Crazy Grandparents

Our two grandsons ( 3 yrs & 16 mos) spent an afternoon with us at our home. It's freezing cold outside so we're stuck inside. What to do?

Yep, bring the toy inside. That's the Harley Big Wheel, with flashing lights, horns, music, and various loud noises.

We got the motorcycle for Ezra, well he was the only one way back then. He is sharing it with Theo now. At least he's learning to share with Theo. First E rode it, then T got on it...until E sat on it too and squished T and I rescued T by lifting him up and off of it, and then T was miffed that his brother did this, and then I had to snuggle T and kiss him repeatedly on his ears and neck while saying sweet Grandma things about how marvelous he is.

Then they moved on to have T follow E and push him along. Oh, and please notice the cute sweaters. As E likes to "match" with his baby. He told me they bought them at Target.

And what is going on with my camera? I thought it was my lens, but now I'm pretty sure it's the camera.

Hair....don't like it when it gets in the eyes...a bit too Bieber if you ask me. Oh, you didn't ask me?

The boys haul down the hallway and they may have crashed in to the door once or twice. Which is completely crazy if you knew how much we paid for the solid wood doors that go perfectly in our home. Oh, and then there were the times that the wheel dragged along the wall as they were racing....no worries, we'll have that painted in the Spring. See? We are crazy grandparents. This would NEVER have happened when we were simply parents.

Family Night

We have a new tradition. I didn't want to tell you about it until I believed it really had become a tradition. Since we've been doing this for a couple of months now, I thought that I'd share.

I didn't think of this entirely on my own. When we first worked together, our partners were both Mormons and went home for a Family Night the same night of the week, each week, even during busy season. We weren't big fans then because while they were home with their families, we were at work. Then I have a friend who has a family night. She comes home early from work and prepares a big dinner. All of her children and grandchildren come over every week, three generations. They all live nearby, but this is the only time they're all together at the same time. I thought "Great idea, I can copy that", so I did. Oh, and we include a fourth generation!

We have had many a delicious meal. Tonight's may have been the absolute best. We're finding many of the recipes off of Pinterest. We had the best good old fashioned Yankee Pot Roast, mashed potatoes (using a new way of preparation thanks to Pioneer Woman), and roasted broccoli. We need to tweak the broccoli recipe, it was a bit too tangy.

After dinner we have entertainment. This is mostly the boys.....reading books, chasing them around, giving them baths. By the time the boys are clean and in PJs, things are cleaned up and we have dessert. Then everyone leaves with their leftovers and we grab a glass of wine, sit on the sofa, and smile.

Elephant Seal Walking Tour

There is so much that is out of the norm with today's adventure. The first thing is my husband. He would NEVER take off a weekday in January. EVER. He is a VERY responsible CPA and this is the very beginning of a crazy busy time. He is so disciplined and responsible, my bizarro opposite or my model, sometimes I get so confused.

I have longed to go to Ano Nuevo and see the Elephant Seals up close and personal. I shared this with my husband (of over three decades) and he was surprised. He had never heard of the Elephant Seals coming to a local beach and did not know of my desire. I'm pretty sure we're doing something wrong. Why did he not know of my desire? And how could he not have heard about the Elephant Seals appearing each year at Ano Nuevo?

As I was sitting next to him, surfing how to make reservations for the walking tours (during the mating season you must have a reservation to walk among the seals) he said that he could go any day before January 8th. So I booked January 7th.  The fee is $7 per person and then a $10 parking fee, such a deal.

Today turned out to be a lovely winter day in California, sunny and around 55 degrees. It was foggy when we left at 10 am, wild waves when we hit Pescadero, but sunny with a very slight breeze when we arrived at Ano Nuevo around noon. We checked in and got our tickets, then took our picnic lunch to one of the tables. We ate quickly, used the facilities, and then went to meet our group. You need to check-in to get your tickets about half an hour before the time because it takes about 30 minutes to hike to the staging area. Well, most people take 30 minutes. We walk quickly so it was less than 15 minutes. The groups are limited to 20, but we got lucky and we were in a group of 9. We did see much larger groups, some were school groups.

A docent leads the group down to where the seals are located, stopping to tell you about the area. Indians lived here and of course were wonderful stewards of the land...and we're so blessed that we didn't make the seals totally extinct in spite of our greed and stupidity. We listened and silently rolled our eyes.  When you get to the seals, the ranger takes over.

If anyone knows why I'm getting that black border on top of some of my photos, please comment. I thought it was that my old lens was broken, but this is the new lens. What gives?

The males arrive around Thanksgiving and the females around Christmas. The pups are born within 5 days of the female arriving. We think we saw a brand new pup, since the sea gulls were circling and they get excited at the time of birth (they like to clean up afterwards). We saw elephant sex, new babies, screaming females, and plenty of seals just laying around. When we say laying around, we mean laying around...they look like giant fat blobs. And we mean GIANT. Even the pups are huge. We were on the early stages of all the activities, seems later in February is when more action happens.

We were walking right by them, but I would suggest you bring binoculars and a zoom lens.

The total walk time (getting to and from the staging area along with the tour) is at least three hours and three miles. Part of the walk is in the sand. I would not take a small child on this tour, or someone who is not in shape. It would be particularly difficult if the weather wasn't as wonderful as we had.

If you live in the San Francisco Bay Area and do not do this, HUGE FAIL.

Wedding Time!

Our niece was married just before Christmas. Danielle & Forest have been dating for YEARS! And engineer and a chemist....took them forever to figure romance thing out.

We headed up to wine country on a stormy day. Our route was detoured because the road was flooded. Not that unusual in the area when it rains, but it has been pouring with high winds for days. With the timing, we had allowed time for a pre-wedding lunch. We dined at the girl and the fig which is a top rated restaurant located a block from the Square in Sonoma. We didn't have reservations and lucked out with a table on the patio. This wasn't bad since it is entirely enclosed in a plastic tent with hot air coming in at our feet via a noisy machine. MIL was a trooper, she hiked the half block in. We snagged a parking spot right in front to pick her up when we left. Again, this is miraculous for this area. We were appreciating everything.

The wedding was just up the street. Interesting building. It's a First Congregationalist/United Church of Christ that shares the building with a Jewish Temple. Probably the people that established this place years ago did not have this in mind when it was built. They most likely aged and faded away without growing the next generations. Anyway, the building is well used. Great deal for $650. It allows the reception on site and you can serve alcohol...SCORE!!!

 Look at the Groom's face, that is one happy guy. He should be ecstatic because he's marrying a wonderful young woman. And check at the dress...it is fabulous and she rocked it.

 The decorations were simple and lovely. They had a timeline with photos of them as children and while they were dating....over the 9+ years....LOTS of photos.

 Here are a few family shots...can you figure who is who?

There was a small "cutting" cake and then cupcakes...the BEST cupcakes EVER.

Wishing a Happily Ever After to Danielle and Forest!!!