We got one!

This weekend I did a repeat of my offshore fishing trip, this time with Sean and Mike, two friends from work. We left the harbor around 8pm, and sailed over night, taking turns sleeping and sailing the boat under a full moon. Weather conditions were perfect for sailing, a steady wind all night and all the following day while we fished and sailed home. To catch the tuna you have to find warm offshore waters where they feed, so we sailed a long way, about 60 miles out (copy-paste into Google Maps: 36° 37' N 123° 02' W).

Success!












In addition to fish, we had a Fin whale surface very close to the boat, checking us out.












Also saw about 10 humpback whales, some also very close. In fact, we almost ran into a group of humpbacks--- we had to yell at Mike, who was steering at the time, to turn the boat before we hit one.











All in all a fantastic trip, although it left me pretty exhausted by the time we got home at 10pm after 26 hours at sea.

Behold the Yeti

As elusive, but not quite as hairy, Fiona is having a nap for THE FIRST TIME IN A WEEK!!!!!



Just as we were getting used to the idea of planning things to do in the afternoons. Damn!

Perhaps the fairy princess lifestyle is exhausting. She spent the morning errands in her fairy cape imagining that she was a snow princess. Looked pretty glamorous a the grocery store.

We're still here

We went away and came back again and then sank into our day to day routine hoping that someone else would blog the events of the last couple of weeks but alas the elves aren't working here anymore so I'll do it...

Utah was a great trip despite intestinal distress on my part. We still did a little light hiking and slept in TWO mornings in a row...amazing... and thanks of course to John and Vicki for taking care of fiona and our friends Dan and Justine for getting married so we had the excuse to get away. It was as I mentioned a lovely trip, we floated in the great salt lake, which I recommend but it did involve a few---trillion---flies. It snowed and hailed and there were quite a few rainbows. We both miss the mountains but are also pretty fond of the ocean so what are we to do?

Devon did get to do his offshore sailing trip. 30 miles out to sea to see if there were tuna....not this time but he has aspirations to go again and to go further. I am content to catch halibut at the mile buoy.

Fiona is continuing with her swimming. And recently added a pair of goggles to her collection of stuff. For the longest time she kept her eyes closed even with the goggles on but has finally discovered that you can see things in the water and is a fan of eyes open now. Last week she swam the length of the pool, perhaps 40 feet with a few otter rolls on the way. It is so wonderful to see her learning and enjoying. She is still currently obsessed with horses...NEIGH!!!

I have started to work in the Critical Care Unit at my hospital. A new job that reminds me how much I have to learn. I'm getting the hang of a different routine though and it is a bit less physical than the previous ward I was on, so that is a nice break.

We're looking forward to having Nanna Jane here in a month so that devon and I can go on another trip. This time down the Grand Canyon. Life is crazy but good and we are all happy and healthy and hope you are too.
Love
Louise

Fired up

Tonight we are headed to Pacific Grove to take Fiona to her Grammy and Grampy for the weekend. We will be off in Utah at a wedding for a friend and while we are away Santa Cruz has a bit of a fire problem. Hopefully the house will still be here when we come back. As always we can count on Fiona having a great time with John and Vicki getting to do lots of wonderful things. We of course are looking forward to sleeping in for two mornings in a row.
more later and especially when I have found the camera battery charger...
Love
Louise

With both feet

Fiona now jumps into the pool, over and over and over with glee and tells you about how when she was little (see last post) she used to be scared of jumping in, but now she's not. Time flies.
Sorry for the gap in posts we have been busy with the constant negotiations that life with fiona brings and at night we flop exhausted into bed. Obviously need to budget more time for blogging, but it seems to get left to the end every time.
Will be better.
Love
Louise

July Flies

Lots of work an lots of play has kept us from blogging lately. Since the last post, we had a birthday for Devon. We stopped for a cookie after swimming on the 20th to celebrate. Of course fiona decided that we should make cupcakes too, pink ones and brown ones.

Fiona still spends lots of time wrapping and putting animals to bed, she has horse fever at the moment and mostly gets around on a hobbyhorse. Who knows when this will end. We have a few places the hobby horse can't go: in shops eating establishments, on the deck of the boat (only in the cabin), also not allowed to go to school. It actually is a good thing because I think that I'm carrying her less because riding the horse is so much more fun.

Swimming is still going on mondays and wednesdays. Fiona loves all of it except jumping in...she used to jump in but somehow she's worried about it now. Oh well.

