Summer School is Done

On Saturday Ken finished his last class of summer school. It was an enjoyable class for him and he said that the students gave him a standing ovation when the class finished. Now he will focus on revising his dissertation for publication and preparing his new class for the fall.
When he returned home from teaching we went to church. Then something very unusual happened: it rained! I think that was the first rain in the last 4 months. It's amazing how seldom it rains here.
Today we hosted a small group of Talbot students and everyone brought a breakfast item and we ate a brunch here. We made waffles with our waffle maker.
After dinner we washed and cleaned the cars (a very necessary endeavor!). Then we went to Golden Spoon for frozen yogurt and to a park that we've never been to. It's called Parnell Park and they have a small petting zoo there, including a donkey, which Ken has wanted to see since we moved here. It was all he had hoped for. The donkey's name is Salsa and he looked pretty used. I'll post a picture of him soon (yes,we actually took a picture of the stupid thing).
Lately Brad has been really into reading books. He especially enjoys a baby sign language book from the library. He has also been eating dirt outside when he gets a chance. We've dug chunks of dirt out of his mouth 3 times now. Yuck! Sky ate 1/2 a tub of garlic hummus tonight and her breath really stinks. She just kept shoveling it in though. Now they're both sleeping quietly. I love this time of the day!

Orange County Fair

The Orange County Fair opened today! It was free parking and admission to anyone who got there during the first hour of it's opening, between 12-1. So, being the slighly crazy mother that I am, I put the kids in the car with their lunches and headed out for the free fair (along with about a million other people). We left at 11:30 for what is usually a 35-40 min. drive and arrived at the fair at 1:15, 1 hour 45 min. (and 2 unhappy children) later. And, of course, 15 minutes too late to enjoy free parking and free admission.
Needless to say, it ended up being a much more costly day than I had anticipated. Once in the fair we bought tickets for rides and games. Sky rode a roller coaster, some flying bees, the spinning tea cups, an Aladdin ride, and we all rode a kiddie train. I played the balloon/dart game and won Sky her choice of stuffed animal. So, home we came with a giant pink monkey which Sky has named Stephanie. That's one way to waste money...
And we also bought popcorn and cotton candy. They had some very interesting foods (which we avoided) like deep fried oreos, deep fried twinkies, and deep fried cupcakes. They also had giant turkey legs (for a mere $10) and it was funny watching people walk around eating the big hunk of meat.
There were live animals too. We saw some basic farm animals and it was funny watching Orange County people all excited about a cow or a sheep. One lady who was all decked out was talking to a cow about how dirty her feet were. "Poor cow..." It was pretty funny.
When we got home, the kids went straight into the bath tub as they were covered in cotton candy, dirt, and sweat. They are now sleeping peacefully, dreaming of the fair, I'm sure.

Shots!

Today Brad had his one year old checkup and Sky had her four year old checkup. Brad had 4 vaccination shots and 1 blood draw and Sky had 3 vaccination shots. The whole ordeal took a total of 1 1/2 hours. I am so glad that Ken came along to help! He basically held Brad down for his shots and I worked with Sky through hers.
Both kids actually did very well-Sky didn't even cry about her shots. The nurse was so impressed that she gave her 5 prizes. Brad did pretty well too.
The doctor was blown away by Brad's height. He measured him 3 times because he couldn't believe it. Brad is the height of an average 22 month old and the doctor said that he is the tallest patient he has among the other 2,500 one year olds. Needless to day, he is off the charts for height. He is in the 90th percentile for weight.
Sky is in the 70th percentile for height and 50th percentile for weight. Sky has had some rashes on her arms and the doctor said it was eczema. She recommended a mixture of hydrocortisone and emollient. We'll see how that works...
Also today Ken picked up a college friend, Tim Fox, from the airport. He is a missionary to Papau New Guinea and is home for furlough. He'll be staying with us until Saturday morning. He has lots of interesting stories to tell!
Tonight I went to a scrapbooking gathering with all BIOLA people. It was hosted by Ken's secretary and she does this every Thursday night. I finished Sky's birthday scrapbook and also worked on a page with our Oklahoma pictures. It was fun and I may go again.

It's An Interesting Life!

