Black Stallion

Nothing I can say about this video can possibly do any justice. Believe me, I have thought long and hard for something witty and I just keep coming up dry. So, with that said, enjoy!


Black Stallion - The best bloopers are here

That's my Boy!

Preston's birthday was the 21st of August and he turned 2!  I can't believe how fast time goes by.  He's getting to be such a big boy.  For his birthday we celebrated by taking him to the California Animal Living Museum (CALM).  The Biglers were able to join us which made it all the more fun.

Inside the TERRARIUM-  Preston's up on his little tip toes to get a closer look at the frogs.

FEEDING THE GOATS some stray leaves :)

The PETTING ZOO.

The DUCKS.  (I actually have a picture of Evelyn taken at this very same spot when she was about a year old)

Here's everyone watching the BEARS.  

They have a brown bear and a black bear (which as you might remember from a previous post I am very familiar with).

And the best part of all....  

The MONKEY!

What?!? You didn't know CALM had monkeys?  The kids somehow got it in their head that there were going to be monkeys there and of course there aren't so Andy decided to fill in.  He's such a great dad.

Afterwards we got ice cream and Liz and Greg treated us to pizza.

Preston got some really nice toys and was so happy to play with them all!  Here he is showing off his new sheep.  I can't believe how much he looks like his daddy.

  Some interesting things to remember about Preston are that he always sleep with his cup and at least 3 stuffed animals, usually his dinosaur, sheep and bear.  Anytime you say "I love you" to him be prepared because he will always reply with with an "I love you MORE".  At night when I put him down for bed he won't let me leave without a kiss and a hug, sometimes several because he'll say "KISS" and I'll give him a kiss and then "HUG" and I'll give him a hug and then it continues "KISS", "HUG", "KISS", "HUG" as long as he can get away with it.  He loves to pretend to be a monster.  I can't even say the word without him growling real loud at me until I react.   He loves cars, bears and dinosaurs.  He finally just got a big boy bed.  He loves his sister even though they fight all the time.  He gets a kick out of trying out everyones shoes and usually misplaces them.  This summer is his first summer wearing flip flops.  He's actually not bad at keeping them on either.  He's a great little swimmer.  He just learned how ride a bike.  He's not afraid of animals at all except lizards STILL.  He asks for peanut butter and jelly every single meal.  His new favorite treat is "ogurt" (yogurt).  His favorite movies are Cars, Brother Bear and Super Doggy (Bolt).  He's recently started to throw tantrums by throwing himself on the kitchen floor.  He loves all his Grandmas and Grandpas very much.  And he is a seriously sweet kid with the worlds best smile.  I love him so very much.    

More highlights from our Tehachapi trip

As most of you know while Andy was busy shooting his movie the kids and I spent our time up in my home town of Tehachapi.  The kids and I really missed Andy but it was so nice to spend so much time with the family.  I've always loved going up there.  Everything is so much more laid back and relaxed.  My parents were amazing to let us crash at their house for so long and eat all their food.  It was a super nice break for me.  ::thanks mom and dad::  Now on to the pictures.  Here are the highlights from our time up there.

My parents and the kids played with chalk.  Evelyn showed off her artistic side and got REALLY dirty in the process.

 A couple days into our trip Kory busted his wrist long boarding.  He had to have surgery on it shortly after.  He had a titanium plate put in and like 11 staples.

We went to the Mountain Festival parade and then walked around the booths.  Mom split a funnel cake with us, mmm...

We spent some nice quality time visiting with Nannie & Papa (my Grandparents).  The kids could spend hours on their swing and exploring their backyard.

Uncle Scott came just in time for a stick fight with the kids.  I also got hear all about his new job at Dryers.  Very cool!  Literally, he works in a freezer.  His uniform looks like a full on snow suit.  It seems like a really good job for him plus he gets all the free ice cream he can eat. 

The one last thing we did was enjoy some delicious Tehachapi apples straight from the tree.  The apples were so big and delicious.  It was fun watching the kids try to open their mouths wide enough to take a big bite. 

Homemade Play-Doh

The other day I was trying to think of something fun to entertain the kids and I started to have flashbacks of my own childhood.  One thing that came back was all that time in Kindergarden playing with that salty homemade playdough.  I googled it and found the recipe.  

Homemade Play-Doh-

1 cup flour

½ cup salt

2 teaspoons cream of tartar

Combine above ingredients in a large saucepan.

Gradually stir in:

1 cup water

2 tablespoons oil

1 teaspoon food coloring

Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly until a ball forms. Remove from heat and knead until smooth.  

It was super fast and easy and the kids actually got to help with most of it.  I let the kids play with it as soon as it cooled down enough to touch.

Just a little catching up to do

This summer we've done tons of blog worthy stuff and I have been less than motivated to sit down and actually write about them.  I REALLY DO want to write about them it's just taking way more time than I had intended.  And when I say "way" I mean "WAY", like Easter :0  I know, yikes!  So anyway,  over the next week or so I'm going to try to fill in the gaps.  If some random blog post-dated for June something pops up you know what it is.

