Ironman

As I mentioned before, Ryan is obsessed with The Avengers so when we were at Costco on Monday and saw an Ironman costume, Ryan couldn't contain his enthusiasm.  In addition to Ironman, they had Captain America and Thor but Ironman is his favorite.  I was worried they'd be gone if I didn't snap one up so here's Ryan in his Ironman costume.  Hope it lasts until Halloween!

The smallest size was 4-6 so nothing for Jacob but he didn't seem to mind and Ryan told him he could wear his Bumble Bee Transformer costume from last Halloween and he seemed fine with that idea.

Even though Halloween is 3 months away, how did it get to be the last day of July already?  I'm not doing very well with my plan to slow down the passage of time.  

Salsa!

We had a nice weekend.  We really enjoyed the Opening Ceremonies of the Olympics.  My favorite parts were David Beckham bringing the torch in a speedboat up the Thames, the Queen and James Bond (Daniel Craig) parachuting into the stadium and the cool way the torch was lit.  The fireworks were spectacular, too.  Well done London!  On Sunday, Jeff and I went down to Chris and Liz's and we all went to the Oxnard Salsa Festival.  Besides a lot of arts and crafts type booths, they have a big tent with many local restaurants offering their salsas.  You pay $5.00 and they give you a bag of chips and a bunch of tickets to sample the salsas.  There was also guacamole and interesting things like strawberry salsa.  There was music and dancing, too.  Speaking of dancing, did you hear about the new cast for the All-Star version of Dancing with the Stars?  The contestants are:   Kirstie Alley, Pamela Anderson, Helio Castroneves, Joey Fatone, Shawn Johnson, Drew Lachey, Gilles Marini, Kelly Monaco, Apolo Anton Ohno, Bristol Palin, Melissa Rycroft and Emmitt Smith.  One more contestant will be voted by the viewers.  You choose between Carson Kressley, Sabrina Bryan and Kyle Massey.  I'm happiest about Gille Marini!

Wet!

Took Ryan and Jacob to our little waterpark nearby.  It's just a little play area for kids 5 and under in a local park.  It's free, fun and wet!  Good for hot days although our days haven't been very hot and our mornings are foggy and cold.  I took a couple of candid shots of them getting soaked.

It's a good time-filler before lunch and naps.  Ryan still fights naps but he does stay in his room for 2 to 3 hours.  His latest thing is playing games on my iPad.  While we were at the waterpark, another little boy stepped on a bee and was stung.  That got both the boys worrying about bees so yesterday I went on a search for some watershoes.  I looked at Target, Kohl's, Payless and finally found a pair in Jacob's size at Toys R Us.  They are really cute and they were 50% off so under $5.00.  I couldn't find them in Ryan's size and he was protesting anyway because he wanted Avenger's watershoes...like finding watershoes wasn't hard enough.  Everything has to be Avengers right now for Ryan.  Looking forward to the weekend and the Olympics Opening Ceremonies!

Nighttime Delivery

Our "Farm Fresh to You" delivery arrived sometime between 11 PM and 6 AM.  I was able to check the day before to see what was included.  We were shopping at Costco that day so I didn't want to buy things that were going to be in the delivery.  The jury is still out as to whether we will keep this service.  I liked getting all of these organic fruits and veggies for $15.00 (thru Groupon) but not sure I'd want to pay the full $31.00.  We'll get one more delivery (in a month) and then decide.  Here's a photo of what we received.  I moved it from the cardboard box to a basket for display purposes.

As you can see, there were 2.5 lbs of heirloom tomatoes, 1 lb of cherry tomatoes, 1 Eureka lemon, 4 nectarines, 1.5 lbs of flame seedless grapes, 1 lb plums, 1 cucumber, 1 bunch of beets and 2 heads leaf lettuce.  Jeff asked what is an heirloom tomato and here's an answer from google:  "An heirloom (called heritage in the UK) tomato is generally considered to be a variety that has been passed down, through several generations of a family because of it's valued characteristics.  Heirloom tomatoes lack a genetic mutation that gives tomatoes an appealing uniform red color while sacrificing the fruit's sweet taste.  Heirloom tomatoes can be found in a wide variety of colors, shapes, flavors and sizes."  So those orange, green and yellow tomatoes you see are not unripe, that's just their color.  Remember when I wrote about not refrigerating your tomatoes a while back?  We got those instruction from Farm Fresh to You as well.  They say not to refrigerate these gas releasers:  avocados, unripe bananas, nectarines, peaches, pears, plums and tomatoes.  Gas releasers you should refrigerate are:  apples, apricots, cantalopes, figs and honeydews.  In addition, you should not store any of the following fruits and vegetables near any gas releasers:  ripe bananas, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbages, carrots, cauliflower, cucumbers, eggplants, leafy greens, peas, peppers, squashes, sweet potatoes and watermelon.  If you put spinach or my beloved kale in the same bin as peaches or apples, your greens will turn yellow and limp in just a couple of days.  That would make a good science experiment for kids!  

