Car Wash Crazies.

Do I need to comment here.

 Naomi is learning a lot from her older brother.

Let's just say washing the car = good times.

We love biking.

 It is so fun, as the children are getting older, we are able to go on more exciting and more enjoyable bike rides as a family.  We also recently got a bike rack where I can load the bikes on and off myself.  Mckay started biking when he was 3 years old and started mountain biking when he was 4 years old, so he can definitely keep up with his older brother.  I have a little bike seat in the front of my bike where Naomi rides, and she for the most part she always has a good time too.  I have a couple of favorite places I like to ride, very mellow with beautiful surroundings.  The boys really enjoy mountain biking with dad, Naomi and I will tag along sometimes but I enjoy the more mellow rides.  The boys picked this route on Saturday and it is one of my favorites too, especially during the spring when all the flowers are blooming, especially the poppies.

 One of the stops along the ride takes us to an old abandoned farm house built in the late 1800's, across from the old farm house is an open pasture where some horses graze.  The kids love to play in the old farm house, look at the old sink, fireplace, and imagine life in the 1800's.

Naomi has become quite the silly girl.  Learning from her older brother.

 

Yes, that fence looks super sketchy (1800's maybe). There is a thick rope that goes along all the inside of the fence, maybe to deter the horse from jumping, not sure.  Mckay wanted to feed the horse some grass so one of the horses came over right away for us to feed him some grass, as we were feeding the nice horse (the tan one), the other horse (the dark one) comes galloping full speed toward us.  Hello.. I was thinking I am with all my small children and this huge animal is charging right at us, and we only have this little tiny fence to protect us (maybe feeding the horse wasn't such a good idea).  The horse stopped suddenly right at the fence.  Naomi and McKay and myself got freaked.  I grabbed Naomi and we all moved away from the fence.  McKay and Naomi started crying (a little hysterical) and Naomi starts saying, "I wanna go home.  I want Daddy.  I want Silba."  We watched the horses interact from a very far distance.  I don't know if the darker horse was trying to protect the tan horse, or if the dark horse wanted our grass, but they were definitely communicating with each other in a very loving manner, if that makes sense.  I have a lot of respect for horses.  They are smart, strong, large, fast, and have a mind of their own.

 We started biking again and all the horse drama was soon forgotten.  All in all we had a great time.  They were still pretty happy by the time we got back to the car.  McKay was also so happy to find a ladybug.  He wanted to put it in his pocket and take the ladybug home.  I talked him out of it of course.

Love the joy !

Ode to Spring

Naomi loved filling the bird feeder!

Heading out to explore in the backyard.

Doesn't everybody love spring.  It finally has stopped raining here so the kids are loving being outside, playing, pretending, and exploring.  In the above picture you can't see the kid camera Ethan had in his hand.  He took lots and lots of pictures of nature that day.  It was very precious.  The boys actually did so much exploring they wandered into one of the neighbors yards (there are no fences) and found a gigantic tree that had fallen over from the recent storms we had.  The tree was in the back of the neighbors yard (you can't see it from our yard) and fell toward the neighbors house, so from where they found it all the roots were out and exposed and they could walk along the tree.  Luckily, it was far enough from the neighbors house that it didn't hit their house, otherwise it would have done some serious damage.

 My mom gave us an old zip line they had in storage, so Mike just recently put it up.  The boys are loving it.  Thanks mom for holding on to that for who knows how long!  Super fun.

 Here is also an update on our garden.  With all the crazy rain storms we got we weren't sure how the garden would hold up.  Some of the seeds have sprouted and doing well and some didn't so, we replanted some of the other pots.  We will see what will happen.

Wild Calla lilies growing in our yard.

Love watching them play and explore

 I let Ethan watch some of the news regarding the recent earthquake and tsunami in Japan.  He has been very worried about it, praying for them everyday, and asking me questions about if a tsunami could hit here.  He has been trying to understand the physics behind how the earthquake caused the waves and how much warning the people got before it hit, very concerned.  Well, McKay has picked up on all his talking and worrying and McKay plays "Japan" in the backyard.  He builds up a dirt pile and then he pours water into the hole to have it flood.  That is his level of understanding regarding what happened.

Creating Japan.

Gardening.......

So proud

 So, we have been wanting to garden for a couple years.  In Philly we filled dirt in a planter box and then decided to put our house on the market a couple weeks later, so that was a bust.  Then in El Dorado Hills we were renting and that pretty much kept us from not gardening.  Now, we are still renting, but we really wanted to garden.  Then we kept saying we can't garden because the deer will eat it all and we didn't want to invest in a fence.  So, we kept talking about it and then one day Mike decided to just get some seeds and dirt and he started gardening!  He found an "easy" fence to set up around the garden to keep out the deer.  I am so glad, when Mike gets behind an idea he goes full force.  He has become Mr. Gardener, and oh how the kids love it. 

the meager beginnings

In El Dorado Hills Ethan would ask for an apple tree.  He would go and plant his seeds, from an apple he ate, in the dirt in the backyard.  He would always come and keep me posted on whether it was growing.  I always encouraged him, but knew of course nothing was going to grow.  I felt bad, but didn't have the energy to try and make a garden then.  Well, I still don't have the energy to take care of a garden and wrap my head around it all, so I am so happy that Mike is developing a new hobby, and I can help out whenever I can. 

Ethan showing me his potted seeds.

There is something so wonderful about being being connected to our earth, and truly understanding and seeing how this beautiful earth creates food to sustain us.  It truly is a remarkable process when you stop and think about it.  Something I take for granted every week when I go grocery shopping.  I NEVER think about where the food is coming from while shopping.  I am thinking what do I need, how quickly can I get it and get out, and move on to the next thing I need to do that day.   Don't get me wrong I am thankful for so many conveniences that we have with this modern life, but it is good for me to stop and look in awe at how a little tiny seed planted in soil over time will develop into a life sustaining food source.  I am so happy my children get to experience this too.

All the potted seeds

My grandpa Suzuki is 92 years old.  I was visiting him one spring when he was 87 years old and he would go out and work in his garden.  It was a beautiful garden with a variety of plants.  I love this about my grandpa.  I was so impressed that despite his older age he still kept up his garden.  I have always felt that I have a rich heritage of gardeners, but I myself have never had the know how or passion to take the time to learn.  Just taking the time to write and think about it makes me realize the strong connections it creates.  I feel that gardening not only connects me more to mother earth, but it also connects me to my children, husband, and my wonderful grandparents.  My other grandparents had a lemon tree in their backyard and we loved picking the lemons off the tree every time we went to visit.  One of my favorite memories, and the lemons seemed to be connected to so many memories I have of my grandparents.  Interesting,  I have never really thought about it before.

So, I think I will stop cleaning the house, or making dinner, or doing laundry, or the other 100 things I need to get done while the family is out gardening, and I will join them in their gardening efforts. 

Naomi loving being in the swing while everyone is gardening.