Sprinkler Fun!

Big announcement folks - It's finally summer in Seattle!!

Jack received a darling bug sprinkler for his birthday, and since he's not walking yet, we decided to let Brooke give it a try this afternoon. The temps were in the high 80's and she couldn't wait to take a test drive. After over an hour of fun, I had to drag my pruned-up, shivering girl into the house. A few tears were shed. That's the most fun Brooke has had in a while.

2 Little Piggies

These two adorable pigtails took 3 years to grow so I thought we better spread the news! And as a throwback to my own childhood, check out the Saltwater Sandals. Ah, the memories.

A little discouraged

I know this is probably wussy to say, but after 3 weeks of working out HARD five days a week (I mean really working it - sweating and sore, 30-40 minutes on the elliptical plus weight lifting)... shouldn't I have lost just one pound? The scale has not budged. I know you gain some weight first when you weight lift so if a friend said this to me, I'd say keep it up, it will pay off soon... but I'm not feeling the optimism right now. Off to the gym I go, again. I really want to see some results soon!

Nightly check-in

I have to confess. I really adore my bedtime ritual of checking on my kids before I go to sleep. They are both such dynamos all day, except for Jack's single nap (he never took two naps, neither did Brooke, who gave up her nap at 20 months of age). They also took about 8 months each to sleep through the night, so my heart still skips a beat seeing them sleeping deeply, blissfully dreaming away.

Just now, Jack had his leg thrown over his stuffed orca whale (his first birthday present, bought at the aquarium on his birthday, and it's almost as big as he is). Brooke was sprawled out on her back, pillow cast aside, breathing deeply. It fills me with tingly, heart-throbbing love and affection to see my sweet babies so still and relaxed and comfortable in their beds.

My latest project and Gym Characters

My parents are throwing a baby shower for a co-worker of my dad's, so my mom asked me to make a diaper cake. She knows that I like to do this kind of creative project... so I went all out and had a blast! What do you think? How much could I sell one of these for on eBay?


On another note, I have had a lot of time to observe people at the gym lately since I've been going 5 days a week. Today I increased my time on the elliptical from 30 minutes to 40 minutes so I had even more time to observe people. I get a real kick out of the characters at the gym. Those of you who go to a gym know what I mean. One of the things I love about my gym (24 Hour Fitness) is that it's not a showcase for hardbodies by any means. The membership is made up of all kinds of different people, different body types, ages, races, etc. I always feel like I fit in there because it seems like every "type" is represented and everyone is there to work out and do their own thing. Some of my favorite types that I've seen lately:

• The senior citizen wearing sneakers that, I kid you not, have to be as old as I am (and that's old!) I imagine him rummaging through the bowels of his closet after joining the gym, thinking to himself "I know I've got an old pair in here somewhere... no sense in spending good money on a new pair when these will work just fine."
• The middle-aged woman I saw today who was sporting an authentic Jane Fonda style leotard, paired with a huge pair of black baggy sweat pants and a pair of ratty, big, unlaced black Reebok high-tops that just look like they smell bad. She had this hilarious hair that was dyed bright red and back combed so it stuck out all over, she had 80's style big black plastic hoop earrings and a plastic bead necklace, and she spent at least 15 minutes getting ready to work out. She fiddled with her iPod (encased in gold sparkly sleeve), filled up her water bottle (pink, Race for the Cure logo), sought out the remote so she could change the channel on the nearest TV to CNBC (must have a lot of stocks to keep up with!) By the time she started, at a very leisurely pace, I was already half way done with my routine. Then, ten minutes later, a gentleman about her age came in and climbed onto the elliptical next to her and she chatted him up. I felt sorry for him.
• The 20-something who had a braid down past her bottom and low-rider sweats, rolled down to the middle of her hips, and dropped a full cup of lemonade and ice on the treadmill and the hysterical look on her face as it rode the treadmill at running speed and then flew off the back and all over the place. She was mortified. Yes, she cleaned it up.
• The elderly woman who always walks on the treadmill in jeans. Not that there's anything wrong with that but it does seem a little weird...
• The tiny dynamo with 2% body fat who stripped naked in the sink & mirror part of the locker room (which I consider one of the "Clothed" areas - there are naked areas, by the lockers and by the showers, but not where you wash your hands!) and threw ALL of her clothes into the sink and washed them out at a feverish pace with hand soap. Then, she left them to soak while she whisked off to the shower. Some people surprise me at how comfortable they are zipping around strangers and going about their business all while completely naked.

I'm sure tomorrow I'll see some more characters to add to my list.

Our Trip to the Dairy Farm

My good friend Marie came up from Portland for a visit this weekend. We had pedicures and lunch out on Saturday, and when Jack woke up from his nap, we packed up the whole family and Marie in the Family Truckster and headed out to the country. Marie has a friend who runs a dairy farm with her husband about 45 minutes from our house, and she had invited us to come for a visit. We had a fantastic time! We had no idea our visit would be so fun and educational. Leann and Mike are two of the most gracious people I've ever met - they took 2 hours out of their day to show us around the dairy farm and explain how everything works. We asked a LOT of questions and Leann was happy to answer them all. It was a very impressive operation - almost 800 cows, mostly Holsteins and also a few Jerseys. They are in production 24/7/365 - which translates to a whole truckload (around 7,000 gallons!) of raw milk every day. Some interesting factoids that we picked up:

• A milk cow can have a career of 16 years or more
• Cows weigh about 125 pounds at birth.
• A cow produces on average 7-10 gallons of milk and per day.
• Cows like mariachi music. In fact, when these cows hear it playing in the milking room, they begin to "let down" their milk!
  
• For every gallon of milk they produce, they also produce 3 gallons of manure :-)
• Investing in the cows' comfort pays big dividends in higher milk production.
• Cows get 2 months paid sabbatical each year to graze and frolic (who says happy cows only live in California?)
• The two biggest times of year for milk demand are back to school time in the fall and the Superbowl (because of all the cheese consumed on pizza!)
• Cows don't have teeth in front on the top, instead they have a leather-like pad that enables them to grasp blades of grass with their bottom teeth.
  

Our kids were absolutely fascinated by the whole thing. Jack kept pointing and yelling streams of unintelligible "words" when he saw the cows, it was hilarious. I have to say, I have so much respect for the very hard work that is done by people like Leann and Mike to put milk on our table every day. As big consumers of milk (our kids drink about 1/2 gallon of whole milk every day) I really appreciate what they do. It is not an easy job or an easy lifestyle. So thank you to the dairy farmers of America!

The "ladies" lining up to be milked.

You have to imagine the mariachi music blaring to get the full picture in the milking parlor.

Check it out - a calf that had been born the very same day we were there!

The calves live in these interesting pods known as "igloos."
They seemed quite comfortable in there... plenty of room to move around and stand up or lie down.

We all got to experience a baby calf sucking on our fingers. Brooke and Jack were both brave and gave it a try!

Brooke was invited to "drive" the front loader and jumped at the chance!

That's my girl, piloting a $200,000 John Deere.
She kept raising and lowering the bucket as she and Mike tooled around the yard.

And they have a to-die-for view of Mount Rainier from the farm!

Thanks again, Mike and Leann! We really enjoyed our visit.

So this is what it's like having a boy

I was just checking my email when I heard that familiar panting noise (human) and the sound of Leo running up & down the stairs. You know those moments of "mom intuition" when you suddenly realize something is not quite right?

This is what I found:

The gate is actually pulled out of its position and just moved aside! Cripe!

This boy is strong and fast! And with a canine co-conspirator, he is unstoppable. Heaven help us!