Old Town

We went to Old Town today for the commemoration of the Mormon Battalion. My parents and my two nieces and nephew came down to enjoy the experience with us. We had a lot of fun. I met some missionaries from Samoa. We watched a cannon and muskets being fired. The girls made dolls. My mom churned butter.We all cooked our own biscuits over a fire and my personal favorite was the manual clothes washing. All the kids really got into that. One of my nieces even said that we should get rid of our washing machines. Fat chance! It was a beautiful warm day and lots of fun was had. We also went through some of the old buildings around Old Town. That was fascinating too. Enjoy the pictures.

Noah had the Pinewood Derby the other night. Here are the pictures from that as well. There weren't to many because Damon was busy and I was at home with Lily. Sorry Noah. He did a great job on his very first car.

Thar she blows!!

Adam and I went on a field trip with his class last Friday. We went on a whale watching tour. I was so excited about going. Then I woke up Friday morning to rain. I figured the trip would be cancelled. NOPE! It was cold and wet, but we were able to see a grey whale and it's calf. That was pretty cool. We also saw dolphins and sea lions. We see those all the time so it wasn't as cool. The captain ended up bringing us back to shore and hour earlier. I was very grateful for that. I came home put on my warm clothes and had hot cocoa. Whenever the whale blew out the blowhole Adam would yell, "Thar she blows". It was quite humorous. I recommend this field trip to anyone. Just go on a sunny day.

I taught Lily's preschool last week and we learned about baking. We made baker's hats and baked gingerbread cupcakes after reading The Gingerbread Man. Then on Thursday we went on a field trip to Krispy Kreme. It was great. They treated the kids really well and they not only got to see how donuts are made, but how they start out and they got to make their own sprinkle donuts. It was a lot of fun.

A trip to the Cove

Today was Civil Rights Day. What that really means to me is another day off from school. We had planned to do nothing, but a few minor project around the house. Nice, relaxing, low key day. My sister called Sunday afternoon and said she wanted to come down with her kids and go to the tide pools. New plans were made. Laundry was started early and the house was cleaned. So much for my nice relaxing day, but we love having our family come down to visit. My kids enjoy playing with their cousins.

So we headed on down to La Jolla Cove to go look at the tide pools. Unfortunately we arrived right as the tide finished going out and then immediately started coming back in. We did see some crabs and sea anemones and lots of barnacles. It wasn't a completely wasted tide pool visit. The kids all liked standing on the edge of the rocks and watching the big waves (which have been rather huge lately) crash into the rocks and make big splashes. They all loved it when they got sprayed.

After the tide pools we walked down to seal beach to enjoy watching the California seals lounge on the side and rocks. The smell finally drove us away. The seals at Sea World don't smell half as bad as the ones in nature. It must be their diet. The kids were more excited to play with the sand then they were to watch the seals. At least as parents we try.

We headed back to my house for a big late lunch of hamburgers and hot dogs. My family has left now, the house is all clean and the kids are even ready for bed. Yippie! I am all ready for 24 now. I love living in Southern California. It feels like summer. I forget it is January.

A Day on the Harbor

Our lovely summer weather continues so we headed on down to the harbor this morning and enjoyed the sights and smells of being near the water. We went on a quick harbor cruise over to Coronado Island. When we got back we were lured in by a bicycle suri driver and he took us back to Seaport Village. The kids thought that was way cooler than walking back. At the village we rode on a carousel and then had lunch down by the water. There are many perks to living in San Diego. Sometimes you have to be more like a tourist to find them.

More ant misadventures last night. I came in to the kitchen about 15 minutes before piano started yesterday afternoon and found ants all over the kitchen sink. The one place they haven't been. I followed their trail and found them in my cupboard where I keep a lot of my cooking stuff. On a closer look I found hundreds of them inside the waffle iron. I grabbed it, put it in the sink and started running water over it only to remember that one shouldn't get waffle irons wet. Oh well. It was covered in ants. It looked like it was moving. So Noah was sucking ants up with the vacuum and I was trying to wash off all the dishes to make sure they were ant free. I called Damon who was told he needed to come home immediately. I cancelled my piano lessons and continued to clean. Dinner was not going to be cooked in my kitchen so we decided to head out. It was 6pm. I glanced up at my pantry cupboards when we were walking out and saw ants on the door. Another hour was spent taking all the food out of the pantry and taking care of those ants. Much anger and frustration. So by 7pm we were all pretty hungry and annoyed. I had been meaning to go through the pantry and clean it out so I guess the ants were just motivating me to do that. The ant guy came out today (which is why we were out all morning) and sprayed again. Hopefully we won't see them again, but I am not holding my breathe. So all my dishes and cookware are on the counter tops in the kitchen and all my pantry food is on my kitchen table. We are having sandwiches for dinner tonight.

