The Cutforth Family

Creative Milestones

2012-03-12T15:44:00.001-07:00

Creative milestones are somewhat bittersweet. Alyssa drew her first picture that had actual features. She drew a picture of me, complete with eyes, hair, smile, pants and shoes. I'm amazed at the transformation of her drawings from yesterday to today. But, I'm slightly sad to learn perhaps, she's not as small as she used to be.

Happy Hallow

2012-03-08T17:13:00.001-08:00

Vacations are the perfect time to enjoy places that are too busy during the weekends. Dan and I both took a week's vacation and decided to take Alyssa to Happy Hallow on Thursday morning with Grandma Sue. Alyssa was only mildly entertained by the zoo, asking frequently to go see Danny the Dragon, a very gently kid-ride. As we continued to drag her through the zoo, we saw the jaguar, the meerkats, and stopped briefly at the macaws. One of her current favorite movies is Rio, a movie based on the hit game Angry Birds, so she spent a bit of time examining the birds up close. We zipped past the turtle, and asked again about Danny the Dragon.

When we visited Happy Hallow back in June 2010, Alyssa was a bit less cooperative about showing us how big she was. This year, she was quick to pose for a quick measure. And Daddy's wing span was largely unchanged.

Finally, we made it over to the rides. The park is operating under a new schedule where certain rides are only open for an hour at a time, and the schedule rotates. This allows them to reduce staff and costs, but it makes it difficult for families, because the lines are longer. We already operate on a tight schedule to accomplish everything and still make it home for naptime, so the new plan leaves a little something to be desired. But we made the most of our time available.

While we were waiting for Danny the Dragon to open, we decided to give the roller coaster a try. During our visit back in August, Alyssa had opted to skip the roller coaster despite being tall enough. She wanted to wait until she was bigger. This time we convinced her that she is indeed bigger. She agreed to give it a try. I held her hand during the ride, and when she got off, she said it was good. She said the "up" was okay, but that the "down" was not, and that she wants to be bigger before she rides it again, maybe 5. I am pretty sure she'll change her mind.

Then Dan chased Alyssa all over the maze, and I think that was truly her favorite part of the day. Then we moved on to the big playground, and she carefully, and methodically scaled the rope ladders to the big slide. She did it over and over again, and tried out several other paths to the slide.

Finally Danny the Dragon woke up from his nap (it was his hour of operation), so we rushed over to catch the first ride. That ride is always a big hit. We finished our trip with a ride on the cars, then picked up some lunch on the way home, and we were home in time for a late nappy.

The Wait is Over

2012-03-08T09:04:00.002-08:00

This has been a pathetically dry winter where we live, and we waited for snow in January, and waited for snow in February. Finally, at the very end of February we got one storm that had the potential to create some skiable snow. So we packed up our truck and headed for the mountains.

Saturday morning, the kids were up bright and early and ready to hit the snow. They played with the snow on the deck while Dan and I got motivated. Alyssa stayed at the cabin and prepared for some serious snow play with Grandma Cutforth; while Dan, Andrew and I loaded up the truck and headed for the slopes.

We got Andrew set up with his rental equipment and were riding up the chair just a few minutes after opening. Andrew's skills have improved so much! We headed straight for an intermediate run and he handled it no problem. His teacher even got him started on learning hockey stops. And the highlight of the day, he actually came down one black diamond. A groomed black diamond, but a black diamond nonetheless.

When we got home after a long day of skiing, we enjoyed dinner from our favorite Italian restaurant, and then headed back out to take advantage of any remaining daylight left. As this might be our only trip to the snow this year, we wanted to make every second count. Alyssa helped me roll a snowman, and Andrew built a buddy for him. The snow was perfectly light and sticky for snowman construction.

Alyssa periodically took breaks to warm up inside, avoiding the neighbor's doggies (two adorably friendly black labs, but big and scary in her mind). And she and Andrew both seemed to think that the front door was the perfect spot to leave snowy wet clothes....hmm....

On Sunday, we got very serious about sledding. What little snow had fallen, was very soft, and Andrew and I sunk up to our waists as we made out way out to the sled run. Alyssa was not happy about it at all. She struggled to walk, and was not having fun, so she headed back inside the cabin. I didn't want her to miss her only opportunity to play out in the snow, so I set out to make a path from the cabin to the sled hill. At spots the path was as high as her shoulders, but she eventually had a blast walking back and forth to the cabin, which you can see in the background of the photo, is not a short hike. She must have made the trek at least 4 times.

We are very glad there was finally enough snow to make a trip to the mountains worthwhile, and had a wonderful trip. Now I suppose it's time to move on to spring and chalk this year up to a very short winter.

Princess Alyssa

2012-03-06T21:56:00.000-08:00

I love the fact that our little girl can keep up with her big brother, rolling with the punches (per se.) And I love that when she wears a skirt or dress, it doesn't slow her down one bit, she runs, slides, climbs, bikes and is generally always moving. I love that for Halloween, she chose to be Superman, not Supergirl, and that on costume day for preschool, she chose to be a doctor, when all her girl friends were dressed as princesses. But that being said, I was also thrilled when she decided to put on a princess dress the other day. Even an active, exuberant little girl needs some pretty things in her life. And a princess dress and tiara, still did not slow this little girl down! Of course, some day I'll need to teach her that shoes can make or break an outfit. I'm not sure the running shoes do her dress justice.

Kid's Say the Darndest Things III

2012-03-01T08:43:00.000-08:00

I just can't seem to get enough "little kid-isms". I've made several posts regarding the language development of our two kids. Most recently, I posted about Alyssa's favorite phrases in December 2010. As she gets much closer to mastering language, I fear I may be approaching my last post about the adorable mistakes that little kids make. I'm may have to change gears to adorable big kid quotes in the near future. Here are my current Alyssa favorites, now that she's 3.5

Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer (a la Alyssa)
Den one froggy Christmas eve, Santa came to say "Rudolph with your nose so bright, won't you guard my sleigh tonight." Den how the reindeer loved him, and they shouted out wis glee, "Rudolph the red nosed reindeer, you'll go down in mystery!"

Other Current favorites
Ginning = Beginning
Hind = Behind
Niffent = Different
Cutforce = Cutforth
Wiwey = Riley
No I like it = I don't like it
Straight to head = straight ahead
Kestion = Question
May I please you? = Would you please?
Ding Bell = Door Bell
Fought = Thought

So, as I prepare to say goodbye to little kid language mistakes, I'll kick off the memorable big kid quotes with one from Andrew this past weekend: "Skiing is like a roller coaster, only you don't sit down."

Let it snow, Let it snow, Let it snow

2012-02-05T16:58:00.000-08:00

So far, this winter has been obnoxiously warm and dry. We are suffering from beautifully warm weather and clear skies. For the most part it's been great, however we've cancelled 3 potential trips to the snow due to lack of it. Although we've enjoyed weather warm enough for washing cars, stroller rides and sidewalk chalk, what we'd really like is just enough snow to justify a bonified ski weekend.

We're Going to the Zoo

2012-01-14T20:31:00.000-08:00

Dan was busy running some errands with his mom today and I was looking for something to keep two kids entertained when one of my college friends suggeseted a visit to the zoo. Perfect! So we packed up a picnic lunch and headed up the penninsula to one of the local zoos.

We arrived promptly at opening time and set out for the elephants, hoping to make it in time for their first feeding. Unfortunately, either the signage wasn't great, or neither Alicia nor I were particularly good at reading the map. So instead of the elephants, we ended up at the children's zoo, which suited the kids just fine. Andrew and Will became quick friends and Alyssa did her own thing, as she so often does. We saw otters and alligators, walked across lilly pads, slid down slides and pet goats. Well, Andrew pet the goats. Alyssa and Will chose to view the goats from a distance.

Then we set out in search of the elephants once again. We found empty baboon and lion habitats, paused briefly at the aviary and stumbled across the giraffes. After enjoying the giraffes for a few moments, we set out in search of the elephants....again.

Third try is a charm, as this time we were successful! And it was worth the effort. Several elephants were calmly munching on leaves, while another enjoyed a drink at the pond. And we were pleasantly surprised to find the zebras immediately across the way.

We wrapped up our visit with a pleasant picnic lunch near the meerkats. Andrew took Will and Alyssa to peak at the snakes and lizards; while Alicia and I took just a few extra moments to finish our lunch. On our way out, we stopped for a moment to watch the tigers bathe in the sun.

It was a very nice way to spend the morning and keep everyone entertained. Alyssa was so tired that I resorted to having her play games on my phone to keep her awake until we got home. We made it home just in time for her to take a nice long nap.

Christmas 2011

2011-12-25T15:46:00.000-08:00

On the last day of school, Andrew went to Grandpa with the Chickens house and spent 5 days there with his cousin Kaylee. When an eight and a nine year-old spend five days on a farm, they ride the mower, go to the movies, chase the dogs and all sorts of other things.

Once Andrew returned, we juggled multiple family schedules, and began our festivities on Friday the 23rd. We hosted the grandmas and my sister's family for presents, playing and dinner.

The kids were anxious to begin opening presents shortly after their arrival, so we let them dive in. When all the presents had been unwrapped, we "whipped" up a batch of Dad's famous rolls. Unfortunately, he wasn't feeling well and wasn't able to join us for the festivities.

The kids played a rousing game of hockey and nerf guns outside, while they waited patiently for dinner.

Christmas Eve morning, we celebrated our official Christmas so that we could have both kids in attendance. I whipped up a batch of Holiday Hot Chocolate and the kids were into the second batch of presents. As has been the practice for the last few years, Andrew opened as quickly as possible so he could see what was in each and every box. Alyssa, on the other hand, took breaks at regular intervals to play with her new toys for a while.

That night, we prepared for Santa's arrival. We set out cookies and milk, and we read Dan's 70's classic version of "Twas the Night Before Christmas" and tucked Alyssa into bed (Andrew spent this year at his mom's). Santa arrived right on schedule and filled stockings with all sorts of fun things for the kids to enjoy.

A Hunting We Will Go

2011-12-16T21:02:00.000-08:00

This past weekend, we went hunting for the perfect Christmas tree. Alyssa said she wanted to find one "Big like Daddy." So we searched and searched until we found the perfect tree that was big like Daddy. And Andrew got to do the honors once again. When he finished he said "Phew, that was a workout!"

Letters to Santa

2011-12-13T12:00:00.000-08:00

It's annual letter writing time. By now, Andrew is an expert at writing Christmas letters. He has a legacy of letters that are always fun to read at this time of year. This year, his letter, with the various spelling and gramatical mistakes included, reads...

Dear Santa,
for Chrismas I would like a bowser clay thing (like the wario that you gave me last. year.
A 49s Jersey for kelly.
AND 4 truck tires for my dads truck.
pokemon cards
rockapella music
a ball or balloon for Jazz to rip up or mabey a blanket for Jazz.
bakugan
a puzzle or two
ninjaga
remote control spider
24 peice puzzles for Alyssa (probably speicial agent oso)
sincirily Andrew
PS - could you draw a picture for Alyssa to color

Although, his list has grown significantly in length over previous years, (2010, 2009, 2008, 2007) it amazes me every year, that without any prompting, Andrew consistenly includes other people in his family in his Christmas letter. Super Sweet.

And Alyssa joins the ranks of the letter writing crew. The words are hers, but I helped a bit with the writing and then she applied her unique signature to the letter.

Dear Santa,
Please bring me a princess bell for my boot-scoot.
Love,
Alyssa

We'll drop both letters in the mail today. Hopefully Santa will receive them in time. I'm pretty confident he'll pull through.

Thanksgiving 2011

2011-11-24T10:25:00.000-08:00

This year, we headed to Cambria to spend Thanksgiving with my Dad's side of the family. We had a smaller gathering than in past years with only 17-18 people, but it was still a great time. We had a wonderful meal at my Dad's house followed by the annual walk to the beach. Our timing was fantastic because the tide was out, so we got an opportunity to see some marine life.

Alyssa and Andrew enjoyed spending time with Cousin Lilly, who we don't get to see nearly often enough.

Everyone found a tree to climb. Lilly and Andrew climbed a great big tree, and right next to that was a perfect Alyssa sized tree.

Back at G-pop's house, we played with blocks, patched holes in aero beds with tarp tape and generally hung around. And a trip to G-pop & Grammy's house would not be complete with out a few rides on the yellow school bus.

It really was a special treat to have an extra day on Friday to spend with my step-brother and his family. Lilly, Andrew and Alyssa had a great time playing together. And I had a great time connecting with my step-brother and his wonderful wife. How is it that so much time passes so quickly between our visits?

Disneyland Vacation

2011-11-13T08:34:00.000-08:00

We recently took advantage of the Veteran's Day weekend and extra school furlough day to take the family down to Disneyland. Although Andrew is a Disneyland expert, Alyssa was going for her first time. We brought along an entourage of grandparents (Grandma Sue, Grandma Cutforth, and Grandpa Edward) to help us divide and conquer two kids, nap times and anything else that might come our way.

