Last week was great and we did lots of fun things...let me remember.....
On Monday we had the Toddler in the Garden class at O'Neil Regional Park and had a great time. Jodi, the teacher, talked about the acorns and how they fall on the ground this time of year and how they turn into oak trees. She let the kids open up the acorns and see the nut or the insects that were eating the nut. She also brought out a bird book and the kids got to listen to the sounds of different kinds of birds (Ian really loved it). She pointed out that the Acorn Woodpecker loves acorns!! We then went on a short hike and planted some of the acorns along the trail and the kids had a great time exploring. Jodi is a fantastic teacher and I'm so fortunate to be able to take my kids to her classes.
On Tuesday we did yoga with Blythe (http://www.itsybitsyyoga.com/) and the kids had a lot of fun. This is the second session we've taken with Blythe and Ronan seems to be doing better this time...I think it's because he's older now and because Ian is in the class too. They like doing the poses and like making up their own, like different superhero poses. Here's an article written about the yoga class that we went too (http://www.ocregister.com/news/yoga-berube-baby-1917991-itsy-bitsy) The boys were playing so nicely after yoga and I just had to take a picture of the boys playing with the big T-Rex puppet.
On Wednesday we went to Laguna Beach with Jane and Jakey and had a wonderful time. The boys played at the playground first and then we played on the sand for a little bit. The beginning of the week was so hot and the beach was so nice and not crowded. This is why we live in Southern California. :) It's the middle of November and we are at the beach in shorts and a tanktop and it's hot enough for sunscreen. Ahhhh, we love this weather!
On Thursday Ronan and I went to Whole Foods while Ian was in preschool. I just love Whole Foods and ended up buying lots of yummy food. We had to hurry and get home to put away the groceries and then pick up Ian. I picked up the rugs for the front room and hallway and then Amber helped me roll them out. The rug we got for the front room is much bigger, softer and is beige-ish and it's the same color for the hallway. I'm hoping this will help with the noise in the house and making it warmer on our feet in the winter.I also got to go out tonight and listen to Richard Louv, the author of the book, "Last Child in the Woods" (http://www.cnaturenet.org/book/) He talked about how children really need to spend lots of time in nature, unstructured, just playing and having fun. So many children are becoming obese by not sleeping enough, not having energy to play, not having time to play due to homework or other activities and not eating well. As a child, I played outside all day and played all kinds of games with my brother and neighbors. We used to love going to the eucalyptus grove and hanging out there, fishing for crawdads, messing around. We didn't play in playgrounds much and just invented games to play. Now the kids are in so many organized activities, like gymboree, dance, day care, etc that they don't just get out in nature. I'm really determined to expose my children to as much nature as possible by doing weekend hikes, camping, continuing the toddler in the garden classes and just getting out as much as we can.
Friday we met Jane and Jakey at Laguna Niguel Regional Park and played for a few hours. Ronan was feeding the ducks and geese wild bird food that I bought and he was so brave and fed one of the geese with his hands. He was so proud of himself. They boys just loved running around and Ronan enjoyed finding pinecones and throwing them in the little stream. Also, the boys were so cute climbing on the rocks. Jakey was following Ronan's path on the rocks and they were talking to each other (picture two 2 year olds following each other on the rocks and having a little conversation). I filmed them and will try to post it if I can.
Saturday we went to O'Neil Regional Park for the Family Hike led by Jodi and Mark. I wasn't feeling well and didn't want to go, but I'm glad I did and I had fun. There was about 5 other families there and we learned about making string from the yucca plant (Mark demonstrated the string making) and Jodi showed us some more acorns and some leather pouches and moccasins. Then we went on a little adventure and the kids were free to walk around the dry river bed. Ian found a rusted door thingy and he had fun bouncing up and down like a tramboline. We found some deer tracks and followed them to a little swamp/pond. The kids enjoyed throwing rocks in the water. Then one parent found a deer skeleton and Jodi and Mark gave a little talk about the bones and how we have ribs just like a deer. They think a Mountain Lion probably killed the deer and then probably a coyote ate it. The head and legs were missing but the torso and verterbrae were still intact. The boys had so much fun playing with the other kids and I got to talk with the other moms and we all had a great time.
(the picture above is the 10,000th photo we have taken on our digital camera...Wow!!!)
Today (Sunday), we had a lazy morning because the boys were up last night (I thought they would sleep like a log since they were so active), but no. Ronan had a nightmare about bunnies and then that woke up Ian. Then Ian couldn't fall asleep and ended up in our bed for about 30 minutes and then he went back to his bed. I couldn't fall alseep because I had horrible post nasal drip and was coughing which was keeping up everyone. Ugh!!!
Anyway, Tom and Dawn came to visit and we went to the Farmer's Market. They wanted to check out our market. We then went back home and the kids had a great time playing with them. They have so much fun playing with them...I just love it!! Thanks so much for coming over Tom and Dawn!!
Matthew went to the nursery and bought a loquat tree for the hill and a shade tree for the back of the hill and a dragon fruit cactus for the corner back hill. We have such an empty space on the hill that we needed to fill it in. I hope everything grows quickly and we'll have amazing fruit next Spring/Summer. We planted the dragon fruit cactus at the very top/corner of the hill so the kids couldn't get hurt on it. We'll see how it goes.
Well, that's about it. They boys are wanting dinner.
Love to you all,
Shelly
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