You can be a coffee achiever, you can sit around the house and watch leave it to beaver

So, this weekend was pretty awesome.  Took Asher to Brandywine falls on Saturday where we saw the falls then hiked down into the valley to search for salamanders.  We didn't find any of the fire breathing kind (which is probably for the best) but we did find one black and brown one.  I was so concerned with being able to have Asher see and touch it before it scuttled off that I didn't get a photo of it but I was pretty happy we even found one.  I was getting nervous for a minute.  This weather is amazing.  I keep feeling like it's going to go away like a big April fools joke...



Bottom of the falls

<>

Daddy and Asher

Mama and Asher's funny faces

It's so much fun to throw rocks in creeks!

Overdramatic action shot!

Sunday we took Asher to Buzzard Day at Hinkley Reservation.  He had a blast.  Give a kid a free pair of binoculars and he is happy for days.  I'm serious.  He wore them all day yesterday and would have worn them to bed if I hadn't made him take them off.  Then, first thing this morning he does is get up and put them on again.  So cute. 

Dignified in what she does and when she sings the smile that she brings

So, Jen and Chuck had little Charlie on March 13th.  I'm so happy for them.  I'm super emotional, honestly.  I think it's partially due to being pregnant and partially due to the how totally in love I could tell they were with this tiny little human already even though they had only just had him in there lives for less than 24 hours.  A moment that I will probably remember for the rest of my life is how Chuck acted when he arrived back at the hospital after taking a run home for stuff for Jen and Charlie and for a quick siesta (hospitals really need to work on the whole 'where dads sleep' situation...unacceptable!).  He came in, made a bee-line straight for Charlie's little plastic lego sleeping cube container, touched him on the head, and in a voice I've never ever heard him use before he asked "How's my boy?".  It was almost one of the sweetest things I have ever witnessed in my life.  I know it seems kind of mundane, I think you had to be there, it was just so emotionally charged and amazing.  I don't know.  Call it pregnancy hormones, call it sappiness, call it what you will, but it was beautiful and I am glad I was there to see it.  It's those little moments that really make you think about life and how good it can be. 

Anyway...another few names on the list...Rosali Antoinette and Rosalina (middle name tbd).  We are working on it.  Negotiations are going...well, they are going.  At least we aren't at an impasse.  That's a good sign. 

It's a Tegan and Sara kinda day today.  I blame my cousin but not too much since I have deep love for the sisters anyway. 

I am thinking I want to get into the world of cloth or reusable diapers.  I'm a little scared, it's hard to know where to start and they are so expensive!  So, picking a brand is super important but it's also a huge commitment.  And the comments are all over the place, what's a girl to do?  Here are the two options I'm currently considering:  Gdiapers and the trial plan over at Jillian's Drawers. I haven't made a decision yet...it's kind of a big investment...I bet chuck norris would know what to do. 

I had something I wanted to blog about today but seriously, the minute I started typing this, I forgot what it was.  I'm sorry.  Maybe another blog tomorrow?  Perhaps. 

It's been a long time since I've rock and rolled

Wow, I've really been slacking.  I've been super busy at work lately.  Why, you may ask?  Well, because I just got promoted!  Woo-hoo, right?  That's what I said.  I applied for the job but I just thought I was making it a slight bit harder for the other guy (I couldn't just give him the job that easily, could I?).  But it ended up that we both got promoted.  I wonder still if there was only on position if I would have been promoted but I won't dwell on it too long.  Either way you are now reading words typed by a Watershed Supervisor.  Awwww yeaaaa.....

 It's been a busy half a month already.  Ry is leaving today to go out of town for a few days so Asher and I will be entertaining ourselves.  I'm really starting to look (and feel) pregnant.  My friend Jen is in the hospital right now as we speak having her first little baby boy, Charlie.  Hugs and kisses to her and Chuck, I'm about to cry I'm so happy for them right now!

We took Asher to fun and stuff over the weekend for Katya's 8th birthday party.  We have created a monster.  He had a great time, though.  And he was a pretty decent air hockey player, I was surprised to find out. 

We also went to a members only night at the Greater Cleveland Aquarium.  It was nice, not so crowded.  Asher told us that he "just wants to stay at the aquarium all day long" in the whiniest voice ever.  It was kind of cute. 

We still don't have a name for baby #2 yet...Maybe we are trying too hard?  I don't know. 

And I finally got my taxes done.  I usually don't wait this late but with the trip to California and being pregnant and all sorts of little things going on we just let the time slip by us both.  But, they are done now and I'm paying the state (just doing my part as a good citizen). 

You know what?  Have a freaking phenomenal day. 

Be sure to wear some flowers in your hair if you're going to San Fransisco

So, vacation...

Like I said, it was pretty awesome.  We arrived on Jason's birthday (what bad friends, I know, not bringing any gifts)  and just chilled out for the afternoon and then we walked to Castro Street and had dinner.  It was nice.  Ann got to buy some girl scout cookies from a girl walking down the street with a wagon, so that made her pretty happy, too. 

Sunday we went to the farmer's market which was cool.  I wish our farmers markets were like that around here but...I have the CSA so that's pretty cool too so I'm not too jealous.  (sign up for the summer, it's that time of year and spots fill up fast!)  We also took a train from Mountain View to Palo Alto, which almost blew Asher's mind.  He thought it was the coolest, especially it was double decker style and we sat on the top. 