Apparently, the drive down and a little shopping in Downtown Disney on Thursday was more than the kids could handle because this is how we found them on Friday morning. They weren't ready to go at all!

But we dragged them out of bed, got rolling on breakfast and started our walk to the park. We stayed at the Peacock Suites, about a mile from the park. The rooms were small, but inexpensive and nice enough for our purpose. Each room had a separate living room, so we could have the kids in the room with us, without them being "in the room" with us. Perfect!

The forecast had predicted rain all weekend, so we were prepared with ponchos, umbrellas, jackets and everything else we could think of. Thank goodness we had Alyssa's stroller with us to load up with all our gear, but luckily we ended up not needing much of it. For the most part, our entire weekend was pleasantly overcast with just a few rain showers overnight, and a few during dinner on Saturday night. It made for a very pleasant vacation.

The halls of Disneyland were already decked for Christmas, which added to the ambiance.

It took a little creativity to organize 5 Adults, a 9-year-old, and a 3-year-old, but we only had two days and didn't have any time to waste! We decided to start in Fantasyland before the lines got too long. Alyssa's first ride at Disneyland was Dumbo. She was an expert pilot and bounced our elephant up and down like a pro. After Dumbo, she headed straight for the carousel, not waiting to see if any of her people were keeping up! However, then we tried Mr. Toad's Wild Ride. She rode with Daddy and Andrew, and apparently, it was a little too dark and scary. Afterward it was all she could do to wait for me to get off the ride, one car later, and she clung to me like glue the moment I got off the ride. After a few more rides in Fantasyland (Peter Pan and Snow White), she'd had enough of the scary rides. We wrapped up our time in Fantasyland with a nice slow Storybook boat ride, which she was much more pleased with.

Thank goodness for Small World. She wasn't sure about it at first, thinking we might be taking her into another scary ride, but after a room or two she was starting to enjoy the boat ride. "So many tunnels!" she said. And there was even a Pink Ticklepotanus in the jungle tunnel! So amazing.

Like most people, she managed to get the song stuck in her head, so as we were leaving, she serenaded us all with "It's a 'mall world affer DAT, it's a 'mall world affer DAT!" We think it's because she overheard us planning, and we said we'd do the train and then go to Small World after that.

We made sure Andrew got his turn too. We headed to California Adventure where we rode the Tower of Terror, and California Screaming. Grandma Sue even joined us on the Tower of Terror. Grand total for the trip, I believe Andrew and Dad rode the Tower of Terror 6 or 7 times in two days! While they were spending time in the Twilight Zone, Alyssa tried some of the rides from Bug's Life where Heimlich's Chew Chew Train and the Bumper Cars emerged as her favorites.

Another favorite in California Adventure was Soaring over California, at least with everyone but Dan and I who don't do well on rides where there is visual motion, but not physical motion. So we let the grandparents take Andrew on Soaring and everyone loved it. Again the benefits of taking a diverse group of people!

Little Mermaid is one of the newest rides on the California Adventure side and it was fantastic! We happened to hit it at a time where there was almost no line, and so we looped around and rode it twice. It's colorful and full of all the wonderful songs from the movie and the part with Ursula the Sea Witch is very tame and, therefore, perfect for small people. Alyssa is still talking about it being one of her favorite rides.

We also tried the new Toy Story ride. We made the mistake of doing so when we were already a little late for nap and it was one of the longest lines we experienced all weekend, and Alyssa had a very difficult time waiting, but we got to see the Buzz Lightyear character while we were waiting, which was super exciting!

The ride is very similar to the Buzz Lightyear ride at Disneyland, only the targets are on giant 3D video game screens. I could have done without the 3D portion of the ride, but ride itself is pretty fun. Alyssa had a great time shooting her gun even though she never really figured out how to aim, she didn't care. At one point, the ride stopped and we were facing Daddy, and she got to shoot him,which was great fun.

Back on the Disneyland side we made our way to Tomorrowland where we finally got Alyssa on the spaceships. She had been asking over and over again since she first saw them. At preschool, she sings a song about blasting off on a spaceship and I think she was super excited to ride one for real.

Andrew's first time on Buzz Lightyear, he was about Alyssa's size. He's grown a few inches, but the ride is just as much fun. This was the first ride Alyssa was willing to part with Mommy and take a ride with just Andrew. He'd been asking her over and over again, for almost every ride if she would ride with him; but she was so overwhelmed, that she was very clingy to Mommy, so he was thrilled when she finally said that she would ride with him, although he may have regretted the decision, because rather than using her laser to shoot targets, she took control of the ride and shook their car back and forth. Of course, the next time I rode with her, she spun our car around and around in circles. I think next time we go back, Dan should ride with her and see if he can still max out the game score if his daughter is spinning his car in circles.

And no trip to Tomorrowland is complete without a ride, or three, on Space Mountain. This is the picture that the ride camera takes as you are finishing up the ride. Dan took advantage of Andrew's decision to ride in front.

To be honest, I can't actually remember if I've ever ridden the submarines before. Usually the line is very long, but we headed there early one morning and were welcomed with a 5 minute line. It was a fun ride and although Alyssa hadn't ever seen the movie "Finding Nemo," she still enjoyed the ride quite a bit, and at one point she shouted "NEMO!" Because she had found him.

There were lots of fun things to do in Frontierland, Adventureland and Critter Country. Big Thunder railroad is one of my favorite roller coasters, and again, we happened upon it when there was a very short line. Grandma Cutforth took Alyssa for a snack break while the rest of us went for a railroad ride. In fact, Dan, Andrew and Grandpa Edward rode it twice!

Everyone enjoyed the Tiki room. Alyssa was wide-eyed while she watched all the birds singing. When the rain and thunder started she wanted to know if the rain was "trying to come in?" She probably could have done without that part, but now asks repeatedly to hear the Tiki room song on my iPod.

Of course the best part of Critter Country was the Pooh Bear ride, which Alyssa rode a grand total of 10 times during our two day trip. We rode it 2 times with everyone, then while many of us enjoyed Spash Mountain, Dan and Grandma Cutforth took Alyssa back on Pooh Bear 3 more times. Of course that was only after prying her off of me as I got in the line for Splash Mountain. She was not very happy about that. Grandma Cutforth took Alyssa back Pooh Bear 3 more times while the rest of us rode Indiana Jones, and finally I took her 2 more times while Dan and Andrew took their "last rides of the weekend" on Space Mountain. And 10 times is apparently not too many because she wants to go back.

I thought for sure the Jungle Cruise would be a big hit, but she found it to be a bit scary too. I think the animals were all a bit too realistic for her. She was happy for that ride to be over, and would have been more than pleased to spend more time on Pooh Bear.

And of course no trip to Disneyland is complete without Pirates of the Carribean and the Haunted Manion. Unfortunately, Pirates was closed for renovation, so we have an excuse to come back soon. the Haunted Mansion was all decked out with the Nightmare before Christmas theme, which Andrew loved! I have to admit, I prefer the regular old haunted mansion, but it was still fun.

We didn't make it to many shows during our two day trip. We were disappointed to miss the Aladdin show, as it's currently one of Alyssa's favorite movies, but we would have needed a bit more time, or no naps to have squeezed that in. We did however catch the "World of Color" show. Unfortunately, it was very crowded, and neither of the kids could see very well, so Dan spent the entire show with Andrew on his back and I spent the entire show with Alyssa in my arms. Mind you, due to the overwhelming nature of the day, I'd already spent a good portion of the day holding her 35 lbs, so my poor right bicept was dying! And Dan's back didn't fair much better after holding Andrew's 72 lbs for 30 mintues. But the show was pretty good. I don't know that I'd rush back to see it again, but my opinion might have been skewed under the weight.

I am thankful that we had Alyssa's stroller with us. She almost never uses it anymore, but it became a bit of a safe place for her and an excellent way to get from one area of the park to another. She insisted, in true Alyssa fashion, on doing everything about her stroller by herself. Dan put her into the stroller once and she promptly got out, and then got back in. After getting in, we'd start rolling, and she'd spend the next 5 minutes attaching her seatbelt and would often get her tray closed just in time for our arrival at the next destination. But hey....it kept her entertained!

We took advantage of our trip to have a very brief visit with some of our friends. Chris is one of Dan's best friends from college and we met Chris and his family for a wonderful dinner at the rainforest cafe. It was great to see them, since the great Bon Jovi tour of '08.

A great big thanks to the Grandparents for joining us on a great vacation and for helping us manage two kids with very different Disneyland agendas! And thanks to Grandma Sue for being the official munchkin nappy officiant!

Halloween

2011-10-31T20:50:00.000-07:00

Halloween came and went quickly this year. Dan did up our front window again this year, and added a few choice items. Andrew chose his costume early this year, giving me plenty of time to get creative. We had a great time creating the template for his costume. We had him lay on the floor and I traced around him. Then we drew bones inside his outline, so we were sure the costume would fit.

Alyssa, on the other hand, was not so decisive. At first she wanted to be a skeleton, just like her brother. A few days later, she decided on Rapunzel. But, then started talking about Superman. After the Superman theme continued for a few days, I decided to run with it. I Googled and showed her several pictures of SuperGirl. But Alyssa responded "Mommy, Superman doesn't wear a skirt!" So I asked her, "Do you want to wear just pants?" To which she responded, "But Mommy, I need underwear! Superman has underwear." So... the benefit of sewing the costume, is I can get creative and add a little pizazz and sparkle to my little Superman.

40 Years Old

2011-10-30T11:11:00.000-07:00

I'm wasn't sure it was possible, but my sister turned 40 at the end of October. Unfortunately, that means the same milestone is rapidly approaching for me. We gathered our family and her in-law's family in Lake Tahoe for a wonderfully relaxing weekend of fun.
There were plenty of cousins to keep each other entertained, giving the adults some time to relax and enjoy each other's company.

Alyssa and Noni enjoyed reading books on the front patio.

We took the kids to the Taylor Creek Visitors Center to see the salmon spawning. It was a wonderful gentle walk, or run if you have small kids, and there were many salmon and ducks and a cool cave where you could see to the bottom of the river.

And then began the pumpkin carving. The older cousins dug right in. Well, except for Ashley who wasn't very excited about scooping pumpkin seeds by herself. Aunt Kelley came to the rescue.

Alyssa very carefully stabbed her pumpkin in true Freddy Krueger style. Mind you, I was unable to convince her to stop stabbing her pumpkin long enough for me to scoop out the seeds, so we worked happily together, she stabbed, while I scooped. And I managed to come away unscathed.

Andrew, true to his typical fashion, chose a very complicated pattern for his pumpkin. Sure the bat wings weren't too tough, but the bat's ears and face were a little too challenging for a nine year-old. He got about half-way through and somehow managed to pawn the rest of the carving off on me. hmm.....

Alyssa made up a game of "lawn-ping-pong." The big cousins were playing ping-pong and she wanted to try, but after one or two balls went past her, she said "C'mon mom, let's play out here." So I tried to hit the ball in the air to her, and it fell to her feet. After a few tries, she said..."Mom, like this!" and put the ball on the ground. We happily played a game of lawn-ping-pong for several minutes.

Dinner was a soup-er-bowl smorgasbord. Each family supplied a crock-pot full of soup and we fed the masses!

Pumpkin Patchin'

2011-10-22T21:04:00.000-07:00

Today we met some friends at our favorite local pumpkin patch. It was a little odd to have 80* weather as we welcome fall with one of my favorite October traditions. Of course Alyssa insisted on wearing long sleeves and pants. Eventually we were able to convince her that she's be far more comfortable in short sleeves. While waiting for friends to arrive, Alyssa and Andrew enjoyed themselves running around the hay maze. Andrew made a girl friend who chased him all around. I tried to convince him that he should ask her name, but those minute details still seem relatively insignificant to him.

Despite the droves of pumpkins to be found in the patch. The kids were most excited about the hay ride through the sunflowers and the train that circled the patch. Alyssa was so excited about the train that she nearly exploded after being asked to wait for 5 minutes for the rest of our friends to arrive.

And we even managed to successfully find a couple of pumpkins to adopt. Although the search only took them each about 30 seconds. Clearly, pumpkins were not top of mind.

Street Tennis

2011-10-08T13:51:00.000-07:00

Street tennis can be quite fun. We use these foam tennis balls that have a lower bounce and are designed for learning tennis, but they are also great because they won't dent the cars parked on the street if you accidentally hit them, and are quite fun for "short-court" tennis. I tend to put out my makeshift net, using yarn and two folding chairs, but I've got my sights set on this net.....so far, I think I've exhibited quite a bit of self restraint as I've had my eye on it for about 8 months. I don't think Dan would be surprised at all if i come home with it some day soon.