By the way, Costco has a new product called Sweet Kale Vegetable Salad Kit that we bought.  It has kale, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage and chicory.  It comes with packages of dried cranberries and pumpkin seeds that you add and a poppyseed dressing to toss it all in. It contains 7 superfoods!  It is quite good so I finally found a way to eat some kale.

While I'm on the subject of organic, I heard something on Dr. Oz that really made an impression on me.  I usually don't buy organic if a fruit or vegetable has a skin you don't eat so, for example, I don't buy organic bananas.  At Costco, organic strawberries are twice as expensive as regular strawberries but I think I'm going to be buying organic from now on.  It was pointed out how a strawberry is like a sponge so even if you really wash them well, you may not be getting rid of all the pesticides.

Mammoth 2012

We're back and we had a great time in Mammoth.  We had beautiful weather on Friday and Saturday.  Saturday morning, we (Jeff and I and Justin and Sarah) loaded up the four dogs and went up to the Saddlebag Lake area where we took the water taxi which leads to an area of many lakes where you can hike and the dogs can swim.  Cooper behaved this time and didn't jump off any cliffs although he did end up limping by the end of our trip.  Here's a photo of Jeff, Justin and me on the hike.  Buddy is just sneaking into the shot.

After we hiked for a couple of hours, we took the water taxi back and drove up to the high country area of Yosemite.  Here's a photo of Justin, Sarah and Justin's dog Sierra at Olmstead Point.  You can see Half Dome on the right and Cloud's rest on the left.  We have climbed to the top of both of those mountains.

  

After our visit to Yosemite, we stopped at the famous Whoa Nellie Deli for a pitcher of Mango margaritas.  On Sunday morning, we drove up to the Mammoth Lakes loop.  Here's a photo of the area just as you drive in.

As you can see, clouds were starting to form so we took a short 1 mile hike up to Heart Lake.  Below is a photo of the four dogs at Heart Lake.  Sarah's yellow lab is Buddy and he was the one who would reach the stick first.  Kanan is also a good swimmer but he usually defers to other dogs.  Cooper often waits until the stick is brought closer to the shore and then he's a glory hog who steals it and Sierra is a little afraid of the water so she usually tries to grab it once it's on dry land.

We picked up a picnic lunch and drove to Convict Lake to eat.  We decided to push on to the Rock Creek area for another longer hike.  As we drove, it began to rain.  Everyone was game to continue on with our hike plans so I put on a baseball cap and off we went.  During out hike, we were rained on, pummeled by hail and it even was lightning and thundering.  I was not too thrilled being on a trail in the mountains during a thunderstorm but we made it safely back to our cars.  Our plan to have a BBQ at George and Robin's campsite was scratched due to the weather so we ended up having Chinese takeout in our hotel and playing a game Justin brought.  You can see in this photo at Rock Creek a storm is a-brewing.  You can click on all the photos to enlarge.

Our first delivery of Farm Fresh to You (organic fruits and vegetables delivered to your home) should arrive by Wednesday morning so I'll let you know what we get and how we like it.

   

Dog Trip x 4

We are leaving today on a dog trip to Mammoth.  Justin and Sarah are also going so there will be four dogs on this trip!  Jessica will house and cat sit for us while we are away.  We are boarding Hayley because she needs medication twice a day and Jessica can't pill her.  We don't know why but Jessica is not at all comfortable around animals  She never had a bad experience as a child with animals.  I always tell the story about when she was around two and I had her in a stroller and walked by a rack of fur coats and she went into a panic... so go figure... maybe in a previous life!?    George and Robin are also going up to Mammoth so we will all get together for dinners and a few outings.  We plan to go on the hike up near Yosemite's High Country where we take the water taxi.  Dogs are allowed and they charge $5.00 per dog for the round trip boat ride.  This is the hiking area where Cooper, not once but twice, leapt off high cliffs.  We will have to keep a leash on him to prevent more superdog stunts.  If you're a Facebook friend, I will probably post some photos while we are away if I can get cell reception.  Here are a few photos from previous trips. 

