Day 50: Russian The River Returns

It's been hot for a solid week or two now, and now that we had our debut run at the Russian River last week, we couldn't wait to get back. It was hot and beautiful and so the boys and I took off right after lunch and spent the afternoon at the river. Once Brad got off work he picked up Subway and met us at the river too. It was a little busier today, but that's okay. We all went swimming (even Rebel), and Brad and Calen had a great time jumping off the rope swing (Cam was not interested) into the water. 

Another beautiful day at the river. This might be our new favorite spot. 

Dinner on the river!

Calen made a raft out of the pizza float and a stick

Day 49: The Hansen Boys and the Knights of the Square Castle

About 3 weeks ago, we heard about a neat program in the South Bay for military families, where this company will build and customize FREE wooden playhouses for any military family that applied. 

These aren't chinsy little plywood houses, either. Each house is made of real wood, with a door and windows that swing open and real tar and shingle roof. 

We were asked to submit a theme for them to paint, any theme we want as long as it isn't licensed (i.e. Disney, Marvel, etc). We chose a castle with dragons theme, since the kids have really been into knights and archers and dragons lately. 

Brad went and picked it up last Thursday in San Jose, and yesterday we took down the fenced dog pen (since we don't need it for Sonic anymore) and built the castle in our side yard. 

This thing is fantastic and the kids spent LITERALLY ALL DAY in it with their buddy Brady, fighting ogres and planning massive battles. They ate lunch AND dinner in there and only came in for bed (and they almost slept in there too). 

This is what summer is all about. No screens, no video games, just a backyard and a wooden castle and an endless imagination. 

Day 48: A Night At The Speedway

We had a pretty low key day today, playing outside and watching baseball games, until evening, when we came to the outrageous realization that we hadn't been to the races yet this summer!

The sprint car races at the Petaluma Speedway are one of our favorite activities on a warm Saturday night. It's six hours (or so, including practice runs and qualifying) of fast, squirrelly little cars on a quick dirt track. There's custom cars and mighty midgets and winged sprint cars, who couldn't love this redneck extravaganza? 

We had a great show too. There was one custom car that either didn't understand the rules or was drunk or something and was pushing cars off the track and speeding through the pits, a midget car that spun in the air and wrecked in glorious fashion, and a sprint car fire. 

I mean, what's better than that. 

Day 47: Back To School Shopping

It's mid July, and that means we need to start thinking about back to school shopping!

I'm sorry, but when I was a kid, I'm 99.9999% certain that we started back to school shopping in mid August, and so did everyone else so it wasn't completely picked through or anything by then. Now (in a different state, also), school starts in mid August, school shopping starts the day after 4th of July, and Halloween stuff is already at Michael's. 

What the hell, exactly. 

Anyways, even though we are full blown in summertime, I heard that Target was already being wiped clean, so I figured we better pretend that school time is almost here and get our shopping in. 

They weren't kidding either, because the backpacks section was basically empty and there isn't a pack of wide ruled notebook paper within 100 miles. That being said, there were crates and crates of crayons and markers and glue sticks, and we piled our shopping cart a mile high with everything we needed and more. 

What is it about school supply shopping that is so satisfying? Is it the smell of the combination of crayons and cardboard, the no-reservations of tossing everything in sight into the cart? Whatever it is, the phenomenon of parental joy of school supply shopping is real. 

Nothing more satisfying than a cart full of school supplies

The boys did manage to find new backpacks in the shredded backpack aisle. Calen is officially a 4th grader and that means, apparently, that he needs "a cool backpack, to fit in", in his words. Part of me died a little as he gleefully skipped over the super fun Star Wars and Minecraft backpacks and picked a boring blue Puma backpack (Calen, you don't even play soccer!). He's not so little anymore! Camden picked out a super cool Star Wars backpack, because of course he did.

We also went to the outlet mall and picked out new school shoes. As with every year, Cam picks Converse and Calen picks Nike sneakers. It's funny how different they are with their shoes. 

By the time we were done shopping we were "done", and declared frozen yogurt for lunch! It is summer still, after all. 