Discovery Landing

We recently got a pretty cool invitation from my Brother in Law Tim and his wife to go with them to see the shuttle landing at Edwards Air Force Base.  It was originally supposed to land a day earlier at the Kennedy Space Center but due to adverse weather conditions they changed it at the last minute.  It was really an interesting trip.  On the ride up there I read up on it and learned some pretty interesting facts.  It was a 14- day delivery mission to the International Space Station.  They delivered a new crew member along with tons of supplies and science gear.  Also among other things they delivered the Combined Operational Load Bearing External Resistance Treadmill (COLBERT).  A treadmill actually named after comedian Stephen Colbert.  Another interesting fun fact was that the astronaut that was brought back spent an entire 2 months straight in the Space Station WITH NO GRAVITY!  I can't even imagine floating for 2 months straight.

  Unfortunately there wasn't much to see when we got there but it was a good experience and it's something now that I can say I've done.  It was fun checking the time and looking up and finally hearing the loud bangs as the shuttle entered each layer of the atmosphere.  Evelyn of course detests loud noises so she got a good little scare in the beginning but she was alright after that.  Andy brought the Red One (a super mac daddy camera) with him and shot the landing.  The cops didn't wait long before shooing us off and then we ate a nice dinner at the McDonald's in Tehachapi.  

Puppy Sitting!

New Experiences

My new favorite thing these days is taking the kids on little outings.  One day I treated the kids to some Rite Aid ice cream.  Mmm... As far as I know they're the only place that sells Chocolate Malted Crunch which just happens to be one of my all time favorites!  The kids loved it too and they even got a chance to pick out which flavors they each wanted.  Another great thing about Rite Aid ice cream is the price.  It's only a dollar a scoop so the whole experience only cost my $3.  Rite Aid and the dollar theater have become my two favorite cheap places to take the kids.

 Our latest trip was downtown to see the sites.  We parked in the Beale Library parking lot intending to go in but unfortunately it wasn't open yet so we took a pleasant walk down the street to the Rabobank and explored around there for a bit and then walked back down and around to the Ice Sports Center and watched the ice skaters for a bit.  It was surprisingly fun.  One of the skaters was actually pretty good and made it interesting to watch.  When the kids finally got too cold in the arena we heading out and just for the exploration aspect of it I had them each touch the cold ice to see what it felt like.  It was a fun experience watching the looks on their faces when they touched the arena surface and realized that it really was ICE.

Afterwards we decided to head back to the library.  I took the kids inside and we looked around for a bit before checking out some motorcycle books.  I've always really liked that library.  I have fond memories of going there as a kid and being so amazed at how huge it was.  So it was fun and really nostalgic being there with the kids even though the majority of the time they weren't exactly library quiet (if you know what I mean).

On the way back to the car the kids spotted the Amtrak train and begged me to take them over to go see it.  It just so happens that there's a little playground right next to the train so we hung out for a while and played while we waited for the train to depart (which it never did).  

And then I remembered one thing I've always wanted to do was get a closer look at that big globe in front of the Amtrak station so I took the kids over to it.  At first they were just amazed.  They actually stood still (which is a big deal for them) and watched it for a few minutes before even getting the idea to touch it and play in the water. 

All in all it was actually quite an exhausting trip but super fun too!  I love watching the kids experience new things and that day we did tons of it which made all the trouble totally worth it.

Hello and Goodbye to our new Little Friends

The other day I went outside to discover two little lizards stuck in one of our buckets.  For fun I showed them to the kids and they were automatically attached, Preston calling them "izards" and Evelyn naming them Izzy and Tiny.  At that point I just couldn't let them go so we decided to keep them for a few days in our turtle tank and see how they did.  They were actually pretty fun to watch.  They would sit on Dmitri's shell and ride around and they'd also let you pick them up.  It was a fun experiment but after a few days it became clear that they weren't going to last long inside so the kids helped me release our new little friends.

Evelyn was so brave and let the lizards climb up and down her arm.  I couldn't believe how comfortable she was picking it up and touching it.  This little lizards was totally attached to Evelyn to.  I just assumed he would bolt as soon as we got outside but he didn't.  In fact she put him down and he climbed right back up her leg.

Preston on the other hand didn't want anything to do with them.  He would watch them but when I told him to put his hand out he put his toy muskrat out instead.  That was as close as he wanted to get to it.

Goodbye little friends!  I hope you live a long and healthy life.  You will be missed.

1968 HONDA CT-90

YAY!  I finally got the bike I've always wanted.  The dream started years ago when I was about 11 or 12 when my Grandpa let me ride his little Honda motorcycle.  I was so hooked!  To this day I remember that experience.  I remember being so naive and bold that I actually asked my Grandpa if I could have it.  To this day I still can't believe I asked him that :)

Unfortunately I never did get that bike but Andy told my story to my brother in law Tim who years ago had his own Grandpa's bike handed down to him.  Well, Tim is awesome and he gave the bike to Andy and I.  I am so excited about it!  It's a 1968 Honda CT-90.  It doesn't run anymore and needs quite a bit of work but I can't wait to fix it up and ride it around.  It's such a wonderful family heirloom that I will definitely keep in the family.

I figure I'll make updates when I start getting things going on it.  I've checked out some books from the library and asked around to my motorcycle savvy friends and I'm super excited to learn more about it.