Another Adventure

We went to Disneyland on Friday. I haven’t been in four years and things have changed a bit. So, after we parked in the ginormous parking structure, took an elevator and then opted no to taking the tram ride (which would have taken an hour at least because of the line) and instead took a nice 5 minute walk to the park, we entered Disneyland. We took some touristy pictures then headed off for a horse ride on the carousel, soared through the air on Dumbo, chugged up a mountain on the Dumbo train and went really fast on the little rollercoaster in Tune Town. I think Sage enjoyed the rollercoaster the most, since she asked to go on it again and Auntie Holly happily took her : ) We had a wonderful time, and even Aspen seemed to enjoy herself on the carousel and just bopping around in everyone’s arms. Auntie Holly bought Sage a stuffed animal Dumbo and she was, of course, thrilled. Dumbo’s ear got a little dirty in the parking lot as we were leaving so grandma Martha patched it up with a Bandaid. Click here to see more pictures of our adventure!

Worm

Sage and I were playing the other day and she found this worm in the mud. She asked me to pick it up for her. I am not a worm person, but who can say no to such a request? After I picked it up and handed it off to her little hands I hardly ever touched it again. Sage took Worm everywhere. He went on a swing ride with her, sat on her pumpkin, swam in the pool we made for him, and even latched onto her finger. He at one point wanted to crawl on my leg and I had to think of something even better for him to do in order to escape the little guy creeping up my calf! I watched Sage play with this worm for close to 2 hours before I finally hit my worm limit and broke out Rachel Ray’s 30 Minute Meals in attempt to diversify my weekly meals. I hadn’t even made it past one meal preparation and Sage said, “Put that down Mommy.” I guess I needed some more worm time after all.

TIVO Kids

We were watching Little Eisnteins this morning and there was an alligator chasing the characters' ship. Sage got up to run to her bedroom and grab her toy alligator, but midway she ran back and pressed the "pause" button on our TIVO player and said, "Okay, now it's paused," and ran back to her room to get the alligator. This is her new thing lately. If she has to leave the TV show she is watching to get juice or a snack or do whatever it is 2 year-olds do, she has to press that little pause button so as not to miss a thing! Ryan and I do just the same thing ... We sit down to watch an episode of Grey's Anatomy and hunger strikes so we hit the pause buttom, grab a snack, and nestle back into our positions to finish our show. It's just part of our generation. So, I guess this means I am accepting that my daughter knows how to use our TIVO and will probably know how to use it better than me sooner or later.

Vertigo

Yesterday, Kate (Darren's girlfriend) and I rode the zipline at Ojai's Forest Home Youth Camp. I let out a yelp when I jumped off the platform and didn't stop squealing until the ride had come to an end.



I have always enjoyed thrills. But I am starting to think that maybe I am too old for all of these high flying adventures because this morning I woke up this morning and headed to the gym, and during my workout I had to stop and rest because my head was spinning. I had the same symptoms last night while sleeping. Vertigo? A bad food bug? Every mother will tell you that postpartum, she could not go on a swing without getting a queasy stomach. I too have experienced the same symptoms upon getting off of a normal swing ride. But then I started thinking ... we start going on swings when we are young and stop around the age of, what would you say, 10? Then we go to Jr. High and High School, then off to College, then get married have a few kids and 10 years later we become queasy while on the playground swing. I think it's age. Whatever the reason, I hope this sea sickness passes soon. What will I say to Sage when she asks me to ride on Dumbo with her at Disneyland this Friday? Sorry sweetie, Mommy's tummy can't handle it!

Helping Hands

I decided to go on a jog this morning with the girls and our dog. I hadn't quite figured out how I was going to go on a run and be back by 9:30 am, shower, get dressed, dress the girls, pack two diaper bags and be at church by 10am, but I figured it would all work out somehow. Thankfully my step-mom Judy stopped by to drop a few things off just after we returned from our run. She was standing in the door while we were chit chatting, and all the while, I am thinking, wow, it would be so great if she could watch the girls while I took a quick shower. I kept putting off asking her. I didn't want to be a burden. Finally, as I looked around my living room blanketed with toys and Sage bouncing off the couches while Aspen was crying to be picked up I decided, I NEED SOME HELP. I asked Judy, and of course it wasn't any big deal at all. But why is it so hard to ask for help sometimes?

Then while I was in our church service holding Aspen, my good friend Maria asked if she could hold her and put her to sleep since she appeared sleepy. My initial thought was, "No, Aspen is heavy and your arms will get tired and you won't be able to enjoy the service, etc." Again I found myself struggling with this help issue, except for in this case I was pushing the help away, fearing I might burden someone else.

And then there was my dad the other night at dinner who practically yelled at me to sit down when I started to clear the dishes. Seriously, he had to ask me 5 times to stop clearing the dishes before I finally sat back down.

What is it that keeps us from asking for help? Pride? Is it society telling us that we are weak if we admit that we are needy at times? And how do our seemingly thoughtful responses insult others (me not wanting to burden others, so thoughtful right?)? Maria obviously wanted to help me and should I take that from her? My dad clearly wanted me to just sit and enjoy myself after our dinner was over, and did I disrespect him by not responding when he first told me to sit down? Where is my ability to just say, "Thank You," and move on? I clearly do not have this ability. But here is a start ...

Thank You, Judy, for staying over a few minutes and watching the girls so I could go to church with clean hair.
Thank You, Maria, for swaying Aspen to sleep and holding her during the service so I could fully immerse myself into worship and the group discussion.
Thank You, Dad, for a wonderful dinner.

Here are some pictures of the girls that we took recently. Grandma Judy sent Sage a "thank you" card for going to Pismo with them for 3 days. The letter had hand drawn pictures of their Pismo experiences ... roasting marshmallows, cooking hot dogs, riding in the Caboda, doing the "sand dance." We also took a trip to the Sea Center in Santa Barbara. Sage actually touched a shark and sea star in the petting tanks -- so brave! It took a lot of coaxing for me to even tap (not pet) the sea cucumber ... so slimy! We went to the nearby park for lunch, as you will see Sage sitting on a whale's tale :)

I have kept a journal since my great aunt gave me one for Christmas when I was in the third grade, so I don't know why it took me so long to join the blogging era. Just today Ryan and I joined flickr and then he started doing some amazing things to his blogsite, which got me excited about having my very own blogsite, thus, "My Nursery" was created. I would love to say that I thought of the creative name, but just as Ryan named both Sage & Aspen, he too named my site. And I would also love to take credit for writing the definition of a nursery within the description of this site, but that too was Ryan. Hopefully some of my very own ideas, opinions, passions, trials and joys will show themselves on the faces of these web pages sooner or later.