Funny? Scary?

BOTH!
Tim and I have put a bid in on another shortsale. This home has an unfenced pool.
We were just online pricing pool fences when Kayla comes in from outside and says, "Mom, Collin says it's not too cold to go swimming so can we go?"
Me, "Collin doesn't know honey... it IS too cold."
Kayla, "Well he's touching the water right now, he must know!"
Me... PANIC!! I ran outside, very confused, since we have a 5 foot locked metal fence around our pool and we lost the key to it months ago (which didn't matter because it was too cold to swim anyway).
There was Collin sitting by the pool with his feet in the water.
Since then we tried many things to keep him from scaling the fence: positive reinforcement, punishment, etc...
Finally yesterday morning, I had a heartfelt talk with him and I was brutally honest.
I told him that statistically, 3 and 4 year old boys are the most common drowning victims. I told him, in detail, how it would make me feel to walk outside and find him floating in the pool. That brought me to tears, which then brought him to tears and he promised me he would never do it again. We are going on day two of him keeping his word. Do I entirely trust a 4 year old? No... but we have made HUGE progress!
Now Tim and I are looking in to a special mesh fence that kids can't easily climb since there is no foot hold. Luckily, these fences are cheaper anyway!
I think our conversation really impacted him.
Should I have taken pictures of this??? Probably not!
But I think he'll enjoy reading about what a rascal he was when he has kids of his own one day! :)
(excuse our many weeds... we need to get a key made and get in there!!)

Pixie Hollow

I thought I would make this a separate entry from Disney because it was such a neat experience and we took many photos.
Pixie Hollow is a new attraction in Disneyland. There is an hour wait (minimum) no matter what time of day you go.
So we sent Collin and Tim on their way to the Matterhorn and other fun rides while Kayla and I waited it out. The wait was more than worth it.
The line winds around a beautiful pool with rocks and flowers where statues of the Disney characters are hiding. As you approach the hollow you see tall grasses (I mean 10 or 12 feet tall) enclosing the hollow, and then mushrooms, flowers and... fairies!
There are three or four Disney fairies walking around the hollow talking to the kids and posing for photo ops.
It was really magical and very pretty.

Disneyland

Disneyland was wonderful! I don't have much else to add to that other than we are so thankful for the beautiful autograph books that my friend, Bev made.
And we are thankful for the kids' awesome behavior and excitement!

Aunt Pat

Boy do we have fun when Aunt Pat visits!
She is loving. She is a crack-up. The kids have a great time with her!
She even hopped on a scooter to ride around with the kids the other day.
She also shares my craving for Costa Vida sweet pork.
What an added bonus! :)
The kids look forward to a sleepover with Aunt Pat tomorrow,
and here are some pictures from the past couple of weeks.

Freestone Park

The park near our house is my new, must visit almost every day place to be!
It is such a pretty park, with hills, lake and bridge, train track and rides and palm trees galore. We love feeding the ducks and we even have a favorite duck, Mr. Water. Collin gave him the name.
He is a big, burly duck who is brave enough to eat out of your hand and bites all the other ducks to keep them away from the food!
I've also taken to bringing Collin's bike along. He rides around the water and it forces me to jog with him so that I can be sure he doesn't fall in!

Kayla's birthday

We spent Kayla's birthday in Disneyland this year, but we had a great little family party before we left. Kayla had her friend, Bailey from across the street over and we enjoyed the company of Nana, Papa, Papa Tom, Grandma Elephant, Uncle Chris and Kelsey and special guest, Aunt Pat!
What a fun evening!

Dollhouse

My dear Grandpa Bernhardt built me a dollhouse when I was a little girl.
I remember being so excited for him to complete it and I loved playing with it from then on. The house has been in boxes and in storage for many years now,
but we thought that Kayla is at the age now where she might really enjoy it.
So we pulled it out of storage in all it's 1970's glory.

We worked on it over the course of a few weeks. Thanks to Nana for all of her hard work. She did the most! But Kayla enjoyed working in the casita to help paint and curtain it.
And here is the new house!

Aunt Betsy

We really enjoyed our visit with Aunt Betsy.
We were able to get together for a couple of nice dinners, and best of all we got to celebrate her birthday with her!
Aunt Betsy was lots of fun to talk with and the kids just love her!
Congratulations to Betsy for receiving tenure!

More pictures from our session

Some pictures from our recent 4 year/7 year photo session.

Scottsdale Art Festival

Nana, Kayla and I had a girls' day in Scottsdale on Tuesday.
There was quite a large art festival in three huge tents.
So much art that you couldn't' possibly take it all in on one visit.
So we hope to go back in the next few weeks.
It was such a treat for all of us. My Mom works with glass and got lots of glass work ideas. I learned more about what types of art I am really drawn to and would actually like to display in our house one day.
Kayla got to talk with several artists and she learned quite a bit.
One artist even promised her a sketch of an elephant that he will mail to her after taking our address. This will be Kayla's second piece of art that she has picked herself which I think is such a great experience.
She picked a print from an artist who she had a lengthy conversation with at a Santa Fe art festival that we visited a year and a half ago.
Then Kayla got to spend almost two days at Nana's house learning about art and actually designing her own glass piece. She sketched the design with Nana first.
She cut and laid out the glass herself. Nana gave Kayla her own sketchbook in which she can sketch designs before making them come to life in Nana's art casita.
What a fabulous week of art and culture we have enjoyed!
We are so fortunate to have the family that we do, who further enrich our kids beyond anything I could wish for.
With Papa Tom's wonderful singing and musical history knowledge and Grandma Elephant's knitting and crafts... Nana's art and Papa's writing and knowledge of history and archaeology. Uncle Chris and Kelsey's music and cooking top it all off.
Even our siblings afar, Jim and Susan have such amazing talents that we get to hear about and experience. I am especially thankful for our family these past few months!
Our kids feel very loved... and so do we.

Chinese Cultural Center

Sunday was such a fun day.
My friend Bev told us about a festival at the Chinese Cultural Center we might like to check out this past weekend.
We sampled some great food and watched some really neat performances, including martial arts with swords and fire. Collin loved it!
Both kids had their faces painted, sampled milk straight from cocunuts and browsed through a Chinese market. What a great experience!