Measuring is also extremely fun. The garage, for example, is exactly 11 jumps long. First Alyssa pulls the measuring tape all the way across the garage and then counts how many jumps it takes to get from one end of the tape to the other. The funny thing was, it didn't seem to matter what she was measuring, every distance seemed to equal 11 jumps.

Happy Birthday Dan

2011-10-01T13:38:00.000-07:00

So this post is a bit delayed, but a few weeks ago we celebrated Dan's birthday. I was a bit remiss in taking pictures, as we most of the family together for some play time and dinner at El Amigos, but I have no pictures to show for it. I did capture a few moments on film while the kids whipped up some eggs and waffles for breakfast and some brownies for birthday cake. I've been thoroughly enjoying setting out all the measured ingredients and letting the kids go to town mixing as they see fit. Of course, it adds a bit to the clean-up time.

And Alyssa helped Daddy rock out a little bit. She's got all the moves. At some point I'll have to capture them on video.

Roaring Camp

2011-09-18T13:51:00.000-07:00

I do love the time of year when fall starts to approach. It brings the start of football, and warm cozy clothes; and it also means there is almost always, one last really warm week before summer gives way. We took advantage of last weekend's lovely weather to squeeze in one more summer fun activity. We haven't been to Roaring Camp since our wedding, which also triggered the beginning of this blog (four and a half years ago), so we decided we were due for a train ride. Andrew was much smaller the last time he walked across this bridge.

We arrived bright and early to give the kids plenty of time to explore before our train departed.

Then finally, the "yellow" steam train arrived. Alyssa selected excellent seats for us all to enjoy the ride. We were seated about 10 minutes before the train was due to depart and Alyssa must have asked me at least 10 times "Hey Mommy, why we not moving?"

When we arrived at the top of Bear Mountain, we all departed the train to stretch our legs and enjoy the redwood grove. Alyssa refused to pose in front of the hole in the redwood. She thought it might be a bear cave, so Grandma and Andrew obliged. Once again, I'll point out that Andrew has done some significant growing since the last time he was here.

However, shortly after refusing to pose in front of a redwood tree, Alyssa popped up out of a tree stump, with a smile from ear-to-ear. Mind you the entrance to the stump was a small hole on the side, apparently, just big enough for a three year-old to fit through.

New Chores

2011-09-01T20:57:00.000-07:00

Now that Andrew is in 4th grade, we added "mowing the lawn" to his list of chores. He's actually having quite a bit of fun with it. I think it makes him feel big. Alyssa likes to help him. Between the two of them, they get the job done fairly quickly.

Circus

2011-08-21T12:03:00.000-07:00

This weekend, Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus came to our hometown. We cut nap time a little short to make the show, and it really was a great show. Dan was able to get tickets in the first row, he really is a ticket genius. We took our seats, quite literally, as the show began. With pretzels in hand, the kids watched the show with wide-eyed amazement.

She finished the entire pretzel. It took her the whole show, but she finished it ALL!

The show was filled with everything you'd expect in a great circus. Plenty of clowns, acrobats, elephants, tigers, horses, tight-rope and many other amazing performances.

Alyssa waited eagerly for the elephants, asking often when we were going to see them. And at one point, there was only one clown in the center ring, she said, "Mommy, where are the other guys? I want them to come back."

And we were lucky enough to see one of the elephants poop (not pictured). The kids got a good giggle over elephant poop. Dan and I were impressed to see how quickly the crew cleaned it up and got on with the show.

It was a wonderful show, and we had a great time. Andrew was a little disturbed by some protesters outside the arena making comments on the treatment of the animals. Once we got home, we did some research and found this great website providing information about animal care at the circus. It's worth a look if you plan to go to the circus anytime soon. Andrew felt much better after having read more information about the animals. We were disappointed, however, that the protesters impacted our experience, even if it was ever so slightly.

On a separate note. We are collecting more blackmail photos of the kids. Andrew was a much more willing model than Alyssa.

Tahoe and Cottonwood 2011

2011-08-14T12:31:00.000-07:00

It's become an annual event for our family to spend a week long vacation between Tahoe and Cottonwood. After finishing the Great Garage Remodel of 2011, we packed up and headed out of town. We stopped in Fair Oaks to visit Jenny, Nick, Jacob and Noah, which has also become an annual event. And this year, we were lucky enough to have Rachel, Tim and Bridgette join us. The kids had a great time swimming in the pool, and eating BBQ chicken and corn on the cob before we hit the road to finish our Tahoe drive.

We arrived in the late afternoon with just enough time to grab some groceries and met Grandma Sue at the cabin. Before we finished unpacking, she was already putting us to work, showing us limbs balancing on some wires and the gate that wouldn't close. We held her off long enough to start our vacation, finding a few geocaches hid by our cousins, Ashley and Tyler. They strategically placed piles of pine cones in the forest and marked the coordinates for us. We used our GPS to find the stacks

Then we went out searching for a few official geocaches that folks have hid in the national forest near the cabin. Andrew is having quite a bit of fun, and we think it's great that he gets practice learning how to read the GPS. However, he definitely needs a little more practice. There were at least a few instances where he'd say "It's that way!" and start walking away from the arrow. He also hasn't quite mastered the art of staying on a groomed trail as long as possible before heading off into the woods. He'll follow the arrow wherever it takes him, even if it points directly through thick brush. More practice needed!

Then we tucked everyone in bed so we could get started on our official vacation. Alyssa used the big kid bed for the first time at the cabin. It was so nice not to haul a pack-n-play or aerobed up there! And she slept better than most times. She only woke up once the first night...which is a huge improvement over the 3-4 times a night when she was younger.

The next day, we went down to the big city, Tahoe City, and played at Commons Beach. The kids love the playground there and were also able to go in the water. Andrew has a new toy called a water bouncer. It's a ball that bounces on water. It took a good bit of practice to get it to bounce, but we had a great time with it. While we were at the park, Grandma Sue went to the hardware store to get the necessary parts to fix the gate, while Dan shopped for a Lake Tahoe carabiner to add to his backpack.

That night we made s'mores. It was Alyssa's first time, and she liked to take them apart. Andrew has graduated from one s'more to two, and would probably have eaten more if we'd let him.

The next day, we deemed "sports" day, so we said goodbye to Grandma Sue, who was headed home, and we found some wonderful Tennis Courts at the North Tahoe High School. The school is a shared high school and middle school and has a great playground with shade, which is a relatively rare commodity. The playground is right next to four decently maintained tennis courts. So we all took turns playing tennis and entertaining Alyssa. After wrapping up tennis, we headed to Magic Carpet Golf for a competitive round of mini-golf. Alyssa had a longer attention span this year than during last year's golf excursion and almost made it through all 18 holes, with the exception of a quick snack break. Andrew is looking forward to her being ready to take on the 28 hole course. Of course, she still prefers to pick up the ball and put it in the hole, and still thinks her club is a hockey stick. More practice needed!

After nap, we went over to King's Beach. I took the kids to the park and beach while Dan continued his quest to find the perfect Lake Tahoe carabiner. I was beginning to think it didn't exist. Andrew and I played with his water bouncer some more, and since the wind had picked up, there were actually some decent waves on the water. If you hit the waves just right, the ball would take a big kick and bounce right up and over him. Alyssa was busy mixing sand for me. It was all flavors of sand; strawberry, banana, donut, and ice cream were just a few.

On our last full day in Tahoe, we headed over to Sand Harbor State Park in the morning. We were there by 9:30 so the crowds had not arrived yet. We made sand castles and played ball. Each of the kids got a chance for a boat ride with Dad.

That afternoon, during Alyssa's nap, Dan and Andrew went out to hide a geocache for me to find. Then Andrew accompanied me out on the find. It was all he could do to contain himself from giving me hints. He would say "well, I could tell you that you're.....except Dad told me not to tell you anything." It took me a little while to find it. The challenging thing about geocaching in Tahoe is that the trees can give your GPS a false reading, so I was about 30 feet away when my GPS started jumping all around. I finally found it in a nearby stump. Great find!

The next day, we cleaned up the cabin. Andrew asked, "Hey Kel, when you were little, did you and Kim have to clean the cabin?" I had to chuckle because there is never a time in my life where I don't remember cleaning up the cabin. When the cabin was ready, we said goodbye to Tahoe and started the drive to Cottonwood to see Grandpa (with the chickens).

At Grandpa's house, we spent a significant amount of time in his pool. The high in Cottonwood was around 98* and it was a chilly 80* after breakfast, so the pool was fun no matter what time of day.

And of course no trip to Grandpa's house is complete without a good guinea chase. The birds roam Grandpa's property and eat insects. I tried to convince Dan that we need a few at our house to eat the snails, ants and other bugs. Then I might actually be able to raise a vegetable garden. Dan doesn't think the bugs are the only issue.

We also taught Grandpa and Grandma Tisha about geocaching. Grandpa, Dan and I hid a cache on Grandpa's farm, and Grandma Tisha and Andrew went out to find it.

Alyssa spent the weekend warming up to Grandpa's big dogs. She liked Kobe the best, because he's the "small" dog. By the end of the weekend, she let Kane sniff her hand. But she still prefers to be "Up Mommy" whenever the dogs are near.

Now, Dan has one week left of vacation, and I'm resting up so I can head back to work on Tuesday. As always, the vacation went much to quickly!

Summer Projects

2011-08-09T07:55:00.000-07:00

So, what does the Cutforth family do when they take a vacation from work . . . well, we do a massive construction project, of course. This year's event included construction of a new side yard shed, demolition of the old, rusty one and complete remodel of the garage.

Over the last several weeks, we had been collecting ideas and materials knowing that the project days were coming. As July began, we spent the sweltering 4th of July weekend organizing the contents of the old shed. That followed with an Orchard Supply "Tax Free" weekend, in which we pulled the trigger on buying a new shed, that we immediately built in our side yard.

And the best part was the end of the 5-year wait to demolish the old, rusty, squeaky, heat-oven, pile of metal shed that had been such an eye sore through our backyard windows. Kelley and I couldn't stop smiling as the screws began flying out of the sheet metal. It all ended with a crash of the shed frame, as it finally toppled over, and we took the remaining pieces out of the backyard.

My dad came a short time later, and made an incredible dump run with our pretty huge pile of unwanted wood, metal, and other junk. Thanks Dad !

Once Kelley's vacation officially started at the end of July, it was time to tackle the bigger project . . . the garage.

We finished installing the Hyloft rafter racks, then took everything out of the garage to paint the mismatched colored drywall. And with our new paint sprayer, we made short work of the walls. (Although, for a while there, I wondered if I was getting more paint on the walls or me.)

Also during this time, we replaced all our Gorilla Rack shelves' press board, with much stronger plywood. This was quite a lousy experience, having to return to Lowe's several times, with their atrocious customer service and lack of board cutting skills. Kelley continued the plywood rehab for two more days to get it just right.

Thankfully, after 3 days all our stuff finally made it back into it's new spaces on the racks and shelves. New pictures were hung. Electronics were rewired and properly secured to walls and boards. Paint touch ups were complete. The workbench was totally reorganized.

And Kelley and I were probably more tired and worn out than any other time that we could remember. It was time for the body cuts and dings to begin healing. And for the leg, back, and shoulder soreness to subside. Fortunately, we had another week off together, with no further projects.

But the end result was absolutely AWESOME! And worth every ounce of sweat. Now Kelley can begin the project planning for next summer. Yikes!

Happy Hallow

2011-08-07T13:46:00.000-07:00

Our second vacation adventure was a quick afternoon at Happy Hallow. Alyssa had been doing a great job entertaining herself while Dan and I worked on house projects. She didn't even have Andrew to entertain her because he was off at Disneyland with his mom. So after a full day of "not now honey" we decided to do something just for Alyssa after her nap. We were a little disappointed to learn that the Hallow closes at 5pm instead of 7pm like last summer, so we had to make the most of our 90 minutes there. We opted to skip the zoo and go straight for the rides.

After the carousel we headed for Danny the Dragon, a fabulous ride for all small kids. I'll point out that in the next two pictures I caught Alyssa just as she screamed "NO." I'm not exactly sure what elicited the outburst, but it doesn't really matter. She's three now and her "NO" seems to have extra emphasis these days.

We drove the cars a couple of times. The first time she chose a blue car with no bell, but on her second ride, she was sure to grab a red fire truck so she could ring the bell. She was steering to the right with all her might, but her darn car kept turning left.

Last stop was the playground. She paused just momentarily to snap a photo with Daddy before moving onto the big side to go down the giant slide.

Aquarium

2011-07-31T07:20:00.000-07:00

August is annual vacation month for Dan and I. While Dan takes four weeks off, I'm lucky to squeeze in two weeks, and even that seems like a luxury in the corporate world. During our vacation, we take time to do things we otherwise never get to, like house projects, but that is another post.

