Its Not Dead Yet!

(Er, the blog I mean... sorry 'bout the last 9 months...)

So we got to do a house swap with our renters in Tahoe this past weekend, and got to be reminded just how much we love the place...

There were scenic but kiddo-able hikes:


Boulders to attempt to budge:


Snowballs to throw in Lake Angela:


Snowballs to throw at Dad:


And Tank Boy's first mini-golf!


Not pictured is: poor Tank falling in the pond at Monika's going away party, countless hours of kiddo fun at the Smi-bach residence, a blissful hour beside Lake Tahoe, double Wild Cherries helpings of quiche, TWO trips to the Woah Nellie Deli, and quality family time reading aloud in the car. Happy summer folks, hope you're getting yours!

One Of The Reasons That I Enjoy An Occasional Costco Trip

The cute little head banging part just kills me!

Let Me Count The Ways!

Oh county fair, how I love thee...





Way to go Hubsand! First place Children's Portrait and some other crazy rainbow Special Award thingy too!

That there is that wacky sweater that I done-did knit, with all kinds-a crazy rainbow colored ribbons on it too! You could have knocked me over with a feather! And the Tarnay's clean up at this year's county fair! I ask you, what is not to love?

Glossy Highlights

So we have friends visiting from Spain, along with their two kids, and Tank Boy is in seventh heaven!

He is also quite pleased with his NEW SOCCER UNIFORM, because evidently my son is already on his first team!

There has been much romping about the park, Strider Bike riding, and river splashing. That is until about four days ago, when it abruptly went from summer to fall in one night!


And you know what fall means to those who get a weekly veggie box?

FIGS! Yumm!

These Are A Few Of My Favorite Things

Last weekend the Hubsand and I got a surprise weekend away in Tahoe without the tot! Auntie Rena and Grampa teamed up to give us a weekend out of town. So we hotfooted it over to Lake Tahoe to revisit our youth. And by that I mean we went mountain biking. Together. Whee! We hit up Stanford Rocks and my former back yard ride Hole in the Ground. The biking was awesome, the camping was lovely, and we ran into tons of great folks from the old days. (Especially nice when I broke my chain and realized I'd forgotten the chain tool!) As a matter of fact, the whole thing was so great, I spent the next week wondering why the heck I'm not still living there. But then again, Yosemite is pretty dang awesome too...

So the point of this story is that while Mom and Pop were out of town Tank Boy got to go to Merced with his Auntie and see "Despicable Me" in 3D. He really loved the glasses, and they're flattering on him, no?


And speaking of awesome Yosemite, the YosGirlz did Cathedral Peak this last Friday. My camera these days is a bit bulky, so it did not come out at any awkward times during the climb (almost all of it) but I did get in a few snappies. There is a ginormous ledge before the last pitch of the climb, so Publina graciously got a shot of Vicki and I getting the gear organized.


We were a group of five total, but split into two groups for the actual climbing. From the top you could see three alpine lakes, Bud, Cathedral and one more. Here's two of our party chillin' (literally, it was chilly!) partway down the hike off the back side, with Bud Lake in the background.


From the same spot looking the other way you could see Eichorn and Cathedral Lake as well.


I have no pics of the actual climbing, but it was so lovely. There are innumerable ways to go, most of them fairly mellow. I got to pick what looked fun and then head off! The classic chimney pitch in the middle was a highlight of the day, a tiny bit exciting, but ultimately doable and very well protected. So. Much. Fun.

That evening we had a campsite reserved in Tuolomne Meadows and the Hubsand and Tank Tot got to join us. Being high elevation, its pretty cold at night and in the morning. But there's no need to freeze when you can wear what amounts to a sleeping bag around camp.


We rounded out this weekend with Saturday at Tenaya Lake, reading books and dipping gingerly into the water. (Oddly enough the water was warmer than the air, but the breeze was so brisk that swimming was kept to a bare minimum!) It was achingly beautiful, and the perfect family time counter point to the previous day's Girlz activities. And you'll never guess what we did on Sunday... actually got the towel racks up in the guest bathroom! Photos soon!

You Can't See The Pain In Photos!

Tank Boy was walking around with his shirt like this:

And promptly walked into a chair and gave himself a right-eye shiner:

Which of course never looks noticeable in photos, but the clerk at the market could sure tell. Hubsand thinks its hilarious to pretend that he knocked him around. Yours truly, the old stick in the mud, does not find the humor in this...

But what I do think is funny is the whole goofy shoe thing... Yup, I tried them, but see that pinky toe there that is about a half an inch shorter than the other toes? Mine aren't. I lasted about 15 minutes. Back to Amazon with you, you pinky torturers!

Damn Gnomes

Yes I finally found my card-plug-in-reader dohickey! I swear I looked there a million times, so the gnomes must have tired of messin' with my mind and finally returned it to my dresser.

But alas, now I'm looking at the pictures and they are sadly out of date:


Sunny the Sunflower here has grown at least another 10 inches! Yay! He still has that odd hitch in his giddyup there, but is actually budding for what might be a real live flower! Go Sunny!


