Not Much News

Hello. I haven't posted recently, I know!

Camila and Liv are no longer on the same nap schedule! OH NO! But both are doing very very well! (Each of them actually went down today with NO FUSSING - Holy Crap! --  its a damn good thing, too, as it is really hard to be in two places at once! LOL) And while I miss those couple hours to nap or catch up on chores... I am enjoying the one-on-one time with each of the girls.

Camila is very, very mobile. It keeps me running, but is fun for all of us. Except maybe Liv, who is acting more jealous these days. Camila is in the stages of new achievements every day (signs, teeth, crawling, standing, new sounds & games) that we are all very excited about - and I do my best to include Liv in these things: "Liv, Thank YOU for helping teach Camila a new sign!" But observing her behavior (when she thinks I'm not looking) I am reminded of a dog establishing dominance in the family/pack. She'll take toys away and then determine when/if to give it back or maybe whack the baby on the head with it. AAAGHH!!! Or show off in front of Camila "Can you do THIS?" and then balance on one foot or something, or even take food off her highchair tray! It's a constant challenge to balance their independent development, guide the course of their early friendship, and establish MY dominance as Alpha Momma!

Along these lines. Why am I surprised by the difficulty establishing "The Golden Rule" as part of the normal thought process? It seems like second nature; but, I guess, second nature is still second. Kind of like teaching good toilet habits; maybe? ((me, rolling my eyes - don't get me started.))

We've recently joined a local stay-at-home-mom's club. Which should provide more play activities and other support functions and community involvement opportunities. I'm excited.

We're (Jeff is) winning the battle against the varmint hordes for occupation of our hillside. We're reclaiming our landscaping back from the critter invasion - but now we're looking at a replacement phase. I can't believe we're going to have to buy & plant dozens of flowers, shrubs, and grasses - not to mention the irrigation parts! Damn rodents! Sheesh.

We're trying to get organized for the holidays: Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas.  It's an interesting exercise to realise that choices we make now will keep/establish (or not) traditions and memories for these special little people in our family now. Cool.

Camila's First Sign

Camila's first ASL sign looks a lot like clapping but is contextually "more."

Two days ago Liv and I were encouraging Camila to sign "more" (touching grouped finger-tips together) as I was feeding her yogurt. And she focused intently to get the fingers from both hands to do her bidding. 

We are all so proud of her!

Genoa Candy Dance & Horse Ride

I am absolutely kicking myself for leaving the memory card to my camera in the laptop at home (not to mention the spare cards I now own... grrrr.) I have only this single pic that Jeff took with his blackberry to share with you. 

That said, we had a great weekend! It's a fairly long drive (3-4 hours) to Genoa, NV. But we have wonderful friends there - we haven't been up ALL SUMMER - and this weekend was Candy Dance: which is almost worth the trip all on it's own!

The twins, Leo & Adriano, turned 6 last month. And are still very loving and inclusive toward Liv. We brought up some dollar store foam swords complete with sound effects and lights -- a big hit with the boys as you can imagine. but Liv was all about getting into the sword fight, too! As she ran into the fray, I pulled her aside, suggested she notice how rough the boys play and find her big brave heart and go play (and to tell them "No." and walk away if she wasn't having fun)! She had a great time and came running back all smiles with sword in hand... "I didn't get hurt!" "Of course not! I'm glad you are having fun, brave girl." And so it went! She took her share of tumbles and bonks, jabs and slices, but hung in there and even instigated some sword play. The boys were very good about accomodating their little buddy. They each asked me several times how old Liv and Camila are, and: "I'm six. When will Olivia be six?"

Leo and Carlota were, as usual, gracious hosts, Carlota prepared a fabulous dinner and as their home faces the park, we had a gorgeous European style meal on the terrace complete with a selection of live traditional cowboy music (some yodeling, some George Strait, you know: Candy Dance Style! (which, interestingly enough, did not include any Mexican music.)

This photo is obviously Liv and Mommy going for a horse back ride. We had a gentle (lazy) big ol' blonde named, Rocky. The name Rocky suited him perfectly in Liv's opinion because, as she explained to me: "Its very rocky to ride him, side-to-side, side-to-side: Rocky!"

Fly Over

On a recent return flight from NJ, Jeff took this pic as the plane flew over the Diablo Range enroute to SFO. The arrow shows home & the golf courses & vineyards of Diablo Grande.

Some Pictures

Some Pictures doing what we do:

Liv painting

Camila crawling

 Camila clapping

 Sunglasses modeling

Picnic

    Beautiful weather here... 70 degrees, sunny, light breeze. The girls and I went for a nice stroller ride and playground/picnic adventure earlier today. Happily, we ran into Klaudia and her grandfather at the park (thought I might...I had tried to call Kate and her dad answered her cell phone...lol) I packed extra snacks and they joined us for the picnic.

Monterey Bay Aquarium

We finally made it to the MB Aquarium... after all these years! Thanks to M&L for sharing their member/guest passes, and thanks to Kate, Keith & Lilian for joining us! 

(you can see Kate's post and more pictures here.)

Liv, Lili, Jeff & Camila taking a mid afternoon break so the gr'ups could get a cup of coffee!

Camila Luna (and Mom) hanging out by the kelp forest tank. WOW... I could spend all day watching the tall (30' or more??) kelp sway -- beautiful.

Liv and Daddy petting starfish in the touch-tank.

the Rocky-shore tank with crashing WAVES!

more, more, more!

I loved this circular room-sized herring tank

I

I also loved the Jelly exhibit... we didn't capture it properly here, but the tanks were lit with neon to really show off the jellies. So the water was a brilliant dimensionless aquamarine and these jellies were a fantastic orange... an amazing spectacle!

Remarkably, and unexpectedly, we had BEAUTIFUL weather. One just never knows when heading to the coast in the summer. We packed everything from t-shirts to sweatshirts & fleece blankets. But we lucked out! As there is lovely outdoor access throughout the aquarium: and much to see in the bay (sea otters wrapped in kelp, harbor seals hauled out on the rocks, and more!) Not only that, but many tanks are lit with only natural light - and are much prettier on a sunny day.

Was Mr. Keith doing something silly?? 

Lilian reaching for the stars... 

(ok, spiny urchin)

sea horses and really cool shrimp

Colorful Coral exhibit

Little green sea turtles flying by at toddler-eye-level.

(btw, while many exhibits are little-kid friendly - there many more tanks that were designed at big kid/adult eye level, the backpack/bjorn combo might have been better than the stroller.)

Liv has been chatting away about the things she saw at the aquarium, she had a nice long conversation with Miss Deeva our mailcarrier, and Michelle, our neighbor. and frequently with me. She loved the giant octopus, the sea horses, the sea otters, and and and...