We're looking forward to a trip to Utah in August, and I'm switching around my job to try some different nursing in intensive care. Will keep you posted on how that goes.

Love
Louise

Mum's day off

We had a great weekend this past one, our friend Dina came to town again, so we did all the fun stuff that we never do unless someone is here from out of town. this included a trip to the boardwalk where Fiona got to ride on the ferris wheel for the first time, and had another go of the carousel, which was great because it has horses and anything with a horse right now is better than breathing, better than life, better than anything really. She takes her hobby horse Scarlet (she mispronounces as "scar-lick" which is cute in a grotesque way) all over the place. Anyhow from the top of the ferrris wheel fiona spotted a green plane and really wanted to fly so what's a mum to do...

So after the weekend I just had to make it to tuesday as I had been planning a day in San francisco to see the King Tut exhibit. I had a great time in Golden Gate park and went to the De Young and the Cal Academy. I saw lots of amazing things and walked about unencumbered...I saw parents dealing with emergent toilet stops, tantrums, strollers,and sticky snacks, but I was carefree with a small purse, ate in the museum cafe and for the drive up and back did not play "i spy" or sing children's songs. It was a very relaxing day and I look forward to another one sometime soonish.

Here are some of the things I saw, Couldn't take pictures of King Tut (sorry) something about a curse...

New Lucy (some random chick) standing near old Lucy at the Cal Academy

Big Fruit--De Young

Precolumbian Sun God-De Young

Precolumbian Rain God--De Young

Stelae (name plaque) of a mayan queen (10 feet tall)-De Young

Views from the 9th story of the De Young

The cal academy

Conservatory of flowers--I love that place!

On the rocks

Here is a picture of us at a field site (across the street from Devon's parent's house) for some family science. Fiona was there a couple of years ago. She was much more obliging then. This year she wanted to bring her hobby horse and was fidgety, wanted to go home to play etc etc etc. But it was a beautiful morning, animals were counted and as soon as Devon and John get to analyzing the data and writing it up I'll let you know what they found.
Love
Louise

New Chicks

Here is Luna tolerating the new baby chickens. Fiona is enjoying them and calls the brown one Butterfly and the black one Sunshine. Right now they are living in the porch, when they are a bit bigger they'll get to be outside but for now Luna has to put up with the indignities of having chicks around.
Love
Louise

Back to Summer

Well we're settling back in to life, getting back to work and over our cold, though devon is just digging into his. Fiona is enjoying collecting the cherry plums in the yard and eating them as they fall from the tree and unlike the cherry plum bum we have had trouble with in the past this year's cherry plum dilema is the speed with which they move through her system...thus frantic trips to the toilet ant the occasional extra bath. We look forward to guava season with some trepidation. We hope that y'all are getting at least 5 fruits and veggies a day too.
Love
Louise

El Rio Rapido

The rest of June

Well the month has just ripped bye, the solstice gone, but we have been doing plenty to keep ourselves from sitting near the computer. Devon was off to a meeting in Idaho and so we planned to meet him there. While I was "single parenting" John and Vicki took care of Fiona for a couple of days while I worked. Then Fiona and I caught a movie "UP" which we both recommend...Fiona cried when Kevin hurt his leg and still talks about the scary dogs, so I try to push the happily ever after part to keep her from dwelling on the worrisome things.

We flew on Wednesday the 17th to Boise, Idaho, and Devon met us at the airport. Fiona is still a great traveler. We stayed with our friends Chris and Sky, and their "Baby" Ben, who wasn't yet born the last time we saw them, at their wedding. Now they are expecting another new addition any day. YAY! But, they were brave enough to take on house guests all the same.

We spent the next few days staying in a beautiful Cabin near Crouch, Idaho, in the Payette River system, and did all the things that a 2-year-old, a three-year-old, and a heavily pregnant lady could manage. Delightfully this included whitewater rafting! A wonderful friend, Eric, from CA, and his dog Bodie, happened to be in the area and took ALL of us down the river on his beautiful blue raft. This was the first river trip for both kids (and for Bodie too!) which was a real treat for the four parents who love moving downstream. Devon and Chris also got to do some 'dadyaking'... i.e. whitewater kayaking a few notches below our former glory, but still great fun.

The rest of our time was spent lounging in the pool nearby the cabin, eating, sitting by the campfire, and of course intervening in the MINE MINE MINE MINE MINE arguements that broke out frequently between baby-Ben and Fiona. We also celebrated our 13th wedding anniversary while on our trip (we had spent our 5th anniversary in this same area, way back when). After all of that we headed back to Boise for father's Day and then and Back to Santa Cruz....With a new cold.