Also yesterday the boys and I were riding our bike around Miramar Lake and Noah crashed. I didn't take any pictures, silly me, but you can see some of the damage in the pictures from today's field trip.

Cabrillo National Monument

The kids and I headed off to the furthest point west in San Diego and visited the Cabrillo National Monument. We had never been there and thought it would be nice. The weather is like summer so we figured it would be a nice day for the coast.

For those of you who don't know, Cabrillo was a Spanish explorer who sailed from Mexico to San Diego Bay in 1542. He was the first European in San Diego. We also visited the light house and the tide pools. Unfortunately the tide was in so we couldn't get to the tide pools, but we had a nice picnic lunch and watched the waves come in. It is gray whale migrating season so we were hoping to spot some, but all we saw were some dolphins. We also saw two submarines, some sail boats and 2 destroyers. One was docked, but the other went right past us. The kids all thought that was great. Mom was just happy with a fun filled educational activity. Next activity... Harbor Cruise.

Field Trips

I am trying to make the kids time off school more enjoyable. I would prefer to spend it on a couch reading, but they don't thing that is very fun. On Tuesday we went to Balboa Park to enjoy their free museum day. We went to the Fleet Science Center and the Model Railroad Museum. We ran into a lot of kids from school so I guess I wasn't the only one with a brilliant idea. We had lunch at the park afterwards. The weather has been great so it is fun to be outdoors.

On a much sadder note, last night while I was finishing up my Tuesday Night Biggest Loser walk, I heard a pop on my treadmill. I thought to myself, "That didn't sound very good". I looked underneath and sure enough a piece had broken. After some online research I found it is a piece that can not be replaced. I am so near tears about it. I have had the machine for 4 years and I love it. I guess a new one will be joining our family soon. So here's to you, oh fabulous treadmill, for keeping me in shape, keeping me exercising during Oregon's wet winters, or when it was to dark outside to run by myself. I shall miss you.

The New Year, & some of the old...

Updike Reunion 2008/9

We have been happily busy with life the past week. On the 29th of December my family came down to San Diego (that's a nice change) and went to the New Children's Museum. The kids loved the rock wall and the pillow fight room. We came over to our house after that and played at Jerabek park. Dinner was fun, but a little crowded. It was nice when the family festivities were done for the day that we didn't have to drive home.

During all the holiday merry making we had a baby blessing (Dec 28th) where our new nephew was blessed. It was nice to finally be all together for that special occasion. My dad was all excited to have his 4 granddaughters together. The youngest one actually looks more like my baby pictures than my own kids do. She was so cute and I loved spending some time with her. We haven't seen my brother's family since she joined it. (look pookie, your on my blog!)

Lily has been sick off and on for a month so we have been lying low. Noah was able to go to Redlands with his cousins. We drove up for New Year's Eve and stayed there until the 2nd. The kids brought in the New Year from 8-9pm with smores in the fire pit, crackers (not the food), a game of Disney Scene It, and watching the ball drop. Then they went to bed. The adult food came out with fun drinks and lots of calories. We played games all night and watched the ball drop at midnight.

My new year started with a 6.1 mile run at 7:30am. It was hard and I really thought I would die or stop or walk, but the person I ran with is kind of a zealot and kept me going. We finished it in 51.04 minutes. His goal for me was sub 50 minutes, but the last half mile or so I really slowed down. During the run he kept telling me the distance and I was all excited when he said 4.1 until later when I realized he was telling me distances in kilometers and not miles. That was a bit of a blow, but I still finished. I was dead the rest of the day. We just played at my sister's for the rest of the weekend and ate lots of food. Damon joined my sister, brother in law and the zealot on a bike ride to Huntington Beach on the 2nd. He was dead the rest of the day after they got back. Thanks to my sister and brother in law for hosting all of us at her house. We had fun.

I wish school was starting for us like the rest of you, but alas, We still have 3 weeks left of break. I am sure there will be posts about it later.

Picture of Damon's Parents and us from Christmas Eve

Here are our pictures from our ant field trip.