lots of cooking

*The other day Kendall was at the quads and Cam was bored. He loves to take his piggie for a walk, so we decided to brave the heat and head out.

*Recently Cam went roller skating with his Sunday School class. Kendall and I hung out while he was gone. I needed a frapp and she needed a sugar cookie in the shape of an ice cream cone we saw in the glass case. :)

*When we went to pick up Cam at the roller rink, the first thing he told us was how awesome it was that he got his OWN drink up and could get whatever drink he wanted and as many refills as he wanted. This almost trumped the fun he was having skating. :)

*On Friday, Chris took the kids up to his parents. He will head back today and the kids will stay up there for the next week. I'm so thankful for his parents offering to do this. It makes me feel good knowing the fun they'll be having while we need to work.

I took advantage of my solo weekend by cooking/baking. We recently bought a freezer for our garage and I'm hoping to start filling it with school snacks and freezer meals to have on hand. I want to lessen the food prep time I do during the week. I was very proud of myself in that I was able to make and freeze:

-Two spaghetti sauce batches- nothing gourmet...just ground beef and canned sauce

-Two batches meatballs- I just mix Lipton Onion Soup mix with ground beef

-Two taco meat batches- ground beef and taco seasoning packets

-Two batches waffles- I add a bunch of pureed spinach to the batter. It does make them green, but I've learned that the taste of the waffles doesn't matter a ton when the kids dip them in syrup. :)

-Homemade Graham Crackers 

-Healthy snack cookies- I lessened the sugar and subbed butterscotch chips

-One batch gooey bars- always good to have on hand

Sidenote: When I texted this picture to Chris, he made fun of me for having cereal in the freezer. In my defense, this is the kids' cereal. They will be gone for a week and I don't want a whole bag going stale!!

*Work this past week went really well. I think I'm really going to enjoy assessing preschool aged kids. They are just so precious. :)

*Despite work being low key and not feeling stressed, my sleep has been pretty bad this past week. I'm praying it's just due to this big transition. I really, really hope it's just temporary. Really.

*I'm on the last season of Gilmore Girls and am excited for the new episodes in November. It is just such a fun, lighthearted, great to take your mind of things, show. :)

new jackets

*I've had a few doctor's appointments lately and so when I saw this I had to laugh. So true!!!

*Yesterday was my first day of school/work. It's nice being there when things are so low key (since so many are still on break) because it's less overwhelming. 

*We went to Costco on Sunday and bought both kids new jackets. These are the BEST. We bought one for Cam last year and it was awesome. They are super warm, but also really thin and comfortable. 

*Today Chris and my dad took the kids to Knott's Berry Farm (my mom is having foot trouble so couldn't join). They had a great time, however it was HOT. They had intended on staying into the evening but ended up coming home in the afternoon. I obviously would have loved to go, but it made me super happy knowing the kids were having a great time since I had to work.

Milkshakes on the way home hit the spot. :)

all i have to say is...wow. wow.

Thursday we took what was (and might be) our longest hike ever. We hiked to the summit of Mt. San Gorgonio. This is the tallest point in Southern California and gave us a grand total of 17.8 miles and 12 solid hours of hiking. Was it an easy hike? Not in a million years!! Was it a good hike? Yes, but it almost did us in and I think I've decided 10-12 miles might be more up my alley. :)

Ahhh...look at those perky and happy faces...not knowing what was ahead... :)

Still full of energy!

We were about two hours from the summit at this point. There is no other word to describe our views other than magnificent. This was also the first of several breaks from here to the summit. While the altitude didn't make us sick, it definitely made the hike much more arduous.

We are about 30 minutes from the summit here. They call this area, "moon rocks" because the landscape changes so drastically from pines to almost desert. I was dead!! :)

The summit!!! What a feeling to finally get there! This sign we are holding is just sitting on a rock. Everyone who reaches the top knows to pick it up and snap a picture to document their accomplishment. Very cool. I can't tell you how surreal it was to be that high. The only thing that dampened our enthusiasm was knowing we still had five more hours down the mountain to go. Ha!!

 I've always wanted to hike this and it was quite a feeling to conquer such a strenuous hike. Would I do it again? Probably not. Like I said earlier, I think the pure length of it was a bit much and we'll probably stick to shorter hikes from now on. :)

We had a nice relaxing day after with just a few errands and Cam's belt testing (he passed!!). Today we decided to make one last hurrah for the summer and took the kids to the beach. We left early and were soooo glad we did. While it was overcast the whole time we were there, we loved missing the traffic and crowds.

We wanted to take the kids to a fun restaurant and while Soup Plantation might not be considered super exciting, it's one of the kids' all time favorites. :)

p.s. Many of you know that our Cam is known for his ultra early morning wake up times. So it should come as no surprise that after waking at 4:30 a.m. for an 18 mile hike, followed by getting to bed an hour later after the hike, he STILL woke up at 4:45 a.m. the following morning. Wow. Luckily he knew mommy wanted to sleep so he occupied himself in his room with Brandy. :)

brandy

Last Friday I found out that I have to start work a week early. This was a huge disappointment not only because my summer is now cut short, but because we had to cancel and entire vacation we had planned to visit Chris' family in Reno (Noonie and Deb). They were beyond understanding and while it was difficult to tell them, we were dreading telling Cameron (Kendall is a little more, "whatever!" when plans change). Cam adores our trips to Reno. :(

As expected, Cam was pretty emotional not only when we told him, but later that night (I went up to his room an hour after bedtime and he was upset). I'm really savoring this current week as it will be my last until I'm officially a working mom. On the plus side, while I'm extremely nervous and bummed I start so early, I'm also excited and looking forward to this new challenge. :)

Some fun things we've done...