So all is good and here are some pictures from the latest adventure.
Love, Louise, Devon, and Fiona

Rafting on the river

Sharing princesses with baby-Ben

Father's Day

The rarely attempted golf cart shuttle

Fiona Paddling

Slept through landing and baggage claim.

Fiona and baby-Ben sharing a rock

PS here are a couple of nice pics from before our trip:

Fiona at the Monterey Bay Aquarium

Fiona sitting downand eating her first beef stroganoff.

Sleeping "baby"

I don't know how much longer I'll get away with taking pictures of my sleeping baby. but there she is. And below, on her way home from the pub. Tipsy parents in charge of a stroller rather than a car.

What Fruit?

Horse Poo

Had we remembered to bring our camera this weekend we would have had pictures of Fiona and Devon on a Downtown date buying shoes for fiona's ever growing feet, their playdate at the park with Zoe (fiona's friend) and her dad John. Their noodles at the chinese place and then the family bike /hike up in Henry Cowell State Park. We went up to the observation tower through redwood forest and sandhill trails. It was quite lovely. Fiona had a little trouble with her aversive reflex to poo as we encountered quite a bit of horespoo on the trail. But it was made up for by seeing six horses and a mule on the path. Fiona is even brave enough to touch them these days.

Life is going pretty well we are planning our summer travel and have hit a point where we have no pending house repairs. The garden is growin we are overwhelmed with too many artichokes, looking forward to tomatos that are growing well, and remembering that summer in santa Cruz is the foggy time.

The parenting is sometimes easier and sometimes harder. Fiona lately is on a "I don't want to sleep" this must be said in a whining voice for the best effect. She still naps heartily some days and fitfully on others so it is hard to give that up. Bedtime when it is light late is a trick too, she wants to go to sleep when it is dark bla bla bla. We are doing our best.

Fiona is still in full nursemaid glory. All day every day she spends much of her time caring for her menagerie of baby animals. We are often chided for talking too loudly lest we wake baby zebra, shelly, otter. etc. At school she has a humpback whale which she claims as hers and when I pick her up is being wrapped in a striped sheet in the play yard. She is still going two days a week, not sure when to switch her up to more but it might be after the summer.

Fiona likes to sing and is usually humming or simging something from school or songs we have taught her. Her latest one is "Country Road" which is pretty sweet coming from her. Almost as lovely as when she belts out " Will the circle be unbroken."

Swimming is going well too. we are starting the second level in June. Fiona is getting commfortable with her head under, jumping in, and learning to keep kicking while she blows bubbles. She loves most of all at the end of class when the kids all get to float.kick/splash about the pool in tubes she calls floaties. Very cute.
Will post some more pictures soon,

Love
Louise

Butterfly

Last night we went downtown to have a treat after dinner. We walked along Pacific Avenue and listened to the buskers. The Great Morgani was out, and a man making balloon animals for kids, as well as a Mariachi band competing with some chanting Hare Krishnas. Fiona commissioned this butterfly from the balloon man, quite an elaborate one and then carried her around. This morning the butterfly came to enjoy Saturday morning in bed with the three of us. Not that we don't love the company but once you're having butterflies you picked up on the street where do you draw the line?
We did get to sleep in to 7:40 so I guess we can't complain.
Love
Louise

Since Mothers Day

Califia as seen from John and Vicki's house.

Fiona Swimming

We've been having too much fun to blog lately, actually sometimes we have just been too damn tired, or busy with life's necessities to bother but we are still here and doing our best to be consistent parents and have a little kid free fun too.

For mothers Day weekend, Fiona stayed with John and Vicki in Pacific grove while We sailed to Monterey and back again. It was a lovely saiil there, with the swell behind us and blue skies. The sail back was into the waves and the wind that leaft the boat and us heaving, soaked, and questioning our judgement. It was a great time though and Califia did really well in heavy weather. Hopefull our next trip will be less intense.

Fiona is into the next level of her swim class and continues to ask to be taken to swimming almost daily. She still just gets to go on Monday and Wednesday mornings as we are such strict parent types.

We are looking forward to a trip to see old friends in Idaho in June. Just a couple of hours on the plane rather than 16 should be easy.