Day 46: Rushin' the Russian River

I finally got off my lazy-lately ass and decided we were overdue for an adventure! Pack your towels, your sunscreen and your strap on sandals, let's go to the river!

The Russian River is "the" river in this area. It's warm, it's slow, and it's a major hotspot for the locals to gather at to go tubing, paddleboarding, or just lounge around the shore. Somehow, some way, we haven't made it to the River yet in the 3 years we've lived here, despite it's popularity.

Until now!

We picked Steelhead Beach as our spot on the river today. It's a regional park, so it has bathrooms, a reasonable parking lot and is very dog friendly. We went there not knowing what to expect, but that's half the adventure! So we packed a lunch took the 45 minute drive out there. 

This is a great spot. Being a weekday it was pretty quiet out there, but what few people were there were on the sandy "beachy" part of the shoreline. We ventured over to the pebbly part, because it kept the people away, and it's a river and rocks are half the fun. There were lots of little fish, some big fish, and a handful of fearless ducks that stalked you like sideeye-staring vultures, waiting for you to accidentally (or purposefully) drop a snack. 

The boys LOVED the river. They said the river is far better than the ocean (at least on this part of the coast). The water is warmer, as in, you can actually get in without instantly dropping dead of hypothermia. It's calm and has both shallow wading areas and deeper swimming holes in the middle. They spent the day swimming, throwing rocks, watching fish underneath them, and running full speed (with sandals on) from the top of the hill all the way into the river until their legs failed and they'd belly flop, a game my cousin and I used to play at our river growing up. 

Looking for fishies

Snacktime, poolside

Those ducks were so close, they weren't afraid of us at all

Rebel loved the river too. It's not as big and loud and scary as the ocean, and he waded right in as soon as we got there. The pebbles were pretty hot, so he spent the vast majority of the afternoon in the water, even if it was just on the edge of the shore. He even took a nap in ankle-deep water. 

Naptime in the river

The funniest thing was the ducks, who didn't give a crap about humans, or dogs. And Rebel, for being a "bird dog", didn't give a crap about the ducks. They stared at him and he started at them and everyone remained friends, even when the ducks got extremely close to him. The only time he ever lunged at them was when I threw bread, and he wasn't going after the ducks, but their bread.

It was a great summer day at the river. We will be back for sure. 

Day 45: Ice in July

Camden had hockey skating lessons today, which brought us all to the ice on a very hot July day. 

And what better to do on a hot day in the middle of summer than to ice skate?

It was so nice and cool, in fact, that we decided to stick around after his lessons, and all 3 of us (Brad was at work) partook in open skate, and spent a couple hours on the ice. 

Camden was a celebrity at the rink today. A summer camp from nearby decided to skate today, and half a dozen kids kept stopping him (as he was skating backwards, or doing hockey edges, or alternating between backwards and forwards at high speeds) and telling him how "AWESOME he was" or "Wow you are a GREAT skater!!"

Afterwards, as he was undressing and getting continuous high fives from kids leaving, he goes "Wow, everyone thinks I'm really cool because I'm a good skater." 

Yes you are Bam, yes you are. 

Hockey Skate lessons today 

Open skate time!

Cam insisted on picking up a new puck today. Snoopy's Home Ice is Camden's home ice

Day 44: Pool Detour

I got up with all intentions of heading out and doing some sort of adventure, but instead, we ran a few errands, and then went to the pool on base. 

And that was the big adventure of the day. 

Whatever. Summer laziness is the best.

Day 43: Duck Duck, and the Critical Point

Even after a late night, Rebel was up ready to play, play play. At O'Dark Thirty this morning, here he sat, with "Duck Duck" in mouth, ready to play. 

Also today, Calen came down the stairs and announced: "Mom, just so you know, I'm down to my last pair of shorts in my drawer. We are at a CRITICAL POINT with my shorts!!"

Day 42: Fed Up

It's midnight and Rebel is having another great night keeping everyone up late, tossing toys into the air, hopping from chew toy to chew toy, barking at Juno, or Brad, or myself if we are being incredibly boring by just sitting still on the sofa. 