Kanan and Kali getting on the water taxi- 2011

Kanan and Cooper- 2012

Farm Fresh to You

Our friends Chris and Liz use this service and yesterday there was a Groupon to try it so I bought it.  It's $31.00 worth of fresh organic fruits and vegetables delivered right to your door for $15.00.  The company is called Farm Fresh to You.  If you decide to keep the service, you can choose to have your box of goodies delivered weekly, every other week or even once a month.  We'll try it and see if we like it.  You can go on their website and customize what is delivered to you if you want certain things left out.  For example, I am not a fan of melons other than watermelon so I can choose to omit that and have things like berries, peaches, etc... delivered.  I used to love it when we had a milkman but once the kids grew up, we didn't use enough dairy products to make it worthwhile.  Here's a sample of the veggies you might receive.

    

I am having trouble finding time to visit because Ryan is not taking naps.  He'll be 5 soon so I guess I'm expecting too much.  He told me yesterday, "Nani, I had a nice day."  We took the boys to a park in the morning, then we did a little shopping at Sport's Chalet and we ended it with lunch out.  I took this photo of Ryan trying on a bike helmet.  He doesn't like wearing them but this one he liked! (Excuse the mediocre cellphone photo.)

I'm a Venetian

I went to Venice High School... not Venice, Italy but Venice, California.  Venice Beach is actually the most popular place to visit in Southern California.  It even ranks ahead of Disneyland but that's probably because visiting Venice is free.  Venice Beach is unique among our many beautiful beaches.  It's very Bohemian and not like a lot of the other typical Southern California surfer-type beaches.  I spent many of my teenage years at Venice and Santa Monica Beaches.  If you've ever seen the cult classic The Big Lebowski, that was filmed in Venice.  The Venice area also has canals like Venice, Italy and the movie, "Because I Said So" was filmed there.  THIS site has photos showing the Venice Canals.  Someday soon, I want to go to Venice, Italy and see the inspiration for my Venice.  Look at this gorgeous photo of Venice, Italy!  I want to go!

  

Again, this photo was from Pinterest so I don't have a credit but doesn't it look like a painting?  Gorgeous!  By the way, if you've ever seen the movie Grease, a lot of it was filmed at my high school- Venice High.  The cafeteria/lunch area scenes and also the bleachers where John Travolta and Olivia Newton John sing, "Summer Lovin'."

Believe it or not, we might get rain!  It NEVER rains in SoCal in the summer but we have Hurricane Fabio in the Pacific that might bring us some precipitation.  Hurricanes don't stand much of a chance in our area because the ocean water is too cold.  

Happy Couples

People often ask me the secrets to a happy marriage.  I saw this study online and thought it was pretty accurate.

 Here's the movie version of what happy couples do: They always laugh at each other's jokes, cook dinner together, fly off to romantic getaways, and have lots of great sex (they never do laundry).  Real-life happy couples do 10 things to keep their love strong:

1.  Let Love Grow.  Couples who start out thinking the fiery intensity of new romance will last forever lose 50% of their passion for each other after just 18 months.  The couples who grow happier over time are the ones who understand that love evolves, becoming calmer, deeper, richer, and more powerful.
2.  Play Nice.  The happiest couples do something other couples often don't:  they're kind to each other.  Happy couples treat each other like best friends.
3.  Do This in Bed:  Surprise!  Fooling around is not tops on the list of the most important things happy couples do in bed. What is? Talking. Spending a few minutes chatting every night before sleep lets you catch up, make plans, and discuss problems in a quiet, tender setting.
4.   Double Date:  Having open, intimate conversations with other twosomes reinforces your own sense of togetherness. Being close to them makes you feel closer to each other.
5.   Face Your Differences:  Happy couples bring their differences out into the open rather than denying or dismissing them. Put issues on the table, and look for ways you can work around them.
6.   Skip Some of the Small Talk:  Couples who have deep conversations are far likelier to be happy than couples who always keep it light.
7.    Be Equally Committed:  Happiness doesn't necessarily depend on how intense your level of commitment is, but on how mutual it is.
8.  Soften Up:  But the happiest couples keep conflicts from becoming confrontations.  Neither feels as if one of them always gets his or her way. Each occasionally yields to the other.
9.  Accentuate the Positive:  Happy couples make at least five times as many positive statements to and about each other as negative ones, even when they are arguing.
10.  Hang in There:  Slogging through bad times can make both of you happier than ever. If you can do that and get to the other side, it makes the relationship stronger.  It strengthens love.

