Butterflies, Beaches & Bars

This month got off to a great start with visits from good friends that we haven't seen in a long time. On the 3rd, Georgia flew into town to stay with Justine for a few days and we all got together for a walk amongst the butterflies down at Natural Bridges State Park. Like last year's visits in both January and November, we managed to go at the wrong time and see very few butterflies. Aparently, when it is too cold, the butterflies all huddle up in the tree branches for warmth, and every visit I have ever made to the reserve is on a coldish day. But I am determined to see those stinkers in the masses one day!

Despite the lack of butterflies, we had lots of fun. For a little while, we were the only ones around and we ran all over, laid on our backs, and resorted to goofy giggling! Then a couple of stoned kids wandered down and Noah kept staring at them with a look that said, "who invited you two?!" It was pretty funny! Shortly after the stoners showed up, the place was invaded. First by a class trip, that was full of well behaved kids and parents. The second group though, I think it was a brownie troup, the kids were wild and most of the parents were totally oblivious and inattentive. That group was our cue to exit, but even that proved to be a challenge trying to get through the crowd of monsters was ridiculous! We had some good laughs at their expense and made our way to the beach!











None of his pants fit his skinny booty...so he is just a saggin' baby!

when he wasn't trying to see monarchs,
he was busy pushin his truck!

can you see 'um....they are camouflaged in the trees about 30 feet up!













the lone butterfly brave enough to come down from the trees!

Noah was kinda-sotra into the sand, but was makin the stink face and showing signs of the not so distant past when he was afraid of the sand. He was however, delighted by the birds and the waves, so I scooped him up and took him down to the water. Though walking is just a bit too boring, so we flew!!! He loves when we fly him around like an airplane, and the giggles that come from him make it hard to resist. Georgia snatched up the camera and got some super cute pics of us "flying" (and a funny one where it looks like I'm using Noah as a guitar!). Thanks G!!!!


































When we got back to the blanket, Noah and I were burying my feet in the sand, and he started to dig his little shoes into the sand. Naturally, I took off his shoes and socks thinking we could bury his feet, but OH WAS I WRONG! The kid totally flipped out! So, in true Mommy fashion, I grabbed the camera and snapped pictures of him before rescuing him from the big bad sand! By the time I got the sand off his toes and his feet tucked safely back in his shoes, Noah was done, done, and done! We got a group shot and made our way back to the car...Noah was asleep before we made it down the street!

see...I did save his little toes! (after a photo opp!)

dont you just love the stink face he makes all the time









After naps, and a snack, Justine and Georgia came by the house with our designated driver and we made our way down to Santa Cruz for a girls night out! We started at the Happy Hour at the Palomar Taco Bar.....the yummiest tacos ever, and the best prices! $2.00 tacos and and $11.00 pitcher of the strongest margaritas around! After stealing a table, and consuming the cheap deliciousness, we made our way over to my old stomping ground for a pub quiz...99 Bottles of Beer on the Wall!

It seemed pretty quite when we got there, but we were greeted by one of my old co-workers and ordered some pints while trying to decide on our Team Name. With no help from the boys, who were making suggestions via text messages, we decided on Sugartits, influenced by the margaritas I'm sure! Though we answered all the questions, our 16 out of 30 didn't win us anything! But we were pleasantly surprised that some of our "shot in the dark" answers were correct and bummed that we second guessed ourselves with some of our wrong answers! All in all we had a blast and weren't ready to call it a night when the pub quiz was over.

So, we hopped on over to the 515 for some of the most delicious cocktails ever! Cozy by the fire in the comfy chairs, we got a little silly, had some good girly chats and then called in the D.D. Despite having to wait for us while we finished of our last drink, Matty waited a bit longer while we attempted the infamous self portraits on the sidewalk before piling into the car and giggling all the way home! Thanks Matty, your the best!

