the weekly special

This is Alexis' new favorite perch. She loves to climb in, but getting out is another matter.
I find it fairly ironic that she willingly puts herself into a shopping cart that is obviously way too small, while at the grocery store in the cart is the last place she wants to be.

THEY DO EXIST! - - in california

Over the weekend, David and I decided to take a "spur of the moment" camping trip to Big Bear.
First, let me simply start off by saying:

I am BIGGER than her.
I am STRONGER than her.
I am SMARTER than her (at times I definitely question the validity of this one).
I am OLDER than her.
And, I am MEANER than her.

So with all of the evidence weighing heavily in my favor of having the upper hand - I ask: WHY is EVERYTHING so much more difficult when kids are involved?!?!



David had class on Friday afternoon, so we thought it best that rather than skip class and avoid traffic - we'd hope for the blessing of light traffic in return for scholastic diligence. Traffic was not pretty but could have been drastically worse, and what should have been a 2 hour drive took closer to 3 hours.
David won the prize for booking at the most obscure campground possible, and our drive time was lengthened to 4.5 hours as we drove back and forth through winding mountains roads trying to find the camp ground that had no trouble finding our bank account for the reservation fee.
As our drive time increased we decided to give Lexi her bottle in hoped of keeping her pacified. Sadly, we did not factor in the winding roads and mere moments later, as we ourselves we joking about car sickness, not only her bottle but everything else in her little stomach made an encore appearance. Most of it landed on her stuffed dog - which we now lovingly refer to as the "spew sponge". And, after a brief stop on the side of the road to de-spew and attempt to settle our own stomachs, we finally pulled into our campground a little after sunset.

The "camp host" handed David our car permit looked in the car and said, "there's a bear and she has a cub." I realize I may have been a little short with her and only made brief eye contact, but I don't think there was really cause for name calling! David, however, didn't need to agree quite so readily! I was a little taken aback by her blunt delivery and realized that the mountains must be where they send "those kind" of hosts...

We got our tent set up in record time and sat down for a brief dinner. Somehow our choices for food were limited only to soup for dinner, but 4 different kinds of cookies to choose from for dessert... that's what happens when David is in charge of the gear and I am in charge of the food.
After retiring for the evening, we realized Lexi was not about to sleep in her port-a-crib; and, since I felt guilty about her clothes being damp from sitting in a wet car seat David let her sleep in his sleeping bag with him. Which worked out great from about 10pm to 3am - at which point she woke up, saw both mom and dad, and decided that she had enough sleep and was ready to play.
It was one of those nights were again I was wondering why I didn't "help" her to sleep. And also, I couldn't wait for night to be OVER. After hours of rocking and cuddling, I finally thought she was back to sleep when in clearest sing-song voice I hear, "mama! dada! papa!". Rarely have I wanted to injure my child, but at that moment I must admit my resolve weakened - - greatly!!




After the sun FINALLY came up, we scavenged for some fire wood and had a nice bonfire in no time - while deftly managing to avoid the scathing looks from other campers; apparently noise carries in the mountains.
Lex showed us yet again that she has no idea the meaning of the word "boundaries". She was not nervous in the least about wandering away from camp and out of our sight. She would walk until she saw David coming after her, and then her pleasant sightseeing turned into a full sprint. She loved the dirt, and much like sand at the beach, quickly had it every where. She was in constant motion until we finally packed up camp and buckled her back in the car - with a great deal of protest - to no one's surprise, she was asleep in the car before we even exited the camp ground.

We had great expectations and high hopes of taking advantage of out time in the mountains: hiking, swimming in the lake, and scouting out other camp grounds. But after a long sleepless night it was hard to work up enthusiasm for much more than getting home and taking a nap!
We did go sightseeing to Lake Arrowhead - which as we were informed my our "host" is a private lake. I raise the question as to how exactly a lake becomes private? I was sorely tempted to get out of the car and fill one of our water bottles with the private water, just to show "them" what I thought about their private lake. But, that meant stopping the car and there was no way I would risk awakening the sleeping cub.