Watering Hole

We thought we bought a new fountain for our patio area but Cooper thinks it's his personal watering hole.  He can't stop drinking out of it.  I think he thinks it's a babbling brook.  We ordered this fountain a month ago but the first one arrived at OSH in pieces.  Something had fallen over on it in the truck and smashed it.  The second one left from the West LA OSH but took a detour up to Tracy, California which is up near the Bay Area.  We finally got it on Sunday.  It's larger than it looks in this photo and it has lights inside that light up the water.  We bought a pink Trumpet Vine to put behind it.  We'll unwind the vine from the stick that it's on once it gets established a bit.  In front, we planted some New Guinea Impatiens.

We had a fun weekend.  Saturday we went to the Sawdust Festival in Laguna Beach with Justin and Sarah.  They are now planning a trip to Costa Rica in a couple of months.  On Sunday, we met Chris and Liz at the beach in Ventura for a car show.  The boys will be back today and Jeff will be mowing the lawn which is one of the things they look forward to.  They like to "help!"

      

Hot and Sticky

We are having Florida or Hawaii-like weather.  It's not that common for us to have high humidity in SoCal but we sometimes get what they call "Monsoonal" weather.  When you walk outside, you feel like someone has put a wet, warm cloth across your nose and mouth.  We don't like it one bit but we are used to such stable weather, it's a bit of a novelty.  Jeff and Justin had planned to go scuba diving early Saturday morning at Laguna Beach but along with the monsoonal weather comes overcast skies and diving just isn't fun unless the sun is shining and you can see all the pretty colors underwater.  We'll still go down to Justin's on Saturday because we are going to go to the Sawdust Festival in Laguna Beach.  Sarah can get us free tickets because her aunt is one of the art exhibitors there.  We'll leave the dogs at home and Jessica and the boys will come over on Saturday and enjoy the spa and take care of the pets for us.  Below is a photo from Jeff and Justin's last scuba day at Laguna Beach... a little overcast then, too.  It's one of my favorite OC (Orange County) beaches!  And no, that's not me or anyone we know in the photo!

Movie Review

No, not a review of the movie but a review of how things went at The SpongeBob Movie.  As I mentioned, it's free so that's helpful because you haven't wasted a lot of money if you have to leave early and abruptly.  I brought along some Capri Sun Super V- the new ones that have veggies disguised inside- and then I bought one of the $3.50 snack trays that have popcorn, soft drink and candy.  I asked for a diet coke because I thought I'd drink the coke but I was wrong because Jacob drained it.  I had Jacob sit on my lap since it was his first time at a movie theater.  Both of the boys were mostly excited about the snack tray.  Jacob did really well but after about an hour, Ryan was whispering to me that he wanted to see The Avengers.  I asked Jacob if he was ready to go home and he said okay.  I don't think either of them paid much attention to the movie.  They were mostly interested in the snacks and the other children in the theater.  The rest of the free summer movie lineup (each week is a new movie) is:   Rango, Madagascar, Shrek Forever After, Puss in Boots and Over the Hedge.  Maybe if we go each week, they'll get to be better movie goers.

I saw this photo of a swan and her babies (cygnets) and thought it was such a beautiful photo so I thought I'd share it with you.  I don't know who to credit it to but I saw it on Pinterest.

   

Triple Digit Heatwave Relief

We are having a heatwave...checked our thermometer Tuesday afternoon and it was 101 degrees.  The boys will be here today and I'm taking them to the Muvico theater for one of their free summer movies.  The movies are every Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday at 10 AM.  For $3.50 you can get a little kids tray with popcorn, drink and candy.  Ryan has school on Tuesday and Thursday so Wednesday is our only day to go.  Unfortunately, that's the day Jeff goes with his mom to this Alzheimer's group in the valley which means I will have to take Jacob along.  So I'm going to see The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie with a two year old and a four year old.  Am I crazy or what?  I guess I'll look at it as relief from our heatwave.

       

Bloomin' Begonias

Annie posted a photo for a blog project called Beauty in Your Own Place.  I've been meaning to show you a photo of our begonias so even though it isn't really a little vignette like Annie's pond, I thought I'd share it with you anyway.  I've never grown begonias before because I thought they looked a little delicate and wouldn't stand up to our dogs who often traipse through our flower beds.  I decided to plant some on both sides of our garage in a little planter bed where we have a new bush that has pretty colors.  I put the sticker for the bushes on our gate post so I'd remember what they are called.  Good thing because I had forgotten that they are named Coprosma Tequila Sunrise.  This Sunset Magazine link also calls it a Mirror Plant and it's a good shade plant that grows to 5 feet.  Ours is growing slowly but 5 feet would be just about the right height.  But I digress.  Surrounding the Mirror Plant are a mass of begonias.  I bought them in little inexpensive pony packs and they just took off.  I have pink, red, salmon and white flowers and some of the foliage is green and others are almost a maroon-color.

