the outings, part two.

packing and all things related to moving have officially kicked me in the behind and now i'm pooped.  so i'll just jump right in with the rest of the pictures and then head to bed.  can't.  think.  any.  longer.  too.  fuzzy.

but as promised, grandpa took mikey and the rest of us fishing again.  this time, we went to a pond near my dad's place.  we decided to walk over to it.

it was a rather long walk.  uphill both ways.

but the lure of finally catching a fish was enough to bring on the much-needed second wind.

so while mikey walked the whole way there and back, the other two munchkins did hardly any walking.

getting a quick casting lesson from grandpa.

and before long...

the boy had it down!  (made this mama so proud!).

learning that patience and fishing go hand in hand.

this time, allie wanted to give fishing a try too.  and liked it pretty well until she informed grandpa that she was tired of "twirling the wheel".  then she came and sat with daddy and lauren who were eating chips and m&ms.  and there she stayed for the rest of the afternoon.

but good things come to those who wait (and stick with it)!

mikey was equal parts excited and totally freaked out.  he absolutely didn't want that fish to touch him.  thankfully grandpa was on hand to gently release the fish back in to the water.

high five for the brand new fisherman.

grandpa and mikey made a great team- they ended up catching and releasing five fish that day!  phil and i on the other hand, still had no luck and didn't get a single nibble.  sheesh.

and after the great fishing expedition, grandpa took us on a nice drive out to the coast, just beyond hearst castle, where we saw...

lots and lots of elephant seals.

lots and LOTS.  and they were pretty stinky.

but pretty cool, too.

it had been really windy and cold the whole week at grandpa's.  but it was crazy windy out there at the beach.

SUPER windy.

don't these two look like they're singing a duet together?  ha ha.  they were actually doing some male dominance chest bumping thing.

which made mikey want to try it, too.

that is, until daddy's beard proved to be too scratchy.  : p

the outings, part one.

ok, so to resume the vacation recap...

since we spent a whole week at grandpa's house, we had lots of time for outings in between all the time hanging out at home.  unfortunately for me, most of the outings happened right around when the sun was high in the sky.  but i worked with it as best as i could since i didn't want to miss out on the memory-making moments as they were happening.  :)

mikey had wanted to go fishing while we were there and grandpa was happy to teach mikey the finer points of how to cast out the line, how to tell if he got a fish, and how to reel it back in.

"did i catch a fish yet?"

so while mikey kept at it (he told me he really wanted to catch a fish for us to eat for dinner), allie found other ways to keep herself entertained.

lauren found plenty of interesting things to look at, but we were all a little nervous about her getting too close to the pier's edge so she ended up strapped in the stroller soon after this picture was taken.

this is how phil responds when asked to give me a normal smile.

yeah, sometimes it's best when they don't know i'm shooting.

in spite of mikey's best effort to catch a fish that day (and he stuck with it the whole time we were out there, foregoing even the burger we bought him for lunch), we unfortunately went home without any luck.  wrong time of year and wrong time of day.  but still, grandpa said that was fine because mikey was out there to learn and practice anyway, which made him feel a whole lot better.  especially when grandpa said we could try fishing again another day.  not sure what this girl thought about this whole fishing business though.

later that evening, we headed back out to go see the san luis obispo farmers' market.

signing a giant ball.

my dad really wanted us to have ribs for dinner, so he and mira got in the long line while the rest of us did a little more walking around before rejoining them.

the line was looong, but moved pretty quickly.  if you look below the white sign, beyond the lady in the black leather jacket, you can see phil with allie sitting on his shoulders.

mmm, meat...

phil kept asking me where we were going to eat all this food and i kept telling him we were gonna pull up a piece of curb and jump right in.  he thought i was kidding.  i never kid when it comes to my dinner.

neither does she.

my girl in the driver's seat.

you don't normally see a huge tractor in the streets of southern california, so mikey thought this was pretty cool.  and if you look closely, allie's in the driver's seat once again!

more tomorrow!  :)

just when i think i might be on top of things.

one of the drawbacks of being in survival mode for a prolonged period combined with moving and/or having a baby every couple of years is that, uh, certain basic parenting duties fall to the wayside.  (ok, maybe it's not the survival mode thing, maybe it's just me).  so take for instance, routine trips to the dentist.  our dentist back in minnesota said we didn't have to bring mikey in til he was three.  so i put that duty on the back burner of my mind and went on my merry way.  and then we moved to a new house.  and then allie was born.  and then we moved to california.  and then i found out that there's such a thing as pediatric dentists who say you should bring kids in at eighteen months.  oops.  but by then, mikey was already three and i figured it was time to find him a dentist.  and then we found out that lauren was coming and thoughts of a dentist moved back to the back burner in between bouts of morning sickness.

