An Actual Studio Photo

I'm so glad that Tori's mom bought a photo session for a group photo. With a family this size, you need professional help!

Studio photos seem more and more rare these days, but I really like them. 

I present to you the Rogers Thanksgiving 2013 Family Photo!

Halloween 2013

This is the first year we've let one of our kids choose what they want to be for Halloween. Usually we give them a list of acceptable options and they pick within that, but Zadie really wanted to do her own thing. She wanted to make her own costume so she spent about two weeks making her robot outfit and finding random bits of silly stuff to glue gun onto the box.

We'll probably have to stop being so controlling about Halloween costumes soon, but Tori pretty much requires that they either use their imagination or let us use it on their behalf. We vetoed Skip's desire to be Batman and Charlie's desire to be Superman -- sorry, no superheroes! But when they older and care more, I promise we'll cede the battle. At this point they feel passionately about it for five minutes and then forget all about it.

Skip's In-N-Out costume was Tori's idea, of course while we were dining at that fine establishment. I chose this photo of the back of Skip because it shows she even got the oversized safety pin for the apron (for those poor out-of-staters who don't have In-N-Out Burger, it's a key part of the uniform!). He looked pretty legit. She made the red apron out of a red re-usable bag and just cut out the bottom and tied it around his wait with the arms from the bag. She also got a little In-N-Out lapel pin.

Charlie was the Tin Man this year, which is a homemade costume that Zadie wore twice and Skip has worn once. We were just thankful he actually agreed to keep the thing on because he's pretty stubborn about wearing costumes (and everything else!).

Tori's mom Linda came down from Washington to celebrate her favorite holiday with us. Sure wish I had asked her to get in the photos!

Granddaddy Hal In Effect!

For a variety of reasons, I haven't been seeing as much of my parents that past six months as I would have liked, so I texted them Thursday and asked if they could come up this weekend. As they were mulling it over, I texted my dad that, though I wasn't trying to lay a guilt trip, Saturday night was the school's Father/Daughter dance and Zadie was really hoping he would come and take her to it! I think that may have sealed the deal.

My dad took his role very seriously. Both he and Zadie dressed up nicely and apparently they had a great time. To our utter surprise, Zadie danced all night long and even on stage (none of our kids are into dancing in public). Zadie actually said she was fine with Tori or I taking her to the dance and that she wouldn't be embarrassed (I'm sure that's coming in a few years!), but she was much more excited to have my dad take her.

Skip was devastated when he learned that he was going to be left out of the whole experience since he's not a student at the school. He cried and cried, until I told him we could call my dad and ask him if we would take Skip on a "special trip." So my dad took Skip out to breakfast early this morning and they got all decked out in cowboy gear -- those are Skip's brand-new chaps that my parents just gave him.

The kids were very happy to have these special experiences with my dad. Sorry to leave you out of this post, Mom, but this one was all about Dad. You know how the kids adore you!

5 Things to Remember About Mary Alice

So much has happened over the 4+ months since I last blogged. I won't try to capture all of it, but I do want to share that my dear grandma passed away. Despite growing up about 1500 miles away from her home in East Texas, I was very fortunate to have spent significant amounts of my childhood and adulthood with her and my granddaddy (thank you, parents, for making this a priority even when money was tight!).

My sister and I were going to give separate eulogies at her funeral back in July, but unfortunately the priest, said there was only time for one of us. Mine was a bit shorter than Kim's and had combined thoughts from other family members, so Kim graciously let me speak. Kim was going to share a version of this wonderful tribute she wrote to my grandma, which really captures our childhood time in East Texas.

I scratched out the eulogy on a notepad that's been sitting on the kitchen hutch and has since been scribbled over by the kids, so I figured I should write it down here so that I can keep it for posterity's sake (this is just an approximation since I just jotted down a few notes).

I started off the eulogy by explaining that family members had emailed my sister and I with some of their thoughts and memories of my grandma. I reflected on those and also my own experiences and felt really inadequate as a mother, wife, and member of society. When people die, it's pretty routine to lionize them and then carry on with our lives, but I really wanted to ponder what was so special about Grandma and use it to help me figure out how to better live my own life.

