Ojai

Last week the girls and I went with my dad to Ojai for some R & R. (Ojai is 30 min from Santa Barbara). I found a steal on an incredible resort.... so we jumped on the opportunity.

We spent an afternoon on the beach searching for shells, making sandcastles...

Flying kites...

Playing...

This is the resort- it was A-M-A-Z-I-N-G. When we got to the room they had cookies and milk for the girls... a stuffed horse and toys for Emilie? 3 pools, organic gardens, soccer fields, full golf course, spa, gorgeous views... it was nice to spend 3 days where the rich and famous live.

some of the organic gardens...

"meditation" tables....

a very happy girl

And another one...

We ate breakfast on the backside patio every morning facing the southern california foothills... it was relaxing to say the least...

Swimming with grandpa!

Hanging out at the Santa Barbara Zoo. The anteater was our favorite!


Love vacations!

(and- we picked up our furniture!! We ordered it from a place in So Cal b/c some friends of ours let us in on the secret to some cheap furniture. Overall, I am really happy with it- of course it's not perfect, but I can't complain b/c of how cheap it was...)

Mother's Day

I woke up, and this is what I saw:

Very very adorable!

And this is what they fed me in the morning. Ohhh yum.

Then my favorite dinner later on....

What a wonderful mother's day!

It's that time again...

for amusement parks! With two family season passes to two parks by our house and the museum, I think we are set for the summer. So far, I think we've gone to one of these each week, and I don't get burned out... well, except for one caveat:

Crowds. We usually go during the week when most of the world is working (yes, a very nice blessing), but for some reason we went today, a Saturday. What were we thinking? I guess we wanted to be reminded that too much of humanity is a bad thing... especially when you add waiting in lines for rides 1) with kids, 2) pushy parents and 3) the hot sun. But, I did get some good shots of the kids b/c Steve was with me. And, we went for pizza and yogurt afterward, which is pretty much the best day ever.








A random shot of the kids playing in water last week- I bought this adorable table last year that you can put sand/water in... but after a month or so, we realized that the sand wasn't so adorable when found all over the floor, crib, bed, shoes, clothes, kitchen.... so out went the sand... and now it's just a water box.

emerging from the cacoon

Do you ever feel like not blogging anymore? I guess that's what has been happening to me- no desire. But, I was reminded yesterday of the beauty of updating for posterity.... so here is my try at getting better !!

Weather for the past month: rain, no sun, rain, sun, hot, no really cold... you get my drift. So, we have been trying to enjoy it with our swimsuits, our coats or whatever falls in between.

The day we went outside when it was raining and played with bubbles and then took a photo on the porch:

The couple of days that it was really hot- and I drove to Toys R Us to get a pool, and it wasn't in yet... so we took out some Sterilite containers and they loved it..







For Easter weekend, we played it really low key and spent time with Steve's mom who flew into town. Our amazingly nice neighbor dropped off some Easter dresses which of course they wanted to try on.... and they were pretty cute:


Easter Egg #2 wasn't so happy, but we got her in the photo...



Aside from normal life, we "redid" the front of our house. Since this infamous house is basically the black hole of anything that resembles money, we have had to do stuff in stages.

Finally, we reached the stage of our walkway, our porch and some plants... just in time too. We got a ticket from the city that our weeds were getting too long?! Just can't get over that one.







I haven't taken a photo of it done! Ah! But- it's 9:30 pm, and you wouldn't see much! It's great. We love it. Now, for the column, painting, the master bath.... and so the list continues.

My excuse: germs

As we all know, kids = germs. Usually, we are pretty healthy, but for some reason (probably because we have 2 kids now), we have bit hit pretty hard by colds and flu.

While Steve was in
Berlin, and I was alone with the kids... Emilie got the flu, then Maddie got the flu, and then I got the flu. It was awesome. A week that I will quickly try to erase from my memory! Nothing was sweeter than the sound of the front door opening when Steve got home...

And- it was perfect timing. I just felt awful. I went in to see the doctor, and was sent home with the typical bronchitis diagnosis. But, the next day, I just felt like it wasn't bronchitis... so went to see another doctor. The new doctor looked again at my x-rays, took some more, and shyly said... "uh, you have pneumonia, not bronchitis. You were misdiagnosed."

When Steve was in business school, he learned about a study on overconfidence. Apparently, Harvard MBA's and doctors are so overconfident, that they are more likely to be wrong than right most of the time. And, doctors misdiagnose pneumonia about 90% of the time.

Seems intellectually interesting when you're in class, but when you're lying in your death bed... it's not so funny.
My first doctor forgot to check my side x-ray that showed all of the pneumonia (which couldn't be seen from the front view because it was blocked by my heart).

Key point: don't always trust what people tell you (especially doctors and Harvard MBA's!!!). Always ask questions and trust your instincts.

So, anyway... our new favorite place is YOGURTLAND!!!

If you are a lover of tart yogurt, or sweet yogurt, or sugar or anything delicious (!!) .... this is your place. I LOVE IT. I think I've been to it 1-2 x each week for the past month.


You serve yourself... you serve the yogurt... and the treats. The only dangerous thing about this is obvious, but I keep going back for more because it is soooo good and only 108 calories and 0 grams of fat per 1/2 cup of yogurt!!!!

Truly heaven in a cup.

School of Hard Knocks

Yesterday was Maddie's first swim lesson. Maddie has loved water ever since she was a baby and has had no fear... until now. This was the progression:

Strutting her stuff.

Feeling in the groove.

Warm'n up.

Utter panic and fear.

More fear and horror.

Cute rear shot.

I wish I could say that it ended on a happy note, but no, I think she cried for 28 minutes straight. Of course, I felt bad for her, but I have a feeling tomorrow is going to be a better day.

Birthday Celebrations

To be honest, it seems that January has been a heavy one for many around me... I haven't been in that good of spirits. But, these experiences magnify my blessings like nothing else.

I am very greatful for my family. Words can't seem to express it well enough. Steve and Emilie had back to back birthdays, and I love these photos.

The happy girl: her smile is contagious. I can't believe that she is as smiley as she is. (she also has other swings too... i guess we have passionate genes):








We recently watched "Up" and Maddie put together a little house, and started walking it around with a balloon. So hilarious.

Steve's birthday! Yes, he's old! (Wink Wink). That means I'm getting old too...

Maddie copying me with her camera.

Every year starting 3 years ago, we decided eclairs were our favorite birthday treat.... so here they are! They are the best thing ever... I think I could eat all of these in 6 minutes.