We went to Trolley Barn park today

At C.'s request. I am savoring driving places for the last few days. I measured the mileage on the way home - about a 5 mile bike ride! Yikes =) I know it's do-able, but I am not looking forward to that pain just to take my girls to some of their more favorite, farther-away parks. I talked to insurance lady today and we are not renewing our auto insurance for the month of Feb. It will expire about half way through the month, and then we are done! Anyone want a nice, cozy, family-style CR-V?

Here are some flicks from the park picnic we had today! Thanks, friends, for meeting up with us. It was really nice to see you there and catch up.

E. enjoying some lunch

the # 1 reason why C. loves this park

New blogsperiment

Just wanted to point out that I have started a new collaborative blog that is linked over on the left under "tread lightly". We kind of have a tentative blog title but are still experimenting with that and colors/layout. Pop over and let us know what you think!

Dance Party

We took the kids to their first high school dance this past Friday - what a blast! J., as most of you know, is a teacher at a small charter school here in San Diego. They had their winter semi-formal on Friday and we decided to go and chaperone. As it turns out, they told him that the kids could come because some younger siblings would be there and some staff were bringing their kids as well. Did I mention that this school was a bit unconventional? Anyhow, they had the time of their lives dancing it up! Camille even made me find the "Cha Cha Cha" song online the next day so that she could practice her steps.

Here is a video, I'm sorry it's pretty dark. It's what I've got and it will forever remind me of the fun that they had on that night. None of the pictures that I took quite capture the essence!

On another note, I officially sent in my first query letter today - yikes! I have been throwing around the idea of trying to write more for a while and decided that there was no better time to try than now. I usually have Tuesdays completely free of children so my ambition for that day is to send out one query or unsolicited article (publication accepting) per week. I actually wrote this query last week but had been sitting with it so that I could re-read it and I finally stuck it in the mail today. That leaves me the rest of today to write another...

here, chickie, chickie, chickie...

Crazy Birthday Month

So, j. celebrated his 34th this last Saturday and we spent it with some good friends at none other than a Roller Derby bout. Yeah, you read right! Once Jeremy found out that the next bout of the San Diego Derby Dolls was on his birthday, he would have it no other way. Needless to say, it was loads of fun and a night we won't be likely to forget for a long time. Did I mention that Chizu paid for face painting?

Pre-derby pizza @ Zia's Pizzaria

@ the Derby

With a "Doll"

With Chizu and their painted faces

So sad, so long.

I was just skimming some news articles and came across this sad piece on Friendship Park/ Borderfield State Park. Friendship Park embodied the essence of San Diego at its roots. It symbolized so many things at once - oppression, love, strife, connection. It is truly a tragedy that this powerful place will no longer be something that can be experienced by anyone. San Diego now is a little emptier.

"The Border Patrol will replace the plaza with a dirt road sandwiched between fences 130 feet apart and off-limits to the public, said spokesman Tom Younghusband."

RIP

A cross-border family sharing a picnic on either side of the fence

Another picnic shot

Estelle standing on our side

The obelisk mentioned in the article

From the obelisk looking westward

Camille playing in the sand on the US side

Looking up into Mexico

Them taking photos of us

Wooo-hooo!

3 nights in a row of cleaning up with the girls before bed! We are on a role. I've even been doing all of the dishes in my sink before I call it a night. Now, how many days in a row do they say before it becomes habit? Hopefully not too many more =)

Today was uneventful but nice. The girls and I lazed around home, rode their bikes around the street for a little bit and hung out with the chickies in the back yard. They took a long bath, nap, had some dinner and then we went for a nice family walk around the 'hood, probably about 3 miles all together. We had to stop by the grocery store to pick up some pectin and sugar because Heather and I will be conquering marmalade in the next couple of days. Anyone want a jar?

Here are some pictures from Camille's party and her actual birthday-day.

Birthday Princess

Estelle taking a crack at the pinata

Wet Children with Candy

Pinata Frenzy in the Drizzle

one more

NYR #5 - clean the girls room every night before bedtime! never too late to start a good habit, right? we'll see if this one sticks.

New Years Resolutions

NYR #1 - get rid of car

NYR #2 - write more

NYR #3 - if (1) and (2), create a blog (or co-op a blog) about being car-less (or car-sharing)(or reducing your carbon footprint in general) in San Diego and post in it on a regular basis.

NYR #4 - exercise more regularly! This should come as a natural consequence of (1).

Here is a cute picture from around Christmas of the girls decorating the tree that I didn't post earlier because I am lame about blogging.

chickies, coops and partying it up!`

Happy New Year, all! Hope that it's been great for you thus far, as we are only a couple of days into it... It's been a busy but awesome start for us this year. We always get slammed with everything at once- everything is kind of a blur from Thanksgiving through January 10th. We get 3 days of celebration during the 23rd, 24th and 25th of December between all of our family members, followed by New Years Eve a week later and New Years Day, which also happens to be my mom's birthday. Camille's birthday is right behind her on the 2nd, which we celebrated today, the 3rd. One more week exactly until Jeremy's big 34th on the 10th! Then we get to breath for a little while =)

We started off our New Year spending it up in Redlands to celebrate with my mom for her big day. Upon waking on New Years Day we decided to throw the kids into the car and drive up to Forest Falls to see if there was possibly any snow left from a couple of weeks prior. We didn't want to get our hopes up, though, so we were prepared just to hike the falls if the snow didn't pan out - boy, we had no idea what we were in for! As we approached the valley we were stunned to come from sunny Redlands 15 minutes prior to houses absolutely covered with feet of snow. It always amazes me, just how much snow dumps at that place and how it STICKS for so long. Needless to say, the girls were not disappointed. We made our way into a little parking lot and tromped around for a while and then decided to go for a short hike down to the creek in the snow, and what an adventure that was! The day was beautiful, sunny, snow-filled and topped off with a fun party back at my parents house for my mom's and Camille's birthdays.

Today we had a birthday bonanza for Camille with friends and family here in San Diego. It was a breakfast and it was cold and drizzly but oh so much fun. We have this small house and we somehow had 50ish guests slammed into this tiny space and it all worked out! All I have to say is that I'm glad it didn't rain TOO hard, because I don't think we could have all fit inside at the same time. All of our guests were total troopers and didn't mind too much that they had to wear raincoats and get a little wet. It always makes me a little sad, though, that our house is so small and we can't just have a giant bash and invite everyone we know. I always hate having to whittle down the guest list and with everyone having kids and spouses - wow! You don't even invite that many people and somehow the turnout is just huge! Maybe one of these years we will have a kids-only party and make all of the parents leave - then we could have all of their friends come at the same time! Okay, maybe I would ask a couple of you parents to stay...

One thing that I have been meaning to post about is our chickens! We are now proud parents of four hens (at least I hope they are all hens at this point). Yup, that's right. We have a coop and everything. Super cute, super fun and I can't wait to have my own home-grown EGGS! Thank you, Sarah and BJ for all of your time and energy and brains to help us design and build this coop, may your eggs be abundant! Here are some pictures of the little ladies:

At a couple of weeks old

And with Sylvia, the Australian Hen Herder