Ahh...a Tree.

There are certain errands that I prefer to do by myself- getting the oil changed, grocery shopping, going to the mall. These errands usually take a long time to do and are usually met with groans and whines when I announce the adventure for the day. "Can't I just stay here?". Whine. "Not the mall!". Groan.  These activities seem to take much longer with kids in tow and a bribe usually has to be given to eek out any enjoyment. Grocery shopping means a Clif Bar or a lollipop. Oil changed equals a hot chocolate from Starbucks. The mall? Well we found out today that the mall has a fantastic climbing and jumping off tree right outside of Bloomingdales.

Going to the mall just got a whole lot easier for the kids. Now, I just need to figure out a bribe for myself to make the trip worthwhile...

Ninja

Don't worry, the Fox household is completely protected. Teigue has passed his Ninja training. 

Last Day

A milestone was reached today. Teigue had his last ever day of preschool. He handled the day with ease; He just played like he normally does and hugged all his teachers as he left, said goodbye to the friends that he has made over the last couple of years. Not really all that exciting and momentous. Thankfully we had Crazy Hair Day to make the day a little bit more memorable.

Underwater

 A new beach was discovered today- Ferry Landing on Coronado. The name kind of gives it away, it is where the ferry docks after they arrive from Point Loma. It is a lovely little patch of sand with a grass park and shops (with cupcakes!) around it. While we didn't mark an item off our Bucket List (Ride a Ferry), something even more important happened. For the first time ever Teigue went underwater in the ocean. 

As you can see in the pictures this beach had no waves so the dangers normally associated with ocean swimming did not come into play today. He was able to go out as far as he could, which he found very exciting and made him feel very big. In order to get back quickly he put his face down and started kicking, swimming- his hair actually got completely wet! He was so very proud of himself and did it over and over again. Pretty exciting stuff for this little 5 year old. Where was Stella, you ask?

Safe, dry and fully dressed on shore, which is what appears to be the norm for her right now. 

Ick.

I am thankful my kids like bugs and are not squeamish about them. Really I am. I can handle the fact that they build houses for snails, want to hold the worms in the worn bin, even the tomato horn worm incident from last summer was fine since I didn't need to touch them. I think their love of bugs has gone over the deep end, as I discovered recently on a trip to Quail Gardens.

It is really necessary for both kids to hold the giant millipede and be sad that there were no real live tarantulas and scorpions to hold? Why can't they run away screaming like I wish I could have?

Love

Seaworld

I wish I could say that my kids always woke up with rainbows sparkling in their eyes, ready to start the day bright and cheerful with a wonder and innocence only children can have. I wish I could, well I could say that my child woke up that way because that would be true. I just wish it was both. Unfortunately one wakes up with glitter in his eyes while the other wakes up with...with...well with something the complete and total opposite of rainbows and glitter. 

As you can imagine having someone that wakes up in such a manner makes it a wee bit hard on the rest of us. Sometimes one would wake up so foul that only she could sit on the couch and no one was allowed to look at her. Other days screaming and yelling would be the treat we were given. Not a very pleasant way to start the day. I finally decided that enough was enough and something had to change. We couldn't walk on eggshells until someone decided they were happy. I discovered that once she ate, her mood lifted and she was sweet and loving, but only if she ate. Seeing that her behavior was something that she probably couldn't help I made it a requirement that she was to eat as soon as she got up. No cartoons, no playing. Food. This seemed to cure the problem. To further help our days along I started the "Stella's Nice Lady Chart". Basically what this chart does is makes Stella accountable for her actions, with prizes to finish out the week. If she was nice and pleasant for 5 days in a row, she was given a treat of some kind. Last week we went and got ice cream. This week the prize was a trip to Seaworld. 

I have to tell you, I was so not looking forward to going to Seaworld. It's summer so it is very crowded. Teigue and Stella are bigger so I can't really keep them in the stroller or Ergo to help corral them. It's busy. I have been putting it off and putting it off. Then she was good for 2 weeks in a row! I could not procrastinate any longer. Well, actually I did. I got the kids to agree to go later on in the day so we missed some of the crowds. And you know what? We had so much fun! We watched the dolphin show, saw some sharks, laughed during a 4D movie, touched some sea stars. We got dizzy on Abbie's Sea Star Spin and ate pretzels shaped like Shamu. We discovered that Teigue is big enough to go on a big kid ride (boo!) and Stella only wants to shake hands with Zoe and Elmo, not that big bird. 

The best part of the night? When I tossed a ring on the top of a bottle and won the biggest giantist gigantic stuffed dolphin for my little munchkins. Me! And only 1 bucket of rings was bought! You think I'm lying about this dolphin? Well, it takes 2 strong big kids to carry it through the park.

Thankfully it was very useful during the 9:50 PM fireworks show that Teigue insisted that we stay for since he didn't get to see any fireworks on the 4th of July.

It's a good thing we own a truck. I have no idea how people with regular cars get these things home. It almost didn't fit in the bed of the Tacoma.

Story

Lately Teigue and Stella have been taking pictures out of coloring books and coloring them together. As they color they make up a story about what is happening in the picture, usually needing to add other elements that the original artist of the piece had no idea should be included in the drawing. A picture of a digger needs a rocket ship? Why of course it does! The kids most always agree on what should be in the picture and go along with each other's idea. Today, however what a little different.

Today they were coloring a picture of a nice multi colored T-Rex. They both agreed that the T-Rex was fighting with someone, as those T-Rexes have been known to do. Perhaps a Stegosaurus would be appropriate? Ahh, no. An ankylosaurus? Guess again. corythosaurus? No. Teigue felt that a ninja should be included in the drawing, but Stella felt a princess was more appropriate. Ninja. Princess. Ninja. Princess. Finally they came to an agreement.

They both decided that both the ninja and princess could stay, as long as the ninja hid in the bushes and the princess also had a knight with her. Well, would a princess really fight a T-Rex, or would that be the job of the knight? Stella was fine with this, with one minor change.

They all had to hold hands. (From left, princess, knight, ninja)

Bucket List Item: Swim in a Pool