1. Adopted a new guinea...Brandy. Sidenote: Supposedly both our guineas are females...but...ummm...they don't really act that way. I REALLY don't want baby guineas!!! :(

2. Went out to lunch with my parents and some friends. 

3. On Monday we had plans with a school friend to go to Yucaipa Regional Park. Excitement was mounting as we drove up...only to find it was closed for maintenance. Ugh. Luckily I found a nearby community pool that actually ended up being a great second choice for the day!

4.  I needed a few things from Wallgreens so we took an early morning walk in P.J.'s.

5. Later today we took our rescheduled trip to Yucaipa Regional.

A treat on the way home...

publishers

*A friend of mine recently reminded me of some kids yoga videos that Kendall and I had done a couple of years ago. We looked them up again and have really enjoyed doing them together. Our favorite so far has been the Frozen Yoga Adventure.

*A friend invited us to a park in Yucaipa the other day. Apparently they have a program which provides free lunch for kids every weekday of the summer. I wish we had known about it sooner!!

*Museum day yesterday!

*A while ago the kids decided to write some stories. I told them if they both completed one, we would get it made into a real book. So today we went to Staples and had them spiral bound. They were very excited to have their books, "published". :)

While we waited for the books to be done, we headed down the road to look at a potential new housemate. Cameron has decided he would also like a guinea pig for his birthday. His interest in Blossom almost trumps Kendall's, so we decided it would be a good idea. We didn't buy one today, but it was fun to look. :)

*While we were in Vegas, my mom showed the kids, "The Sound of Music". They really enjoyed it and so I'm attempting some more musicals. A friend recently loaned us several and right now we are watching, "Seven Brides for Seven Brothers." So cute! Hopefully their interest lasts the whole movie! :)

vegas

This past weekend Chris and I went to Vegas for a couple of days. We decided to stay on the strip this time so that we could do more walking to our destinations rather than having to drive everywhere.

The first night we went across the street to Caesar's to eat dinner. On the way we stopped at my favorite hotel, the Bellagio. I LOVE walking through their conservatory.

Here we are waiting for dinner at the only obvious choice, The Cheesecake Factory. When it comes to eating on vacations, Chris and I have never been the type to venture out to new places. I think in the past we have had too many meals in which we tried something new only to then say, "It was okay... but we should have just gone to Cheesecake." So why mess with a good thing?? :)

The next morning Chris left for a round of golf. I stayed back and did this for a while....

Sidenote: Food Network is really the only thing I miss about not having cable, so it was a nice treat. 

After I was done being lazy, I walked down the strip to a mall. I found a cute pair of work pants and a shirt and then headed back. It was so fun to people watch along the way and I ducked into a couple more hotels as well.

When Chris got back, we headed out. We ended up eating dinner at The Yardhouse and then walked down the strip. 

A few randoms:

I loved that New York, New York had water bottle holders in the bathroom stalls.

On our way home I texted a picture of my iced coffee to my brother-in-law. He was the one who introduced me long ago to what I still think is the best iced coffee around.

The kids had a blast with my parents while we were gone. They went roller skating, saw BFG, and Cameron got his early birthday present. Next week we will be tackling our longest hike yet...20 miles!! My parents bought him his first, hardcore hiking backpack. Since his birthday is about a month away, they decided to give it to him early so he'll be extra prepared. :) He was VERY excited!

trampoline

*This is our second summer participating in a local bookstore's, "Where's Waldo" activity. Nearby businesses hide a cardboard Waldo somewhere in their stores. Kids have to find each one and mark it off on their chart (he's hiding behind the cactus!).

We walked right by Baskin Robbins on our hunt and I decided to treat the kids to a cone. Sidenote: $2.59 for a kids cone?? Sheesh!!!

*Just some summer reading with a guinea pig on his back...

*Trampoline Park today. The kids LOVE these places!

*After a six hour play session yesterday, Kendall was on hour two today with the quad girls. Cam had just finished his latest hiking blog post and I wanted to give him something to do (we often feel badly that his sister/playmate is so often occupied). I convinced him to put together an old Lego set (he often resists b/c he knows there are so many missing pieces). Here we are sorting the colors. :)

tiny toast

*Yesterday we went to Chuck E. Cheese. Cam was over the moon when he discovered a certain game that, for some reason, spit out loads of tickets each time it was played. :)

*This past weekend Sam's Club allowed people to get in using their Costco cards. We decided to give it a try and were actually quite impressed. We also made an impulse purchase...Tiny Toast cereal (we got Strawberry).

Verdict? Kids loved. I'm not too impressed.

*Yes, our guinea pig now has her own stroller. 

*Today I took the kids up to Forest Falls. It was beautiful and they had a blast.

*There were two reasons I was proud of Chris the past few days. The first was that upon arriving home from vacation, we found out our air wasn't working. After several attempts at figuring it out, Chris discovered a wasp had wiggled into the exact spot the electric current traveled and was blocking the spark. He removed the burnt-to-a-crisp wasp and...presto! :)

The second reason was when I saw this video

 P.S. That's 350 pounds!! :)