End of Summer

I used to think a friend of ours was nuts to take her daughter to the beach in flowy white dresses, but we're at the end, no point saving dresses she'll never wear again, so here is Jia digging in the sand in a petal pink Baby Gap summer dress.  So sweet.  Wish I'd taken some more photos.

Transfer beach, dress is too wet and dirty, time to move onto a swimsuit.

Say cheese.

Found ourselves invited to a private lake.  Very cool. 

Yup, that's Eric up on the diving platform.  Crazy man.

Swimming with Penny at Elliot Beach.

There are the big girls WAY out there.  It was painful watching them swim out there.  Weren't they still in arms reach just the other day?!

Kids all loved this rope swing and stayed on it until we were the last ones on the beach and it was almost dark.

When did Fei become so daring?

Jia thought this was the greatest time ever!  Huge grins.  When they were done she was sticking to Eric and wouldn't come to me, he was the new hero after that much fun.

Oh my gosh! We're nearing the end of summer! I'm not ready! We didn't get enough fun in. The weather was pretty awful for a lot of summer. I'm not ready for school. We're physically ready, I've bought everything they need but I don't want to give my kids back to the school. I can't imagine how much Jia will miss the big girls. Our last weekend of summer holidays we'll be camping at our favorite spot with friends, so that will be nice.

Lewis is coming along, starting to come to us, he's still spooky but an amazing cuddler once you catch him.   I can't catch him.  Lili and Fei trick him and bring him to me :)

I've been spending abnormal amounts of time trying to figure out how to travel with Jia since she isn't a Canadian Citizen yet and we'd have to use her Chinese passport. Arg. It's a frustrating situation. I've spent a lot of time on hold, going through on-line and basically doing anything to reach a real person in the know. Today after many, many, many, many calls to Immigration and Citizenship I finally reached a man who was as nice as can be. He couldn't tell me much but he was clear that we should have heard something in 20 weeks and it's been 40 so he's sent an inquiry in and told me if we don't hear something by mail in Sept. to give him a call.

I'm trying to book a holiday for Feb. for Fei's Birthday.  Fei doesn't want to go to Disneyland for her Birthday. We've tried to figure out the whys. I'm guessing it's sensory and fear of the unknown. She wants to go on a cruise. So, we sat her down and tried once again to pinpoint what she actually wants because we're not sure she knows. She is horrible at making decisions. Even picking out colors is hard for her. She is always asking me to choose flavor, colors etc. for her. The final decision at this point is to go as a family and do a 3day Disneyland and 4day cruise to Catalina Island and Ensenda Mexico. Great. Affordable. Actually found a boat with rooms to accomodate five people.  But how on earth to book Jia or take her over the border is a whole other thing. I've found the cruise, found the flights and I'm just not comfortable booking until we know how to take her with us.

I've been clearing out Jia's little stuff to hand to friends who leave in a couple weeks for their new baby and it was all great until I came to the silk hoodie I bought in China, that Jia only used once.  Sob.  She grew so fast.  I think she forgot to be a baby.  She certainly has had no interest in being a baby.  I'm working really hard at accepting that this is it.  Last little one.  It's hard.  Eric is clear that he is done.  I just don't feel done.  I remember feeling done after Fei.  Eric wasn't done.  He had to reassure me that one more was no big deal, it wasn't a tough sell and Jia is worth every second of that horrible 5 year wait.  Just rambling now.

Dads shoes.

I think every kid tries to wear Dads shoes.  It never gets old though!

Ahhh

Ahhh, this couch is just right.  Finally got a replacement couch for the sun room.  Just in time to cuddle Lewis.

Singing in the rain.

Finally able to walk across the Kinsol Trestle.

Totally hillarious, love those primary colors!

On Sat. the girls volunteered to dance at a fundraiser for a little girl in town with cancer.  There was a sad turn out there, only three kids showed.  It was exceptionally hot downtown and the girls were less than thrilled to be the only ones there, while dressed in wool and velvet.  They had to do all the dances because there was no one there to spell them.  I did let them know how proud I was that they showed and that it was for a great cause.  They weren't happy until we got home and jumped in the pool. 