Juno is totally over it. 

Day 41: Party Like A Ninja

One of the kids' longtime Petaluma friends had a birthday today. Yay July birthdays! 

His party was today, at a parkour/free running/ninja warrior gym that he frequents. The entire party was spent doing front flips into the big foam pit (I even did a flip after being peer pressured by another mom), swinging on huge ropes, running the parkour course followed by an epic Nerf fight. 

I mean, what's not to like. 

Calen mid-front flip

Parkour course

Party hardy!

Then the birthday boy ceremoniously kidnapped my boys for a movie and a sleepover. So Brad and I celebrated Calvin's birthday by going out on a date. Alone. Kid free. 

Happy birthday, Calvin!

Day 40: Space, In A Jar

It's really been a quiet summer. 

There haven't been a lot of sports (except for the little free baseball camp they're both doing), or getaways, or anything. We are just laying low and relaxing, and it's great. 

But I was bored of the lack of adventure today, but I was too lazy to go out anywhere, so I decided it was craft time. 

This was a Pinterest project I had pinned a long time ago, and recently bought the materials for, waiting for a rainy day here. But, it doesn't rain here in the summer, so we did it anyways. 

The idea is to make a "galaxy" in a jar. Or a nebula, or whatever, depending on which Pinterest link you click (instructions below). 

Materials:

- Mason jar 
- cotton balls (LOTS....like 500 for 2 kits)
- paint  (3 different colors, we used neon pink, purple, and blue to make it galaxyish)
- water
- glitter

First, you add water to 1/3 of the mason jar. Then, squirt in a certain color of paint some glitter, and shake. Next, stretch out some cottons balls....tons and tons of cotton balls....and add them to the jar until it begins to surface over the water. Then, add another 1/3 of water and a different color of paint, rinse and repeat. Twice. By the time you have three layers of paint/water/cotton balls, it is totally full and really truly looks like a galaxy!

First layer of Calen's galaxy

Second layer of Cam's...notice the pink...he wasn't pleased until I showed him Google images of pink nebulas

The thing I liked about this project is that it took a lot of time. A lot of the projects it takes 20 minutes to prep and 5 minutes to do. This one took us a solid 45 minutes to complete, but the kids were engaged and had lots of fun. 

Day 39: Mystery Flavors (Solved)

I opened the freezer today, to find a graveyard of popsicles with the wrappers torn just enough to reveal the color of each, and ceremoniously abandoned at the front of the freezer. 

Clearly, someone was checking to see the flavor of each popsicle, and these ones just couldn't cut it. 

I mean, points for creativity, boys. 

Day 38: Round 3, Fight!!

It was another hot one in Northern California today. 

This actually is a legitimate heat wave. Generally it doesn't clear 85 here. This is not your typical palm tree oceanside California. 

I had found this gem of a sprinkler system at Grocery Outlet, of all places. It's an inflatable boxing ring, with plastic "socker bopper" (remember that game from the early 90s?!) style gloves with sponges on the ends. The game we invented was the first boxer to get knocked out of the ring (aka sprinkler) won. 

It was great for several rounds with siblings and friends, until words like "cheating" and "I wasn't ready" and "I'm not out because the water didn't touch me" began and then we got rid of the socker boppers and just played in the sprinkler for 4 hours until they headed off to Jr Giants Camp. 

After camp, Daddy took them for Slurpees, because it's 7/11, of course!

A great summer day, but I'm totally sunburnt and dehydrated. 

Day 37: California Living

Something that is completely foreign to me is the fact that so many people around here have pools at their house. 

I mean, it is in fact California. It makes sense. 

Today we got invited to a family friends' house to swim in their pool. My friend's boys Matthew and Jake each have played with my boys on more than one baseball team over the years, and her roommate's son Luke also played on a team with Calen and Matthew together, and so we jumped at the chance to get all the kids together again for a fun day in the sun. 

It also worked out that it was 95 degrees today.

It was a great 4 hours or so in the pool, playing on gigantic floaties and playing "Escape From Alcatraz", some sort of swimming tag game that involves swimming the length and making it to the other end of the pool without being tagged and "escaping" Alcatraz. Of course it's an Alcatraz game, since it's only an hour away from here. 