The day after Alyssa's party, we took her down to the Monterey Bay Aquarium. We met two of my good friends from college. We all have kids near or about the same age, so it was fun to watch them all discover the wonderful underwater world. Dan thought Alyssa would enjoy having a "friend" to take with her around the Aquarium, so we picked up a turtle in the gift shop. Alyssa really like the giant kelp forest at the entrance and she clutched her new turtle.

From there we moved on to the penguins and caught the last few minutes of the feeding. Since we were a little late, there were no more seats, so all the dads in our group quickly had children sitting on their shoulders. Later, Alyssa told us this was one of her favorite parts of the day.

From there, we wandered to the new splash park. Well it might not be all that new, but we really don't get to the Aquarium all that often, so it was new to us. The kids had a great time playing with the water and crawling in the tunnel and sliding on the slide.

Then we headed to the Open Sea exhibit. We walked past the jelly fish and onto the open sea, where we saw huge sea turtles. Alyssa was thrilled and spent the rest of the morning showing us how turtles swim using her new turtle friend to move his legs up and down.

We wrapped up at the aquarium around lunch time and headed to Archie's Diner for a quick bite before heading our separate ways. It was a great day with friends I don't get to see often enough. Alyssa had a great time and was one worn out little girl with an upside down turtle.

Happy Birthday

2011-07-26T21:35:00.001-07:00

We celebrated Alyssa's birthday with family and good friends. We hung the sign that her friends and teachers made for her at school, and decorated with yellow, brown and green balloons to match the monkey theme she selected.

Alyssa obliged me and put on a party dress, but only over her star pants and pink shirt. She's a strong willed little girl and I'm inclined to pick my battles, so layers it is!

The party was great fun. We played games, and had a picnic outside. The kids loved the mini picnic table we borrowed from friends. We were very lucky to have our Chico cousins make it to the party this year.

To go along with the monkey theme, Alyssa requested green cupcakes. So I got a little creative with the food coloring and was very happy with the results.

Alyssa seemed pretty happy with her green cupcake as well. She enjoyed her party, but was definitely losing steam as we approached lunch and nap time. A few times, she took a "break" from her own party to spend some time with her beloved "tee-tee" and rest. As we pushed nap time she even had a few grumpy faces; and during presents no less. Before all the guests had left, she even tucked herself into her bed for nap. She was one tired little girl!

Three year-old fun facts

Now that she's three, we're watching her turn from a baby into a little girl. She's stringing sentences into paragraphs that go on and on and don't always make sense to those listening, but she is very proud of herself when she gets it all out.

She is still as independent as she was for last year's fun facts, but now she's mastered the art of getting dressed. She just wants to do it on her own terms, and certainly not when I ask.

Her taste in shows and movies has expanded a bit, but she still likes to watch them over and over again. Current favorites include Toy Story 1, 2, and 3, Special Agent Oso, Little Einsteins, Mickey Mouse Playhouse, and Leap Letter Factory.

She still likes sauce on all her food. Ranch sauce makes everything better. Breakfast is interesting. She spent several months eating sausage every morning, but suddenly she's switched to chicken dinosaurs. It's not the most traditional breakfast, but I figure the chicken dinosaurs have to be a little healthier than all that sausage. All I really want is for her to have a little protein, and I've learned to pick my battles (I think I already mentioned that).

Three year-old vocabulary

Sun scream = Sun screen

Ding Bell = Door Bell

No I like it = I don't like it

Tennis Cluv = Tennis Club

HoTowel = Hotel

Gons = Guns

Edebody = Everybody

Sleeping Booty = Sleeping Beauty

Crinkle, Crinkle, Little Star = Twinkle, Twinkle Little star

CupCape = Cup Cake

She almost has her abc's down.... ABCDEFGHIKKLMNOPQRSTUV (The double K is not a typo)

And she can almost count to 20... 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 16 19 20 14 (More pre-school needed)

She's now a whopping 37 inches tall and 32.5 lbs!

Chico

2011-07-11T21:37:00.000-07:00

Summer seems to be whizzing by. Recently, we made our annual trip to Chico to see my sister and her family. It was a fun filled weekend. We arrived mid-afternoon on Friday, July 8th and met everyone at the hotel for a swim, where Alyssa impressed onlookers with her bold pool jumping and swimming. Then everyone headed out for dinner at In-n-Out.

Saturday, we played at the house for a while. Alyssa jumped on the mini trampoline and rode her bike with Ashley. Andrew and Tyler played Mario Party. Then we all motivated to head to one-mile park to play at Caper Acres and swim in the creek. Andrew and the big kids got right to swimming. Alyssa took a little longer to warm up. She wasn't sure at all about the creek, but Aunt Kim and Sue-mama played a few games with her and eventually she was having a blast.

Then, while Alyssa napped, the big kids went with Aunt Kim and Uncle Scott to find a few geo-caches. It was Andrew's first treasure hunt and he had a blast. I'm sure we'll be searching for more soon. When Alyssa was ready to join the action again, we went to the creek at 5 mile. This time, Alyssa was a little less timid, but she was always close by my side. Andrew and Tyler went hunting for Polliwogs, but because of the crazy weather this season, there were not many to be found. I think the count was 1 Polliwog and 1 Crawdad. Much less than last year's take of about 20 Polliwogs.

In early July, we celebrated a good friend's birthday party. Which is mostly notable for the fact that it was Andrew's first time on a slip-n-slide. He wasn't sure about it at first, but ended up having a blast. Alyssa tried it to, but didn't really get the concept. She mostly ran next to the slide through the sprinkler. But she certainly had fun on the hippity-hop. That took me right back to 1979!

And just after the party, Alyssa put together a choo-choo train of her own. Each step-stool was it's own car. I got to ride in the caboose, until I was replaced by a "tee-tee", a bowl, and a racket. She told me she was driving the train, to the bus, to the helicopter, to the plane, to the park. I hope it's some park. That's quite a trip!

Camping in the Backyard

2011-06-24T20:00:00.000-07:00

We've been talking about going camping for a while now, but it seems like summers slip away and we never get out there. Plus I've always been a little worried about how Alyssa would fair. So we setup "camp" in the backyard for a trial run, and it went great. The tent went up without a hitch, and the kids were super excited.

We like camping, but also enjoy being comfortable, so we moved our multitude of aero-beds out to the tent. Andrew was the lucky one, and got the "tall" bed. All four beds fit very nicely in the ten person tent.

Then, we read stories and it was time for bed. We only had to tell the kids to be quite three times, which in the grand scheme of things is not too bad. We also had to confiscate Alyssa's flashlight after she refused to stop shining it in Andrew's eyes.

A few lessons we learned regarding camping with toddlers..

1. Don't pick the longest day of the year to camp. Alyssa fell asleep around 9:30 when it was finally dark, but was up at 5 AM. It made for a very long day the next day.

2. Choose a spot protected from the wind, which is not really an option in our backyard. There is always a nice breeze, which makes for a pleasant casual evening, but there were several times we were glad the tent was staked into the ground.

3. The city can be noisy. It didn't seem to bother the kids, but Dan and I were very thankful for the airport curfew at 11PM, and that the street traffic finally "went to sleep" around 2AM. I never noticed the street noise at our house before, but when trying to sleep outside, it was very noticeable.

Overall, we had a great time and the kids did fantastic. I'm gearing up for our first official camping trip soon. Maybe at the end of summer when the days get a little shorter?

Georgia Force vs. San Jose SaberCats

2011-05-29T15:22:00.000-07:00

On 5/28/11 Kelley, Andrew and I headed to the San Jose SaberCats game at the HP Pavilion in the late spring rain. Alyssa (on the other hand) was very excited to have some special time and an overnight stay alone with Gramma Cutforth and Edward.

The SaberCats and Force kept the game very close throughout the entire night. We did get to see a few interesting plays however . . . such as the SaberCats' extra point try that was blocked, recovered by a Force player, who then proceeded to fumble backwards into the SaberCats' endzone, which was then recovered by (of all people) the SaberCats' kicker for a 2-point conversion.

And although the game was quite entertaining and close throughout, the real event was that Andrew got to witness first-hand the importance of composure and sportsmanship in sports.

Entering the 4th quarter, and down by less than a touchdown, the SaberCats had a fantastic defensive stop and was driving for the go-ahead score. In the middle of the drive, offensive lineman Aaron Kia (#77) made a few yard run, which was rather insignificant. But upon jumping up, did a ridiculous muscle pose aimed at the opposing team. He was promptly called for a 15-yard taunting penalty, backing his team up a good distance. He followed that up later in the quarter with two more false starts and a holding penalty on the final play of the game, as wide receiver Ben Nelson had just caught the game-winning touchdown from QB Mark Grieb in the back of the endzone as time on the clock expired. But with the holding penalty, the touchdown was called back and the referees declared the game was over. The SaberCats lost 55-49.

In front of a stunned crowd, Kia removed his helmet and took a knee on the turf. He had some fake look of shock, like he didn't know how this could have happened. However, as Kelley and I have always explained to Andrew, one person's selfishness, unprofessionalism, and lack of focus can be very costly to the entire team. This was the perfect example of that.

Aaron Kia let down his team and the 10,000-plus fans that had briefly thought the SaberCats had pulled out a fantastic victory. The SaberCats now have lost 5 straight games, and are a far cry away from their previous years as Arena Football champions.

But it was still a great night out, and everyone had a good time. . . well, except for Aaron Kia.

One Giant Leap . . . for Andrew

2011-05-27T13:03:00.000-07:00

For one of Andrew's final 3rd grade projects, his teacher assigned the class to pick a prominent figure that they studied about during the school year. They were to write an informative paragraph about their chosen person, then recite the information during a "wax museum"-type presentation for other classes that came to visit their classroom.

Well after much careful thought, Andrew chose Neil Armstrong. He did some great research and came up with some pretty "3rd grade" information about Mr. Armstrong. Kelley also worked very hard to come up with a homemade astronaut suit for him to wear. Here was the final product . . .

House Painting

2011-05-13T20:43:00.000-07:00

We are slowly, but surely checking things off our lengthy home improvement list. This month included an insulation upgrade and new exterior paint. We noticed recently that the rooms upstairs are 5 degrees colder in the winter and 5 degrees hotter in the summer than the rest of the house. After a quick inspection, we learned that our house had basically no insulation in the attic or walls. However after having insulation added everywhere, we were left with unsightly spots all over the exterior walls where they drilled holes to add insulation. A perfect excuse for a fresh coat of paint.

Before

After

We opted for new shade of gray in lieu of the previous pinkish-brown, which Dan despised. The job took two days and the difference is amazing! We love coming home to our new house. And our neighbors like it too.

And the finishing touch.....new house numbers

Before

After

Turning Nine

2011-05-03T20:17:00.000-07:00

Nine years old! How is that possible!

We celebrated Andrew's Birthday starting early on Sunday morning with a family party at our house. We had birthday bear claws and opened presents.

For his kid party, Andrew decided on Nickel City. It's a video arcade where the classic games like Pac-Man, Frogger, Donkey Kong, etc are either free or a nickel. The kids had a great time and even though each got a free roll of nickels, most of the kids spent the entire party playing the free games.

Andrew decided on a Phineas and Ferb theme, but unfortunately party supplies are very limited. Apparently the craze has not caught on yet. But I did manage to find a few things online, including this super cool cake topper!

Alyssa spent most of the party riding the purple car and playing skeeball, but the purple car was the clear favorite. She even got to the point where she was feeding her own nickels.

And Dan even joined in the fun briefly with some Guitar Hero.

New Bikes

2011-05-01T19:22:00.000-07:00

We got Andrew his first two-wheel bike for his 4th birthday. Back then, it was a little to big for him, but now, it is ridiculously small and his knees hit the handle bars. So in honor of his 9th birthday, we took him to the fancy bike store and let him pick out his next bike.

He picked out a 21-speed mountain bike, and I have to say that he made a great choice. We praticed riding around our block so he could get the hang of changing gears. Then we took a real test ride to the chickens and turtles. He's now a gear-changing expert!

And Alyssa picked out her early birthday present while we were at the bike store. First, she test rode a pink bike with sparkly tassles on the handles. She loved it! Until she saw the red and black bike next to it, which she decided was much better! She rode about 20 laps on the red and black bike inside the bike store, so we decided to take her new bike home.

She was so excited to ride her new bike to the park and use the bike rack, just like Mommy.

Take Your Monkey to Work Day

2011-04-29T17:12:00.000-07:00

Thursday, April 28 was "Take Your Child to Work Day" in Santa Clara County. So I did.

Andrew and I got up bright and early, as I do for each work day, and were working by 7am at my desk. He got to meet many of our deputies and office staff, as well as, get a full substation tour. We decided to skip a few of the morning county events in downtown San Jose, so we could drive my patrol car around Saratoga and visit several schools and administrators (and I could take care of a few business items).

We headed to downtown San Jose just in time to make the scheduled Main Jail tour. Andrew was able to hear first-hand from the correctional officers what the jail environment is like. He got locked in a cell for a minute or two, and watched as some of the other kids were handcuffed or shackled.