So I made a list. For myself and for everyone sitting in the church (and now for readers of this blog). I think Grandma would have appreciated a list!

5 Things to Remember About Mary Alice

#1: She had a grand sense of adventure.
--Most people wouldn't have thought it was particularly special to live near Rusk State Mental Hospital, but this location was a source of endless adventure for my grandma. When my aunt Kay worked there in high school, Grandma delighted in inviting residents over for lunch, including some who had criminal records. She also loved pretending to get lost in the East Texas woods just as she told us about an escaped resident that was last seen right in that vicinity. She enjoyed scaring the heck out of her kids and grandkids and could be very theatrical.
--When Grandma was 73 years old, she visited me in rural China. Talk about a foreign experience! But she stayed in my Peace Corps town, rode all the buses (some with chickens) and the trains, and gladly tried all kinds of new foods. She was a delight to host. Then she returned to her East Texas town and told everyone who would listen about what nice people those Chinese are! I imagine she got some funny looks.

#2: Grandma loved and appreciated everyone's story.
--Whether it was a resident at Rusk State Mental Hospital or someone she'd just met, she wanted to know and understand people's stories. And she always saw the best in people.
--In the history of the world, I'm not sure anyone has ever derived more pleasure from people-watching or eavesdropping than my grandma. I know that eavesdropping has kind of a negative connotation (and I'm sure she would object to me using that word), but Grandma was really just trying to understand people. In a restaurant, she was even known to shush her dining companion so that she could lean her chair back a little bit and hear a particular interesting tidbit from a stranger.
--Grandma visited me and my sister in San Francisco right before the start of the Iraq war in 2003 and we took her to a huge anti-war protest with about 100,000 people in the streets. Holy moly, did she love that. I'm not real sure what her stance on the war was, but she could appreciate an interesting spectacle more than most. The streets of San Francisco were filled with music, protesters, and crazy characters -- just a tad different than her average weekend in Texas. The trains were so crowded that my sister and I would yell out, "Excuse me, old lady coming through! Old lady coming through!" and just push our way in until we found her a seat. She thought that was hilarious.

#3: She was one of the hardest-working people you'll ever meet.
--My aunt Kay said in an email that my grandma "valued industry," which is quite an understatement! She was raised on a dairy farm in East Texas and begged her dad to let her milk the cows like her brothers. He soon relented, and then she was on the hook for all the hard work, not to mention waking up very early every single morning. But she didn't regret it -- her nickname was "Boots" because she was a tomboy who loved wearing boots and riding horses.
--Grandma raised six kids, kept an incredibly tidy home (some might say obsessively clean!), and never complained about a thing. I know that's the sort of thing you say after someone dies to make them seem like an angel, but I'm not exaggerating -- it's been verified by her kids! One of her kids' strongest memories was about how Grandma told them that there's always someone who has it worse than you do.
--Grandma had that Great Depression work ethic of "Waste not, want not." In junior high I fancied myself a big environmentalist and even had a Greenpeace sweatshirt about saving the whales. Then I remember watching her washing her used tinfoil and re-folding it so that she could use it again. I realized that, in so many ways, I could learn a lot about not being wasteful from this East Texas lady who didn't have much in common with those Greenpeace protesters.

#4: She took joy in the simple things.
--One of the things that kept surfacing in the emails I received from family is how good Grandma was at living in the moment. I used to be much better about this, but since I know have more responsibilities, I've noticed I'm not very good at this anymore. But that never stopped Grandma!
--Grandma loved listening to the radio, whether that was country music or a call-in radio show like Let's Talk (listening with her to all the oddball stuff that people tried to sell on the radio is one of my favorite memories). Grandma also loved a good burger more than anyone I know. She loved long drives on country roads. She loved Blue Bell ice cream (though she never really owned up to this one -- she'd always say she bought it for someone else!). And Grandma loved a good case of the giggles. I wonder when the last time was that I had tears streaming down my face because I had the giggles so bad...

