Photo Friday-Almost 18 Months Old ...

...and finally walking!

It's only taken 18 months, but Robbie has finally decided he should be a walker. Of course, I have no pictures of him walking, but I'm sure I'll get them in the next few days. He's possessed the ability to walk for at least a month, but has chosen to remain a butt scooter. But two days ago, it was like a switch had been thrown. Suddenly, walking has become the major mode of transportation for the little man. He walks back and forth, up and down the kitchen and family room, over and over again...he's just so proud of himself!

Of course, it's only been two days, so now he thinks he's ready to RUN. He's tried a few times. It always ends the same-him in a heap on the floor. But when he's excited about something, it doesn't seem to matter. These next couple weeks are going to be a hoot, let me tell you.

Now, even though I have no pictures of him walking, I decided I'd just dedicate this Photo Friday to random close ups of Robbie. Eighteen months old on Sunday!

Happy Friday!

Seriously...I have no idea

Can you tell who picked out new socks at Target today?

So stylish. So classy. So...Katelyn.

California Academy of Sciences

Thanks to the budget crisis, Padyn had last Friday off due to district furlough days. We decided to take a family trip to the city. I had not yet been to the remodeled Academy of Science. It was a perfect day for the trip. The girls never whined or had a fit, the boy slept on the way there and the way home, and the weather was fabulous. It left me wondering why we don't do this more often.

Watching the rays and shark.Katelyn was very concerned with this cheetah display. The cheetah was displayed with an item of prey. This was very distressing to Kate. She's not so happy about the realities of the food chain.Robbie enjoyed the trip, too. He spent most of the trip either in his stroller......or bouncing back and forth between Mommy and Daddy. He was thrilled to have us both in attendance.There is this cool fish tunnel where swamp fish and sea turtle swim over and around you while patrons up in the rainforest gaze down at you. I think here we might have been looking up at our neighbors who happened to be at the museum on the same day. You wouldn't know it, but this was Robbie's favorite spot. While Kate HATED the walkway ramp up the rainforest, she loved the butterflies. We all loved the butterflies. And geckos. And frogs. And snakes. And chameleons.

Look! A butterfly! You know it was a good day when before you leave, the 4 year old is asking if you can come back tomorrow.

The Small People Living in Our House

The super cute drama queen...The Shoe Thief....and Pantry Thief....

And, The Toothless Wonder...

(It's a bit hard for her to eat carrot sticks these days but she's mighty proud of that gap.)

It's a good thing they are all so cute. Some days that's their only saving grace.

Photo Friday-Favorites

This is Daddy's favorite photo of the week...

and this is Mommy's... I'm sure the girls would have a different favorite, but I didn't ask them.

Happy Friday.

Park Time!

Kinda nice that we can spend the first day of autumn at the park...love living in California.

Camping 2010

We went camping over labor day weekend. No, really, we did. I'm serious! Of course we didn't go alone. Why would we even go then? We went with 3 other families with whom we spend most of our time during the week. Thanks to the camping abilities of two of the families, we actually had a great time. The nights...they weren't so great. We were in a trailer and the kids were all sleeping alongside each other. Padyn was coughing and sometimes up every hour, so you can imagine how that went over. The kids were up too earlier and asleep too late...but the daytime was great! Here's a picture collage to tell our story.

No no...Daddy didn't do car repair on the camping trip. He had to do it before we left. It was a long, arduous task and I won't go into it. But eventually Daddy beat the truck and we left. Oh, and Robbie really wanted to help. Here's a favorite activity of the kids-push another kid in the hammock. You can imagine how treacherous that got at points. I think we only had one major crash, and that was when the rope snapped when an adult was in it. We had a few bruised noses, but all and all, the major injuries of the trip did not occur around the hammock. And there were major injuries. How could there not be with 11 kids?

Robbie thought it was great to have Daddy around ALL WEEKEND LONG and constantly demanded his attention.

He also liked cruising around from camping chair to camping chair at the fire pit. But really, Robbie's favorite part of the trip was getting dirty. And being outside.

Day 1: Searching for a Geo cache and hike. This one was very close to our site near a trail we attempted to hike.

Finding treasure. Each kid put an object in the cache and took one out. Sometimes, it was an item one of their friends had just deposited.

Treasure!

So, we went on this hike. But really, Padyn and all our friends went on the hike. Kate started complaining BEFORE we got on the trail and after about 1/2 mile, we couldn't take it anymore. We sat and rested while the rest of the gang trailed onward to the railroad tracks. Then we took our whiny kid back to camp.

I'm not sure why he is crying here, being surrounded by his favorite things. Can I just tell you how much he loved being outside all weekend? He thought it was the greatest thing ever. Well, not at this exact moment...

Our site was on the Yuba River, which is very cold. That didn't stop us from playing in it one day and bathing in it the next. Though, the kids were way happier to play than bathe.

Kate really just liked sitting on the rocks. Kate had a few rough moments during the weekend. I don't care to relive them, but I will tell you most of them involved socks, shoes and jeans. Next time, I'm just letting her pack herself.

Here we all are...eating.

This was Padyn's favorite camping activity.

And this was one of Robbie's...

On day two we jumped in our cars and heading to a small lake for some swimming and fishing. It was so very cold. Not much swimming happened. And while there was a lot of fishing by many people, no actual fish were caught on this trip.

Some dirt was caught, though. The kids were covered in grime when we left the lake and headed back to camp. Hence, the river bathing...

I didn't get any pictures of bathing because I was one of the scrubbers. This is an after shot from the opposite bank. The kids complained of the cold all the while being cleaned, but once it was done, they jumped back in the water for playtime. I think they are looking for crawdads here.

Another favorite camping activity, especially for Kate. I don't think she is even in this picture, though.

Will we ever go camping again? Sure. But not until next year. And Kate has to pack her own socks. And we may need a bigger trailer. And some ice for cocktails. No one has made true campers of us yet.

So, so long...

It's not my fault. Really. This blog has not been updated in a couple weeks for a series of VERY GOOD REASONS.

Ok, first, there was our camping trip. Yes, yes. We actually went camping. Outside. In a trailer. With no showers and vault toilets. It's hard to believe, but the pictures to prove it are coming. So, never having done that before as a family, you can imagine how long it took me to get us all packed up. Don't even ask all the trouble Daddy had getting us ready to get out to door. But the truck runs great now!

Ok, so there was that. THEN when we got home on Labor Day afternoon, we discovered that our modem had mysteriously stopped working over the weekend. It took our phone company a week to send us a new one.

That would be two weeks covered. AND THEN yesterday, I thought one of my children had killed the laptop. It involved water and self-powering down from the computer, then the blue screen of death. I was sure we were about to part ways.

But today...today a miracle occurred. The laptop started working again. So, before it changes it's mind, I'm going to post some pictures. Because it may be a while again, what with Auntie getting married this weekend and never really knowing what the computer will decide to do next.

Here we go. Next post up in about 30 minutes...