Then, after a brief lunch, it was on to the meet and greet with the county sheriff herself. Sheriff Laurie Smith gave each of the participating kids an official sheriff's identification card with their name and pictures on it and a fantastic sheriff's office water bottle. Andrew has been wearing his ID badge around every since.

We wrapped up our fun day with a parking lot tour of a number of the Sheriff's Office specialized units. Andrew got to talk to a coworkers from SERT (Sheriff's Emergency Response Team), Bomb Squad, Search and Rescue, Underwater Search Unit, Motorcycle Traffic Enforcement, and others. He got to see, touch, sit on, and even wear a number of their tools and equipment.

What a great day to share what I do with my boy. We had a really nice day together, even though I wouldn't let him talk on the radio, or play with my patrol car lights on the public roadway.

Saying Goodbye to a Good Friend

2011-04-14T12:27:00.000-07:00

In December 1990, I asked my mom if we could bring home a new kitty. Little did I know that the 2-month-old, white, homeless kitty from my Dad's Willow Glen neighborhood would end up being such a family staple for over 20 years.

We named her Baji. And over the years she managed to destroy the house, make some of the cutest cat faces, leave scratches in all the furniture, play the silliest games, and purr her way into our hearts. She would demand a constant supply of rubs, would sit on you the moment you sat down, and would leave her white fur on anything and everything you were wearing.

When anyone came home, she was always right there to greet you (often with more meows than were desired). And as the years passed, we often had to seek her out, as her mobility and hearing began to fade. But you could always tell in her crossed eyes how happy she was to see "her people."

On April 14, 2011, complicated with a number of medical issues, Baji could no longer walk without pain. My mom and I had to make the unbelievably difficult decision to put her to sleep.

As she was being held at the vet's office, I could see in her big blue eyes that she had had a wonderful, fun life and was ready to go. It still didn't make it any easier to say goodbye.

It is comforting to know that my sadness from losing her can never outshine the smiles, laughter, and love that we shared together.

I'll miss you Baji. You were the best!

USS Hornet Museum

2011-04-10T21:27:00.000-07:00

On April 9, 2011, Andrew's cub scout pack scheduled a tour on the USS Hornet at the old naval base in Alameda, CA. Andrew, Kelley, and I drove up and met the cub scout pack a little after 9:30 for the 10:00 tour. As we arrived, we had a chance to admire some of the other ships also docked at the naval base.

Our tour began onboard the USS Hornet with Jim Baker, who actually served on the ship for a few years in the mid-1950's. Throughout the tour, he was able to add all kinds of personal touches and insights to all the areas we were seeing.

At 6'4", I also quickly found out why there was a 6'1" height restriction for anyone serving on the Hornet. Although I only bonked twice during the tour, there were a number of close calls. Some of those hatches are not too big.

We all had a fantastic time learning about the "attitude adjustment center" (aka. the brig), the different sleeping quarters, the plane launching mechanisms, and so much more during our 2 1/2 hour journey. We will definitely have to return to visit the many areas that we weren't able to cover. It would have been pretty awesome to see all 3,500 servicemen aboard making that ship run before it was retired in 1970. That is a seriously big ship!

Blackmail

2011-04-05T21:29:00.000-07:00

We're collecting shots for when she wants to start dating.....

Cambria

2011-04-03T21:05:00.000-07:00

On April 1st, we took everyone down to see my parents in Cambria. As always we had a great visit. We spent plenty of time at the beach and at the park. Alyssa is showing off her princess stick, while Andrew narrowly escapes the waves.

And the kids helped Grammy walk Morgan. The first day, Alyssa kept a safe distance while Andrew held the leash, but on day two, she was feeling very brave and helped Grammy hold the leash the whole way around the block.

On our first trip to the beach, it was a bit overcast, but we weren't sure whether we would see much sun over the weekend, so we decided to let the kids run in the waves a little. Alyssa is almost big enough to chase the waves by herself, but she's not a very good judge of size yet. She had a blast though, despite getting knocked over and getting her sweatshirt all wet.

And the playground is always great fun. Alyssa's new favorite is riding the big kid swing, on her tummy. Andrew often initiates a game of "spies." And G-pop can often be caught testing out the playground equipment, for safety reasons, of course.

The big entertainment of the weekend included the rocking horse that G-pop made for Kim and I when we were little. Alyssa asked if we could take it home and G-pop was kind enough to oblige. Andrew spent most of the weekend playing with a magnetic ball that G-pop had purchased to help figure out the mathmatics for his next woodturning project, but Andrew had so much fun breaking the ball apart and putting it back together that it made sense for the ball to come home with us too. Thanks G-pop!

Catching Up

2011-03-01T20:43:00.000-08:00

I'm not exactly where there last two months went, but we've been much busier than the blog seems to reflect. We celebrated a birthday for me and for Grandma Cutforth. We had weeks and weeks of rainy weather, and Alyssa had her first "go" at air hockey. We spent some quality time at home, and Andrew celebrated "crazy hair day" at school.

Tahoe - Part 2

2011-02-06T15:17:00.000-08:00

We were back up to Tahoe for our second trip this season. We were pleasantly surprised to have plenty of snow considering it hadn't snowed more than 4 inches in more than a month and we'd had several days where the temperatures in Tahoe had reached the mid 50's. We were expecting sheets of ice in the morning and slush in the afternoon, but the hills were well groomed and there was a nice layer of soft snow on top. It made for a wonderful day of skiing.

At the end of the day, we tried the new tubing hill at Alpine. Near the base lodge, they've setup a conveyor belt that carries people and tubes to the top of a hill. Then, one at a time, folks sit or lay on innertubes and slide to the opposite ramp at the bottom. I have to admit, I was a bit surprised at the how fast the slope was and felt the need to drag my toes a bit to slow down. Andrew had a blast! We were only disappointed to run out of time after two runs, since the lines were relatively long.

And although it hadn't snowed much in nearly a month, there was still plenty of shovelling to be done. We focused on clearing a path from the parking pad to the deck. Alyssa was very helpful with her big shovel.

And nothing beats a big day in the snow with a evening movie and snuggle.

The next morning, everyone was ready to go again. This time we were sledding in the back yard. The snow was a bit crunchy and hard, but we managed to get a good sled run going, and Grandma Cutforth was able to build a mini Frosty.

Here's to hoping for a bit more snow, so that we can go up one more time before wrapping up the 2011 season.

Winter?

2011-01-24T15:24:00.000-08:00

It's hard to believe that at the end of January, we had weather nice enough to play bubbles outside with Gpop and Grammy.

Fashion Statements

2011-01-15T15:21:00.000-08:00

Alyssa has been quite the fashionista lately. Her choices of color combinations are nothing short of unique and she accessorizes beautifully!

Tahoe Snow

2011-01-09T10:19:00.000-08:00

This year, the snow season started on time, and for the first time in years, we had plenty of snow for our January trip to Tahoe. And since Andrew's school scheduled a furlough day for Monday, we had one extra day to enjoy the snow.

Grandma Sue joined us for this trip, and because Alyssa is still to small for ski school, Grandma and Dan split the duties of staying at the cabin to play with her. Andrew started his class and Sue and I hit the slopes. We managed to squeeze in several runs before it was time for the swap. Dan brought Alyssa to the lodge for lunch, I gave her lots of hugs and kisses, and then Alyssa and Grandma Sue went home for naps while Dan, Andrew and I skied the rest of the afternoon.

Andrew had a blast skiing but was a bit disappointed, because his instructor kept the class on the green circle (beginner) runs all day. He was looking forward to a run or two with Dan and I, but when he went to snap on his skis, he couldn't get his boot to snap in. The kids had managed to get all their equipment mixed up and now his skis were nowhere to be found. Thankfully, we had an extra day this trip to do a little extra skiing, so we were back at Alpine Meadows the following day.

Sunday, Grandma Sue spent the entire day with Alyssa, so Dan could enjoy a full day of skiing. And we made some effort to get to the hill early, so we could ski a run or two with Andrew before his lesson started. Sunday's class turned out to be much more challenging for Andrew, and he was thrilled. They spent most the day on the blue square (intermediate) runs and ventured to chair lifts he'd never been on before (Yellow Chair & Roundhouse). Dan and I enjoyed the day, despite the ridiculously chilly weather. The high for the day was 20*F and the windchill at the top of Summit chair dropped the temp to a bone chilling 5*F.

Monday was reserved to be a play day. We started with building a "Frosty the Snowman" in honor of Alyssa's favorite Christmas movie this year. Since the weather was so cold, we kept Frosty warm with a hat and scarf.

With the extra snow this year, there was enough to do our sledding right outside the cabin, rather than trekking a little further out to the forest. Andrew was determined to fly over the barricade I made to keep Alyssa from going too far, but Alyssa didn't have much interest in sledding this year. The overly-friendly black labs that live next door caught her off guard a few times, and she wasn't about to venture off the deck of the cabin for any length of time. I convinced her to slide with me twice, but she was always very aware of where the woof-woofs might be.

And she still managed to have a blast, eating icicles with Daddy, and making snowballs to throw off the deck using her snow scissors.

Dan pummeled Andrew with snow, while Andrew blocked his advances with his snow shield / sled.

We used the quiet evenings at the cabin to enjoy playing some of Andrew's new games from Christmas.

Train Ride to the Museum

2010-12-29T19:49:00.000-08:00

For months it seems, I've been promising Alyssa that we can ride the choo-choo train. Not only does she see the light rail every day we drive to her pre-school, but she also dropped me off at the Cal-Train a few weeks ago and was a bit disappointed that I rode the train without her. So while I had the week between Christmas and New Years off work, I decided it was time for Alyssa to take her first ride on the train.

So we boarded the train near our house with Grandma Sue and rode it to the Children's Discovery Museum. Alyssa wasn't done with the train, but I promised her we'd get to ride it again on our way home. It only took her a few moments to jump right in and start exploring things, but she really got excited when we found the special section for children under 4. Everything was just the right size and provided just the right amount of challenge to keep her entertained. We wrapped up our visit in the Water Ways exploration section, which was extremely exiciting. Then, following a picnic lunch in the park, we rode the train back home, just in time for nappy.

Kids Say the Darndest Things - Part II

2010-12-28T20:02:00.000-08:00

It's so fun to listen to children learning language skills. I shared a few of my Andrew favorites back in September 2007. Now he's nearly mastered all but the most complex nuances of the English language, but his sister on the other hand....she has quite a bit more to learn. She is an absolute delight to listen to. Dan commented today how fun it is that she is so verbal because she shares so much of what is going through her mind and sometimes it's just hilarious.

Back in July, when Alyssa had just turned two, I shared some of my favorite Alyssa-isms. Most were simple two syllable words. Now that she's approaching two and a half, she's tackling more challenging words and loves to serenade us, especially at the dinner table. Here is an updated list of my favorites:

Alyssa-ism                    Translation
HippoptaNus                 Hippopotamus
Kissmas                         Christmas
Gaygos                          Legos
Awfuls                           Waffles
Pot                                 Spot
Nuggle                           Snuggle

And true to her independent nature, one of her favorite phrases is "Mommy, walk-away now," which can be translated into "I'd like to do it myself, please" (at least that's what I tell myself).

Songs:
A-B-C-D Dinosaur
La La La Dee Fa
Some ah Beeg "Rooooaar"
Some mall
I ike Beeg ah bes...all Yeay!

A-B-C-D-Eh-F-J-H-Y-J-K-LMNOP-Coo-R-S-X-Y-Z - Yeay!

She also sings Old Mac Donald, but I haven't quite mastered the translation. I'll have to try to figure it out and update this post in a day or so.

Christmas 2010

2010-12-25T21:52:00.000-08:00

There is nothing more exciting than seeing a stack of presents under the tree on Christmas morning. The kids were up before the sun and ready to get started. Alyssa thought it was funny that Santa had to move her kitchen away from the fireplace; and Andrew swore he woke up at 3AM to the sound of "someone" putting a glass of milk down on the table. And within minutes, they not only had their stockings opened, but were peeking into our stockings as well.

As we waited for their Grandmas to arrive (at the painfully late hour of 7 AM), the kids enjoyed some hot cocoa and we all opened our presents from Andrew. He made each one of us, even Alyssa, a hand painted frame.

And then the chaos began. Andrew blew through his pile of presents in 4.3 seconds, and was slightly disappointed to learn that Alyssa still had a fairly large stack remaining. In fact, Alyssa took quite the opposite approach. She opened one present, I believe it was a tea set from Grandma, and immediately began to play with it. Any suggestion that she open another present was met with an emphatic two year-old "NO!"

Both of the kids were very excited about all their presents, both from Santa and from family. While Andrew launched his Harry Potter Wii game and explored his Glow Dome, Alyssa removed the jackets from all her Sing-a-ma-jigs, after which she promptly created a train of Beauty and the Beast characters. And the fun continued with gingerbread decorating and play dough smashing.

