new pets

for a year the girls have been asking for a pet rat and i have been putting it off and putting it off. honestly, i struggle so hard to keep up with the housework and over the years my standard of cleanliness has drastically dropped to almost disgusting at times. i just can't work full time and run two camp fire groups and keep a spotless house as well, just can't do it. not to mention i am sick of house cleaning, not rewarding when five minutes after the house is clean someone messes it up again... anyways! the thought of rats and all that comes with them made me cringe. i love animals and pets are important but the MESS! ugh! so finally i agreed that if the girls showed me some real effort in keeping their rooms clean and to help with other chores to lesson the work i have to do, i would THINK about it. i was surprised that for months on end, the "we might get a rat if you keep your room clean" actually worked...

proud mamas to "cupcake" and "lily"

catch up, round 2

lots of camp fire meetings going on...

rootbeer making with the little guys
salsa making with the big girls
love this shot, emily's hat is so fun
concerts and open house visits



lots of rush rush to work to camp fire meetings to school activities... luckily i have had some time to go to the gym (in love with the aquafit class, amazing!) and looking forward to putting up our pool and taking bike rides down to the beach. the weather is finally warming up and summer is fast approaching. life is racing past...

catch up, round 1

so what's it like not having the internet for a week? well weird at first and then you get used to it and then when it comes back on you realize you need to get caught up... so that's what i shall do...

the biggest wetlands clean up EVER!! we have come a long way in restoring this beautiful place

we surprised a killdeer on its nest and had heard some serious complaining as we walked by as careful as we could... hoping we wouldn't squash it's eggs and can you believe we didn't? look at these eggs!! (yes that's it's nest in the middle of the road)

what is really cool about having camp fire kids out at the wetlands is that it was my DREAM to merge my two favorite nonprofit groups together so that each helps the other. camp fire usa (and organizations like it) are struggling to survive, people feel its too expensive to have their kids in a program that requires commitment year after year (actually camp fire is super cheap for what you get) or any kind of commitment seems overwhelming and of course, the wetlands are off the radar so few people are aware of the life and death struggle going on between the fragile soil/plants/animals and urban development. camp fire kids + los cerritos wetlands = friends forever.

actual arches

here are few more photos from our trip that show some of the amazing arches you see at "arches national park" emily and i took a solo hike together and enjoyed trying to stay on the trail and the wide open space, the desert is so massive it feels like an ocean when you get deep into it.

katie, chris and liz take a break



free range kids











skyline arch at our campground



one of the arches emily and i found on our solo hike






even in the rain, we pressed on to see the sand dune arch



then crossed back over our desert "ocean" to get back to camp






someone had placed stacks of rocks along this entire trail and several times it really helped us out of a jam. emily put tiny rocks on top and/or fixed stacks that had fallen over along the way



so glad we took the plunge to hike this together, 2 hours of up and down and round and round, searching for the trail and finding the hidden arches was just what i needed on this trip!

moab

we had to get our trailer from colorado to california so a trip to moab in utah was the plan. my inlaws towed the trailer to red cliffs lodge and we made the 13 hour trip to meet them. i highly recommend if you live in california that you skip the vegas trip and go through southern utah to some of the amazing national parks they have to offer. being spring, which has unpredictable weather in the high desert meant we couldn't risk seeing zion or bryce in a tent trailer (our first choice since we have never been). red cliffs lodge is next to arches national park (which we have visited before but never camped at) it was the best choice under the circumstances. i had thought canyonlands might be cool (we just watched 127 hours which was filmed there) but it has numerous entrances with very few campsites, too risky for us. so arches it was and boy did it deliver!

arches is organized in a way that is really spectacular, you see the high red rock mountains when you enter and drive a steep road up to the top where the plateau opens up to these amazing formations and colorful soil, plants and rocks. all that with snow capped mountains far off in the distance. it is truly breathtaking and the park roads take you on a winding picturesque route to see everything from different angles.








the weather was in constant motion, hot then cold then sunny then rain with the kind of clouds you can truly spend hours watching. our last afternoon there, emily and i took a two mile hike around the campgrounds and just giggled at how neat it was to be out in the middle of nowhere. it got cloudy and drizzly but we kept on going and were so proud to just muscle through even though we were exhausted. back at camp the fire was started and immediately it started to rain. sue and i decided to try and keep it going and it became quite a scene as the rain started and stopped and then began to hail with thunder and lightning flashing. the kids screamed for us to come in but we just couldnt let that fire go out. it was FREEZING and standing near that blazing fire felt fantastic.






(lizzie is crying because the thunder scares her)

we used a tarp (got totally smoked out) and then an umbrella (probably not the smartest thing to use in a lightning storm) but we laughed and laughed and just had a BLAST!! that fire roared and we watched the storm blow by with a very unexpected surprise:






just like that, the brightest rainbow ever



some dirty happy kids for sure! here is a few pics from the road, check out the change in scenery and weather. this is all in one day:












and here is a shot from the red cliffs lodge museum, lots of movies have been filmed on the ranch (like thelma and louise) the museum does a great job displaying posters and artifacts from the shoots. i will try and post a few more pics once i get a chance to download, more of the red cliffs lodge, love that place! hope i have inspired you to check out utah, we are hoping to see zion and/or bryce this summer!

oh my!

what a month! i decided to go crazy with work this month, breaking all records for no days off. really proud of myself for still being able to get the home and kid stuff done more or less. so lucky to have family that helps out in so many ways. really lucky. so what else is going on? the girls were asked to be in a photo shoot for our favorite punk rock kid band's first ever album cover. we were told to get gaudy prom/pageant show dresses and showed up at the shoot. it was so fun, the girls really enjoyed themselves and all the attention. everyone was amazed at the transformation these young "girls" went through and many of us commented on it being somewhat uncomfortable. it was a good exercise for me who goes out of my way to keep my kids naive and innocent, no small task!! here's some photos:

of special note: our dresses came from the thrift shop (which i have been avoiding for years now, too much stuff!!) and we had so much fun looking through the dresses and shoes. i found a dynasty era silver jumpsuit, something i would have DIED for in the 80's with poofy sleeves and a zipper front, so easy to just put it on and be completely dressed and ready to go. of course i passed but it sure was cool. the dress liz is wearing felt so well made, it looked like something modeled after princess diana's dress with droopy poofy sleeves. i didn't notice until we were at the shoot that it was a jessica mcclintock dress!! oh my!! what a score for 6 bucks!! not sure if we can ever use it again, but it sure is a gorgeous piece of clothing. i am sure the girls will be talking about this fun day for a long long time. can't wait for spring break, one week away! we are off to utah to pick up our trailer, can't wait!!

uh oh!

we are having some serious fighting around here, things got a little outa hand today.... teachers and principals calling and lots of hysterics.

what are we going to do with these two?




april fools!