Our drive home was uneventful, but there have been few times when we have been so grateful to see our freeway exit. Unlike our experience at the drive-in, we realized that we need to camp more often so that Lex gets used to it. And, also so that I can perfect ways of "helping" her to sleep far far away from people we know and cell coverage for DCFS...



Yes, we are those parents - the ones that sit and watch while their kids make an absolute mess.
Numerous other campers pointed us out as they walked by - I'm not sure they were remarking on Lexi's chameleon like ability color change to match her surroundings, or if they were points of "so that's the child - go figure with parents like those!"

By the end, it was difficult to remember what color she was when she started...

you did what?

Kristen - this one's for you!



Recently, my brothers' wives and my mother decided to put a streak of pink in their hair. Since I was unable to attend the impromptu girl's day, and so I wouldn't feel SO left out, Kristen mailed me the supplies and I did my own. Side note: who knew you could mail hair dye? and, if you can't which disgruntled P.O. worker dropped the ball on that one?!?!

I was really excited to play along, right until I put the pink dye on... then, I had one of those "what on earth are you thinking?" moments... I have those a lot. but, by that point there was no turning back.
I think the bathroom took more of a beating than my hair - there is still pink everywhere. When Kristen warned that it was powerful; well, let's just say hopefully the next occupants of our apartment like pink, and I will NEVER question Kristen again!

The streak is actually pretty well hidden - with only a glimpse of pink every now and then. Which is probably for the best, I was a little worried what kind of backlash I would get at church since I am supposed to be an "example" for the young women (young woman rather, but that's a whole other drama)...

When I emailed David a picture, he had two questions:
1 - is it permanent?
2 - did you do it to Lexi?

Yes, permanent. And, come on give me some credit - since when would I torture my daughter simply to play with her hair?
Besides, I have a feeling blue is more her color...

never again

Last weekend, David and I had the brilliant plan of going to the drive-in movie theater. We didn't want to hassle with getting a babysitter. Just as easily as Lex could sleep in her crib, she could sleep in the car while we watch movies... right...

?!?! WRONG ?!?!

We were pretty enthusiastic about our genius idea. David gets to see 2 movies he actually wants to see (Harry Potter and Transformers 2). I don't have to worry about paying full price for 2 movies. And, Lexi gets to spend time with us rather than home alone with a sitter. Everybody WINS.

So, the master plan was to have Lex all ready for bed and right as the first movies starts, put her in her car seat and hand her the ba ba. Everything was going very smoothly and exactly according to plan, until the first movie started and we tried to put her in her seat... She wanted nothing to do with her car seat and after she finished her bottle on my lap, she wanted nothing to do with sleeping.
Her ideas for the evening turned out to be radically different than ours. If she wasn't screaming because we were rocking her in attempts to get her to sleep, she was flashing the brights on and off, playing with the radio volume or switching the radio stations completely, or screaming "no no no!" as I forced her little fists out of the doughnuts.

I can honestly say that I have no idea what happened in Harry Potter. And, don't recall anything about transformers aside from the last hour - when Lexi finally zonked off into an unconscious oblivion. 12:30AM ... both David and I were exhausted, so I can't blame her one bit for falling asleep.

Throughout the entire experience the only coherent thought I had was, "why on earth did I NOT add the benadryl to her bottle?!?" You can be sure that I will not make that mistake again... And, by mistake I am certainly not talking about only the omission from the bottle... we're talking the whole very memorable event!

don't worry, she made up for it the next day.

variations

here are a couple of variations for the sourdough bread...

sourdough w/ Kalamata olives... SO good if you love salt as much as I do!


sourdough w/ Asaigo cheese... doesn't look much different, but oh man!


or, a third option my sister.in.law thought of is homemade croutons... works great for those times when the bread goes stale before it gets eaten.

SO MANY options - so little time to eat!

bye bye

Our family is once again back to normal, but I knew we were in trouble when Lex wandered out of her room this morning and the first thing she said was, "cat! cat!".