May 2012 in Pictures

It's May!  The Sprinkler Parks are turned on!

We managed to take a trip to the zoo...and caught the elephant trying to climb the fence!

Seems that RJ does have my climbing genes!

Who says you can't take a picture of the eclipse?
(I did it  facing away from the eclipse, shooting with my phone
over my shoulder.  Regardless of the warnings that taking a
picture of the sun would irrevocably damage my camera, it did not hurt my
phone's camera in the slightest AND I have a kick ass picture.
So there.  May 20, 2012

Oh, don't worry, we viewed it the safe way too, using the homemade pinhole viewer.

Logan and Ethan continue to be best buds!

RJ is still enjoying soccer and even asked to sign up for the next session!
 (I'm signing him up for the Kindergarten group this time).
More Soccer pictures from May are here.

More pictures from May are HERE.

Easter 2012

As a non-religious family, Easter is usually pretty low-key with a few family traditions, and the usual secular Easter activities.  Last year we had the excitement of me doing the Bring Your Own Big Wheel Race, but this year, I sort of forgot about it until Easter Sunday, and there's no way we would've made it to San Francisco in time even if I had the motivation to do it.

Easter is a fantastic excuse to buy chocolate (then again, I can find an excuse to buy chocolate any random day, so that's not saying a whole lot).  

The kids Easter Baskets featured chocolate heavily (and also included the eggs they found at the DreamWorks Easter Egg Hunt...funny how the Easter Bunny found their egg stashes and neatly combined the treats), and they each got one small toy.  RJ got a new Lightning McQueen (the Cars 2 version with the Grand Prix spoiler) to replace the exact same one which happened to have a slightly crooked wheel.  Mommy and Daddy wouldn't replace a toy for such a small imperfection, but the Easter Bunny thought that Mommy and Daddy could use a break from hearing about the damned crooked wheel and thought that perhaps Logan wouldn't mind having an identical Lightning with such a minor flaw.  Logan got some cool Haba stuffed Ice Cream Cones for the play kitchen.  

When they woke up, the kids went hunting for their baskets.  Logan's was found pretty quickly being that it was in the kids' favorite hiding spot; the cardboard space shuttle/Lightning McQueen (it recently got converted and painted by RJ, but Logan still calls it the space shuttle).  RJ took a bit longer but eventually found it under a pile of future art project recyclables in their learning tower.  (I know the Easter Bunny is a BITCH for hiding his basket under what looked like a pile of trash).  I'll just let you watch...

Once the Easter Basket shenanigans were over, we had some breakfast.  Usually I do the traditional Polish Easter Breakfast (swienconka), but this year I didn't have polish sausage (I need to get the family recipe to make it myself!), so we had homemade "funfetti" waffles, bacon, babka, and hard boiled eggs.  The kids had decorated the eggs the night before with the dinosaur egg kit.  

Then for dinner we had ham, candied scalloped sweet potatoes, and broccoli.  Overall, it was a fun laid-back kind of day.

DeLanceys Go Hiking to Cave Rocks

We've written about the Sunol Regional Wilderness a few times (like here and here).  But the fact is that it's the closest place that has pretty decent hiking within the kids' attention spans/abilities.  So we went for a hike on Memorial Day.  It was pretty.  Here are some pictures of our hike to the Cave Rocks.

Daddy, Logan, & RJ

Momma, RJ, & Logan

I have to plug the ergo here (it's the baby carrier for the uninitiated), since it's probably the one piece of "baby gear" that gets used for the longest period of time (birth through preschool years - I can still carry RJ in it if I have to), along with the stroller and car seats. Logan is quickly catching up to RJ's hiking stamina (mostly because RJ is a lazy whiner a lot of the time and Logan is not), but his little legs do get tired, so it's nice to be able to quickly strap him on and continue with the hike.  It certainly allows us to do less boring hikes than if we needed to depend on him walking the whole way or having to just carry him.  Both Lance and I can use the ergo and it's easy to get him in and out of.  Oh and it's made out of organic cotton and machine washable!  Can't beat that!  I LOVE the ergo!

This hike was largely meandering through the grassy hills

The "Happy Cows of California" graze in some areas of the parkland.