California living isn't so bad. Especially today. 

Day 36: 12 Weeks

Japatul's Rebel Yell is 12 weeks old today!!

Or 3 months, or 84 days, as it were. 

More and more it is easy to compare a 12 week old puppy with say, a 2 year old human for a variety of reasons. 

1. He follows his "parents" around, everywhere, to see where they are going and what they are doing. If he needs attention while you are walking, he tugs on your pant legs. If you ignore him, he shouts (barks). 

2. He has an entire toy box, but he prefers plastic bottles, tupperware containers, boxes, and paper bags, and his favorite stuffed animal. 

Seriously, why do we buy kids toys at all?

3. He whines when he's bored (and will bark at Juno or us if he demands us to play with him), and he barks and whines to keep himself awake when he's overtired, because he doesn't want to go to sleep yet. And speaking of sleep:

4. You cannot put him to bed (Calen's bed) until he is unconscious on the floor. If he isn't in the unconscious state, and you prematurely carry him upstairs to bed, he will stand straight up and wag his tail and hop down, as if to say "I'M AWAKE!!! NO BEDTIME YET!!" Then, once he does go to bed, you have to pat his head a few times to make him fall asleep, and then slither out of the room ninja-style, as if you were putting to bed an unwilling toddler. 

All laughs aside, he's a great little toddler pup. He sits and looks, is about 70% potty trained, and loves to fetch and play and "walk himself" by holding part of the leash. He is such a great edition to our family and we are having so much fun with this little chocolate muffin. 

Day 35: Party Like You're 34

Today is my birthday!!

Not that birthdays are super exciting when you are turning 34. You can no longer say that you are in your early 30's, your metabolism is starting to enter catastrophic failure, and everyone goes "wow" when you tell them how old you are turning. 

Like, what does "wow" mean? 

My birthday this year was pretty great, even though I had to work this morning for a couple hours. It just so happened that my cousin (aka my "twin", who I grew up with inseparably and is 10 days younger than me) and his family are in the middle of their own military move from Alaska to Texas, and took a slight detour to Petaluma to be able to spend today with us. What a fantastic birthday wish!

Calen and cousin Nate playing cars

Me and my "twin"! He's being a turd

We spent the entire day together just hanging out at the house, visiting while the kids enjoyed playing with the race car track, building Legos and watching movies while Brad barbecued hamburgers for us. 

After they left, I celebrated with a freezer burnt single slice of cheesecake from my work. Because that's what 34 is. 16 is a new car, 18 is the freedom of adulthood, 21 you drink (legally), 25 your insurance goes down, and 34 is freezer burnt cheesecake from a convenience store. 

Good thing I'm easy to please. 

Just a super awesome day though, all jokes aside. So thankful. 

Day 34: Grounded

You know, when it's summer vacation, and your kids are grounded, the parents are the ones grounded. You can't send them outside, or toss them in front of the TV, or anything where they can be entertained without you. 

Ugh. Can't you behave so that I can be ungrounded??

The good news is, the toys inside the house have been played with more than they have in months. I imagine it's like when the toys in Toy Story 3 are finally played with again after a long hiatus. 

This morning, I saw them take off up the stairs with Monopoly Junior in their hands, so I snuck up into their room to see them playing (almost) nicely. 

Day 33: Objects In Mirror Are Closer Than They Appear

Rebel has become my little co-pilot in the car, wanting to sit on my lap and stick his head (slightly) out the window. At least for a few minutes, then he wants to lay down and take a road nap. 

I was in the passenger seat for this photo, don't panic or call animal services or the police or whatever. 

Day 32: The Things You Say

While walking through Target in the women's section today, Calen came across something new (to him. Definitely not "new"). 

Calen: "Hey Mom look, they actually made a shirt out of JEANS."
Me: "Yeah, they're called jean jackets."
Calen: "What a stupid idea. Making jackets OUT OF PANTS."

Calen clearly disapproves of the 80's fashion comeback. 

I mean, he isn't wrong.