  

Yesterday, Jeff spent the whole day at UCLA with his mother.  She will be participating in a study on Alzheimer's.  We don't really know if she has Alzheimer's but she does have dementia.  She often gets confused about things, loses things and she forgets to take her medicine.  Jeff has to call her every morning and evening to remind her to take her medications.  He has finally convinced her to stop driving and he's getting her car ready to sell.  That's going to be really hard for her but she's close by and Jeff picks her up often and takes her along to the dog park and they stop at the market.  He also takes her to church on Sundays.  

Bye Bye Rooster, Bye Bye

Yes!  The rooster is gone!  Apparently several of the neighbors had complained to the lady who owned the rooster but she was telling them she'd try and keep the rooster quiet.  Now how would one go about doing that?  So one of the complaining neighbors asked Jeff to add his voice to the complaints.  Jeff is always calm and diplomatic so he called the lady and had a talk with her.  She explained that when they bought the chicks, they aren't able to tell the sex so didn't know until later that one was a rooster.  Well, that's all well and good but you still have a rooster crowing at 4:30 AM in a neighborhood where you aren't supposed to have chickens anyway.  So bottom line, she told him she had found a home for the rooster and he would be leaving on Saturday.  Woke up Saturday morning and opened the window to the sound of silence.

Thought I'd post a few photos from the 4th of July when the boys were playing in our spa.

Birthday Boy

Sunday, July 8th is Jeff's birthday.  It's hard to believe that we met almost 40 years ago.  He was working at a veterinarian office and I was a UCLA student.  I know most of you know the funny story about our first meeting but if you don't, I can no longer refer you to the pages where we did our "Love Story" homework assignment since my family website is now history.  Somehow, though, it seems fitting that animals brought us together.  It was a mix up that I went to that particular veterinarian office but one of the luckiest mistakes I've ever made.  I could not ask for a better husband, best friend, father to my children and now grandfather.  I was able to find an old photo on my computer when Justin was about 3 months old and Jeff and I had been married a little over two years at that point so the year was either 1976 or early 1977.  Look at that hair!

Happy Birthday Jeff!

Happy 4th of July!

Thanks Kia and Zeno

Jessica, Pat and the boys are coming over this afternoon for a BBQ and the boys will take a dip in the spa.  We'll have Jeff's salsa and chips, organic beef burgers, spinach salad and potato salad.  For dessert, strawberry shortcake.  Hope you have a wonderful holiday, too!     

Cat-tastrophe!

The Skamper Ramp arrived and it was a very warm weekend so we decided to test it to see if it would save our cats if they ever fell into the spa. Our cats are only allowed outside in our backyard and they cannot get out of our yard because we have barriers that keep them inside. It may seem mean to put a cat in the spa but after a squirrel drowned in our spa, we decided we needed to do this experiment for our own peace of mind. Hunter was our first victim. Hunter is our boy kitty who is currently on a diet so he's not as agile as he should be. He's a laid back cat and the dominant pet in the household. Even the dogs fear him.

Hunter in the Spa from Darylynn Mills on Vimeo.

As you can see from the video, Hunter did not need the Skamper Ramp to get out.  I was surprised when Jeff came with Hayley next because I hadn't even thought of testing her.  She is outside the least of all the cats but she is the one I've most worried about around the spa because she has seizures.  I've always worried that she could be laying on the spa bricks in the sun, have a seizure and fall in.  I took two videos of her.  In the first one (which I won't show) Jeff placed her in the spa and she sunk like a bowling ball.  She surfaced and then just didn't seem to know how to swim at all.  She finally got the hang of swimming but Jeff had to help her out.  We decided to try her again because the first trial was such a failure that we would've been left not knowing if she could get out on her own.  She did better, but like Hunter, did not use the Skamper Ramp.

Finally, it was Kalani's turn.  He's the one cat that we have that seems to enjoy the water.  He often climbs into the kitchen sink and sits there.  He did the best of all and scampered out (sans Skamper Ramp) in a flash.

As you can see from the videos, I can't really tell you if the Skamper Ramp works to save a pet who falls into a spa or pool.  I was happy to know that our cats wouldn't drown if they fell in the spa.  I told Jeff we could return the Skamper Ramp to our local PetCo even though we had bought in online through Amazon.com.  He said he'd just as soon keep it because it might help the random wild animal that might fall into our spa.  I laughed and said we'd probably never know how many squirrels, rats or frogs we saved but we can imagine we're saving them all the time. 

Cooper is doing great after his neutering.  He's back to his old self and it's going to be hard to contain him to light activity until his stitches come out in a week.  His teeth look beautiful, too, and I'm trying to remember to brush them daily.