We spent lots of time with Lewis on the weekend and he's improving slowly but surely.  We also said goodbye to Chico on Sunday.  We enjoyed our time with him and it's nice not be looking after a young puppy.  He required a lot of potty breaks and he has big energy :)  We're camping with Chico's family in a couple weeks, so it will be fun to see him again.

Sunday we went for a walk with Mom and Dad and all of the dogs.  It was an eventful walk.  Everyone changed positions every few minutes.  Quite funny really. 

Monday we had rain.  It was so nice.  We decided early in the day to go to Jumpin' Jimminies in the afternoon so we had a nice relaxing morning.  Fei and Jia had a long bath and after they got out Jia was wandering around in her diaper before her nap and Lili put her in boots and a rain coat and took her puddle jumping in the front yard.  Too funny.  Boots, raincoat, diaper and her bike helmet.  We don't know why she had to have the helmet on but it was cute. 

Jia's talking more and the other night I tucked her into bed and she said "Jia sad, not say nigh nigh to Daddie".  Sob.  How heart breaking.  I of course ran out of her room and shouted to E that he needed to come up and say good night to her.  She will now repeat any thing you ask her to, the girls go through everyones names and she repeats them all except for Isabel, they say 'say Isabel' and she immediatly says 'dog' and then laughs and laughs.  We now ask her everyday to say Isabel but she is still holding firm that Isabels name is 'dog'.  Love it.

Lili's brilliance.

Things improve with our kitten everyday.  We've named him Lewis.  He loves to cuddle, we can scrub him from head to toe and even hold his paws and get our fingers between his toes.  The rescue cat lady we got him from told us to wrap him up in a blanket and pack him around the house, he actually loves this a lot.  Plus it's fun to hold the sweet little bundle.  He's still nervous and skulks and hides.  He's getting easier and easier to catch.  He did go under the couch last night and after some coaxing it was clear he wasn't budging, so we were discussing a plan, move the couch or use a broom.  When Lili said "wait, I have an idea".  She ran and got her cell phone, looked up a YouTube of a mother cat calling it's kittens and he came right out!  How wild is that?!  How the heck did she ever think to do that?!  We were all in awe of her brilliance. 

Better Kitty Pics.

Little No-Name did pretty darn good for his first day and night.  He isn't keen on us picking him up but once we catch him and he's in our arms he settles in and loves to be cuddled.  A good sign indeed for our little ferral guy.  Last night he used the litter, ate the food, drank the water, scratched on some wood and played.  Oh joy he played!!  There is great hope right now from all of us that he'll be able to become the great house cat that we'd like him to be.  In the meantime, he'll stay in the bathroom and we'll visit him until he's not quite so scared.  His eyes are the most beautiful blue, we need to get a better face picture.  Lili the cat whisperer has been spending hours with him.    What's wrong with people, who the heck dumps a litter of kittens at a beach to fend for themselves!

Ted McGinley

What a wild day, to say the least and it's only noon. 

I've been searching for the last week on the sly for the perfect cat/kitten.  I adore Siamese and I've had a Lynx Point and a Siamese/Persian in the past.  Turns out it's not so easy to find purebred cats, and then you have to deal with catteries.  Trust me people, I'm not cut out to deal with serious cattery people.  It wasn't pretty.  Anyways...I managed to find a few viable options of crossed cats for more reasonable amounts of money.  Then I had to deal with all of those people.  Arg.  We had to have a family meeting and do a pros and cons list about getting a new cat.  Eric was pretty easy to sway.  He was hoping that we wouldn't bring more animals home though.  He wasn't at all keen about dealing with purebreds and breeders.  My co-worker mentioned that there was a Siamese at the local pet store.  I called and was told they did have one but he was ferral.  Ug.  Been there, done that lots.  Then the same co-worker brought me pictures of him this morning and he is just gorgeous, looks extremely similar to my Lynx Point from yesteryears.  I called Eric, texted the picture to him and he was smitten with the kitten too.  Eric and the girls went to see him and guess what?  There was a movie being shot right in front of the pet store!  The woman in the pet store wouldn't let the girls hold him because he spooks and leaps and she didn't want them hurt.  They brought me tons of pictures and even videos but no one touched him so we had no idea what level of ferral we were dealing with.  Then they told me there was a famous actor there but Eric couldn't recall his name.  Back we all went to the pet store.