#5: Grandma was a selfless woman.
--My aunt Kay shared a story about how she didn't have a dress to wear to a dance in high school and how Grandma stayed up late at night making her a beautiful dress that was nicer than all the other store-bought dresses the other girls wore. And how Grandma was so happy to give that gift.
--When a neighbor was suffering from an alcohol problem, Grandma took care of her newborn baby for six months while the woman recovered. This in addition to all the kids she had of her own. Can you imagine that kind of love and generosity?

So there you have it. Those are the five things I want to always remember about my grandma. Reflecting on just what made my grandma so special makes me feel closer to her. And makes me want to emulate her.

Hope you learned a thing or two from Mary Alice's life.

Scavenging with Grandma Linda

She spent a whole month here and this is the best photo we have! Hanging out at Grandma Linda's favorite spot...

Linda came to visit for a whole month recently, thanks to the birth of my new nephew (welcome to the world, Wyatt!). We didn't get to see her much during the week since we live way out in the suburbs, but on the weekends we got to soak up our Grandma Linda time.

Zadie has a special relationship with both of her grandmas. She talks about why she loves both of them and her reasons are very different. When it comes to Grandma Linda, she loves bike rides, beach adventures, international travel, going to garage sales, and scavenging through people's trash together. Zadie and Linda both love the thrill of the hunt, and there are some good finds in well-to-do beach communities. They found some great beach chairs (with the tags on!), two nice kid bikes, balloons, fishing line, and so much more!

Zadie and Linda also share an interest in the divine. Once when they returned from a bike ride, Linda told me that Zadie had asked her all kinds of interesting questions about Jesus and what forgiveness means. We called Linda just now to find out what the specific questions were, but none of us can remember -- take our word for it that they were very interesting!

Linda is always saying how Zadie is so fun to talk with and to share adventures with and what a great travel partner she would make. Like I mentioned in my last post, it's always nice when people have wonderful things to say about your children because it makes you appreciate them so much more!

Skip Thinks He's Getting a Horse for His Birthday

Skip's first time on a horse. This was Sleepy.

Zadie with my dad's cousin Mark, who owns a working ranch and is a roper with excellent roping horses (that hopefully my kids' didn't screw up!)

I think I've mentioned before that Skip really think he's a cowboy. My dad outfits him with Wranglers, boots, and cowboy shirts and I have to admit he pulls it off pretty well. He's got the swagger and everything. Sadly for him, he lives in L.A. with parents who have zero equestrian ties and so he's about as far off from being a cowboy as he can get. I feel kind of worried about when that reality sets in.

He actually had his first experience "riding" a horse when my parents took the kids to the ranch recently (I think Zadie sat on a horse when she was younger for a bit). My dad's cousin Mark and his wife were kind enough to go through a great deal of hassle and hauled horses down from their ranch to meet up with Skip and Zadie and their cousins. And then they let all the kids take turns riding the horses in the corral.

Both Skip and Zadie absolutely loved this experience and it was the highlight of their whole trip. They came home talking about good ol' Walter and Sleepy, their two favorite horses.

Now Skip thinks he's getting a horse for his birthday. My dad thinks it's karma since I badgered my parents so much about buying me a horse. I was very persistent and truly couldn't understand how they could stand in the way of my life's calling. Not to mention my older brother had a horse named Lightning when I was very little (maybe someday I'll devote a blog post to all the really cool experiences my older brother got to have that I'm still very jealous of!). Anyway, I've been trying to explain to Skip that there's no way in the world that he's getting a horse for his birthday, so hopefully he won't be disappointed.

If so, I blame my father.

Skip and Zadie in South Texas

The kids love cruising around in my parents' electric golf cart. He even lets them drive!

Skip loves his Granddaddy Hal. This is the two of them at Max's Cafe in Tilden, Texas.

Wow, it's been a very long time since I've posted. I wanted to post some nice photos from Skip and Zadie's trip to the ranch with my parents, but getting those photos off my mom's camera (which is in San Diego) proved to be quite the challenge. So then I just got in a rut and stopped posting. But I'm just going to post some cell phone photos and hope this conveys some of the trip.