and so, we finally got mikey to a dentist by the time he was three and a half.  close enough, no?  except, phil signed us up for the hmo side of his dental plan and we didn't have much to choose from.  so the first guy we went to was not quite up to par.  we never went back.

six months later...  (ok, ok, it was eight, but in that time we had moved yet again and had lauren), we tried another dentist and this one was better but still not great.  i kinda gave up on trying to find great who took hmo and just thought we'd deal with it.

except, that just didn't sit well with me cuz these are MY KIDS we're talking about.  we tried the second dentist one more time but by then i'd made up my mind to resume the hunt for someone great.  thankfully around that time, a friend referred me to the dentist she takes her kids to.  she raved about him, how great he was with kids, how nice the office staff was, and best of all, he had a treasure box!  and that sealed the deal for me.  cuz i knew my kiddos would LOVE a dentist with a treasure box.  it's important to me that my kids like going to the dentist because good dental health is important to me (even though it might take me longer to get around to it).  so i asked phil to change his insurance to ppo and i made appointments for all three kiddos (hey, at least lauren made it in early!).

the great news is that they love dr. steve and no longer dislike going to the dentist.  and the treasure box is awesome!  the bad news is that mikey had a cavity.  so i made an appointment to get it filled and went back to my life of packing up yet again.  wouldn't you know it, just when we find someone great, we're moving away!  but i resolved to drive back at least for this coming year, because it's worth it when it comes to my kids.

so that's the long story of how we got to this particular day.  the day of mikey's appointment to get his cavity filled.  i tossed and turned the night before concerned for mikey and feeling bad that he had to go through this and hoping he'd get through it okay.  and i woke up this morning realizing that i forgot to see if anyone could possibly watch allie and lauren so that i could take mikey and be there with him without other distractions pulling at me.  i made a last-ditch call and thankfully, my sweet friend (the one who referred me to dr. steve) readily agreed to take the girls even though she had her own kids with her and errands to run with all of them.  yeah, she's totally amazing like that.

i dropped the girls off and mikey and i drove back home.  it had been pretty foggy and so i turned on my headlights.  remember that cuz it'll come back in to play later in this story.

an hour and a half later, mikey and i got back in to the car to get to the dentist.  and i remember marveling at how we were going to be on time, early even, and how much easier it is to get to things on time with one kid in tow.

and then i heard a click, click, click, then nothing as i turned the car key to turn on the ignition.  oh no.

i looked down and realized that i never turned the headlights off when we got home earlier!  i waited a few minutes and prayed that the engine would just turn on.

click, click.

i waited a few more minutes.  we're now no longer going to be early even.

click, click.

mikey and i got out of the car, my mind was racing.  should i keep waiting or could we possibly walk there?  i was getting desperate at this point.  the distance was two miles and yet i kept thinking maybe we could walk.  yeah, we could totally walk and be there on time!  i tried the car one more time.

click, click.

i texted phil.  he texted back and suggested i see if a neighbor could give me a jump start.  huh, didn't think of that.  i looked around and saw no one and not many cars in the driveways.  i called the dentist office to tell them my car wouldn't start.  the receptionist was very sympathetic and said we could still make it if we would get there within twenty minutes.  i re-entertain the thought of walking there.  i was desperate to get to this appointment because i didn't have the other two with me and really didn't want to lose this opportunity to just be there with mikey.  juggling kiddos is not easy and having a last-minute babysitter is not a thing to be wasted!  just then, phil called and said he was on his way home to jump start my car.  my hero.  except, it would take him twenty minutes to get home and by then, we'd be too late for the appointment.

so, we go next door and ring the doorbell hoping someone might be home.  instead, a big dog comes to the window and barks at us, but no other answer.  right then, i saw our neighbors a few houses down driving back to their house.  it appeared that one of them forgot something at home because he ran in to get whatever it was while the other one stayed in the car.  mikey and i ran our tails over there and quickly explained our situation and asked if they could maybe please jump-start our van?  he very kindly understood and agreed to help me out.  mikey and i ran back to our car and he drove up with jumper cables.  (note to self:  owning only one set of jumper cables is not wise.  especially when those cables are in husband's car!).

