USS Hornet
Last weekend we visited the USS Hornet in Alameda. Its a WWII era aircraft carrier that has been turned into a museum. You can walk all over the ship exploring all the nooks and crannies and after close to two hours we hadn’t even seen all of it.
Inside you can see how the sailors lived. Here is the kitchen and junior officers’ quarters.
Henry got to try out napping on a sailors berth.
Apparently its haunted, but I didn’t find any evidence unless you count the scary looking ghost in this one:
Up top on the flight deck there are lots of cool airplanes.
I wasn’t paying too much attention to the airplanes since I was checking out the great views of San Francisco.
And trying to keep up with these two crazy kids.
All in all a great family excursion:
PS. Happy Father’s Day to all the dads out there. Especially to my own dad, my father-in-law, and (of course) Sam!! We love to you so much!
School is Out!
Yup, another year is done. I had intentions of taking photos of the boys in the same place at the end of the year as the ones from the beginning of the year. But kids don’t always care about your intentions. Instead I got a bunch of photos that are some variation of this: 
And some more that look like this:
And this cute one!
Even though they didn’t really want to take a photo on the last day of school I am so proud of all their hard work and accomplishments this year. Oliver learned how to read and Henry learned how to speak Spanish. Not too shabby!
Busy!
As I wrote a while back, the last few months have been BuSy! In April I organized the art portion of my sons’ school auction. The art raised around $5000! Here are some of the projects on display at the opening of the online auction and at the gala event.
That same weekend Sam ran in the Boston Marathon. Of course that was a very emotional time with wonderful highs and frightening and tragic lows. The boys and I didn’t go with him but Sam’s family and some friends were there to cheer him on. My sister-in-law blogged about the experience here. My father-in-law took these great photos from during and after the marathon.
Sam we are so proud of you!
We also celebrated both boys birthdays! First up was Henry’s party with a BBQ at the park (more awesome photos from my father-in-law):
Then Oliver’s:
Uhhhh. I guess I didn’t take any photos of his party.
So no photos of the baseball game the kids played or of the birthday boy playing in poison oak, but here is the fun dessert I made for the party. Its a recipe from The Pioneer Woman that I have been wanting to make for ages. Worms in Dirt! It is made with short bread, then a gummy worm, then ice cream and ground up Oreo’s, plus another gummy worm on top.
I made a cheat sheet so everyone could get the flavor they wanted. Yum!
Between all that we did loads of other things. I went in to Oliver’s class to talk about archaeology. He’s just finishing up first grade so I made up these fake test pits with a few “artifacts.” I didn’t want to mess with having the kids dig up artifacts from kitty litter or anything like that so I just placed the artifacts on a tray. The kids drew up a map of the excavation and counted and named the artifacts. It was really fun going into the class and the kids asked such great questions.
We also went on a quick camping trip to New Brighton State Beach with friends.
And the boys favorite…the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk. Here we are after Logger’s Revenge!
Between camping and an amusement park, both boys were wiped out:
I had thought that after all the busy end of the year events we would be headed for some calm times, but no such luck. Summer is just around the corner and we are gearing up for some really fun things! Also we now have a dog…
Life with two boys and a dog
Its been two weeks since Peso came into our lives and he has become a great addition to our little family. They boys continue to love him, carry him around, and have fun with him.
Picture of Peso from Oliver’s Homework!
There have been some challenges. One afternoon in particular was memorable. I walk into the kitchen and realized that its a total mess, there are dirty dishes all over the counter and table. I start to clean it up when the boys run in, the dog has peed on the carpet. I grab some paper towels and the spry, walk into the TV room and start to clean up. Two boys and a dog aren’t that bad, I can do this. I go back into the kitchen to finish the dishes where I realize that there are ants getting into the garbage. No bid deal, I wipe them up and put out an ant stake. After a few more minutes cleaning up the kitchen I realize I don’t know where the dog or the boys are. While I was dealing with the mess in the kitchen Henry had used an entire glue stick and covered a chair with it, like paint. After cleaning that up, I decide I need a break. I go upstairs and find this…
What Peso does with a cardboard box in his crate
Ahhh life with two boys and a dog. But since then, things have been getting easier. He is a super sweet, cuddly little guy, he’s great with kids, and we have been having a lot of fun showing him new places and guessing about his life before he came to us.
Today we took him to the beach near Albany Bulb. At first he was a little wary of the sand and he never did go near the water, but after a few minutes, he had a great time dashing around the sand, playing fetch, and meeting other dogs.
The boys of course played in the sand too:
And explored around the concrete rubble and urban art:
Life with two boys and a dog… the kitchen might be a mess and there is probably pee on the floor, but we can still have fun.
Art Project for Mother’s Day
Here is the art project that the boys and I did for Mother’s day this year. I was inspired by the painting projects that I have been doing off and on. First the boys did some watercolor. Here is the one that Oliver did:
Then I used a bouquet coloring page that I found online as my template:
I scribbled all over the back with pencil so I could make an imprint of each flower onto the dry water colored paper:
At this point in the project, Henry took the camera and took some photos of his own work:
And his brother:
So I can’t show you the part where I drew the outline of the flowers, cut all the pieces out, and glued them down, but you get the idea. Here is the final piece:
The yellow flower and the greenery come from the watercolor that Oliver did and and the purple flower from one of Henry’s.
It was a wonderful Mother’s Day with a yummy brunch with the whole family and then a relaxing afternoon. I am blessed!
Meet the new addition to our family!
Peso!
He wandered on to the school yard where my husband teaches and it was love at first sight. I get a text.
Can we keep him?
Of course! We were thinking about getting a dog, but I guess the dog found us first.
We named him Peso and now the boys think he speaks Spanish. Henry loves carrying him around saying “Afuera?” and ”Para, no me gusta” every time Peso licks his face.
Oliver has taken to treating him like a little brother and talking to him in baby talk: “No, you no like that. That no food, this dog food.”
The boys have been fighting over loving taking him for walks, but I know that is not going to last long.
He’s energetic but super sweet and cuddly. He’s cute but covered with dirt and oil stains. He’s smart and friendly but a little skittish. Hmmmm, he reminds me of some other people I know.
I think he’s going to fit right in to our family!
Happy Seventh Birthday Oliver!
I cannot believe that Oliver is seven!
I tried to solicit a funny insight about Oliver from Henry, similar to the insight that Oliver had about Henry, but didn’t get farther than this.
Me: “What does Oliver like?”
Henry: “Snakes, and frogs, and turtles.”
Me: “Anything else?”
Henry: “Spiders!”
But there is so much more… he loves science, and experiments, and seeing what happens when you drop rocks off cliffs. He loves history, and Nova, and tormenting his brother.
What a funny, goofy kid!
Happy birthday to my wonderful boy!
