This is so wrong...

One of these days we'll actually scrape together a couple of dimes and buy our kids a bonafide sprinkler! But, at least, our method is pretty eco-friendly!

Seaworld at night

First, please let me apologize for making you all suffer through my terrible picture-taking. It's painful, even to me.

Saturday night, we went to Seaworld. We're not big fans of crowded places so it seemed like a pretty overwhelming idea to go to Seaworld on a Saturday, in the summer, knowing it was going to be flooded with people, but some friends were here from out of town and that was the only time they could go. So we went. But it really wasn't too bad because we didn't even get there till 6:30 pm...parking was fine, we didn't have any trouble finding a place to eat and even had plenty of seating options for the Shamu show. We wanted something that wasn't right up front but still kinda in the splash zone. Lola wasn't too keen on the idea of getting splashed. She started to get very upset so we got her a poncho and that really helped assure her that she wouldn't get wet. I really didn't think we were close enough to get wet anyway.

The show didn't start till 9:30. Elise was SO excited, she could hardly stand it. She kept screaming happily and clapping hysterically every time a whale jumped out of the water! Everything was GRAND until the very end....Shamu came along and splashed the whole edge of the pool with his big ol' tail and we got positively soaked down to our very cores! We got splashed twice...the first time caught us so off-guard...Elise was just jumping up and down, all happy one second, then bawling the next! She was so upset! I didn't have a chance to calm her down before we got splashed again, even harder than the first one!

Lola, sitting in her huge poncho, was the only one among us who was perfectly dry. I had to change Elise into an extra outfit that I had packed for Lola!

It was a really great time though. I will definitely do Seaworld at night again.

Lola going ice skating with her uncle Tony

Every visit from uncle Tony means that he and Lola go ice skating together at the ice arena near our house. She absolutely loves it. I need to sign her up for lessons, but I always seem to miss the deadline. This fall, I will definitely get her into it. Maybe even hockey. I can just see her....hockey stick and a tutu.

What happens when I leave the CSA box on the floor....

My filthy car

After dropping Lola off at preschool today, I decided I couldn't take one more minute in that filth, so here I've been all morning cleaning my car out. I took out the car seats and found a sea of half-eaten snacks, twigs, rocks and dried flowers. I even scrubbed the car seats...there they are sitting in the sun to dry.

It still needs a lot more cleaning...I'm actually contemplating taking it to the car detailer place down the street from me. I loathe to pay for car cleaning because I know I have a hose, bucket and driveway right here at home and can do it myself for free, but I think I might surrender to the convenience of getting it done with quickly so I can go pick Lola up in a nicely cleaned car.

Which will then proceed to get dirty again right away. Why do I bother???

Oh, the elusive tasty vegan sausage....

I tried making vegan sausages once...I had a recipe that people raved about, but for some reason, I didn't find them particularly appealing at all. Just like eating a bunch of bland, steamed dough. MMM? Me thinks not.

I decided to give them another try, using a different recipe. I had heard about vegan dad's blog and that he had lots of recipes there. This is my new favorite blog...every picture on his blog looks positively mouth-watering. I made these ones last night and can I just say, "amen!"! They are fantastic! Even my oh-so-carniverous husband is sure to tickled in the gastro zones.

Not only are they delicious, but they also use beans in the recipe, which makes me very happy. The other recipe I tried had only wheat gluten and flour...I didn't feel like I was getting much nutrients out of it. Now, I have some of my own ideas and I'll be creating a recipe soon, which I'll post.

I have no idea how I'll prepare these yummies for dinner tonight...on a pizza???? In spaghetti? In a bun with yummy marinara sauce and peppers? The possiblities are endless. Any ideas???

Great weekend!

We spent a nice weekend downtown. We left the kids with Dan's mom late Friday afternoon so we could do our run in Balboa park. After the run, we checked into the hotel and headed immediately for the pool. The water was ice, but I didn't care. I jumped in and started swimming around. Good thing there was hardly anybody there because, at one point, I was doing the back stroke and realized that one of my boobs was totally hanging out of my bikini top! Nice! I looked around but it didn't look like anyone saw. Mortifying, all the same!

After the swim, we pigged out on the seafood buffet in the hotel's restaurant and we were about to the head to the bar on the 40th floor (my friend informed me that it was a "must see"), when Dan's mom arrived to drop off the girls. So instead we put the kids to bed and called it a night.

Saturday morning, after breakfast, we loaded Lola and Elise in the double stroller and ran to the airport and back to the hotel. More swimming and then we went to the Muscular Distrophy Association event at the Embarcadero. Our hotel was walking distance, which was very nice. We didn't use a car all weekend...what a change from our normal routine. I really liked it.

The event was fine...it was supposed to be all you can eat and drink, but they only had meat to eat...I ended up eating a plain hamburger bun with some tomato slices and a bag of chips. Seriously. The beer sponsors all ran out of beer really quickly also, which was pretty lame.

Oh well, it was for a good cause so I won't complain too much. Lola had a good time and enjoyed dancing in the front of the bands.

Later on, we headed to the Padre game. The Padres won so Dan was happy. Some friends from out of town called us after the game...they had just arrived in SD, checked into their hotel and were just stepping out for a bite. They wanted us to join them since it was right around the corner from the ballpark. I was a little apprehensive...we had to walk a few blocks past these crowds of scantily clad girls and cologne reeking guys, all waiting to get into the cluster of fancy nightclubs and bars. And there we were, negociating the sidewalks with two little kids in tow.

We got there, though, and the restaurant was mellow. I got a picture of the girls before Lola fell asleep at the table. This is one of the very few photos we took all weekend. I'm kicking myself for being so forgetful...we had lots of good photo ops. Speaking of forgetful, you'll also notice I forgot the flash. oops.

My Man Rocks.

Dan threw me a surprise party at a nearby Mexican restaurant that we've been frequenting for many years now. We had a whole banquet/party room to ourselves, which was really nice because the kids got to run around and wreak havoc, pretty much unnoticed. They couldn't believe their good fortune!

That was really cool of Dan to throw this little party for me, especially considering my real birthday present is our weekend that we are spending downtown with the kids.

Ummmm....so after the restaurant party, a few of us reconvened at my house and, well, we broke into the Wii American Idol game. We sang with such gusto, I can't believe the kids slept through our screeching and hollering. But then again, they didn't go to bed until almost 11 pm and that is waaaay late for them.

Speaking of waaaaay late, we also didn't wrap the party up until at least after 1 am. We had so much fun, though, it was way worth it. Even though I was seriously dragging butt this morning.

Happy Birthday to ME!

I'm 35 years old today. Dan's got some kind of shenanigans planned for me tonight, but I don't know what. I'm going to try to be prepared and clean the house today. One year, he threw me a surprise party at the house, but it was filthy and I was a tiny bit embarrassed.
Only a tiny bit, because, after all, it was my party!

Yesterday, I went to the dentist for the first time in many years. I'm too embarrassed to say how long it's been, but suffice to say the number is in the double digits.
I was sure there were going to be all kinds of issues, but the exam didn't turn up anything new, except one little cavity. There's all kinds of issues in my mouth, mind you, but these were existing problems that had previously been worked on and need to be redone. My main issue is getting my gums healthy again, then redoing some old cracked fillings. Fun stuff!
I actually feel so much better now, like a big weight is lifted. I avoided the dentist for so long, thinking there was just a huge mess in there and to find out that it's really not that bad is such a relief.

:)