RJ Rocks the Monkey Bars

Earlier this month, I took the kids to Veteran's Park in Tracy.  It's actually one of my favorite parks because both structures are lower to the ground than some of the other parks in the area, and it inspires me to get exercise to get there since I put the kids into the bike trailer to go ( I could drive and be there in a few minutes, but that just seems wrong).  The kids love it because it has a sand pit and the spinney things that they run to first, every.single.time. The last time we went, RJ discovered that he can do the monkey bars! I credit the playground design (in addition to his strong arms from gymnastics) for giving him increased confidence to try them.  His feet were barely off the ground, so kudos to the designers of this playground for making a challenge for children that isn't so scary (for them and their parents).  But don't take my word for it.  Just watch the video.

We also took a picnic lunch that day too!

February in Pictures

Thursday Morning Co-Op with the Solar Powered Remote Control Car

 More Co-op Pictures

Bacardi and Boca Chica finally got a vet in California.  Bacardi had conjuctivitis in one eye, a cold virus, and an ingrown claw, resulting in eyedrops, a foot soak, and amoxicillin to prevent foot infection.  Ever try to give a cat eye drops and oral medication while soaking its paw in antiseptic solution twice a day?  It's a two person job.

Yes, this is what Tracy, CA is like in February.  You get days where you don't need to wear a coat to the park.

Monkey see, monkey do.  Monkey #2 starts his gymnastics class in March.

We're still learning about outer space.  Here RJ and I built the Voyager 2 space probe  from cardboard (he's watching a you tube video on it, which is why he wouldn't look at the camera).

Space shuttle orbiting the moon

My friend Jon (unfortunately he doesn't have a head in this picture), who I've known since high school, was on a snowboarding trip up at Lake Tahoe.  I decided to drive up with the kids for the day so we could see him and so that the kids could see snow this year (since we didn't travel East for Christmas).  

Gondola Ride over the snow!

  A few more snow pictures

A group of my Kappa sisters and I planned a brunch in San Francisco, so we made a day of it.  Here the boys are playing at Musee Mechanique, which is a free museum with vintage carnival games.

Here is RJ that same day on Pier 39.

More San Francisco Pictures

More February Pictures

Happy Valentine's Day from the DeLanceys

Valentine's Day around here was good.  We started the morning out with homemade heart shaped cinnamon rolls with Bagels, cream cheese and lox (because it's yummy AND pink).

The boys put on their "Spud Muffin" shirts and we headed off to preschool with RJ's 28 owl valentines (it's a miracle they were done on time since we made them ourselves and RJ signed each one!  Thankfully, the teachers asked that they not be addressed, so we didn't have to do that!).  Friends and family should be getting their Owl Valentines soon (I put them in the mail today.  Yes, I realize it's March, but we wanted to finish them!).




The party at RJ's school was WAY longer than I thought it would be.  We got there at 10am and didn't leave until nearly noon.  While his preschool is normally very organized, it's clear that losing one head teacher to another job and having the director out on maternity leave made a huge difference!  It took a while to even get started, but Logan enjoyed the extra playtime in RJ's classroom, and pretty much ate his lunch in healthy and not-so-healthy party food at 11:30.

When Logan and I finally got home and I got him down for a nap, it was time for me to get moving on making our fancy dinner.  I made roasted duck with pomegranate reduction sauce and corn cakes topped with garlic, bacon, smoky mozzarella kale saute (which I also drizzled with the pomegranate sauce!).  Unfortunately, I didn't take any pictures of the pretty presentation of the adult plates, but I did get pictures of the kids eating theirs!  The corn cakes were a huge hit with them!  And RJ even ate some of his kale, so I think it's clear that we all enjoyed dinner!

For dessert I made strawberry chocolate yogurt parfait popsicles.  (Basically pureed strawberries on top of strawberry-yogurt puree on top of strawberry-yogurt-chocolate custard ice cream puree).