in no time at all, our van was up and running!  yahoo!  we raced to the dentist's office hoping against hope that we could still keep the appointment.  i hastily parked and mikey and i RAN into the building, rode up the elevator, ran down the hallway, and arrived breathless into the office.  what an entrance we must have made.  followed up by mikey announcing to the receptionist that our car wouldn't start and how we ran there.  she initially thought we ran all the way from our house to the office!  i quickly explained and asked if we made it in time.  she smiled and nodded and said we were fine.  WHEW.

thankfully, everything went super well from that point on.  mikey did GREAT and i was so proud of him.  he kept so still that the dentist thought he had fallen asleep midway through (mikey was wearing sunglasses during the filling).  i know my boy and knew he wasn't sleeping but was doing his best to be brave and get to the end so he could visit the beloved treasure box.  but he amazed even me with how well he handled it and how much he was willing to endure for that treasure box.  oh how i love that kid.

anyhow, when it was all said and done, we drove home (happily, the car started again with no problem) and i was just overwhelmed with thankfulness.  thankful that it all worked out in the end, thankful that i have good friends i can call on at the last minute, a sweet husband who is willing to come to my rescue, and a kind neighbor who was willing to help me out even though he had things to do and places to be.  thankful most of all at how God provided for me every step of the way even though i didn't even think to ask and that He didn't leave me to deal with what is really a minor snag in the grand scheme of things.  thankful that God cares for me in the small things when i most certainly don't deserve such grace.  thankful that though i may never be quite on top of things, i know the one who is and He's got my back.

ah, what a day.  and i even got a few boxes packed, too!

anyhow.  will be back with more pics from our visit to grandpa's.  gotta sleep first though.  and pack.  did i mention i hate packing?  yeah?  ok.  just checking.

the farm.

in an effort to save money and spend some good family time together, we decided to spend a week at grandma and grandpa's house while phil was on vacation.  we all had a great time and it was time well spent as we haven't stayed that long at my dad's place since we've been married.  the visit was long overdue and it was much anticipated by both grandparents and grandkids.

the job of packing our family of five falls entirely to me.  which makes the anticipatory excitement a little less thrilling on my end.  thankfully, i have a saved packing list that i print out each time we go anywhere and that makes the job a bit easier.  i just throw everything we need onto our bed and cross items off the list as i go.  i still hate packing, but at least i'm less likely to forget some key item someone will need later.  the first column is stuff for phil and me, the second column is the kids' stuff, and the third column is the last-minute reminders before we leave.  oh and the box underneath the packing list was one of the very few i had managed at that point to get sealed up for our big move later this month (now in fourteen days- YIKES!)

hey look, it's Vacation Phil!  i miss him already...  :(

my dad recently built a second house on his property which we got to have to ourselves for the week.  nice, huh?  the girls would run to hug grandpa every morning the minute he came in the door.  i think he kinda liked it.  :)

they all spent a good bit of time snuggling together.  and i didn't get a picture of it, but they also watched the movie "my friend totoro" on endless repeat.  definitely one of the kids' most favorite things to do at grandpa's.  there's a reason why we don't bring the movie home with us...

and this girl could be found parked right here for every meal.

my very kind step-mom cooked three big meals for us each day we were there.  that was probably my favorite part of being at their house.  :)

and a sight i never thought i'd live to see.  my dad! doing! dishes!  yep, he's changed quite a bit as he's gotten older and i love him very much.  these two are seriously the best grandparents i could wish for my kids.

and we'd head out every morning to see what we'd see.

feeding the goats was one of mikey's favorite things to do there.

 what's up, goat?

grandpa even taught mikey how to shoot a real gun, too!  they were aiming at pretend ground squirrels while lily the dog sat at the ready.

there was also a little down-time at grandpa's...

but plenty of monkey business going on, too.

i wasn't kidding about the monkey business.

ah, this girl and her face get away with quite a bit more than her older brother and sister ever did.  and i think she well knows it.

there was also marshmallow-roasting at grandpa's house (see why they never wanted to leave?).

and i think grandpa wouldn't have minded having us stick around, either.

then we busted out the light sticks.

spin 'em faster, kids!

and of course, she had to get in on the fun, too!

playing with light sticks and cameras = fun.  at least in my book.  ;)

more fun stuff with the grandparents coming soon!