What a special experience for Skip and Zadie to be taken to the ranch with their grandparents. And with their cousins Sophie and Izzy, too!

My parents spent four days with them in Texas (and a few more before that in San Diego) and the kids had  a great time going on rides, playing with other family members, having water gun fights, and riding horses (more on that soon).

It makes me very happy that my kids get these very special opportunities to be with their grandparents and to be connected to this piece of land that's been in the family for so long.

Granddaddy Hal's Influence

My dad imparting his fishing expertise to Zadie.

The fishing gang. Tori stayed home with Charlie while he napped.

I like how my dad takes his role as one of my kids' male role models very seriously. Last fall when they were babysitting our three kids for our anniversary, my dad wanted to play catch with Skip and was very disturbed that Skip is terrible at catching a ball. He asked my mom whether that was normal and apparently even Googled it. Something about my dad being driven to Google "normal age for boy to catch ball" just makes me die laughing. It's very sweet that he's so concerned about the matter. (Just for the record, Skip is really athletic but is so boisterous that he hasn't shown much interest in the focus required to actually catch a ball. But I'm determined that my kids will be well-prepared in the sports department and won't suffer from not having a dad to play catch with -- Tori and I both love sports!).

It was with these manly mentor intentions in mind that my dad really wanted to take our kids fishing at a little trout pond near our house that I had told him about. My dad was really intent on doing this fishing thing right and making sure my kids could catch a fish. Everyone around us was catching fish and for some reason we weren't having any luck, but my parents (especially my dad) were determined to catch one for the kids. You can see how serious my dad looks in the photo above.

My mom actually caught the first fish (she grew up in Alaska catching boatloads of fish!) and then finally my dad caught one. Everyone caught one except my poor nephew, who was quite frustrated. Skip and Zadie couldn't hook the fish, but they could bring them in once they were already on the line, which was triumph enough for them.

So mission accomplished. Those were some seriously expensive trout, but my dad got to give the kids a fishing lesson and I think the adults enjoyed it even more than the kids!

The Rogers Come to Town

Unfortunately I don't have a photo of the whole gang together, but this was the thank-you photo the Rogers sent  in appreciation for my parents lending their RV for the visit.

We typically go to the Pacific Northwest when it's time to celebrate the holidays with Tori's family since the majority of her siblings now live there. There's a certain charm to spending the holidays in colder weather, but I wouldn't say that's the case when you have small children. Being cooped up in the house because of bad weather gets a bit overwhelming when you have little kids that need to get their wiggles out, but then trying to properly dress them for freezing weather is a drag (especially when it takes you 20 minutes to get the three kids dressed and they end up coming back in the house after 5 minutes!).

So this year we were pretty happy about the fact that Tori's family was going to be coming to L.A. for Christmas! If given the choice between a white Christmas and a sunny Christmas, I'll definitely take the sunny Christmas.

Tori is one of five siblings and, combined with their kids, that's a whole slew of folks. I admit I made lots of jokes to my co-workers about having a huge group of in-laws come visit for 16 days. People were quite impressed with that number! But it was a bit of an exaggeration because the 16 days ended up being spent all over Southern California and I think there were only three nights at our house (not that I mind having family!). And I opted out for the last leg of the trip (to their dad's house in the Central Valley) because I wanted to go see my parents and sister. The Central Valley portion of the trip featured 14 children five and under, though I admit that the Central Valley contingent of kids are perfectly behaved (unlike my own kids!).

All in all, it was a great visit. I love to see our kids enjoying their time with their cousins, especially when the older cousins are good about entertaining the young ones. And of course I enjoy spending time with the adults, especially my mother-in-law, who I wish we could spend more time with. The only challenge is when all the kids and the adults are heaped together into one big mass of humanity for long periods of time. That's when it's a good time for me to volunteer to go to the grocery store and have some quiet time!

Grandma Linda on the Trampoline

I don't know if there are a lot of grandmas out there genuinely excited about trampolines.  But Grandma Linda isn't your regular grandma!