On Presidents day we went to the Exploratorium, a pretty cool museum right in the bay in San Fran.  Seriously, our kids loved it, we aren't just imposing our own love of science and cool stuff onto them.  Asher asked to go back to the museum for the rest of the trip, I kid you not.  He also had a massive meltdown there over a cheese sandwich (welcome terrible twos...), but over all it was pretty awesome.

Tuesday we went to Pinnacles National Monument and had a wonderful picnic lunch prepared by Ann, then we hiked up hill to some caves which were pretty cool.  I'm pretty sure Athena ran the entire time, perilous cliff faces be darned.  She is so daring...Asher made us carry him most all of the time.  Athena touched coyote poop and immediately got her entire upper body disinfected, then we saw the coyote that pooped it out, which was cool (not the touching part and I'm assuming it was the actual coyote and not another, grant me some liberties here).  On the way home we ate in the garlic capitol of the world, Gilroy, California.  The fries weren't as garlicky as I'd like, which was a little disappointing since we were in the garlic capitol of the world, but you know, they weren't bad, either.  Maybe they could tell we were out of towners and toned it down for us.  Maybe they are just tired of garlic...maybe the garlic is just weak because it's out of season and not fresh. 

Wednesday we played it a little more chill and went to Happy Hollows Kiddy Park in San Jose.  A good time was had by all, the place is kind of a mini zoo, a petting zoo and a kiddie amusement park all rolled into one.  And, awesome news was....Cleveland Zoo pass got us in for free!  Rock on, right?  Awww yeah.   Asher and daddy and Jason and Athena all rode the roller coaster.  Did I mention it was like 72 degrees and beautiful?  What a nice day.  And we ended up going to a Japanese noodle house where I got to have the best Kitsune Udon I've had in years.  Even if Asher threw another giganto-tantrum there, I don't care because the food was so good. 

Thursday we chilled at the park in the morning and then the Morrisons delivered us to the airport.  Then our flight got cancelled.  Then we got rerouted to Pittsburgh instead of coming home (snow cancellations in Chicago) but that flight didn't leave for another 3 hours.  So, Ann, being the awesome person she is, came back and got us and took us to San Bruno to a park so Asher could burn off some extra energy.  What a hero, seriously.  Ryan was freaking out massively, too, so getting out of the airport for a while and hanging out with Ann just a little bit more was really nice for everyone involved (I hope I'm not overestimating Ann's enjoyment levels here).  Did I mention it was another beautiful sunny 72 degree day? 

Finally we boarded our flight which was a direct flight so that was nice.  And they put us in economy plus, so that was nice, too.  Asher slept the entire time which was amazing and really really nice for both Ry and me, I watched The Big Year in flight movie, which was okay but not great.  We get to Pittsburgh at 12:42 am, get our rental car and discover our luggage has been lost...well, not lost but it went to Chicago anyway.  So now we need to pick it up tomorrow at Akron-Canton.  Yippie...well, at least we have to go there anyway to get our car, so it's not horrible.  I drive us the whole way home.  It was a little eerie, there were almost no other cars on the highway at 2 am, go figure.

We get home around 3 am, then get up at 8:30 so Ry can get ready for his interview (which went pretty well, considering how tired he was).  I dropped Asher off at granny's house (where he immediately contracted pink eye from Katya) and Ry met up with me and we got an ultrasound (as I mentioned yesterday, a girl).  Then we drove our car back, picked up our luggage and tried to relax for the rest of the weekend. 

Overall, a pretty great trip. 

I'm back...

So, vacation rocked.  It was super awesome.  We had such a good time, the kids had a good time, I think everyone was pleasantly pleased with what a good time had been had.  There's a few quick photos...

Gonna try to to write again tomorrow actually telling you guys what we did and some other stuff as well..ran out of time today.  See you tomorrow. 

Oh, we found out we are having a girl.  You may suggest names.  I don't guarentee we will use them. 


Everyday our kids are shuffling





Hiking along at Pinnacle National Monument on our way back from
seeing the Bear Caves.  It was uphill both ways.  :)



Too much fun....too much fun.



Checking out each other's tickets for the train to Palo Alto

Making sure our kids don't jump to their deaths waiting
for the train to Palo Alto

Asher seems skeptical about that being the actual Golden Gate Bridge

At a really cool sceince museum called the Exploratorium. It was
seriously all Asher could talk about for the next few days of our trip.

Exploratorium again.  What a great museum.

30 day challenge on hold...

Okay, so I have been kinda busy with being sick and getting ready for vacation and being super busy at work and have fallen behind (insert temporarily suspended) the 30 day challenge.  So...I decided I am going on hiatus with the 30 day challenge until after my environmental forensics presentation.  And then I think I'm going to do a photo a day.  I think that will be good. 

Anyway, like I said, pretty busy with work so......

30 day writing challenge day 4: simple

Even a topic as simple as simple is is kind of giving me a challenge today.  Didn't write anything yesterday, partially due to us still recuperating and partially due to cleaning/disinfecting and baby showering all day long.  Off again today because my sitter is sick now.  It's nasty and apparently incredibly contagious.  Here's my attempt at writing for simple:

Sometimes even the incredibly simple things can be taken for granted when they go away.  Simplicity is overlooked and under recognized.  People wish for the simpler days.  Remember when a bucket full of bouncy balls and a bubble machine could bring you pure joy?  No?  They could, just watch a toddler.  And that simplicity is something that you miss, deep down,  That's why we try so hard to find happiness in any escape we can, when really all we need to do is figure out how to make a bucket of bouncy balls and a bubble machine fun again.  I think my solution was having kids, but that's not for everyone.  Having kids has made my life infinitely more difficult but has also brought back those moments of simple joy.  What does that for you?