It was so so so fun to hang with the girls! Justine, thanks for sharing G with us! and G, you do know that frequent trips back to the mountains are now mandatory?!!





thanks to Matty our fabulous DD!







and thanks to Jason for hanging with Noah so I can be with the girls....and for letting us wake him up and take pictures of him! lol!!

The Cat in the Hat Halloween!

I know we already shared our super ridiculous Halloween Costumes with the Parade Blog, but really what kind of mom and blogger would I be with out a Halloween post!?

We all met up at Chesna and Damien's and got ready over there. After the madness that happens with 3 hungry kids, 5 scrambling adults and a very distracting new tv, we made our way to Downtown Felton to take the monsters trick-or-treating. Though Noah and Soren are too little for the whole candy thing, they enjoyed running around with all the other kids! Sierra on the other hand, was making out like a bandit!!

We had another failed attempt at a group shot with the kids....though Sierra knows the deal and tried her best to wrangle those squirmy little babies. Soren ended up running off with her candy bucket! :) We ran into some of Sierra's friends just around the corner and somehow managed to separated from her and Uncle Nathan. Wait, somehow...who am I kidding, Soren was running off in every directions as fast as possible, Noah was taking his sweet time and easily distracted by anything and everything. Its no wonder Sierra took off for some serious trick-or-treating! Between, looking for lost shoes, wrangling Soren from a storefront or alley and comforting Noah over a scary outfit, we made our way down to Don Q's for some dinner
































Noah and Soren were starving and restless and but sure entertaining! The funniest thing though...there was a waitress running around in a cute little bumble bee costume and Noah was obsessed with her. Every time he saw her he would point and say "beee! beeee! beeee!" When she ducked into the kitchen he would patiently watch and wait for her. Eventually he got her attention and lured her over to our table. He was sooo happy to see her up close! "BEE!" he shouted!! She was covered in glitter, wings, antennae, stripes the whole deal....but it was all a wash when she bent over to talk to him. The only thing that came out of his mouth for the entire 3 or 4 minutes she was oogling over Noah was, "booby...booby...booby!" OH MY GOD! I was laughing so hard, though I kept saying, "yes, Bumble Bee! That's right, Bumble Bee!" only to have Noah continue looking at her chest and saying, "Booby! Booby!!' HaHaHaHa! Such a man!

(ok, this really isnt a shot of him staring at the bumble bee's boobies, but it sure looks like it!) fit!)

After dinner, we raced over to Matt and Justine's for a quick hello with the Snow family and then over to Jenn and Bruce's for the annual Halloween Bash. Denise and Jenn and crew throw the best party, every year, HANDS DOWN! The food, the decorations, the costumes, the people, all of it....the best! By the time we got there though, Noah was pretty tired and clingy and in about an hour was in full blown tears. So, in true mommy on the go fashion, I stuck him in the ergo carrier and kept on while he passed out!

Still, we were all home and in pj's by 11:30 and staring at the HUGE bucket of candy that we forgot to set out on the porch for the kids....damn that bucket of candy! Though I can't help but wonder if the "accidental" part of not leaving the candy out is really "accidental." This is the 3rd year in a row! :)

and my favorite series of the night....

Jasper making a plan and successfully executing the whole thing...until the end when Dad intercepted and took the loot!

Old Friends, New Friends and GIRLFRIENDS!

Though Facebook is a black hole that can swallow you hole if your not careful, it has allowed me to reconnect and stay connected with so many friends and family that I would otherwise not be in contact with, and I LOVE IT! I wont bore you with all the people who have come back into my life via Facebook, but this particular connection is blog worthy!

Over 10 years ago, through a friend of a friend, I ended up meeting an amazing woman named EnJoli! She has a smile that is infectious and pure love and happiness radiate from her heart! We only hung out a dozen or so times, she lived in Hollywood at the time, and it was a far stretch from my, then, Tahoe home. Most every time we got together though, we saw some amazing music and danced our asses off!! Anyway, with the changing tides, EnJoli and I drifted in our own separate directions and though she never drifted too far from my mind, we lost touch.