Well, if I ever thought that life in Southern California would be boring, I was wrong! We've been having such a great summer here. We're making and strengthening connections with new friends, exploring new places and enjoying now familiar places, and taking on new responsibilities. It's all good...
On Saturday we had our friends the Denhams over for a dinner of BBQ ribs on the grill. On Sunday we went to church and then to over to our friends' (the Jensens) house for dinner. They also attend church far away and so we are going to have some small group meetings with them and another couple this summer.
On Monday I hosted a MOMS Club meeting at which we planned the August calendar of events for the club. There are lots of fun things coming up! I have accepted the role as secretary for this year. Unfortunately all of the moms on the board have boys and Sky, of course, wishes there were some girls to play with at these board meetings.
On Monday night I completed my last workout of a one month trial at Curves. It's way too expensive to join but I try to take advantage of the free trials when I can. I also had my Talbot wives walking club that night.
On Tuesday I did my first craft for the MOMS Club along with a library story time with the children's librarian. We did a watermelon theme and the kids made a watermelon picture frame magnet. Sky also signed up for the summer reading praogram. She's excited about that. It's pretty easy to earn prizes.
After the library we went to BIOLA for lunch. The cafeteria has a great deal going for the summer-$5 for adults and kids eat free! That includes salad, entrees, dessert, drinks, etc. and the food is very good. We met our friends the Denhams there and while we were eating, Brad did an enormous poop that leaked out of his diaper, down his legs, into his shoes, etc. It was so gross! Luckily we didn't discover it until after we had finished eating. Thankfully Jolene had an extra diaper and wipes since I had left the diaper bag in the car!
That night we brought dinner to one of the fellow faculty members since his father-in-law passed away a few days ago. We ended up eating with them at their insistence and had a nice dinner.
Today I got together with my friend Mary and her kids. They return to Singapore this month so we're trying to squeeze in as much fun stuff as we can before she leaves. Today we went to a Korean supermarket and bakery. Such yummy food! I made a dinner with some meat, sauce and noodles that I had bought there. It was actually pretty good (I usually screw it up).
I advertised with the Talbot wives that I am giving away our baby stuff so we've had a steady flow of women coming through to get things for their babies. I know I culd sell some of it ut it was all given to me and I feel good being able to help others out.
For those of you who have been here to visit us, you'll be interested to know that Golden Spoon (frozen yogurt place) is having a sale this month-only $1 for minis. Are you jealous? You should be! That's reason enough to come and visit us.

Happy Fourth of July!

We've had a great fourth of July! On the evening of July 3rd we went to the local park with some friends to see the town fireworks. The fireworks were great but nowhere near the awesome Labor Day fireworks in Cincinnati. We brought dinner, had a picnic and enjoyed our time with friends. I've posted some pictures from the event.
On July 4th we went to the local water park, SPLASH and had a blast. What an amazing place. Ken left early with Brad but Sky and I were there for hours. We especially enjoyed the lazy river and the kiddie pool area. Sky even went down some of the water slides. It was a lot of fun but a bit expensive.
That night we had a couple from Ken's school over for dinner and we sat outside in the front yard and watched the neighborhood fireworks (which were almost as impressive as the town fireworks). Apparently it's legal to set off fireworks here and people really do just that. They were shooting off from all directions.
Today we enjoyed a leisurely day at home and then had some friends over for a BBQ dinner outside on the patio. It's been pretty hot during the day but it does cool down nicely in the evening.

Aquarium Fun With Daddy

Sky and Ken have been attending a three day Fish Fry Day Camp at the Aquarium this week. Each day is a 2 hour session. This was part of our birthday present to Sky. I thought it would be fun for Ken to go since he has had an interest in marine biology since he was a boy.
The first day they learned about sharks, went on a scavenger hunt around the aquarium, and got to pet some of the leopard sharks at the aquarium. A very excited Sky came home wearing a shark hat that she had made with Ken.
On the second day they learned about whales and Sky came home wearing a really cute whale hat that they had made. They had gone on a pretend whale watch among many other fun activities. Sky is now a walking encyclopedia on whales.
Today they are going to learn about octopuses. I can't wait to see what kind of hat comes home today! I will post the pictures that Ken has taken on the blog soon.
Yesterday we dropped a meal off for a Talbot wife who just had a baby. When she was pregnant they had found out that it was a girl so they were all set with girl stuff. At the birth they had quite a surprise-a BOY! So I dropped off some of Brad's old clothes as well. They are the nicest couple here from Germany to study at Talbot. He is taking Ken's summer school class right now actually.
We also visited a park that we had never been to before with the MOMS Club. It was a sprinkler park and there was water shooting everywhere. For those of you who live in Cincinnati, it is nowhere near as nice as the park district water play areas, but it's apparently the best thing around here. Sky was sticking her head in every bit of shooting water she could find and Brad was running around and around the sprinkler area. Thankfully there was a fence around it and I just had to guard the exit. Brad likes to meet everyone wherever he goes so he was going around to all of the strangers (especially the ones with food) and greeting them with his charming smile.
Brad is getting into the Baby Einstein movies now. He is going for his one year old pictures at JC Penney today-wish me luck! We really didn't get any good pictures of him at Easter so I'm hoping he will cooperate this time. We'll see...

Potlucks and Picnics

Yesterday the MOMS club had a potluck picnic in the park. I brought a whole watermelon which was quickly snarfed down by the hungry, sweaty children. We also had a pinata there and Sky and Brad enjoyed playing on the swings. It was another beautiful day in sunny California. Last night we went to a fellow professor's house for dinner. They have 3 kids who are a bit older and Sky LOVES playing there. We didn't see much of her the whole night and she kept asking when we would be going to their house all day yesterday. The youngest boy, Aidan, who is 5 years old, has a crush on Sky and they are really cute together. The oldest girl, Maddie, who is 10 years old is really great with Sky too and Sky adores her. She sometimes pretends to be Maddie when we are at home. It was a really nice evening. We had a delicious dinner of shrimp and chicken shish ka bobs and rice outside on the patio. Our friends Robert (also a professor) and Jolene and their 2 kids were there too. It was a fun day.