Five weeks old today

And it doesn't get any cuter than this!

"I didn't do it, I swear, I didn't hit her".....


They are running all around our room, discovering all kinds of new "playthings"...


Did you know cats are nocturnal? They love to wake us up at night to play. They have learned how to climb up onto the bed.

But how can you get mad at a face like this?

Julie and Julia

Great movie! Ralph and I went together (a rarity) to see this movie today. Nothing like "sneaking" out to a movie in the middle of the day while both kids are in camp!

We both loved it! Very cute, very sweet...it holds your attention and is just fun. So if you get a chance, go see it. I don't have to say that Meryl Streep is fantastic as Julia Childs. She could play anyone and be great. And the perky little gal from Enchanted, Amy Adams is great, much more "laid back" and less perky than in other films I've seen her in. Very believable.

Anyway, go see it!

Summer Fun!!!

What's more fun than bumper cars???

BUMPER BOATS!!!!!


The kids had a blast on them....


And why are they better than bumper cars?? Because you can squirt the other boaters!



Many thanks to my SIL, Pat, for taking on both Rico and Marielle as team mates.




And what else says summer fun, like mini golf?


We had a really great day, filled with lots of fun.

Then, we hopped over to Jelly Belly for some candy. Ahhh....perfect summer day.

Nails, cont...

Well, Marielle remains enthralled by her new nails and is not biting or picking at them. Yeah! I told her if she leaves them alone, her regular nails will grow out underneath the fake ones and when we get the fake ones taken off, she can have a manicure on her real (and by then long) nails.

She likes this idea, but I think she likes the fake ones better.

Nails!

So Marielle has had this nervous habit. It started when she was diagnosed with cancer. She bites and picks at her nails and cuticles....so badly that they often bleed. She'll bite them down below the quick...ouch! As you can see in the "before" picture, her nails are very, very short.

I've tried to get her to stop but nothing seems to work. So, I told her I'd let her get fake nails, if she promised to take care of them and not pick or bite them. I figured that plastic wouldn't give her the same gratification.

So today, we both went for manicures. I'd never had a manicure before in my life! I get my hands dirty so much in the garden and the yard, doing dishes, etc. and my nails are hard and grow well on their own. But, hey, if she's going to get her nails done, Mama should, too, right? I loved the manicure (no fake nails for me) . Marielle is in heaven over her new nails! She picked the color so that she would look like a "rocker girl"! Let's hope she cares for them ok!

Marielle was very calm and super patient, by the way, even amazing that gal that did the manicure. I doubt that many 7 year olds are as patient as she is. But having practically grown up at the hospital and clinic, she's used to waiting for long periods of time.

Duck Eggs

So we had the duck eggs with dinner last night. They were very tasty! They are basically similar to chicken eggs, but the yolk is bigger, so the egg is richer. I made mine sunny side up and it was delish! The kids had theirs scrambled and they loved them. (Then they tried to eat my egg because they said it looked better cooked that way but I didn't let them have it...bwaaahhhh. I'm such a mean mommy.)

We will definitely get duck eggs again in the future. I'm going to make a quiche for dinner tonight with some of the eggs (chicken). I found a good recipe on the net...bacon, tomato and leek quiche. Doesn't that sound good? I also found another one that uses salsa and sausage, but want to tweak it to add veggies but haven't decided how to do it yet.

The kids have always enjoyed quiche and fritatas (basically quiche without the crust) and it's great that we have this new source for wonderfully fresh, great tasting eggs.

I am sure we'll take a trek out to the farm again in the not too distant future.

Visiting the Farm

We went to a local farm today. Now, we are "city slickers" and the kids haven't had much experience to farm life, so for them, it was a great adventure.


We went to get some farm fresh eggs. They had all kinds of eggs. We came home with green eggs, brown eggs, white eggs and some duck eggs. I've never had duck eggs before, but we are going to have some for dinner tonight. I wonder how different they'll taste.


The cool part was that the kids got to hunt for the eggs themselves.


Marielle went for it and found us lots of eggs.


Rico, on the other hand, didn't want to put his hand into a space he wasn't sure of. I think he thought that the mama hen was going to come over and peck his hand off if he tried to take an egg. Despite reassurances, he wouldn't pick up any eggs. Well, not until I pulled them out of the nesting area! Then he wanted to juggle them. (No, he was not allowed to do that!)


Then we went and visited some of the horses, cows, and a goat. Marielle was cool with the animals, Rico was scared.

All in all, it was a really fun time!

We'll go back again to get more eggs, after we eat the ones we got today. The nice thing about it, is that the farm is actually really close to us, not more than 20 minutes away. It's Manhattan Farms in Castro Valley, off Crow Canyon Rd. for anyone who is local and thinking they'd like to go. The owners are super nice and the kids had a great experience!