GOLD not so RUSHed

After a morning of PlayDoh on the deck of the cabin, we headed out to the Yosemite Mountain Sugar Pine Railroad for a ride on a steam train.
On our way back from the train ride, we decided it would be fun for the kids to pan for gold at the little gold panning kiosk at the railroad. Since it was close to lunch time, I asked the gold panning guy if he could do the condensed, child-friendly version of the gold panning lesson. He looked at me like I had just asked a master chef to whip up some Easy Mac & Cheese. He said that the whole process took around 20 minutes, and afterwards, they would really know how to pan for gold. Come on. They are 2, 3, 4 and 5 years old. Granted, in this economy, I can see where it might be helpful to know how to pan for gold. But since I'm not currently considering hiring my kids out as child laborers, I don't think they really need to leave this experience with actual gold panning skills. I felt pretty confident that if the kids just got to stick their hands in the water, shake a pan around a little and leave with a tiny vile of REAL GOLD, we'd all be happy.

After talking the gold panning guy into a 15 minute version of the program, we set the kids up at the makeshift riverbed, and he set forth showing us how to pan for gold. You can see how excited everyone is to get started... This is probably because it took around 5 minutes of explanation before the kids were allowed to dip their hands in the water.
Finally, after the gold panning really got going, the kids' interest peaked as they could see the little flakes of REAL GOLD. Eventually, we left with our goods, and avoided hitting the wall - thanks to the snacks we brought with us for the train ride. If there is one thing I've learned as a Mom...always bring provisions.
We ended the day with Popsicles. Hopefully we will be able to find the little viles of gold somewhere in the cabin, or maybe the kids will forget all about them...yah, that was worth it.

The Great Outdoors

We are having a blast on our vacation in the great outdoors! Incidentally, the movie by the same name was actually filmed right here at Bass Lake.

My husband has been loving the opportunity to use his Jeep (which was recently restored by him - after countless hours).

The boating has been fantastic.

There's been lot of beach time. One of the best thing about this lake, is the water is WARM!!!

...at least most of us were having a good time in the water...

There have been a few rousing games of "Don't Spill the Beans".

And the girls loved choosing a bag full of colored rocks at the local gift shop.

I may even have to dedicate a post to "camper baby", shown in the above picture, being held by Milly.


So far, a good time is being had by all.

My "out of office" post

Thanks for checking out my blog. I'll be on vacation through next week. For urgent request, try my cell phone, but don't expect me to answer...

Seriously though, we are on a much needed family vacation to Bass Lake with my sister's family. It's perfect timing - work has been kicking my a$$, and our construction is nearing completion, so they've been working overtime - the number of people walking in and out of my house has been piling up almost as much as the dust.

I do have an Internet connection here, so I am going to be posting some pictures of all the fun we are having.

Stay tuned...

Impromptu take your daughter to work day

We had our very own "take your daughter to work day" today.

Seesa spent the morning with our sitter, Meaghan at the Bay Area Discovery Museum. Meaghan dropped Seesa off at my office in San Francisco after lunch. I expected to wrap up and leave the office for the day.

Before we left for home, I set her up with a little show (thank you Nick Jr website) at a desk right next to mine that happens to be unoccupied, as my co-worker is on maternity leave, so that I could finish a few emails.

She was having so much fun, that I decided to stick around a little longer.

We got some pretzels from the vending machine, visited the bathroom - complete with a full length mirror perfect for dancing in front of, and opened up a little "unicorn tattoo stand" (the office version of a lemonade stand?) .

She loved looking out the windows (from the 10th floor) at the cars, buses and people down below. She loved saying hello to everyone in the halls and elevators. She wanted to visit all the different areas of the office, and sit in all the chairs.

What a great day.

Although, I'm sure that she now thinks that Mommy gets to watch Dora the Explorer all day at work... if only.

There must be something in the water

Why must there be this many toys in the bath?
Where do they all come from? I swear, they multiply by themselves in there.

Apparently, a bath is no fun without:
4 Diegos, riding various sea animals
1 "other" animal rescuer
7 stacking cups
4 linking turtle cups
2 plastic bowls
5 small frogs
Mommy and baby Penguin
Mommy and baby Whale
Mommy and baby yellow duck
3 different sized whales
2 spinning Nemo fish
2 suction Nemo fish
1 large Nemo fish
3 small Nemo fish
2 spray bottles
2 balls
8 other miscellaneous sea life
at least 2 - usually more - washcloths

...and believe me, this is nothing compared to what I've seen in some of my friend's kid's baths - so I guess I should count myself lucky that my kids can get along with just these items.

The prince and the pea

You know that story about the princess and the pea? Where the princess slept on like 40 mattresses with a pea on the very bottom of the stack, and she could still feel it?

This is my husband.

The other night, my husband went to bed around 10:30pm, and I headed to bed a couple hours later. On my way from the bathroom to the bedroom, I noticed that the lights in our bedroom were still on. I figured he must have stayed up reading or something, but when I walked in, he was sleeping. He heard me come in and woke up. I inquired as to why he was sleeping with every light in the room on - believe me, it was not just a muted bedside lamp, the place was lit up like it was broad daylight. He said that there was a mosquito in the room.

A mosquito.

He claimed it kept buzzing his ear when the lights were off. I asked when he planned to turn off the lights. He said, when I catch the sucker. Ok. So, I took my pillow and blanket, and went out to sleep on the couch. It's not worth arguing.

Genius!

I was pondering the question of blog names, when it came to me. I'll use the names that my kids call each other!

Introducting "Seesa" (the big sister) and "Milly" (the little sister).











Shown here, of course, in disguise... ha ha.

Ok, maybe not genius. But, clever, huh?