Linda came for a visit during the week of Halloween (she was the driving force behind us going to see The Book of Mormon).  Especially now that she's very busy helping raise Zach's kids, it's an even more special treat when we get to see her and have her all to ourselves.  We got in a few fun outdoor activities in the park where I work, including a beautiful bike ride and picnic, as well as a night hike looking for owls.  We forgot to bring flashlights and we didn't see any owls, but it was still cool.  While I was at work she and Tori also managed a few amazing beach days, which is great considering the time of year.

Special Visit from Hal and Denise

We had some very special guests this weekend.  My parents have been very busy over the past several months, selling two houses and moving into a new home and a new community.  So this was actually the first time we've hosted them in our new home since we moved here (though I should say that they came up and helped me move before Tori and the kids returned from Costa Rica!).  

They arrived Friday afternoon and took us to a nearby alehouse that we like.  It was the first time in a long time that we've gone out to eat with the kids, and I think they did pretty well.  Then Saturday morning they wanted to see Zadie's soccer game -- she hustled and scored a few goals, so she was quite proud of herself.    And then I took them by our park's new visitor center and we ate fresh strawberries and blackberries underneath some big oak trees.

Here's to many more visits up this way!

6 Days with the Grandparents!

Trying out the tree in the front yard of my parents' new house.  Skip and Zadie are on the left and their cousins Izzy and Sophie are on the right.

As soon as Tori found out I was traveling to Washington, D.C. for a work trip, she started scheming about how she could join me.  My parents agreed to watch Skip and Zadie from Wednesday through Sunday, so we were very excited about that.  Tori was originally planning on taking Charlie with her and touring him around, but then she decided to ask her sister if she would watch Charlie during that time (she has a boy who gets along well with Charlie).  So it ended up that Tori got her big trip to D.C. and she got it kid-free!

We both had a great time.  Although I was working during the day, it was nice to stay in a hotel room (which we never do on our own dime) and to get out on dates at night.  And one of Tori's best friends lives in D.C. so we stayed with her family over the weekend and had a great dinner party with other Peace Corps friends.

Obviously while you're away from your kids you wonder how they're doing, so I was really happy to hear that Skip and Zadie were really well-behaved for my parents and were getting along well their cousins.  Big relief.  They were staying at my parents' new house in Solana Beach and were wearing themselves out at the beach everyday.  Skip has always been an early riser -- he wakes up between 6:00 and 6:30 a.m. every single day -- but he was so worn out from his daily activities (and not taking a nap) that he woke up between 9:00 and 11:00 a.m. each morning.  My parents had to check on him to make sure he was still breathing!

I was most nervous about how Charlie would do since he's not exactly a roll-with-the-punches kind of baby.  Apparently he woke up crying in the middle of the first night, but after that was totally fine and got along great with his cousin Gavin.  

So, many thanks to my parents and my sister-in-law Katie for watching our kids and making this very special trip happen.  It was fun to see the kids after their time away and see them so excited to tell us all about what they had been doing (well, Charlie didn't have a lot to say but he clearly enjoyed himself!).  

Exploring the Olympic Peninsula

I'm nearing the end of my 10-day vacation in Seattle and (mostly) the Olympic Peninsula town of Port Angeles.  I think this is actually my fourth trip to Port Angeles, where Tori's mom lives, but somehow I don't feel like I've really become very familiar with the area.  I think maybe that's because the weather and also too many teensy children have kind of limited our explorations.

This trip, though, the kids are a little bigger and a little more fun to take on day trips.  We decided to nix our camping plans since the idea of camping with five kids ages four and under just sounded a little too hectic (we also have Tori's twin nieces with us).  Maybe next year!

Instead, we've taken some nice day trips around the area and in Olympic National Park.  Until yesterday, the weather has been great and it's been nice to see the amazing beauty of this part of the world.  I think it's a very appropriate consolation prize for their very unfortunate weather!

Zadie and Skip at Salt Creek Beach tidepools.  Very fun day!

We drove to Hurricane Ridge, about 5400 feet elevation in Olympic National Park and the kids were super excited to play in the snow -- for about 30 seconds before they started complaining about cold hands!  Love this photo of Zadie with Grams.