Love
Louise

Birthday Thank You

Well, we kind of failed to take any pictures of the great birthday party we had at the house... about a dozen kids and all their parents for bagels, coffee, cupcakes, and mimosas, lots of playing, a good time was had by all. Packages of birthday prezzies were received from far and wide, including Aunty Ju and Co. and Grandad Ken and Betty. For delayed gratification, Jim and Mary Jo sent a package the long way, but got the perfect gift for Fiona, a "dancing dress" (as she calls all dresses), and we got this video of her enjoying it:



Now we are really enjoying the Spring weather, and have even installed an outdoor shower to make for an awsome summer enjoying the backyard...










Hope y'all are enjoying whatever season you are in.

love, Devon, Louise, and Fiona

Hello Three!!!!!!!!

Fiona woke up this morning and asked as soon as her eyes opened, " Is it my birthday today?" I know this because she was sleeping in our bed again. the first comment was immediately followed by " can I open my presents?" and then a squeal of delight. She was very careful and occasionally frustrated by wrapping paper but managed somehow to avoid a tantrum...and then after everything was open, we told her that there was something in the porch.........a big girl bike! She went for a ride around the block before school and no doubt will put many more miles on this summer.
Happy Birthday to y'all.
Love
Louise

The waning days of two

Things are still interesting here. Fiona has a tantrum every now and again and again, over things like naps, meals, appropriate attire, weeing in "pretend nappies," and walking even if one has a scratch on her finger. but we try to distract ourselves with other things like poultry, a recent trip to the boardwalk (fiona made at least one really good minature golf shot), and the start of swimming lessons.

Fiona was the bravest of "teacher Steve's " (I thought) beginner group. I was so proud to see her in the pool trying out her moves. Will keep you updated as she leaves those boys in the dust.
Love
louise

Fionastan

Well, we have been having a troublesome time parenting lately. Our lovely daughter has taken to barking commands, and throwing tantrums on a frequent basis. We liken this to living with a dictator. Granted sometimes our life is a bit chaotic but REALLY!!!?!!! I'm over it.
I had my first stern lecture with her today. Told her I was CROSS, just like Jack's mum in the beanstalk story... so here's this, one of my biggest worries was "the supermarket tantrum." Today, I had just walked in, and we were choosing fruit at New Leaf, Fiona was a bit of a tyrant to start and then when I tried to get her in the cart because she was grabbing too many things she pitched a fit A SUPERMARKET TANTRUM.It started in with the angry screaming at the top of her lungs, kicking, crying more yelling. I picked her up, put the bananas back on the shelf and carried her out to the car drove home all the while she was blubbering about wanting to go back to the shops bla bla bla. Back home, quick lunch, more lecture and she actually started to say things like "mummy, you weren't cross at the park, I'm on best behaviour now, after I have a sleep I'll be better at the shop, I'm not going to do that another time, etc etc." She was pretty contrite really, which was good to hear. I was and still am pretty grumpy at her but we're going to put a stop to this crap behaviour. It might be a rough week but hopefully we'll come out with a manageable three year old on the other end of it. AAAAAAAAAARGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHH!!!
louise

Katie Fun

Fiona's Fun Friend Katie came to the rescue with some pictures from her last visit... clearly she will do anything to entertain Fiona!!
















Photo by Fiona

April Fools

Well here we are in April, the month of Fiona's birthday (3!), and also her middle namesake, Spring. Weather is gorgeous here as usual, and we've been really busy with fun stuff and a house full of people... more on that in a later post I think. In the meantime, since our camera has died an horrrible death at the hands of the still-2-year-old ("lens error, turn off camera"), I thought I would post an email I just found in my "unsent drafts" folder. I started to write it and never finished after Julie-Ann posted two comments on the "Sleeping Lion" post last fall--- her comments are like the Yin and Yang of parenting: "hang in there, don't take any crap", and "P.S. just give in, it is easier"!!!! I thought that was really funny and wrote:

"We definitely give the little darling plenty of rope, but I think you can't give in once the tantrum has started. For example, Fiona really, really, really cares what color bowl she gets her cereal in in the morning, and that is fine, I give her a choice and she can pick whatever she wants (unless the one she wants is dirty, I'm not washing dishes on command!). BUT, if she picks the red bowl, and I put in the cereal and raisins (while listening to cries of "NOT cranberries, ONLY raisins") and pour the milk and give it to her and THEN she looses her marbles over wanting the blue bowl instead, well, tough cookies kid, go to your room until you are hungry enough to eat out of the red bowl you wanted in the first place."

Thankfully Fiona has mostly moved on from her bowl-color obsession, but sadly has also honed her tantrum and bargaining skill to a razor edge. Enough said.

Hope everyone is enjoying Spring or Fall somewhere!

Devon