7 years while growing up, spending 3 to 4 hours in the water six days a week. My favorite event was the 100 yard butterfly. I have a secret desire to join an adult swim league when my life actually allows time for such a thing.

4. I love to put on rock music and dance with my kids. Our current favorites for dancing: Stevie Wonder, Beach Boys, and Earth, Wind & Fire.

5. I knew I wanted to marry my husband after our first date.

6. My favorite place to be is at the beach. La Jolla Shores in San Diego is my favorite beach--beautiful views, decent boogie boarding, and hundreds of happy memories.

7. I have a habit of making lists--for everything. I have to feel organized. I am so list dependant that I cannot enter a grocery store without one--my mind will go completely blank and I seriously will not be able to walk out of there with the ingredients for even the simplest dinner.

8. I am deathly afraid of spiders--dumb, I know. But I can't seem to get over it and am probably passing on this phobia to my kids every time I scream at one in our house.

More Mashball Mama!

(No, this is NOT me!)

Who knew that the most exciting thing to enter Ethan's world was sitting, collecting dust, all winter in our storage closet? On Saturday we went to the beach and threw in our Smashball set, beginning Ethan's latest obsession. Nevermind that the wooden paddle is too heavy for him to properly hold upright, or the ball too small for him to have a chance of actually making contact. It's enough just to try (and try, and try). And if he happens to hit the ball 1 out of every 10 attempts, then life is good. Of course, all this trying cannot be attempted without Mom's constant attention, so I spend a portion of Luke's precious nap time everyday outside on the patio helping my two-year-old master "mashball." I had better be getting a good tan!

Although I don't have any video of the smashball action yet, this video below shows Ethan practicing his baseball skills--a 2 year-old level of hand-eye coordination can be dangerous! Luckily Luke has better luck with the basketball.

Life is Good at the Beach

So here we are, back on the blog, semi-recovered from our computer crash and trying to readjust to our new computer. These are the only new pictures I've been able to download so far, but they basically document what we've been up to during the month of July: spending as much time as possible outside with family & friends. After two summers in maternity bathing suits, and another with a crawling, sand-eating baby, 2007 is finally turning into my Summer of fun. We rotate between the beach, swimming pool, Woodbridge Lagoon, and the park--leaving me with two little exhausted nappers each afternoon (making all of my sunscreen lathering efforts, sand-toy bag hauling, and endless beach towel washing 100% worth it). More postings to come when I'm not so tired of trying to figure out how to install new software, etc. on this machine.

Internet Issues!

For the second time in the 3 years our computer has crashed! This time I was smart enough to have all my pictures backed up. Stay tuned for updates when I have my own home computer up and running again . . . wish us luck!

Kids Are Fun - Part II

So it may be hard to tell, but those little silver objects on the desk are a pair of earrings I've been missing for a month. I've also been missing having a printer that doesn't constantly jam for the last month, but I didn't realize the two had anything to do with each other! What would inspire one of my children to lodge these earrings into the underside of our printer, I do not know (you have to give them credit for keeping the pair intact though). Maybe it's the same instinct that caused Luke to hide his only pair of sandals in the back of a drawer in our living room furniture, which I did not discover until after I had ordered a second pair of sandals for him online just hours before. So beware to all object pairs in our home: socks, salad servers, swim floaties, whatever they can get their hands on--they all might be at risk next!