About a month ago, the tides shifted again and brought us back together via the wild and crazy internet. After catching up through a few emails, EnJoli said she had a friend with a 1 year old daughter who had recently moved to the area, and suggested we connect. Always glad to meet new mommy friends, I quickly agreed, and again, through Facebook, I made a new connection!

Within a week, Noah and I made our way down to meet Crystal, Adam and their beautiful daughter Myrahvai! Noah and Myrahvai INSTANTLY connected! Myrahvai couldn't keep her eyes or her hands off of Noah! It was soooooo cute, and though Noah wasn't as enthusiastically climbing all over her, he was so patient while Myrahvai pulled at his hands and feet, latched on to his neck and tugged at his shirt. The way the two of them looked at eachother was priceless"Noah has a girlfriend" (said in my obnoxcious sing-songy voice)!












Noah's face in the last pic just cracks me up! He is such a sweet little man!





After we came out of the awe, from watching the connection between the little ones, Crystal and I got to chat. It was so easy and natural, not awkward or forced. It was like we were meant to meet and share this part of our lives! To top it off, when Adam came home from work, Noah took to him right away and managed to lure him into a game of catch before he could even get out of his work clothes!


Within the next week, Miss EnJoli came into town, and we made our way back over to visit 3 times in one week!!! Each time, Myrahvai would light up at the sight of Noah and though she is not yet crawling or walking, that girl manages to scoot her way around, grab right on to little Noah, and give him all her hugs and kisses!!! I swear, Noah may be her motivation to walk and once she gets mobile Noah is gonna be in trouble! :)

It was so so so so nice to see an old friend, make new friends and like it or not, I think Noah has his first girlfriend!!!! Thank You EnJoli for coming back into my life and expanding our ocean of friendship!!!

Things & Cats & Cops & Ducks...OH MY!!

Sunday, after the pumpkin party, and after the derby, we crammed in yet another fun filled afternoon! Denise and Siamak hosted a pre-Halloween party for all the little ones, with snacks and cider and juice boxes and even organized a parade in Capitola. Ok, they didn't go that far, but we have decided that Denise is the ultimate party planner!

It was so so so so cute to see all our little ones dressed up and running around. We hung at the house for a while and "tried" to get some pictures...the group shot was a bit of a wash, but I still think it came out super cute! After diapers and melt downs, we strapped all the kiddos into the strollers and headed down to Capitola Village for the annual kids parade. I thought we were just going to be observers, but we all got in line with the rest of all the cutest kids and marched our way through the village.



When we first got to the starting point for the parade, there were balloons everywhere. For anyone who knows Noah, this was absolute heaven. The kids loves balloons more than anything! Sadly, all the balloons had already been handed out, so poor little Noah just got to watch them float around from a distance. Then, someone let their balloon go (by accident, I'm sure), and Noah just lost it! "BAAAABOOOOO! BAAAAABOOOOO!" he screamed as he pointed at the balloon floating away into the blue, blue sky. You know he was thinking, "that could have been my balloon!" Poor kid. It was such torture. Really!! For the next 10 minutes+, his eyes were fixed on the sky, his little finger was pointing at the lost balloon until he couldn't hold his arm up any longer, and all the while, he kept shouting, "BAAAAABOOOOOO!" After 10 minutes I was trying to distract him and point out other balloons, sure that the one he saw was long gone. But, when I finally looked up where he was pointing, that balloon was still there!!! It was about the size of an aunt, but Noah had his little heart set on that balloon and watched it until we were walking in town & the buildings blocked his view! Soooo sad!



As we walked through town, Noah was easily distracted by all the people, including his Uncle Nate (or "Nee" as Noah calls him!) and Cousin Sierra on the sidelines!!! Officer Soren got a photo op with one of his fellow officers, and we even saw a little dog in costume! The parade ended down by the water, where they were handing out trick-or-treat bags full of goodies, there was a middle school band playing all kinds of music, and there were kids melting down left and right! Noah did ok for a little bit...he enjoyed some cookies, and danced a little bit and then we saw a lady
HANDING OUT BALLOONS!


