California State Fair!

Let me start with apologizing... the husband dropped the backpack and broke the new camera... so no pictures from today's adventures.... and it was a doozy! Go figure, the one day we HAVE the camera, and it DOESN'T work! We headed to Sacramento for the State Fair, where we joined the Smith family for an afternoon of fun. We had a fun scavenger hunt in the garden area searching for the different color fruits and collecting stamps in our passports, after which we were rewarded with a piece of fruit and a juice box - a HUGE hit with the kids! Then we went to the "livestock nursery" area to see the new baby pigs etc. While looking at the baby pigs Daddy saw a worker run by talking in her walkie talkie saying one of the cows was giving birth. So we high tailed it over in time to see a hoof hanging... and 40 min or so later out was pulled a baby bull. The little boys had long since lost attention and so left with the daddy's to go collect corn dogs on the way to the beer garden, but us women stayed around to watch his birth! I am not sure if I was happy or not that at the last minute the mommy cow turned around so we couldn't see the actual birth of the baby, but we were there. Then we headed for a quick lunch and tour of the animal barns, followed by the petting zoo and then we headed to what the kids had asked for all day... the rides. On the way, Ian on daddy's shoulders fell asleep, and Lauren (riding backwards on our sit 'n stand stroller fell asleep with her head forward only caught by the shade.) We got quite a few "awwww" smiles as we headed back up the midway. All I could think was don't let Lauren slump enough to fall straight through and onto the ground, or Michael (with a dead weight resting on his head) to let go of those feet... and WHY don't we have a working camera for THIS kodak moment!!! So that was 2 moments I would have paid a pretty penny for a working camera today! We won't mention the detonation once we got back to the car and Lauren awoke in the transfer only to realize she WASN'T getting to ride any rides... or the half hour car ride of screaming... but it was a great time none the less, full of moments and memories we shall talk of for years to come!

First day of School!

Our big boys first day of Preschool! Now to figure out what the baby and I do 3 days a week in the empty house!

Fishing take 2

We had a great time at the lake again this weekend! We tried a different part than last weekend... a little cove further from the boat traffic and had a great time floating, swimming, chasing off the begging ducks and geese and playing in the mud! The water was a little chillier than I expected but once in it was great fun - until the kids lips started to turn blue. Then we jumped out for a picnic lunch which we defended from the birds and a little bit of mud and shore time, before getting back in for one last swim before heading home. Daddy tried fishing again this weekend, and again came up empty but he did try... he has a lot to overcome with 3 shrieking kids scaring away those fish! We're in countdown mode to our first camping trip, any advice or suggestions would be greatly appreciated for camping with toddlers!

look mom... I have monster feet!

Fishing Jenkinson Lake

Daddy has been in a fishing mood. He ordered a new pole, since he thoughtfully left all his gear with his in-laws at their Indiana lake, and that obviously doesn't help him here in California! And while he was thinking about it, decided that it was time for the toddlers to learn to fish too! I was a little weary, it's been a horrible week of both in LOTS of time outs for being Captain Hook and hurting each other, and there is so much damage they could do to each other with real hooks, poles, water, rocks, sand etc. But dad convinced us it was worth a try so we loaded up yesterday morning and headed to Jenkinson Lake in South El Dorado, it was a succes! We never caught anything or even had any nibbles, but that was due more to location than trying. There were very few people at the day use side of the campground in the morning, though it was getting busy as we were leaving around 1ish, so we timed our visit perfectly. Ian got bored first, but then we taught him to "skip" rocks and the idea and splash kept him busy trying for another hour. By the time Lauren got bored, we brought out the bubbles and mommy kept them occupied catching and popping bubbles up and down the beach while Daddy tried to catch a fish. The hard one was Gavin who just wanted to crawl and as the beach was all pebbles and rocks it was not conducive to that even with our heavy blanket. Next time I'll have to do a better job with entertaining him! We had so much fun and it was so beautiful we plan to go back next weekend with floats and swimsuits and do fishing in the morning and once bored head out for some in the lake time! Someday we'll have to try camping there too.

Second Set zoo pictures

A couple more for you to enjoy!

Sacramento Zoo with Mom-Mom & Pop-Pop

At this point we are so happy we bought a family membership to the zoo as we spent another great day enjoying the animals! The temperature was a little cooler so we had animals we had yet to see out and about - I was amazed the hyena was much bigger than I thought. The picture of Lauren and I is in the mister, though it's usually so warm it's just a cooler area of fog! The kids are still most excited about the "playground" when we first get there, then the animals and we finish with the carousel. This time Mom-Mom was generous and took them on the "train" too - though more pictures later once I get my camera and computer to get along again. For now, enjoy some of Mom-Mom's pictures of the zoo, next will be mine and some of the 4 year olds birthday party!

Keeping cool in 100+ degrees

What do you do when Daddy's away for the weekend and it's STILL 100+ degrees? Fill up the baby pool with cold hose water and freeze yourself! I must admit they only played for a half an hour, then the water got warm and Ripley was the only one who would go in. But, then they used their cups to water the corn, the strawberries, the herbs, the lemon trees, the squash, the tomatoes, the pumpkins, the watermelons, the egg plants, the beans... not sure what else dad has planted... but they watered it! I still say something is a little wacky, we had a pool in Chicago, we had a pool in Boston, but in HOT California.... we're requisitioning Ripley's pool to keep the kids cool!