Christmas continued on Monday, when the cousins from the north came for a visit. Expecting rain, we went to SkyHigh sports in Santa Clara. It's a huge warehouse filled with trampolines of every shape and size. The kids had a blast jumping, running, playing bouncing dodge ball, and such.

Unfortunately, Alyssa wasn't able to join in the jumping fun. Late on Sunday night, we had to take her into the ER because her little Christmas sniffle turned into a decently concerning respiratory problem. Thankfully, we received excellent and immediate care. The moment we walked in the ER and uttered the words "struggling to breathe" one nurse whisked Dan and Alyssa off to get started on taking her stats, while I took care of the administrative stuff. Several doctors, monitors, medicines, and breathing treatments later, the doctors released us; although somewhat reluctantly, because Alyssa's numbers were not as high as they would have liked. But Alyssa (and I) had had enough, and desperately needed some sleep, and she was far more comfortable than when we'd arrived two hours earlier.

Alyssa slept reasonably well the remainder of the night, with only a few more wake ups. But by morning she was wheezing pretty heavily again, and so we were off again, this time to Urgent Care. When that appointment took longer than expected, with multiple breathing treatments; Dan finished the appointment and took Alyssa home to rest, so I could take Andrew to SkyHigh with his cousins. Divide and conquer!

Letter to Santa 2010

2010-12-24T22:01:00.000-08:00

Here is this year's letter to Santa. I will say, Andrew was a bit less motivated to write it this year. Perhaps he'd rather play video games? Perhaps he's beginning to have doubts? Anyway, I'll enjoy his letters as long as I possibly can, because it might not last much longer. As always, it's a bit challenging to read, so I've translated below.

Dear Santa,

I would like for Christmas stuffed animals waliugi, baby peach and daisy. Something for my dad, video games, pair of truck tires, Alyssa, playdough, and Kelley. Color shifters cars and track. And anything else you want to get me for Christmas.

Looks like we need to work a little bit on following one train of thought at a time. Now, I must say that my favorite part of letter writing is taking a look back at his previous letters. Take a look.

2007
2008
2009

Xmas Trees

2010-12-04T20:49:00.000-08:00

Every year we head up into the mountains to cut down our Christmas tree. This year the tradition continued with one small change. Andrew had the honor of actually cutting down the tree. He struggled a little bit with the first few cuts, but then he got the hang of it....

And before long, our tree was ready to head home.

Thanksgiving 2010

2010-11-25T20:26:00.000-08:00

Being the youngest of all the families, I have successfully avoided hosting Thanksgiving. But lately, I've been thinking it's about time that I at least learn to cook a turkey. So this year, I gave it a shot.

This post is more for me than anyone else. I learned that cooking a turkey is not as difficult or intimidating as I originally thought. I used tips from Alton Brown. The turkey was actually the easiest part of the enitre meal.

I also tackled my grandma's famous rolls. My Dad, after many years of practice, has perfected the process of making the rolls. I however, need more practice. For some reason, I simply cannot seem to get my rolls to rise. Dad seems to think that using refrigerated yeast over packs of dry yeast will help, but I wasn't able to find it in any of our local grocery stores. I have to figure that out for next time. I also learned that after moving the racks in the oven, down to the bottom for the turkey, I definitely need to move them up before baking grandma's rolls. My perfectly golden rolls were black on the bottom.

I'm looking forward to having an opportunity to try my hand at Thanksgiving again someday. The first time is always the hardest! Of course, I was so busy cooking that there really are no pictures to share.

Halloween 2010

2010-10-31T21:31:00.000-07:00

Halloween started this year, much the same way it starts every year, with the kid's Halloween parade at school. Andrew was very excited about his bank robber costume. Dan pointed out that he's not likely robbing very many banks anymore, so Andrew then decided he was a bank robber who got caught.

Alyssa's costume was inspired by her current favorite book Ladybug Girl by David Soman and Jacky Davis. It is a fantastic story about a little girl who uses her imagination to find big fun in everyday adventures. I was a little worried because after I finished sewing wings and her tutu, Alyssa wanted nothing to do with dressing up. Thank goodness the rest of her friends at school all dressed up and provided a bit of motivation.

Last year Dan stepped up the decorations in our bay window with his fog machine and a few lights. This year, however, the window took on a personality of it's own. The fog machine made an appearance again, but this year we added a strobe light, some flaming lanterns and of course the grim reaper and tombstone were the featured guests of the window.

On Halloween evening, the we gathered with a few friends and grandparents for trick-or-treating. I had hot cider in the crock-pot to keep us warm on the walk. This year, Alyssa definitely understood that these nice people at each house were putting candy in her basket.

And Andrew was very patient since he was the only big kid in the group. He stayed with the group until the little kids called it quits, when he and Dan expedited their candy expedition and hit one extra block before heading home. The kids had a great time and so did the adults!

Pumpkins, Trains and Hay Rides

2010-10-20T21:09:00.000-07:00

I love Fall. I love to watch the leaves change color. I love the cool crisp mornings. I love the impending arrival of winter and snow for skiing. So as soon as the temperature and the leaves start to drop, I start looking forward to Halloween; and nothing says Halloween like pumpkins.

This year, we went to a pumpkin patch that, I'm embarrassed to say, is just around the corner from our house, and yet we just discovered it a few weeks ago. We were joined by SuMaMa and one of Alyssa's friends from swimming class.

Andrew made quick work of the maze made out of hay, and took to running across the bails at full speed, while Alyssa did her best to keep up. From there we ventured on to the train ride and took a hay-ride through the corn fields.

After we finished with with the rides, we set out to find the perfect pumpkin. I encouraged Andrew to find the most sincere pumpkin so we might get a visit from the Great Pumpkin, but he just rolled his eyes at me. I suppose in third grade one is too old for the Great Pumpkin? Nonetheless, Andrew did find several perfect pumpkins. He and Alyssa shared the burden of driving the wheel barrell, or at least Alyssa likes to think she helped. We also picked up some homemade pumpkin bread to wrap up the adventure.

Now that we have the perfect pumpkins, we're putting the finishing touches on costumes and getting ready to welcome Fall.

Washing Cars

2010-10-17T20:49:00.000-07:00

Each fall, Dan and I give each of our cars some tender loving care. This year, Alyssa decided to help. She was quite literally "up to her elbows" in wash water.

Apple Birdie Daddy

2010-10-01T20:39:00.000-07:00

We celebrated Dan's birthday this year in typical fashion with a small gathering at home with family. The kids have made quite a game out of jumping off the window ledge to the six foot bean-bag (not Dan's favorite game by the way). And they were quick to introduce cousin Kaitlyn to their game. She was a very quick study and had mastered beanbag jumping in a matter of a few minutes.

Alyssa is finally understanding the concept of birthdays. At least she understands that when someone has a birthday, she is likely to get cake. She even has the song down pat...

"Apple Birdie to you,

Apple Birdie to you,

Apple Birdie dear Dadddddyyyyyy.

Apple Birdie to you."

When the kids got bored with "adult talk" they moved the real party outside for some bubbles

Black Eye

2010-09-17T20:28:00.000-07:00

Since Andrew didn't have school on Friday, September 17th, he and Dan rode their bikes to the local library. Afterwards, Andrew told Dad he wanted to ride the "long" way home, so they went to the Bernal Ranch to check out the chickens and turtles. When it was time to leave, they decided to ride down the steep dirt hill. Andrew started out great, and was almost at the bottom when he let out a "weeeeeeee" of glee. But then his handle bars got out of control and he went head over handle bars and landed in the dirt with a mouth full of hay and a bump on his eye that turned into his first black eye. He says he doesn't know how horses eat hay because it tastes terrible!

Big Bad Voodoo Daddy

2010-09-11T20:39:00.000-07:00

On Saturday, September 11th we were excited to head to a very small and intimate venue near our house to see Big Bad Voodoo Daddy. And although Andrew was not very familiar with the band, we decided it was a perfect opportunity to introduce him to swing / big band music. We managed to secure seats in the second row, which were perfect for Andrew.

While we were waiting for the show to start, we talked to Andrew about the instruments he'd be seeing and Dan pointed out the "toilet plungers" that would be used to make fun and interesting sounds with the instruments. It was so fun to watch Andrew experience the music up close and personal, and in such and exciting and energetic way.

It was a great show. It was very entertaining... I'd defintely go again in a heartbeat and Andrew said he would too.

Labor Day - Lazy Style

2010-09-06T21:59:00.000-07:00

It seems as though we've been on the go and killing ourselves with projects forever now. OK, perhaps it hasn't been forever, but it's been at least six weeks. So when labor day rolled around, we were thrilled to have no plans whatsoever.

So on Saturday, Alyssa rocked out with Daddy for a little while.

Then, after naps, the kids played with a bucket of water on the front lawn. They poured water into different size cups and dumped all over themselves and had a generally great time. It was a perfect way to spend the long weekend. Very relaxing.

Home Improvement

2010-08-29T21:37:00.000-07:00

Week one of vacation and Dan and I had big plans to transform the ugly yellow kitchen we inherited when we bought our house. What started out as a simple paint job in one room turned into two rooms of wall paint, trim paint and new lighting fixtures. Dan and I worked our fingers to the bone for six straight days, and pictures truly don’t do the transformation justice. You’ll just have to see for yourself, particularly after we have the new window treatments installed.

The project started with moving all our family room furniture into our already small living room. It was a very tight squeeze. But we were able to survive for several days.

We got to work quickly on the trim. Then came the black wall. It’s amazing the funny looks people give you when you tell them you are painting a wall in your family room black. We complimented the black wall with a light tan in the rest of the room and through to the kitchen.

Then we ripped out the ugly, dirty, old carpet and had brand new carpet installed. After getting a seal of approval from Jazz, we moved the furniture back in.

We were so happy with the results, we decided to paint the living room as well. The results were fantastic, particularly after Dan put in the new light fixtures.

And isn't it funny how projects seem to snowball. As we removed the lighting fixtures to paint the ceiling in the kitchen, we lamented about how ugly the fixtures were and how poorly they were installed by the previous owners. So it only took a few nanoseconds of discussion before we decided to replace the light fixtures in the family room. After we got those three installed, they made such a striking improvement and were so much better than the light fixtures in the rest of the house that we picked up 5 more to complete the entire house.

It's amazing how poorly the previous owners had painted the wall and trim. On both sliding doors, they neglected to take down the blinds, and chose not to paint the parts they could not reach. So, part of our project included fixing the walls and trim.

And after we took down the vertical blinds, many of the slats held together with duct tape, we discussed how we should have ordered new drapes prior to starting our painting project. It would really be a shame to fill all the holes and paint properly, only to put up the ugly old blinds again. Well, better late than never, we headed down to choose new drapes for the family room....and maybe while we're at it, we'll get them for the front room and hall...aw heck, it's only four more to do the bedrooms, and now we've placed an order for blinds and drapes for the entire house.

So, suddenly we needed to paint the rest of the rooms before the new blinds arrived to avoid having to take them down and paint later. But, we were out of vacation time, so we trudged on, evenings and weekends, painting one room at a time until we'd finished the entire house; trims, doors and all. And speaking of the doors, the previous owners had painted all the hinges, and the paint was chipped and peeling and the hinges were all different styles and colors, so Dan went out and bought 29 new hinges and as we took off each and every door to paint the door and frame, we replaced every hinge in the house.

And it wouldn't be a Cutforth family project without a little Bon Jovi. Each room in the house now has a least one Have a Nice Day Smirk underneath the layers of fresh paint.

The entire project took a total of 5 weeks, 11 gallons of various paints, and 16 rolls of blue tape. The main rooms are all painted in a soothing "Oak Notes" color and Alyssa's room is now green, but not any green, it matches the blankie (Tee-Tee) she takes to school everyday and so we've dubbed her room "School Tee-Tee Green." Now we've finally put away the last can of paint and the last paintbrush, and we wait patiently for our blinds and drapes, which should arrive in another two weeks.

And kitty likes the box the new light fixtures came in. And Alyssa thinks the newly remodeled family room is perfect for a snuggle with your Tee-Tee (blankie) and kitty.

Summer Vacation - Cottonwood

2010-08-15T21:39:00.000-07:00

Following our Tahoe vacation, we headed northwest to Cottonwood to visit Dan’s Dad. The kids had a blast, running around the farm chasing guinea fowl, watching the chickens, and playing with the dogs.

The dogs did a great job of keeping us all safe. Bailey took post by the stairs, while Koby covered the back yard, and both veteran dogs tried to teach Kane the ropes. Alyssa was intrigued by all the dogs, but was a bit nervous when they got too close. Wouldn’t you be if you had to look up at a dog? She did get brave enough to pet “Bogy” the “small” doggy, a few times, and she tried to order Kane around by issuing a “Kane, sit, sit, sit,” but he often thought twice about listening to the two-year old. Andrew was happy to give Kane some exercise by chasing him around the yard. Grandpa kept egging him on by telling him he was actually getting close to catching Kane. Poor Andrew never stood a chance.