Noah went running towards her, laughing and clapping and as he got closer he started slowing down. I realized that despite the 100's of balloons this woman was holding, she was dressed like a full-on green faced, warty nosed, pointy hat witch. Noah froze in his tracks, shook a little, tried to turn around, but was so scared he just hit the ground. He buried his little face in his hands and just started screaming! The poor kid just wants a balloon and it just wasn't his day! I scooped him up got a few balloons from the lady shouting, "Oh no no! I'm a good witch! I'm a good witch!" and took off the other direction. After that ordeal, Noah was spent, he wouldn't let go of me, despite the balloon we finally managed to get, and so, we packed um all up and headed back!

Noah fought his sleepiness the whole way back to the house. Instead of giving in, he lay in the stroller motionless and just watched everything go by. Soren had a few more photo-ops at the Capitola Police Station and even a Paddy Wagon parked on a side street! It was a fun afternoon and a good way to get us all excited for Halloween the next weekend!!

my handsome little kitty kat in the hat!!

Santa Cruz (Derby) Girls Night Out!

Saturday afternoon, I met up with Chesna & Sarah and we made our way down to Santa Cruz to stand in a super long line, for 45 minutes, and ended up with second row seats at the Santa Cruz Derby Girls Double Header!! We got some brewskies and some snacks and watched all the freaky people wander around! I'm not name calling, seriously, there were some freaky people, it was "Zombie Night" so lots of peeps were dressed up! Though, we were short one lady for a while, Denise met us at the Civic, just in time for the start of the first bout!!!

Now, I dont know how many of you have been to, heard of or know anything about a roller derby, but this was my first derby, and I must say, I will be going again! After the first bout, I think I pretty much had the basics figured out, but as to the nitty gritty details, I'm still at a loss. In short, there are a bunch of girls on roller skates zipping around a track, blocking, passing, stratigizing and all the while knocking each other down by booty bumpin' and throwing shoulders! It's pretty entertaining!

About 10-15 minutes after the first bout was over, the lights went out, and the all too familiar sound of Michael Jackson's Thriller came over the sound system! At the far end of the track the lights began to come back on and reveal The Derby Girls in zombie attire! They performed the entire Thriller dance, and did quite well, though my crappy video skills probably dont do it justice! A quick side note...while we were inside at the Derby, there was a World Record attempt at the Largest Thriller Dance, just a few blocks down the street...thought of your post Jennifer over at "Now That You Mention It!" We were sad to miss it the world record attempt, so the Derby Thriller Dance was a perfect fill in!!

(sorry for the shotty footage...I was using my lil' old' camera and trying to watch at the same time!)


Anyway, despite the fast pace, big crashes and high scores of the second game, we were all starving and took off at half time. After an adventure to the gas station, we made our way to Woodstock Pizza. Soooo yummmy! We had some delicious grub, good company and wrapped up our Girls Night Out around 10ish!!

It was so fun to be out of the house, out with the girls, and not have arms full of bags and diapers and books and babies! Mama needed a night out!! I got to eat when when my food was delivered, pee all alone, actually have a conversation from start to finish with no diversions, and not once did a little hand try to make it's way down my shirt! hahahah! Though I was only away a whole 6.5 hours, Noah ended up being the topic of conversation more than once or twice and I sent at least 2 texts to check in and see how he was doing! :) ahhhh mommy-hood, we never can truly turn it off!

(and some derby footage if you wanna indulge!)

Pumpkin Partaaaay!

Last Friday, we had a gang of people over for a pre-Halloween party and to carve some of the pumpkins we got out at the farm! I made spiced apple cider, and a salad, and got some take and bake pizza's and we had a good ol' time.

