Love the Nut Tree.

While I'm generally a fan of playgrounds in shopping malls - because it lets my kids get some energy out and then be ready to shop again- the Nut Tree is a favorite.

It has free areas and pay to ride stuff- like the train. But bet of all it let's me spend some quality time with my mom and still let her be grandma. Saturday's at the Nut Tree rock.

Sweet corn festival.

Thanks Davis Ranch for yet another fun smiley festival. We love that they have free bounce houses, entertainment, and tractor rides. It's always fun to go as a family.

Our Washington D.C. trip

Also known as our trip for Cousin's Camp (what Jon's family calls their get-together every other year) or the Virginia Beach trip.

We started out here in Sacramento at 1:30a. We had to get to SFO for a 6am plane departure. Here's the thing about using miles for trips - you have to pick your departure airport carefully or you end up doing 2 or more plane changes. That's the reason we went from SFO instead of Oakland or SMF (Sac) - only one plane change. It turns out Delta doesn't fly direct from here to the East coast - you have to change in Atlanta.

The plane rides went pretty well. The kids did okay (except Abby on the Atlanta to Dulles flight). But when a kid is crying, tossing me dirty looks won't make her stop. I promise - if it would work - I would do it too.

Abby insisted, at every stop, on getting into the measuring boxes for carry-ons. Yes, she fits. No, we didn't put her in the overhead compartment - not that we weren't tempted.

The kids found it a great joy to eat on the ground - having a picnic in the airport - since we didn't want to spend the money to eat at one of the nicer restaurants where they have tables.

When we got to DC we got lost because DC doesn't have good street markers. But we got lost - and then stuck - behind the motorcade for the President. I thought it was cool - the kids just wanted to get to the hotel and out of the car (the next day we got to see Marine One - all 3 of them - taking off from the White House and flying).

Then on Friday we spent the day in DC. We did the Smithsonian museums (Natural History and Air and Space - Jon said he wouldn't go into the art ones). I wanted to do American History, but the kids wouldn't have behaved for the whole thing so we didn't. The we did the monuments. We walked the whole way. I googled it on google maps back at the hotel and it was 9.7 miles of walking that we did. Nice. It was a blast.

Jon and Nicholas loved the Air and Space museum. We even were there for story time. It was pretty cool.

Then we went to Virginia Beach for Cousin's Camp. Don't let google maps fool you - a 3.5 hour drive from DC to Virginia Beach took over 7 hours. It took us 2.5 hours to go the first 50 miles out of DC.

So what did we do in Virginia Beach? The beach. Anything else? Nope. We spent the days, afternoons, and evenings at the beach. Well, we did do some shopping. And one afternoon we took a pirate cruise - which was really cool. But we spent most of the time at the beach. Playing in the ocean (me and Jon) and building things for Abby to knock over (me and Jon) and building things for the waves to knock over (Nicholas) and playing with cousins.

The plane ride back was fun. We were supposed to have a 45 minute lay-over in Atlanta (which if the plane out of Atlanta had been on time we might have made just barely). This 45 minute lay over turned into hours. SFO was on a ground hold because of weather (fog) and so we couldn't leave Atlanta. I laughed when I thought of fog and SFO - they go together like chocolate and chocolate. It's the same thing. We finally got out of there and back home. Too bad the kids wouldn't go to sleep when we got home. Jon and I needed some sleep - but we tried making up for it with naps the next day (nope).

It was a great vacation and I really enjoyed it.

Happy Anniversary

So it is mine and Jon's anniversary tomorrow. 6 years ago we got married. I live him and a better friend, father, and game playing companion I couldn't ask for.

Luckily, grandma came and babysat so we could go get pedicures and have a nice dinner. Abby gained a batch of dress up shoes. We couldn't get them off her dishes wore a set to bed.

Interesting things from Nicholas

1. Mommy, my Cheerios are porous because the milk goes trough them. I'm porous too because if you pour water on me it goes through me and I pee it out.

2. Igneous rocks come from volcanos. We need to go see one because I want some hot lava and igneous rocks. (clearly I haven't taught him well enough about volcanos). If you won't take me Aunt Debby will.

3. Stop talking to me. I don't want to hear you. But we can sing the 5 Little Monkeys song.

4. Abby is just like a puppy. You have to clean up their poop.

5. If you don't want to get me a goat can we get a cow?

6. I'm the second in charge here. What I say goes.

7. Watch me do a forward roll. (he bangs into the wall while doing it) I guess I only went half ways forward. So it must be a for roll.

8. If I stick my butt up in the water I'll float. But if I stick it down I'll just be standing.

9. When I jump I'm floating in air so I must be less dense than air.

10. I don't need to learn to write my letters. I'll just use the computer.

And so goes my day.

Allison Acres ranch visit.

Yesterday we got to go to a ranch and play with the animals. The kids had a blast and they got to walk ponies, brush and hoof pick horses, and play with goats.

We learned a lot about animals and had a lot of fun.

Nicholas graduated preschool!

It was a fun week for us that had a real high point on Thursday when Nicholas graduated from preschool. No, he's not going to Kindergarten in the Fall, but he is moving on in lessons. It has been hard to get him to move on in lessons at home because he always says, "Mommy, we do that stuff in preschool." Now, he can move on through the lessons at home without that refrain because I can say, "No, you graduated from preschool already."

He also completed his first week of swim lessons. He likes floating on his stomach and kicking, he doesn't mind putting his face in the water. But he absolutely freezes up and refuses to float on his back on his own. If you are holding him (or he thinks you are holding him) then it is fine. Just don't tell him he needs to do it on his own because he'll start crying and complaining about sinking - even though he is standing on the bottom of the pool while making these complaints.

Abby and I swim during his lesson. She has no fear and is a bit scary in the water. I was sitting next to her on the pool steps when she decided to get in the pool herself and launched herself off the steps into the pool. She thought it was funny and tried to do it again - but this time I was smarter and was standing in front of her. She'll kick and scream if you hold onto her too tightly. She just wants to go. She's my little daredevil.

Jon started his new job this week. I love it. I know he's going to be home between 6:30 and 7p and so it has made a huge difference in my mind. No more last minute calls about him needing to stay late. No one trying to schedule 5p meetings that end up going until 8p. It will be a real blessing that he will have semi-normal hours. I'm really looking forward to it.

However, for the moment, I am missing my husband because the NBA playoffs are going on. He comes home, plays with the kids, and sits and watches basketball once the kids are in bed. It's not like there isn't 8 more weeks or so of NBA playoffs to watch, but he really likes them. I hate the NBA playoff season because it seems to last forever and I would like my husband back.