Golden Gate.... Scary Gate!

Okay so as many of you are aware heights are not my thing. And yes, I am aware I am married to a pilot. I think being married to a pilot and being afraid of heights would be like being married to a pastor and being afraid to go to church. Not cool, but being the totally awesome mother I am; I put on a brave face and faked lots of excitement when we decided to go check out the Golden Gate. I would say things like, "Here we go! It's gonna be great!" and "Wow, look at all that water underneath us! How beautiful!" All the while wanting to pee my pants with fear that the thing was going to collapse. And to add insult to injury there was the giant tunnel that we had to drive through to get there....oh joy...because you know if there's anything I hate more than humongous bridges it's long, dark tunnels 12 feet underground in earthquake territory. So as my children read this 20 years from now I hope they appreciate all that I have done for them....yeah, yeah, yeah, there's the food, the shelter, the clothing, blah, blah, blah...but for goodness sake I went over the Golden Gate bridge for them!

Our friend Henry, the slug.

Trees aren't the only things that grow big in the Redwoods. We came across the biggest slug ever on our hike that day. We named him Henry and here he is in all of his slug glory. Oh, and BONUS, nobody asked to take Henry home! Which is good because there are signs everywhere asking that you not take anything from the forrest, even leaves. We being the rule breaking family we are however, just had to nab a leaf that Jordan found. It was the biggest leaf we had ever seen...it was as big as Jordan's head and as you all know; there ain't a lot on God's green earth bigger than Jordan's head!

We Survived!.....Barely!

We took another day trip last weekend. This time we headed to Muir Woods up near San Francisco. The drive about killed me but once we actually got there and my feet were on solid ground, I began to enjoy myself. Mind you everyone else was already enjoying themselves because they thought it was cool to be 3 inches from the side of a very steep cliff with a husband who is driving fast and only has one hand on the wheel because he is busy eating a bag of sunflower seeds and spitting them into a water bottle. Sheesh! Am I the only sane one in this family? Anyhoo, it was absolutely breathtaking, everything I've ever imagined the Redwoods to be.

My Arch Nemesis

Darth Vadar has Luke Sywalker

The Grinch has Christmas

Tom has Jerry

Elmer Fudd has the wascaly wabbit

I have FRUIT FLIES!

These boys eat a ton of produce so consequently we typically have quite a supply of it in the kitchen, hence we sometimes get a plague of fruit flies. Nothing like coming downstairs in the morning to get some coffee half asleep and getting attacked like your in the middle of some horror film! Ahhhh! So frustrating! We did finally figure out, however, that the little pests enjoy Jack Daniels Black Cherry wine coolers which apparently causes them to drink a sip and fall over dead into the drink! Woo-Hoo!

Are you even kidding me?

What sounds like more fun than doing a jig saw puzzle with your children on a rainy day? Well, I gotta tell ya; just about anything else sounds like more fun than the pure torture we've endured in our failed attempt to put together the hardest puzzle in the world.....yes, that's right, in the WORLD people. Jelly Belly, Smelly Belly I say. I may sue the company for pain, suffering and marital strife.

PS We gave up after 4 days and this is how far we got....sad, I know.

Fall-A-Palooza!

We went to our churches' harvest fest for Halloween as we do every year. Trick or treating doesn't hold a candle to the fun of going to church and playing hundreds of games and getting tons of candy and prizes. The kids had a blast...as did I...can't say the same for John....he was, after all, wearing a giant Mickey Mouse costume. Can't say how much fun a grown man can have dressed like Mickey Mouse....apparently not much. And before all of you start sending me husband hate mail I would like it to be known, put on the record, and documented in a United States Court of law, that John Martin agreed to the purchase of said costume prior to the actual event. It was only when the time came to put on the giant funny suit that it was an issue. But giant kudos to him for his perseverence as he Mickey Moused all around the church! Apparently when Mickey and Minnie have children they produce a brood of super heroes in the form of Darth Vadar, A storm trooper, and twin Incredibles. And remember, even super hero's wear seatbelts!

Kindergarten Drop Out

The tale of two twins:

One is blond,

One is not.

One is tall,

One is short.

One you can pick up with one hand,

One you need a back brace to lift 6 inches off the ground.

One likes Chocolate Shakes,

One likes Strawberry.

One is going to graduate from Kindergarten,

One is probably not.

Justin, Justin, dear sweet...hot tempered and rule following Justin. Our dear sweet(sometimes) son has gotten his 5th demerit.(Jason's, Jordan and Jack's current tally in the entire lifetime they have ever attended school is: 0!) That's 5 DEMERITS people, 5 demerits in 3 months of school. I personally believe he is going for some type of record. The latest one was because he hid in the kitchen when they were all coming back from the bathroom because he wanted to leap out and scare Jack. Yep, laugh it up. These are the things my child gets written up for! :) High, high standards is what our thousands in tuition each month is going towards. When you get to 6 demerits you go to the Principal's office....yikes! One of MY children in the principals' office? MY obedient, respectful, fun loving children? I'll keep you posted on Operation Demerit Watch and belive me if that boy goes into that office I'll be there peeking through the window with the camera in hand! I am almost postive there is a place in the baby book for baby's first principal encounter. And if there is not I will surely fire off a not so nice letter to Hallmark objecting to it!

Battle of the Brothas....

So it was bound to happen eventually.....two brothers....one with a rather large noggin....and one with teeth and a football in his hand. Flashback to flag football practice on Wednesday.....you know, that'd be the one their dad coaches...you know the one where the coach doesn't make them wear their MOUTH GUARDS to practice....you know the coach whose butt I kicked when I found out they don't wear MOUTH GUARDS to practice! Ahem, anyhoo, apparently they were running some offensive play that is designed to confuse the defense and cause them to run into each other so the running back can then run speedily down the sideline and glide into the end zone. Well, let me just tell ya...when you take a bunch of 10 year olds and have them practice a play that causes people to run into each other...guess what? People are going to run into each other. Hence we have the tooth of Jason inserting itself into the head of Jordan. Tooth came through like a champ...the head...well, that took the brunt of the injury. All is well, nothing a shower and some chewable Tylenol and an ice pack couldn't fix. However I can't help but think what would have prevented this injury in the first place.....A MOUTH GUARD! Sheesh! :)

World's Largest Corn Maze

In our ever growing quest to explore all that California has to offer; last weekend we headed to the 2007 Guiness World Record holder of the largest corn maze. Here are my thoughts on said corn maze.

• It looks like every other corn maze



• All corn mazes no matter where you are look the same



• Corn, when wet, gets rather slimy and gross and adheres to your shoes like super corn glue



• A giant corn maze is loads of fun the first 15 minutes then it tends to lose its luster



• It was rather corny



• Note to all future corn mazers: if you decide to split up your kids with your husband, make sure that each of you has water bottles and that not only one parent has all the fluids and snacks on a hot fall day....that is just cruel and unusual corn punishment



• Further, ensure that each of you has a camera! Whoops! I am assuming that Jason and Jordan had fun....but frankly have no pictures to prove it!

All said, we had another great weekend!

Pumpkin Flashback

I was clicking through some old pictures and came across these from past pumpkin fun....too cute! Ahhh, almost makes me want to have some more babies......okay, I'm over it, whew glad that's over! But I enjoyed the memories....well, at least the haze of memories I do have from that crazy time of sleep deprivation! Check out Jack's hair!