Lisa, Nate and Jasper were the first to show, and the 2 boys wasted no time breaking into the toys and snacks! Tarah, Chad and Baby London came next....sooooo good to see you 3 again! Grammy stopped by for a little bit and Auntie Chesna, Uncle Damien, and Cousin Soren came just in time for dinner!!! So sad that Auntie Justine and Uncle Matty couldn't make it...boooo to being sick, and boooo to long nights at the office!

Anyway, Noah and Jasper broke in our little picnic table...sooo cute to see them sitting at the "kids table" eating pizza like big boys! (well kind of sitting, Jasper wanted to eat and run, literally!). Then, it was back to the living room! Man-o-Man, 3 toddlers can DESTROY an entire room in 8 seconds flat! Geeeeze! They pulled out every single toy, and every single book and trekked it all over the house!! In between breaking up power struggles between the 3 boys, Lisa, Chesna and I were all goo-goo-gaga over Baby London! He is so cute! He is rolling over and holding his head up now and was happy as a clam to play with Noah's old baby toys, that is until Noah saw and tried to take them all back. As if he actually played with them anymore! It was so cute to see a little babe again, how quickly we forget just how little they once were. Watch out Tarah, London will be rippin' and tearin' through your house before you know it!

Noah got SUPER jealous when I was holding London. He hit me, then had to sit in my lap and while London just thought Noah was so fun, Noah was giving him the evil eye in between pouty cry fests! So funny!

Soooo, the real reason for the party...PUMPKINS! After pizza, the boys (the Dad's not the toddlers) all got their drinks poured and their pumpkins ready and got to the carving business. Somehow, all the Dads ended up carving pumpkins and all the Moms ended up wrangling babies. Wait! Somehow?! Who am I kidding, I was silly to think that all of us would actually get to sit down like the old days and actually carve pumpkins! But it all worked out, and we all had fun! The pumpkins turned out great! Chad was the only one who went old school and actually free-hand carved his pumpkin! Turned out great! The other boys used templates and fancy carving tools and got all tricky. Nathan & Chad were a pros at this, but this was only Jason's 3rd pumpkin ever carved and it was Damien's first pumpkin carving ever!




































By 9 Noah was a wreck (and refused to go to sleep until 11:30 pm despite his insane sleepiness...ugggggg!!!), all the pumpkins were carved and all of us old parents were spent and ready to call it quits! LOL! Noah was still going going going though....he played with the glow sticks for at least an hour! Thanks for coming over everyone, we had lots of fun and cant wait to see you all again!!!

(noah shaking the glow sticks in the hallway...he did this for about 30 minutes or so...in the dark, making noise at 11 PM)

Caramel Queens

Sooo, last week, amongst my sudden urge to be crafty and into the holiday, I decided to make caramel apples. BUT, what fun is it to create, and enjoy sugar concoctions all by yourself?! AND, who better to invite, than your sugar loving bestie, Justine!!!???

Anyway, we made caramel (if your really lucky, one day we may share our recipe!!!) Then Noah had a melt down, so, though I invited Justine over to "help me," she ended up doing most of the stirring while I held a sobbing little lump of tears! Anyway, we covered the apples in caramel (seriously, we piled on just about as much as the apple would hold), then we licked the pan and the spoon until we were nearly sick, then we stuck them in the fridge and parted ways to eat dinner and let the caramel cool.

Around 9PM, Justine and Matty returned to have dessert! It was the most messy, delicious, sticky, sweet, gooey, yummy, all over the place dessert we had eaten in a long time. The boys gave up about half way through the apple, Noah ran for cover and wanted nothing to do with the mess (well, he wanted to step in it), and Justine and I not only completely finished our apples, but we made sure to lick the caramel off the wax paper that was stuck to the bottom of our apples! I think I even ate some wax paper! hahaha!


Needless to say, next time we are gonna cut up the apples and devour them with out having caramel stuck to our faces, apple juice running down our arms and chins and with out swallowing even the tiniest bit of wax paper!