 Our destination for this hike was the Cave Rocks, which was a random rock formation in the middle of the hills.  It's nice to have a destination break point with the boys so it's not just walking for them.  Here they could climb around the rocks and we also sat in the shade of the rocks and trees to eat our lunch.

By the end of our hike, Logan was getting a bit delirious and
decided that he was going to hang onto RJ's arm, move it around
and laugh uncontrollably.  At least he was happy and tired rather than the cranky alternative!

More pictures from our hike are here.

DeLanceys Go Underground

After Erika's Wedding, we thought we should do something fun in Fresno (that's where the wedding was).  So, we settled on the Forestiere Underground Gardens.  Yes, underground, as inside of a man made cave with lots of skylights.  Basically, an immigrant from Sicily came to America in the early 1900s to build a citrus empire, but bought land in Fresno that was covered in hardpan, thus not suitable for growing.  So instead he dug a cellar (by hand, with farming tools) to escape the summer heat, experimented with growing underground, and over the course of his lifetime built an underground home and garden full of citrus and grapevines spanning over 10 acres.  Yes, he dug out 10 acres by hand.  Anyway, it was a really interesting place to visit and a nice retreat from the heat of Fresno.

California Citrus

His Bed.  There were actually 2, a summer bedroom and a winter bedroom.
I *think* this was the winter, but I don't remember.

His courtyard bathtub.  I want one.  The water came from a tank above ground.

Kitchen Table, slides in and out.
This dude thought of everything.

His peephole.
He could see the main entrance,
 but they couldn't see him.

He even had an aquarium, with a glass bottom, so that it could be viewed from the floor below, as well as from the top.  No, it's no longer full of water and real fish, but they claim that it once did hold water just fine.

More pictures here.

DeLanceys go to Erika & Rich's Wedding

I've known Erika practically the entire time we've lived in California, shy the first few weeks.  She was a student in the first class I taught at CSU Stanislaus, where she was not only one of my best students, but also highly interested in becoming our yet unborn son's babysitter, and quickly became one of our closest friends. RJ met her at a mere 8 weeks old, and has loved her ever since, and Logan has known her practically since birth (my brain's a little fuzzy on when, but I'm pretty sure he was under 2 weeks old). After all, Ethan (Erika & Rich's son) had to meet his best bud right away (they're just under 4 months apart).

So OF COURSE, we had to go to Erika & Rich's wedding on cinco de mayo!  If not just for them, definitely to see all the handmade, painstakingly perfect, details that Erika put together for the shindig!  It was beautiful.  The venue was a gorgeous resort with lots of fun things to do...like a built in ground level trampoline farm!

We were hoping to get a great family photo before the wedding started and the boys inevitably got something on their clothes (see those adorable vests and ties?  I MADE them).  However, RJ was Sir Grumpy McWhines-A-Lot, so this is as good as we got.

We were hoping that settling down in our seats for the ceremony would help, since I think the original cause of Sir Grumpy had something to do with his shoes.  Nope.  Instead, he was hell bent on making everyone sit exactly like he wanted them to, thereby separating newlyweds Melody (one of his awesome former teachers) & Greg AND splitting up our family.  We gave him several choices on the seating arrangements and played musical chairs no less than 3 times, and he just escalated.  So Lance escorted him away, nearly across the lake to be out of earshot, just in time for the ceremony to start.  

Logan in the meantime was a complete angel.  Even when I thought for sure that he was going to try to run up to Ethan (who was an adorably barefoot ring bearer for his mommy and daddy) or Erika, given that he asks for them to come over nearly every day.  But he just pointed them out quietly and watched patiently.  I definitely drew the right straw on staying with Logan!  RJ calmed down enough to watch from the back after the processional (little bugger did succeed in getting the family to sit apart) but Lance reported that he was basically in tears the entire time.

Then it was on to the reception, where Erika had organized a kids room (manned by Melody & Greg) where the kids disappeared to so that us adults could eat dinner in peace and actually enjoy some adult conversation!  Best.Idea.Ever.  Don't get me wrong, I love our kids, but eating with them while dressed up is maddening and I'm sure they had more fun with the toys and movies and kid food.

And we got them back later, in time for them to take over the dance floor.  