A few days earlier, I drove to Hurricane Ridge with just Charlie and had a grand ol' time showing him the deer and the mountains.  After we saw one deer, he would say, "Another one! Another one!"

This was during the 30-second interval when the kids were really excited about the snow and before they started complaining about being cold.  Then Grandma Linda treated us all to overpriced hot cocoa.

Costa Rica: How About That Grandma Linda?

Three cheers to Grandma Linda for accompanying Tori to Costa Rica and filling in as a second parent for nearly two months.  It's hard enough to do this job when they're your own kids and you have to, but to volunteer (sort of) for this duty when you could otherwise be kayaking with friends or traveling kid-free is quite impressive!

No big deal.  Linda can handle four kids by herself (that's cousin Gavin in green).

Taking a much needed break.  I hear Linda isn't such a big fan of the Costa Rican heat.

Thank you, Southern California

My parents invited us to a lovely RV camping trip at the Silver Strand State Beach in Coronado. That's them walking with the gaggle of kids.

Thank you, Southern California, for a perfect weekend.  Sunny and warm weather at the beach in early February is pretty special.  Sometimes I bemoan the cost of living here, but this weekend, Southern California, you really proved yourself to me.  I think I heard someone on Facebook call it a "sunshine tax."  Because of this tax, we cram three kids into one bedroom and live in a plain duplex with thin walls and a grumpy neighbor.  But this weekend, at least, I was okay with that.

When I was younger, I thought people who let the weather affect their moods were kind of losers.  I hardly paid attention to the weather because I was planning on having a great day regardless.  I went to college in the "snow belt" of upstate New York and could never understand what people were complaining about with regards to grey skies and snow.  When Tori and I lived in San Francisco, I used to get really frustrated about the fact that we basically spent our weekends chasing the sun in that most sun-deprived of all cities.  She would call people in different neighborhoods and ask if the sun was shining or not and, if it was, we had to hop on a bus to try and soak it up before the fog rolled in.

I know people say parenting changes you, but I didn't think it would impact my feelings about the weather.  Now I'm one of those people who actually reads the weather forecast in the paper.  I enjoy my kids about 100 times more when they're outside and so I now really appreciate warm days when the kids can play outside or, ideally, when we can take them to the beach.  I've gained a much greater appreciation for parents who live in cold areas because that is a whole other challenge that I'm unprepared to face.  Major respect to parents in those cold climates!

The Ranch Files: Zadie Wonders About the Afterlife

Zadie and my dad at my Granddaddy Kirk's grave.

My mom with Zadie in front of the old ranch house, where my Great-Great-Uncle Arthur used to live.

Zadie got to stay a few extra days at the ranch with my parents, while Tori took the two boys home to L.A. and I (the clear victor in this arrangement) went to Austin for a few days of glorious adult time (more on that in a later post).  Zadie loved all the special attention from her grandparents and they had a picnic in a deer blind one day and got to watch the wildlife from way up high in the sky (sitting very quietly so as not to scare off the animals).

But as they were leaving the ranch and heading to the airport, my parents took Zadie to Tilden's Hilltop Cemetery, where many of my relatives are buried.  My Granddaddy Kirk, with whom I was extremely close, is buried there (see above photo of my dad and Zadie in front of his grave).  When my dad told me that he took her to a cemetery, I asked whether this caused Zadie to ask a lot of questions.  "It sure did," he said.  From the cemetery to the airport (about an hour's drive), Zadie interrogated both of my parents about the afterlife.

What happens after people die?  Why do people die?  Why are they buried underground?  Do they grow back?  After all the people die, will there be any more people left?  Am I going to die?

My dad said he tried to dodge some of these questions, but that Zadie was a very skilled interrogator.  He tried to tell her that these were questions that she needed to be asking her moms.  But, since she would not relent, he finally told her that no one is 100% sure what happens after someone dies, but that he believed the body died and the spirit continues living.  When I got home a few days ago, one of the first things Zadie asked me when we were alone was, "What happens after people die? Granddaddy Hal said there's a spirit inside you that runs away."

As my dad said, "In retrospect, maybe taking her to a cemetery wasn't such a hot idea after all!"

