Oh Dear What Can the Matter Be...

I never before saw the scientific value of cloning. Cool factor yes, but the need for it - not so much. That was before last Thursday when Caitlyn had her pre-school graduation at the same time Logan had a school performance, and Nathan was in Texas. Oh how I wish I were a clone that day. All day I fretted about how to make all of the events. But we did it, and it was definitely a group effort!

We started at 4:30pm for the 5:00pm graduation. Everything was ironed and ready to go. We got there before it started to take all of our pictures and set up the video camera so that Nathan could see it. The ceremony was very cute! Caitlyn sang "Sammy Put the Paper on the Wall" with three of her friends from her class, and she knew all of the words to the songs the entire class sang. The pretzel dance was quite amusing. Her ballet skills were in full swing. She was pointing those toes and balancing on one leg as she became a pretzel.

After the songs, the kids went and got their cap and gown on. There was a processional and all. When Caitlyn's name was called she proudly went up and shook her teacher's hand and received her diploma. We quickly snapped a picture and chucked that robe of the future 2020 graduate, and were off to make Logan's event.

Logan was performing in the Recycle Reggae. He was part of the train on the side of the group. It was a "green" theme, as evidenced by the Recycle Reggae, and came complete with green tie dyed shirts. It took a dirty, windy, bumpy dirt road, and a few queasy kids to get there on time. But just as Logan walked up, his teacher slid the shirt over his head and they ran to the stage. Reagan, Caitlyn, and I got there just as Logan was making the first turn of the wheel on his train in the performance. I was feeling pretty good about making all of these events with a minimal amount of yelling, when Logan turned to me after it was all over and said, "You know mom, If I would have missed it, it wouldn't have been that big of a deal, it was kind of lame." And thus the ever present humbling force of motherhood sucked that proud moment of accomplishment from me. At least we got some cute pictures!

It's a Dog's life

So we went down to Del Mar last weekend and spent the afternoon at dog beach. There were probably about a hundred dogs there and Oliver was sure to sniff and play with every one of them. Milton amused about a third of them by letting them sniff him and then going after a few stray Frisbees. I was actually amazed at how well the dogs listened. Every time we called them, they would come galloping back. Let me tell ya, a 70 pound Goldendoodle running toward you, full tilt and soaking wet, is enough to make you hold your breath and dig your toes into the escaping sand praying that he stops before he hits you.

Reagan started and ended the day with the word "doggie" in her infamous high pitched squeal. That pointer finger of hers had to have gotten tired two hours into it. It was a little chilly in the water for her so she stayed up on the beach wrapped in a towel hanging out with Daddy. I think she prefers the hose at home, which she can control, over the ebb and flow of an ocean tide.

The great thing about this beach was that it was at least 200 yards before the water even came up to Caitlyn's shins. So Logan and Caitlyn thought they were pretty cool going so far out into the ocean. Even Oliver joined them for the occasional romp in the waves.

Bar none the best was Mr. "My Skin My Skin" in his "beach" attire. If only I had taken a picture of that! Let me do my best to describe it, though it will not do it nearly enough justice. Let's start at the bottom and work our way up. As we all ran across the hot sand in our flip flops, Nathan casually strolled the beach in his brown Timberland shoes and white tube socks. The socks however were unrecognizable under the dark denim of his blue jeans. When I was lathering up the kids with sunscreen, he just put his hand in his pockets knowing that his long sleeved, collared, blue plaid shirt would keep him from the sun's harmful rays. And while the kids were squinting to see where to play next, Nathan could nonchalantly point in a direction from under the brim of his Havana Jack hat complete with green trim. Oh what would we do without Nathan?

He always tells me to go ahead and mock him, but when we are 70 he will still look 30. The mocking certainly ended as he rubbed neosporin on my back that was as red as a hot coal in the BBQ. Perhaps in my haste to make fun of him I should have actually applied the sunscreen to myself in the same diligent manner I applied it to all three kids. Live and learn!!

Strawberry Fields Forever

For Memorial Day we went down to Carlsbad to the Strawberry fields. While you farmers out there may be appalled that we actually paid $20 to pick strawberries in the sun, we had a blast! It was a perfect day. It wasn't very hot at all, because of the rain that we had in the days before.

There were at lest 4 acres of land to pick from and Reagan just ate whatever she found. Rotten ones in the dirt, squished by the masses, no problem, to her that was just more flavor!! Green ones, they were just a little tart. Orange ones, close enough.

Caitlyn plowed through the fields like she was picking money off of trees. At one point, I looked up and she and her bucket were about a half acre ahead of us. All we could see was blond curls bouncing above rows of green plants. When she finished filling her bucket and wondered back in our direction, we had to go through the strawberries in much the same way we examine Halloween candy after the big trek. Needless to say, a few of her pickings were chucked back into the plants. She was very proud of her loot so we had to do the chucking when she was busy telling Logan how to do his job.

Logan amused us by going, but he wasn't quite as enthusiastic about it. We gave him the big bucket to fill and about half way into it, he was sick of looking through the plants, and being on the lookout for bees. When Nathan took Reagan back to the car to clean off the strawberries from her face, hands, neck, and clothes, Logan took the opportunity to go back to the car and "help dad." My guess is there was more eating strawberries than there was helping, but he is pretty into being dad's buddy right now.

After the strawberry fields we tried to go to the flower fields, but they were closed for the season. All of the fields were brown, so instead we topped the day off with a trip to Islands for cheese fries and frozen lime cokes. A very fun way to spend the day together! I can't wait for summer. This weekend we are taking the dogs to dog beach for some fun. That should be interesting!! Logan is definitely looking forward to it. I am sure Oliver will love it, Milton, not so much.