More pictures of the beautiful and fun wedding are here.

April in Pictures

Yes, I took a picture of myself in the
car just before my interview, because
I AM A DORK.

As one might have guessed from the fact that we pretty much stopped writing blog entries in April, it was a pretty insane month for us.  Not only did we have the normal hustle and bustle of our daily lives, but we found out we were pregnant unexpectedly (insert PSA for proper contraceptive usage here) with our third (as you'll read later on, it didn't stick, but I think that's for the best since we weren't really ready yet) and I had simultaneously landed a job interview that we were hoping would be our ticket to the bay area as well as a really exciting opportunity for me (Spoiler Alert: I did NOT get it, which sucks, but that's life).  All these things basically threw everything into a weird state of limbo, but we tried to keep things normal for the kids.

You've already read about RJ starting soccer, which gave us another weekly activity on top of RJ and Logan's gymnastics, RJ's preschool and our weekly co-op.  Both boys really enjoy their gymnastics, but sadly, I don't have any new pictures of Logan (and his best buddy, Ethan) in his class, since it's a mommy and me class and I got my hands full with Logan! 

Logan and Ethan typically spend Wednesdays together after gymnastics.  

Note: These are window crayons and markers, so they were
allowed to do this! The sliding glass door is a fantastic
medium for their artwork!

There was fort building

Playing inside the fort

Even with all the craziness of the month with us, the kids still managed to have fun at home!

Bouncing

Logan figured out how to climb into (and out of) his crib
using his toy bin.  Thank you, RJ for teaching him to
 land in the stuffed animals

Horsey Rides

Time at the playground
(they're talking to each other in the "telephones")

Mastering Wii skills

RJ went through a phase where he
 refused to sleep in his bed, opting
instead to sleep on the
kiddie version of a flip-n-fuck small foam fold out couch.

Despite all the craziness of the month, we did try to smell the roses...mostly because they were too beautiful in bloom not too.  We have three bushes; red, white, and pink.

And the crazy month ended with my fondue pot exploding
(and dumping yummy cheese fondue everywhere) at Erika's
bachelorette party.  At least it broke in the shape of a heart.
That's a good sign, right?

More April Picture are HERE.

Ashlan's 4th Birthday Party - April 7, 2012

RJ's "fiancee" Ashlan turned 4 and had a wonderful birthday tea party.   Yes, fiancee.  Seriously...he got down on one knee and proposed last summer...though we have yet to see a ring...or a real commitment on his part since he has girlfriends as well (he hasn't quite grasped monogamy yet...but he's young.  I suppose preschool is now the time to sow one's oats, huh?).  Also, there is the fact that Zach seems to think that he is marrying Ashlan, so, it's a really interesting preschool love triangle here.

Anyway, it was a fun party with juice filled tea sets and yummy tea treats (like the deviled chicks I contributed).

 And lots of playing.  Here RJ and Logan are playing with the sound sticks, that inevitably turn into swords.

RJ was very excited that we had made Ashlan her very own dinosaur costume and ballet skirt since both RJ and Ashlan LOVE playing dress up and now she would have a dinosaur like his (only blue and pink instead of brown and black!)  Of course, Ashlan combined the two, which was ridiculously adorable (seriously, you haven't lived until you've seen a dinosaur tail coming out the back of a ballet skirt)!  It was impossible to get a clear picture of them in their dinosaur outfits since they were in constant motion, roaring, so check out the video clip...

And for some it was so much excitement that a nap was necessary!

More pictures from the party are here.

DreamWorks Easter Egg Hunt - April 6, 2012

 DreamWorks had their annual Easter Egg Hunt on Good Friday, so I drove the kids in for the festivities. They had on adorable matching shirts, but RJ insisted on wearing his dinosaur costume the entire time and we never got a picture of Logan without his jacket on!  Anyway, after Lunch with Daddy, the kids ran around picking up eggs.

 RJ spotted the Easter bunny and gave him a hug.









Logan was a little apprehensive of the giant white bunny.

But he was interested in the bunny and did some approaching, then flirting from afar, then running away.

Then we stalked the bunny for a little while (see video)

And then he finally hugged the Easter Bunny so we could leave!