The kitten can be held, but he is jumpy and he does leap.  I got a pretty good scratch when I held him.  So I suggested we think about it for a bit and went out onto the street and watched Genie Francis (General Hospital fame) she was getting her make up done and then she tried on a bunch of shoes for the shot.  There were camera men, extra's and tons of people with headsets on and most exciting of all Ted McGinley (from Married with Children and Happy Days).  How cool is that?!  He's gorgeous too.  We weren't really supposed to be taking pictures.  The movie is a Hallmark movie called The Note.   

So, three trips back and forth and after much debate, our family unified in the decision to take home another rescue animal with a not so pleasant background instead of dealing with more cat people.  Eric and the girls caved upon looking into his eyes.  I had to be talked into believing that he'll come around.  He went willingly into our carrier and then he fell asleep in there on the way to take me back to work.  Eric is convinced he'll be fabulous.  I want to name him Fabio, Fabulous Fabio.  No one else likes the name.  So, we're open to suggestions.  The pet store is called 'Little Rascals', so I suggested Rascal but they didn't care for that either.  Planning to suggest Teddy after Ted McGinley, we'll see if they like that. 

Just called home and poor little guy vomited and pooped all over himself in the carrier on the way home.  He's been cleaned and settled into our bathroom.  Fingers crossed for a nice transition and a healthy attachement.  Oh and my co-worker is off now to go see Ted McGinley!  Too funny. 

Specs

The Mr. needs reading glasses.  We picked some up at the dollar store, Jia picked out sunglasses at the same time.  Now everytime Eric puts on his specs to read, Jia puts hers on too.  So sweet.

Lazy Dayz of Summer

Turns out the trampoline has nice warm black cloth to lay on after a swim.

I don't know what this thing is supposed to be but Jia says it's a dog.

Total concentration.

Eric told Jia he was catching up to her so she kept turning around to see.

Look at those big kids playing in the little kid section!

It totally amazes me that she can hang and swing at 19mo.

Fun playing with Jenna who is 2 yrs 8mo.  They are the same size.

Those lazy days are finally upon us. I'm so glad we left our schedule open for August. The kids are really enjoying the down time too. Plus we aren't camping while it's hot and frankly that's never been one of my favorite things.
The big news of the day is Lili and Fei got smart phones on the weekend. They're absolutely delighted. Eric took mine and I got an updated one too. I think I spent about 12 hours yesterday getting all of us all set up. Four phones at once has been a bit of a chore :) The kids aren't exactly prepared to wait patiently either. They want apps and they want them now. They're set up with their first phone numer, their first e-mail, they're texting and they have their blogs set up on their phones. They have games and live wallpaper. Tonight we'll work on radio stations and ringtones. Fun stuff.  I realize that lots of others will object to them having smart phones or think that they're too young, but realistically if I'd got them I-pod touches, they'd be able to get apps to get them on the phone anyways.  They are being monitored, they know the rules that I've set up, they're good kids and they are abundantly clear that their phones are a priveledge and can and will be removed if they screw up.  For now it's working really well.  Both girls are loving having constant contact with me through text, IM, e-mail and phone, it's all good for now.

We were supposed to go to another FCC picnic on Sunday but the big girls didn't want to go. It was too nice a day to force the issue. We did manage to meet up with a few families after at a park and then have dinner together. So that part worked out for me. They all have little kids so it was fun to see Jia with other little ones. Lili and Fei mostly sat and played on their phones.

Our gate is installed, will post pictures another day. Eric is getting ready to finish off the last of the fencing around the front. I can't wait! Fencing and gate are better than diamonds baby!