The Ranch Files: Granddaddy Hal in Full Splendor

My dad is really good with kids.  He has no compulsion about being totally goofy and making a fool out of himself to entertain children.  His most famous trick is "checking for bugs," which is when he finds imaginary bugs running all on kids' stomachs and under their arms and he tickles them while trying to kill the bugs.  I've seen many a child make a request for a bug check.  He also counts ribs to make sure there aren't any serious medical concerns, which is also a very ticklish experience.

This past week at the ranch, Granddaddy Hal was in full splendor.  He must have taken the kids on 25 rides in the electric golf cart, full of all kinds of antics like launching attacks on the people at the campfire, singing songs, and starting and stopping.

In this video, Skip kept hiding a wooden snake in the bushes to try and scare my dad.  My dad would then act really scared and scream.  Unfortunately, this time Zadie cut the game short by telling my dad it was just a pretend snake, so this wasn't quite as extended of a performance by my dad.  But you can get a little taste for how crazy he can be.  Part of why I'm posting this is because I would love to have a video of my granddaddy playing with us as kids -- he also had some signature tricks (namely turning into a gorilla).


Granddaddy Hal & the Wooden Snake from Kate K. on Vimeo.

Mom to the Rescue

Five days ago I crashed my bike with poor little Charlie on it.  Although I say "poor Charlie," actually the whole thing was his fault.  We were going down a big hill and he was giggling with joy about the wind in his face and the whole experience.  I was turned around smiling back at him and saying, "Woohoo!"  Then I turned my eyes back to the road (where they should have been in the first place) and swerved to avoid a big pile of dry leaves and branches from our recent windstorm.  The bike skidded out, and we crashed.  So my point is that if Charlie hadn't have been such a cute, giggling ball of joy, the whole thing never would have happened.

In all seriousness, I learned my lesson and will be much more cautious in the future.  Not only because I feel like a totally irresponsible parent and bike rider for crashing with my baby on the back, but also because I got five stitches above my eyebrow and lots of painful road rash and I've been a total wimp about the whole thing and don't want to ever go through this again.  Charlie, I'm happy to report, is 100% fine and he was safely ensconced in his bike seat and helmet.  It would have been MUCH worse if something bad had happened to him.  Awful to think about.

Anyway, the point of this post is that my mom kindly offered to take all three kids for three whole days this week.  It's true that the road rash on my hands makes taking care of the kids difficult -- and Tori basically has to take care of me and the three other kids -- but the truth is that we could have managed.  Tori felt guilty about my mom taking all three, but I felt sorry for myself and decided to take her up on her offer.

So thank you, Mom, for juggling all three kids all by yourself (my dad was out of town).  The kids had a great time and are anxious to return.  And Tori and I got to go on two date nights and sleep in!

Fall Weekend w/the Grandparents

We're fortunate that we get to spend a lot of time with my parents, but I guess because we see them so frequently we always forget to take photographs.  So I made a special point to get at least one good photograph for the blog this weekend.

This is a photo of my parents taking our kids to a little pumpkin patch in their brand-new MOTORHOME!  They drove up to see us Saturday afternoon and spent the night in their motorhome nearby our house.  It's a special treat because they haven't really had any incentive to come visit us in L.A. since we don't have any space to accommodate them.  Now that they have this motorhome, hopefully we'll be seeing a lot more of them.  

We went on a mini-road trip with them today to the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area and the kids got to run around in nature for a little bit.  The kids were very happy cruising in the motorhome because it has a television and so they watched movies the whole time.  The best part was that we didn't have to pull over when they had to go to the bathroom!

Flashback to Port Angeles Trip

I finally downloaded photos from my camera and found all kinds of fun memories from our trip to Port Angeles, WA this summer to see Grandma Linda.  

It's great to have a yard.  Makes parenting much easier and less stressful!

 I love this red table.  It was great for having a sunny breakfast together or a quiet cup of tea.

 Two of Zadie's cousins slept in the backyard in the tent (we had lots of people visiting Linda's house) and so of course it was quite the fun place to hang out.

Love this photo of Zadie with her Grandma Linda.