It was a great relaxing weekend. Alyssa showed “papa” the proper way to read books and Andrew was the expert “tea-partier.”

And with the temperatures rising toward 100*F in the afternoons, the kids were thrilled to spend as much time as possible in the pool.

It’s been far too long since we got the cousins together, so it was great to have several days together at Grandpa’s house. Hopefully we can get everyone together again soon!

Summer Vacation - Tahoe

2010-08-15T21:38:00.000-07:00

Our summer vacation started Sunday morning (August 8). We drove to Tracy for a brief visit with Uncle Dave, Aunt Shawnna, Cousin Kaitlyn, and met the newest member of the family Keira. Kaitlyn was quick to show us her new big girl room and Keira’s baby room. Keira was very sleepy during our visit, but that is to be expected, she’s was only 3 weeks old. From Tracy, we had a very pleasant drive to Tahoe, and arrived to some light thunder storms, which I very much enjoyed, seeing as though we don’t get much thunder in California.

Monday morning we were up and going fairly early, starting our vacation with a trip to the Tahoe Commons beach and playground. We got there a little early and so started on the playground while we waited for the weather to warm up a bit.

After about 30 minutes, Alyssa was ready to go into the “Beeg Pool” so we headed to the lake. The water was typically cold, but that didn’t seem to bother the kids. Alyssa was tentative at first, asking for a hand, but was soon trudging through the rocky shore like a champ. Andrew took off looking for the “deep end” but found that even quite a ways out, the water was fairly shallow and only came up to his knees.

We picked up an orange and blue volleyball at Safeway on Sunday afternoon. It’s really just a little inflated ball, typical of the ones you find in big bins at the toy store, but it’s covered in soft felt to look like a volleyball. It provided hours and hours of entertainment for Andrew during our vacation. Not only at the beach, but also in the cabin. It’s so soft he could throw it at his two-year old sister and she didn’t even bat an eyelash. And Andrew’s all time favorite volleyball game involved defending the open hatch while Daddy tried to “score.” Alyssa even scored a few times, usually when Andrew wasn’t looking. Unfortunately, the ball didn’t survive the entire week, but we definitely got our money’s worth.

Every time we’ve come to Tahoe, Andrew has asked to play miniature golf, and we finally made it to the Magic Carpet Golf course for the first time. Although Andrew really wanted to do the 28-hole course with the spider, we decided to wait another year or so until Alyssa’s attention span is a little longer, and instead we chose the 19-hole Grizzly Falls course, which I believe is a completely new course since I used to go as a kid. We decided not to keep score, assuming Alyssa would make real mini-golf fairly difficult. Andrew, Dan and I played as best we could, while Alyssa relocated our ball every so often and removed all the balls from the holes. After about 8-9 holes she even made an attempt to participate. But after about 16 holes, she decided she’d had enough and sat the rest of the round out, while eating a snack and watch Dan, Andrew and I wrap up the last three holes.

This year, we chose Sand Harbor State Park as our special beach destination. The park is about 18 miles from the cabin, but well worth the drive, and parking fee, for the light sandy beaches and gentle slope in the water. The kids spent most of the morning pouring water into sand holes, stopping only briefly for a quick snack. We arrived early knowing that we only had about 90 minutes before needing to return to the cabin for Alyssa’s much needed nappy. When we arrived, there were only about 2 other families on the beach. As we were leaving it was getting a bit more crowded but still very pleasant. It’s very nice to be able to enjoy a Tuesday at the beach.

And no visit to the cabin is complete without a hike in the woods. We strolled out the back of the cabin and started wandering with walkie-talkies in hand. We took a more gentle stroll than in years past knowing this was Alyssa’s first official hike (without being in the backpack that is). Andrew ran ahead, checking in periodically on the walkie-talkies while we helped Alyssa explore the woods. She did incredibly well for two and only asked for the occasional “up-mama.”

I was quite pleased to find the rock that Kim and I used to climb as kids. It’s still there although it’s now surrounded by some fallen trees that I don’t believe were there 25 years ago. The next day, Andrew tried to navigate his way back to the rock with nothing but a walkie-talkie. We found him about 15 minutes later, in the opposite direction. So Andrew and I went on another hike where we practiced memorizing landmarks and finding our way between the cabin and the rock and back. During which time, Andrew also had an attack of the “toots,” which lived true to Dan’s forest code name for him . . . “smelly bear.”

Alyssa is currently very excited about pine cones, so Dee-Doo found her a very special GIANT pine cone. She was quite proud to show it to Daddy.

And when you’re in the middle of the forest, with no-one else around, what better time is there to throw rocks and sticks?

And the kids had a blast just playing in and around the cabin. Andrew brought his collection of Nintendo characters, and Alyssa made up a song that we call "La-La-La-Oshi (Yoshi)" which she sang while running in circles through the cabin. Sometimes she'd switch it up and sing "La-La-La-Mayo (Mario)" but for the most part, Oshi was by far her favorite. Once she'd mastered singing and running, she added the xylophone to the mix. We caught a piece of it on video, watch for that in the annual Cutforth Family movie. Other fun games included running from the deck, down to the tree stumps to sit, repeat, repeat, repeat. The train set and box of legos were also very entertaining for both kids.

We wrapped things up with a trip to Tahoe City, where Alyssa had her first ice cream ON A CONE. She also had her first successful day of pee-pee in the potty while wearing underwear. She’s been practicing naked for a while now but keeping her underwear dry is a big step toward being big, as is eating her ice cream on a cone.

Scorpions Sting and Blackout

2010-08-01T21:36:00.000-07:00

On Sunday, August 1 Kelley and I started the adult portion of our summer vacation with a trip to the Concord Pavilion (Sleep Train Amphitheater) for the farewell tour of the Scorpions. After 40 years of making great music, the Scorpions were hanging up their guitars with the Get Your Sting and Blackout World Tour.

Kelley and I started with a Concord concert traditional trip to Rocco's Italian restaurant before the show. And after a little pizza, it was time to get to the show.

We arrived just in time to take our 7th row seats (approximately 25 feet from the stage) and watch Cinderella take the stage as the opening band.

I must say that Tom Kiefer still sounds great! It is always good to hear Cinderella rock out their classic 80's hits. And after rockin' out for an hour with songs like Heartbreak Sttation and Nobody's Fool, they left the stage with the crowd in a frenzy for more rock 'n roll.

And like a hurricane, the Scorpions stormed the stage with an impressive amphitheater stage, setup and sound. They wasted no time in playing a collection of their greatest hits. They tossed in a few from their last album, Sting in the Tail, for a good mix too.

Of course, what could be cooler than Rudolf Schenker coming out in full costume for a rockin' rendition of Blackout . . . with fog spewing from his guitar and everything. It is truly sad that such a fantastic stage band is calling it quits. In the several times I have seen them live over the years, they have never failed to put on an awesome and entertaining show. Take note new bands . . . this is how it's done!

And with that, the show concluded and it was time for the long trek back home. The show was outstanding and it was nice to have a kid-less date night with my wife.

And even though now retired, the scorpions will forever live on and rock out on my iPod. Thank you Scorpions !

Wiggles

2010-07-31T21:34:00.000-07:00

Alyssa and I listen to the Wiggles often on our commute to and from work / school. She has several favorites and asks for them over and over. So, when the Wiggles came to town this year, we decided it was a perfect first concert for a two-year-old. So just five days after her second birthday, we headed downtown for the Wiggly Circus. Unfortunately, we forgot to charge the camera battery, so we only managed to capture two photos of the entire event. Alyssa loved the seat that folds up and down and spent a good portion of the show jumping around in her spot. We all had a great time.

Alyssa Turns Two!

2010-07-26T21:31:00.000-07:00

July 26th, Alyssa turned two years old. We celebrated in typical fashion with a semi-small BBQ at our house. Alyssa’s favorite color is “Lello” or perhaps that is the only color she’s learned to successfully identify. Regardless, we decorated the house in yellow and orange, and had over closest friends and family over to celebrate. Working around toddler nap time, we started her party early in the morning with present opening. She got a slew of wonder presents and it took us nearly a week to play with them all.

Once the craziness of present opening concluded, Alyssa invited her friends to play in the back yard and enjoy a BBQ lunch.

We wrapped up her special day with yellow cupcakes. Big thanks to everyone who helped make her day special!

After a extra long nappy, Alyssa was at it again. She and Andrew enjoyed some outside time in the sprinklers.

On her actual birthday, Alyssa got a very special birthday crown from her preschool teacher, Miss Lorena. Apparently, Alyssa is the only two year-old in the entire school willing to wear a paper crown, all day long, including outside time. When I picked her up that day, she truly was Queen of the school. She felt so very special and important with her paper crown. Every teacher and parent she passed as we left the school wished her a happy birthday. I am truly thankful to have such a wonderful school for her to attend. Her crown was so important that she wore it all day at home for the next two days. I’m not sure why she’s showing us her tonsils in this one photo, but it’s cute, nonetheless.

Two year old fun facts!
The most notable fun facts is the fact that Alyssa likes to do everything by herself, and if ANYONE, even remotely tries to step in to help with a challenging situation, he/she is rewarded with a ear piercing scream, “FUSS!” Which when you are two means “SELF!” This is what happens when she tried to put her pajamas on by herself. Please note that her diaper is on backward and her shirt is on her feet. I think she needs a bit more practice, don’t you agree?

Alyssa mastered taking her own shoes off when she was one, but now that she’s two, she can put most of her shoes on by herself, with the exception of the more challenging running shoes.

She likes to unload the dishwasher. She takes her plates out and puts them on the pantry shelf. By herself.

She likes to climb the step ladder to wash her hands. By herself.
She can buckle the top buckle of her car seat. By herself (are you sensing a theme yet?)

She can climb the ladder at the park. By herself.

Her favorite movie is now the Wiggles “Yummy-Yummy” and she does all the movements to Hot Potato, PufferBillies and Fruit Salad. She does still like to occasionally watch “Pat Pat” (Little Einsteins) and Pooh Bear.

If you ask her “how many?” of anything, her answer will most often be “two” with an occasional “sek” (six). It doesn’t matter what she’s counting two is a small amount and six is a lot.

She likes sauce on all her foods. Ranch is her favorite, followed by ketchup, but apparently, everything, and I mean everything, tastes better with sauce.

Two year old vocabulary
Although Alyssa’s vocabulary is extensive, it’s not always obvious exactly what she is trying to say. Here are just a few of my favorite examples
Movies
Ha – Pa Toe = Hot Potato
Pooh-Bah = Pooh Bear
Pat-Pat = Little Einsteins
Biggles = Wiggles
Food
Muk = Milk
No-nuh = Donuts
Pop-Pop = Edamame
Kuckah = Cracker
Gape = Grapes
Bach – Bach = Chicken
Ummmies = M&M’s
Toys / Activities
Hop Hop = Bunny
Tee-Tee = Blankie
Tamp / Tuckah = Stamps and Stickers
Beeg Tuck = Garbage Trucks (big excitement!)
Choo-Shoop = Choo Choo Train
Mayo = Mario (Nintendo)
Ichi = Luigi (Nintendo)
Oshi = Yoshi (Nintendo)
Gocky Kong = Donkey Kong (Nintendo)
People
Aun-Tim = Aunt Kim
Uml Cott = Uncle Scott
Mama = Gramma
SuMama = Gramma Sue
DeeDoo = Andrew

Cousin Camp

2010-07-10T21:30:00.000-07:00

July 7th – 10th Andrew spent four days with Ashley and Tyler in Cambria at my parent’s house for Cousin Camp. G-pop and Grammy were very brave souls taking on the three older cousins at the same time. I don’t have much commentary since it was a “parent-free” trip, but from the pictures, it appears that a great time was had by all. With the exception of minor sunburns acquired at the water park.
Day one started with a walk around town and a quick stop for ice cream, and a little bit of beach time. After returning to G-pop and Grammy’s house, they all drew maps of the walk. Just in case someone needs to find the ice cream store again?

Day two was a trip to the water park. It sounds like the hit of the water park was the wave pool and nearly a month after cousin camp; Andrew is still wearing the admission bracelet from the park.

Then some relaxing back at G-pop and Grammy’s house

And day 3 focused on coastal fun. The day included a trip to the coastal discovery museum, elephant seals, zebras and sea otters. Apparently, they even got to see one mama otter holding her pup. And on day four, the kids had a relaxing morning waiting for parents to come retrieve them for some much needed rest after a fun filled vacation with G-pop and Grammy. I suspect G-pop and Grammy needed a little rest as well.