After the kids' ate their popsicles and we got them to bed, us parents got to drink wine, have dinner together, and watch Glee (which had an AWESOME valentine's day episode!)  All in all, it was a great day!
More pictures here.

RJ Goes to A School Friend's Birthday Party

I think we've entered a new era in RJ's world.  The era of going to birthday parties for friends from school where I have not previously met their parents.  We've gone to lots of birthday parties for his school friends before, but when we were at the Child Development Center, I always knew the parents and the other kids.

For this particular birthday party, I recognized the child, but had never had a conversation with her.  AND no one else from school showed up, so RJ and I (Daddy stayed home with Logan since the party started during nap time) didn't know ANYONE there, with the exception of RJ knowing the birthday girl.  

I was very impressed with RJ, since he made friends pretty easily and got along with them.  He even tried to settle an argument between two other boys.  One was saying that the party was a birthday party while the other was saying that it was a costume party (it was both - guests were invited to dress as their favorite Disney character).  RJ jumped in between them and said, "You're right AND you're right, it's a..." at which point he was cut off by the other little boy, who said, "NO, I'm black and he's black, YOU'RE White, dude." At this point, RJ looked a little confused (we've never labeled people according to their race before - he just knows that people come in all different colors), and went to repeat himself, but the other boy clearly wasn't getting RJ's point and started to say, "no, you and your mom are white...", at which point, I jumped in and tried to say, "He's saying RIGHT, not WHITE, so he's saying that you're correct and so is your friend."   It sort of helped, but he was still a little confused.  (And for the record, I'm pretty sure that RJ says his Rs rather than substituting the W sound, as is common in little kids.  It's possible it's my mommy ear, but his teachers are always amazed at his pronunciation and vocabulary, so...)

Anyway, it was a fun party.

RJ got to ride a sad looking painted pony (I really felt bad for the animal.  So much so I considered not letting RJ ride it, but didn't want to make a scene about it when I didn't know these people and it would've accomplished nothing.)   He did ask me why the pony was painted, but despite it being covered in pink and purple chemicals, he enjoyed the ride.

And he won pin the bow on Hello Kitty.  He got that bow directly where it belonged.  He insists he couldn't see through the blindfold though...

More pictures here.

DeLanceys Go Hiking at the Lafayette Reservoir - February 4, 2012

I had been itching to go do something outside, so when we got a nice weekend, we decided to give the 2.75 mile loop around the Lafayette Reservoir a try.  We haven't been there before and the path was listed on some website as being a kid-friendly hike.  So off we went.

Of course, the trip may have been ill-fated since Logan coughed and ended up spewing his juice that morning, but since he didn't appear sick, we tried to go anyway.  So of course he got carsick 20 minutes away from the place.  I need to point out here that we're not crappy parents who take our kids out when they're ill.  He was otherwise absolutely fine.  No fever, no general malaise, just random puke that was likely caused by him coughing the wrong way after drinking a lot of juice before eating his food the first time and then being carsick the second time.  This is actually something that is more likely when his teeth are pushing through and well, those two year old molars are a bitch.  We cleaned him off and pushed onward.

And we did have fun.  RJ was a little whiny, but once we started playing I spy with the nature, he was all about it.

And Logan enjoyed himself too.  Having no more puking incidents the rest of the day.

The length of the hike was good for the kids, although they both spent some time in the ergo (yes, even RJ - I put him in there thinking he would hate it, but that backfired for about a quarter mile).  I would've preferred a non-paved path to make it feel more like hiking in the woods, but at least we got out and got active.  The real bonus was that there was a playground at the end (or the beginning depending on which way you take the loop from the parking lot - we knew ahead of time where it was, so we opted for it being the reward).  The kids were tired when we got to the playground, but still ran around and had fun for a little bit.  However, when we suggested walking to the car, they staged this little peaceful protest, sitting perfectly next to the adorable "stroller parking" label.

More pictures here.