Family

We are quickly becoming a scooter- and bike-obsessed family — in fact, as I write this at 8:00 a.m., the boys are already out riding. They are now venturing several houses up the street, and Finn’s making huge strides with the balance bike. Yesterday Finn took some turns on Ezra’s scooter and I got some cute pictures. We also had another crash (Ezra) and I think it won’t be long before we get them some knee and elbow pads. We probably should have done that already.

The boys got some new wheels today — Ezra a Razor scooter and Finn a Skuut balance bike — and they spent most of the afternoon riding both at home and at the park. Ezra had a couple of minor crashes, and Finn is having some frustration at not being able to go very fast. But I imagine that very soon they’ll both be getting around faster than I would like.

They also like their new helmets. I love that Ezra’s is called Nutcase.

We went to the park at Eagle Rock Rec Center this afternoon. Ezra was happy because he “LOVES” sand parks and “HATES” mulch parks. They had a pretty good time and I took a few pictures.

We had Jerri, Lucy and Charlie up for a Memorial Day barbecue, and Bruce broke out the giant bubbles. This sequence of Ezra popping the bubble from the zip line may be my favorite set of pictures ever. I particularly love #3 where he is enveloped in the bubble!

The kids also had fun “missing” the bubbles. Here Lucy has a very nifty move:

Ezra missed the bubble, too … and thankfully didn’t run into Finn:

And lastly, they hopped in the waterless pool to hide from the giant bubble attack:

After naptime today, we set up the giraffe pool since a) it was ridiculously hot after the drizzly week we had, and b) the boys were itching to try out their new swim vests. I got a couple of good splash pictures:

A little later the Heffs came to save us from the stay-at-home isolation of Potty Training Boot Camp Day 1 and after swimming, mud puddles, sand play, etc., Bruce broke out the paint balloons. I love it when Bruce is home for play dates (and the kids do, too). Four little kids (and one big kid) had a huge paint war.

Ezra gave Lucy a new ‘do:

And in the end, everyone pretty much looked like this:

After showers/baths, we reprised our indoor balloon game from the morning. Instructions: 1) blow up a few balloons, 2) turn on a big fan, 3) let the children loose. Seriously, they go crazy.

And here’s a video I shot of the first round of balloon mayhem.

Other than the 5:30 a.m. wake-up call, I think this was a perfect Saturday.

Despite the fact that the field trip this morning might have been the most stressful three-hours of my entire life, I think it was a hit with the kids. We went to the Arroyo (where Bruce often takes the boys), and the kids discovered the wonders of the casting pond (is it “algae” or “allergy”?) and the surrounding area. Finn and Ezra told everyone about the wild mustard plants, although not everyone believed them. Ezra nearly got left behind when his class went on their hike, and Finn said, “I tired” instantly when we embarked on our hike (which is nothing unusual), so he rode on my shoulders the whole way. In the end, we all survived, no one got lost, and I got a few cute pictures.

We got home from a play date at about 6:30 this evening, and as soon as everyone was out of the car and headed to the front door, our next-door neighbors’ sprinklers came on. My plans for a quick dinner, bath, and reasonable bedtime were thwarted when the boys decided they NEEDED to play in the water. What else could I do but grab the camera?

The final product:

Charlie and Lucy came over with Meg for a play date and dinner yesterday. Here’s a sampling of our dinner conversation.

They could have gone on for hours. I think Lucy’s entry was the best. Seriously cringeworthy.

We went to the Huntington yesterday. Here are my favorite shots.

We had a fun play date at Elizabeth’s this afternoon, and one of the main attractions was their red tunnels. Edie started the spooky madness by standing up with the tunnel over her. Richie and Finn gave it a go, but they’re a little too short for it to work properly (although it was pretty funny to hear Finn yelling, “I’m pooky!”). Ezra was a better match for this game.

And yes, Ezra is standing up straight — Edie, while only two months older, has quite the height advantage!

A couple of friends and I took our kids to Kidspace last week for what turned out to be a fairly disjointed play date. Immediately upon entry, all three families took off in different directions. While it wasn’t as much fun for the moms, the kids all had a good time exploring different parts of the museum. My guys spent some time with the building blocks, the water drum area, and the rope spider web.

And Finn searched for squirrels in the bushes:

This morning, while I was making the living room look like this:

… the boys were making their room look like this:

They were pretending (or as Finn says “pretemming”) to be trash men (thus the “work boots”), and took all of their toys to the dump (aka the area behind Ezra’s bed). I knew they were doing this and despite the fact that it makes me CRAZY, I let it go. Ezra promised they would clean it up. We’ll see how that goes.

We went to the nine-hole mini golf place in South Pasadena for the first time yesterday. I came weighted down with my purse and the diaper bag packed with water and snacks, figuring it could take a while. But it didn’t. The kids had a blast, but not one of them was all that concerned with actually hitting the ball through any of the obstacles and/or into the holes. I think they just wanted to look inside the houses and castle. Finn seemed particularly concerned at each hole that his ball wasn’t going to come out the other side of the obstacle. All in all, it was a very funny 20 minutes of golf.

Make that the Moision/Beck/Lagerspets/Devine/Oklejas/Gottardi BBQ Extravaganza in honor of Jokke and Merja’s visit to California. Yesterday the rest of the Moision+ family came up for the afternoon to meet — or in Bob’s case, get reacquainted with — our international visitors. As a side note, Ezra and Finn are thoroughly enjoying having Jokke and Merja in the house — mainly because they are additional audience members for their “joke” telling. (Finn almost got a knock knock joke right today.)

A good portion of the group:

Bruce made some oobleck (a strange-acting combination of corn starch and water) that captivated children of all ages:

Cottage has a day every year where the kids get to have a special friend or relative come to school for a potluck and some play time. This year we invited Jamma, and since I was working in Finn’s class I was there the whole time as well. Because there are so many families this year with children in both the Rainforest and Mulberry classes, they opened the gates between the big and little yard and combined the two classes. It was a bit chaotic but fun. Here are some pictures of the day and a video (“Hot Butter”) from music time. Check out Finn’s big finish on the drums (well, on the colander).