Kaitlyn's Birthday

2010-07-03T21:30:00.000-07:00

We celebrated Kaitlyn’s 3rd birthday in early July. She had a grand princess party complete with a bouncy castle. Alyssa napped through most of the party while Andrew ran circles between the ping-pong table and the bounce house, stopping only briefly for a few bites of lunch. Alyssa woke in time to take a few turns in the bounce house, and Andrew learned and important lesson, that when you’re bigger and bounce near your little sister, your weight is enough to send her flying. But she survived and was only a bit startled and was back in the bounce house for more abuse. Everyone enjoyed a bit of Princess cake and it was back to the bounce house for more fun!

Alyssa is currently in a phase of wanting to do everything by herself, including getting in and out of the bounce house. She got very angry with me every time I dared to even hold the door open for her. “No, Mama…..Fuss (self)!”

Father's Day and Birthdays

2010-06-19T21:01:00.000-07:00

Mid-June brought our annual joint celebration of Uncle Dave’s Birthday and Father’s Day. We arrived in Tracy a little early so Alyssa could get down for her nap. While she napped, we had a great BBQ and played lots of ping-pong and bubbles. She woke just in time to play a little ping-pong and blow a few bubbles, which she hasn’t really gotten the hang of yet.

Chico Fun

2010-06-13T20:01:00.000-07:00

We kicked off summer vacation with a trip to Chico to visit cousins. Andrew wrapped up second grade on Thursday June 10th, so we made our way to Chico on Friday morning. Ashley, Tyler and Aunt Kim met us at the hotel for an afternoon swim that evening. The big kids were making waves, while Alyssa showed off her jumping skills. Then we gathered everyone up, not an easy feat, for a quick dinner and said goodnight for the evening.

The rest of the weekend was filled with outdoor fun. We made several trips to the local park, where climbing trees seemed to be the activity of choice.

We also took everyone to 5-mile creek and Alyssa had a great time exploring the “Beeg Pool” and throwing rocks; while Andrew, Tyler and Uncle Scott hunted polliwogs. Ashley enjoyed lounging in the inner tube.

Alyssa had a great time with her “Ashes, Ty, Aun-Tim and Uml Cott” and was sad to say goodbye. And Andrew enjoyed having his cousins to play with, even though he got a little frustrated because Ashley wanted to spend as much time as possible taking care of Alyssa instead of playing with him. It was nice to have the extra day to hang out and enjoy the outdoors. And Dan even survived watching round after round of world-cup soccer with Uncle Scott.

Swimming Lessons

2010-06-10T18:32:00.000-07:00

Both Andrew and Alyssa have been taking swimming lessons at a local indoor pool for several weeks now. The spring session is coming to an end and we’ll take a break from lessons to enjoy summer swimming.

In Andrew’s big kid class, the kids are learning to roll from front to back and over again so they can swim all the way across the pool. Andrew is doing great, although back floats are still not his favorite.

Alyssa’s class focuses mostly on learning to have fun in the water and water safety, so she learns to swim to the wall after jumping in the pool, breath control, kicking and big arms. She loves to splash and dive under the water. Ironically, she dislikes back floating just about as much as Andrew does. Perhaps it’s genetic?

Happy Hallow

2010-06-06T21:48:00.000-07:00

On Sunday June 6th, we took our first trip to Happy Hallow since the remodel. It was also Alyssa's first time at a zoo or amusement park. We waited until after naptime which worked out perfectly, because by the time we arrived, most of the crowds were headed home.

We had to take a picture of the hippo statue at the entrance in honor of the hippopotomus report that Andrew wrote as part of his second grade class.

We started our visit at the zoo. Andrew, who is a pro-zoo-goer, was quick to point out the best animal watching spots to his sister. Alyssa was captivated by the monkeys, birds and especially the prarie dogs, but perhaps because she could crawl in a cave to watch them.

The bird exhibit has a cool feature comparing the wing span of several different species of birds. While Dan nearly has the wing span of a bald eagle, the rest of us are slightly smaller. Alyssa took the opportunity to give me a great big hug when I measured my wing span.

We took a quick trip over to the petting zoo. Andrew entertained himself on the climbing wall, and after one goat got a little too close to Alyssa, she decided she was much happier "up-mama."

After the petting zoo we took the opportunity to go on a few rides. Alyssa rode her first carousel which was quite a bit of fun, but even more fun were the little police cars. She was quite pleased with her driving skills. Dan and Andrew took the opportunity to ride the roller coaster once before we all met up for a quick ride on Danny the Dragon. After a very fun afternoon, it was time to get all the kids home for dinner, bath and bedtime.

Generations

2010-06-05T18:40:00.000-07:00

It's time to play a bit of catch-up. Dan and I have been semi off-line for a period of time. Dan's computer recently crashed and I used up all 80 GB on my 4 year-old computer. Of course when I bought it, I thought there was no way I could EVER fill up 80 GB of memory. Now, we each have new computers and hopefully it will take me a bit longer to fill up the 500 GB I have now.

But of course with each new computer purchase comes setup time and a learning curve. So here we are ... on July 8th and it's time to play a little catch up on the blog.

On Saturday, June 5th, we paid a visit to Dan's grandparent's. The highlight of the visit for Alyssa were the ducks in the pond, just outside Grandad and Mither's house. The pair of ducks came right up to the edge of the pond, complete with duckling in tow. Although Alyssa would have liked to jump right in and swim with the ducks, she settled for getting as low as possible on Mither's patio to get a closer look.

We had a very nice time, and it's always special to get all four generations of Cutforth's together.

On a completely unrelated note, I never get tired of messy baby faces. And the best faces seem to accompany junk food. Turns out, Alyssa likes Oreos!

Growing up

2010-06-04T20:08:00.000-07:00

So a few months ago, Andrew said to me "Hey Kel, I think I'm getting too old for Buzz Lightyear." I don't blame him, his room's been covered with Buzz Lightyear stickers since he turned three. We neglected to take any before pictures, but here's one from when he was 5...you get the idea.

He's eight now and ready for a change. He suggested that perhaps a Nintendo theme would be cool. It took a bit of searching, but I think we pulled it together very nicely.

The first step was selecting the perfect blue paint as the sky. We all had a good laugh when I stepped off the stool, directly into the can of paint. I didn't hit the rim at all, it was a slam dunk, literally! So after Dan finished laughing at me and memorializing the event on film, he carefully helped remove my shoe and we continued on with our business.

And what paint job would be complete without a Bon Jovi "Have a Nice Day" face.

Then a few removable stickers made by Blik. Add a cool wall clock a few posters and voila, a room fit for an almost third-grader.

The room is not quite complete, as I've promised to sew Andrew a new bedspread. Apparently, he's a bit too old for the spiderman set that's on his bed now. I've ordered the fabric, but this will be my first quilt ever, so wish me luck. I'm keeping it very simple and using solid colors that can grow with him, because I have a feeling I won't be making any more quilts any time soon.

Eight years old!

2010-05-03T09:53:00.000-07:00

Last weekend, Andrew turned eight! We had a great party with family on Saturday. He decided to jump right in to present opening so that everyone could play with his toys during the party.

So immediately after present opening, we took everyone, including kitty, outside to break in Andrew's new toys.

We had lunch with a menu selected by the guest of honor himself. Followed by birthday pie. This is the second year that Andrew has chosen to have pie instead of cake. Perhaps we should start to make it a tradition.

Oh, and Andrew was so excited about his party that he offered to help clean in preparation. He vacuumed, wiped down the stove, and cleaned all the bathroom mirrors.

DSA Basketball

2010-04-18T22:06:00.001-07:00

Dan played in the DSA Basketball tournament this week, where the Sheriffs deputies play against retired Forty Niner and Raider players. Alyssa came to watch her Daddy play and spent most of the game playing on the bleacher stairs.

Easter 2010

2010-04-18T22:05:00.001-07:00

We celebrated Easter at my Aunt and Uncle's house in Tracy. Alyssa, Andrew and cousin Lilly were the primary egg hunters of the group. The bigger cousins were in charge of hiding eggs. Alyssa only took a little while to get the hang of hunting for eggs. Of course, she stuck to the ones that were out in the open in the middle of the lawn. Andrew was much more of an expert.

Turtles and Chickens and Snails, Oh My!

2010-04-18T22:03:00.000-07:00

The other day, Alyssa and I decided to change up our usual walk and check out a new entrance to the county park near our house. The new entrance is just a bit further away, but well worth the walk. We found a pond with turtles and a little trail that leads to a historic farm house, chicken coop and vegetable garden.

Alyssa had a great time looking at the turtles and running up and down the stairs. She spent the entire stroller ride home saying "bye-bye turtles! bye-bye bach-bach" (chickens)

So far, we've been back at least once every weekend. I think I might be just as excited about the turtles as she is.

A few days later we got some April showers and Alyssa discovered her first snail. Now, mind you, I'm REALLY not fond of snails at all. But I waited patiently while Alyssa took a closer look at the strange slimy creature, reminding her to look with her eyes and not with her fingers. Right at that moment, Daddy came home, saw her inspecting the snail, and picked it up to give her a closer look. He let it crawl in his hand before putting it back in the bushes.....YUCK! Thank goodness for daddies!

"Goal"den Anniversary

2010-04-16T09:45:00.000-07:00

Kelley and I celebrated our 3rd wedding anniversary Wednesday night in true Cutforth style . . . we attended a hockey game.

Not just any game, but playoff game #1 between the Colorado Avalanche and the San Jose Sharks (our two favorite NHL teams). So, for the first time since our wedding, we put on our opposing hockey jerseys. And after having some pizza and handing Alyssa over to Gramma Cutforth, we headed to the game.

As we got to the parking lot, the people that parked almost right next to us immediately noticed the conflicting jerseys. As they walked passed us, one of them asked, "Will you be going home together?" Kelley and I got a big laugh out of that one!

When we got inside, we found our seats and noticed that we were directly five rows behind my brother Dave. We also learned that my good friend Allen was also in the building a couple of sections over.

And then it was time for the game to begin. And, oh man, was the arena loud. It was clear that the sold-out crowd was ready for some playoff hockey.

Of course, I was the odd-man-out all evening, as there weren't very many Avalanche supporters at the Shark Tank (aka HP Pavilion) at all. In fact, there wasn't a single Avs fan anywhere near me.

The game was close all the way through, with a number of scoring chances for both sides. The Avs did score first on a power play in the second period, only to be tied when the Sharks scored half way through the third period.

I was greeted with a number of giggles by the crowd after the Avalanche scored their second (and game winning) goal with 50 seconds to play in the third period. I rose from my seat, and with no one else to celebrate with . . . I gave myself a high-five!

We got home to a very thankful Gramma that the contest didn't go into overtime, as it was already pushing 11pm. Our thanks to her once again.

Ultimately, it was just nice to go out with Kelley without any children. We had a great time and a nice anniversary. Love you, Kel!

Where's your Teeth?

2010-03-28T10:34:00.001-07:00

"Where's you teeth?" is a game that Dan and Alyssa play together, and I happened to catch them in the act.

Skiing Shasta

2010-03-21T13:49:00.000-07:00

The afternoon of March 17, I left to get Dave in Tracy and head up to my Dad's in Cottonwood. We had a few laughs and hit a few bugs on the way up, and made it just in time for dinner.

The morning of March 18, we hit the road at 7:15am for the 90 minute trek to Mt. Shasta. When we got there, it was already 40 degrees and there wasn't a cloud in the sky. We grabbed our equipment and hit the slopes with the bare minimum ski apparel.

The first 90 minutes was spent warming up and getting through a few icy runs. The following 4 hours were great skiing. However, by 2pm the sun had warmed up the hills too much, and we finished the day on some fairly slushy runs. It didn't matter though, as the day was a blast.

We did have some excitement as Dad discovered that his fanny pack had opened up during one of the runs and everything inside had fallen out (e.g. "old school" camcorder, sunscreen, a bag of chips, Kleenex, cell phone, etc.). Thankfully, his keys and wallet were in a different pocket. We spent the next two runs trying to locate all of the items.

Somehow, we managed to find several items along the trail and some others were turned into the ski lift attendant. Overall, we managed to locate everything except his cell phone. Not bad. I'm sure the archaeologists will have a fun time finding the 5-year-old relic when the mountain snow finishes melting in June.

Even all of that was only a slight annoyance compared to Dave "complaining" about how cold and windy it was every time we arrived at the top of the Coyote lift, which we seemed to take more than any other in the park. Actually, it got to be quite funny and entertaining.

Dave and I set the new Cutforth record for the number of runs in a single day at Shasta Ski Park at 27. Dad would have had the same, but he took a short break after lunch and missed 3 runs. He also owned the only "sitzmark" of the ski trip on the Diamond Back run, having almost come to a complete stop with "tired legs."

And just like that, our short vacation was over and it was time to head home. On Friday morning I managed to time the trip back perfectly. I arrived in San Jose and at Andrew's school just 10 minutes prior to his pickup time. Phew !