And the Hubsand's handknit sweater sleeves have actually grown from this size by a significant number of inches as well. Go Suzie! (They also might have an odd hitch in their giddyup too, but I'll just ignore that for now and blithely knit on...)

And speaking of giddying up...


...despite the fact that my precious wee one here has a distended bowel that is pressing on his bladder, decreasing his bladder capacity to half its normal size, and now has to be on laxatives for the next four months, he's been displaying his normal aptitude for new sporting events.

So Frackin' Wholesome!

At one of Tank Boy's potluck preschool classes we planted sunflower seeds, and much to our surprise they actually sprouted!

We haven't had the best of luck once seeds get past the sprout stage, so I decided it would be best to snap some photographic proof while the snapping was good... And yes, I have named them Sunny and Share (get it get it? Sonny n Cher?), 'cause who wouldn't!? (Note: Share is the one missing her two bottom ribs...)

For Mother's Day weekend, I got what all girls want, shelves on which to organize our crafty crap!

Previously this closet was a teetering pile of storage bins that had recently given me quite a thump on the noggin during implement retrieval. The Hubsand was tired of worrying for my life when I went to craft, and took it upon himself to find a structural solution. I'm pretty stoked, all my goodies at arms reach, with no threat to life or limb!

In fact the craft room was so organized that I had to take a few minutes and craft some knitting stitch markers just for myself...
Ooo, pretty pretty beads...

With last week's video of superball madness, I couldn't figure out how to squeeze this in, but aside from running up and down the stairs a half million times, Tank Boy also went on his first REAL mountain bike ride as well.

He did end up "over the bars" once, but hopped right back on and finished the ride with a wee fat lip! I couldn't be more proud!

That's all I got, so we'll be moving on...bye!

Bounceapalooza!

What's good clean fun for the whole family, rain or shine?

A basket full of superballs and a flight of stairs!

Hey Shel, I Think I'm a Housewife...

Thanks to my dad, I did finally locate the camera, and now will proceed to update you with pictures that are perhaps a month old! Long live the internet for the up-to-date... uh... updates!

Here is Tank Boy competing in his first official ski race! He was a bit unclear on the concept, but I'm super proud regardless! (Blue flags, we're trying to go around the blue flags!)

Here he is after the race, super happy and snuggly!

And here he is about four minutes later, completely konked out (for almost 2 hours!) in the noisiest restaurant/hallway imaginable!


Now moving on to slightly more recent events, The Tank has rediscovered the joy of interlocking blocks. I know I'm his mom, but this thing was cool!


And as far as the house goes, we haven't completed any of those pesky little remaining tasks (towel racks, we don't need no stinkin' towel racks!) but we did gather up all the remaining (live) houseplants and style ourselves a little atrium. It is a wee slice of heaven indoors...


May the sun shine into your garden a little this week as well!

Piggies and Their Blankets

Hmmm, still working getting video up (edited: video is up!) on that last post. But in the mean time...

TODDLERSOCKS!


I swear this is not a wee torture device, just a sock in progress. Immediately following this photo/sizing test, the torturee himself grabbed one knitting needle, pulled (much to my dismay!), and dropped the stitches off! Eeeek! but fortunately I managed to get it back together and here's the finished pair!



Knitting is fun. Knitting toddlersocks is (are?) fun, fast, and satisfying!

Look Out 2024!

Guess who has a ski coach for a Daddy...



Attempt number two! Did it work?!

Ski Poles Are Good For Many Things!

Look who remembered the camera last week!

Now if only it would stop raining we could head out again! And yes, Lee is getting very flexible using this technique!

All Tank, All The Time

Sweet Jebus, how time has flown! Have you guys seen how big Tank Boy has gotten?

From the feet he looks like he could be a college student...

We've had some setbacks here at CasaHoop, that had me feelin' kinda crummy. The above tankster has decided to un-pottie train himself. We had been fighting it tooth and nail, causing all sorts of domestic strife and despair. But then upon the recommendation of our favorite medical professional, we decided to back off for a bit. We've been looking at any possible medical causes, but so far he seems healthy as a wee stubborn horse. So we might just be buying stock in Pull-ups.

On happier fronts we've been getting out to do lots of stuff. Tankster comes ice skating with me once every week or two, he's getting to be an old pro...



His skiing skills are also improving, necessitating the purchase of the official new goggles... I keep forgetting the camera on the actual hill.

Tune in next time for more toddler trials and tribulations!

Right This Very Minute

It is too bad that the Huzbunkle doesn't want a sweater vest for christmas, 'cause then I might make it on time...

But since he wants a whole actual sweater, those pesky sleeves might put me closer to his February birthday than Christmas morn... But I do have to say that it is begining to look a lot like a sweater these days, a nubbly, cabled, and complex sweater! Yay!

As for our train ride last week, Tank Boy and I had a fabulous time! We made the 6:20 am bus (a small miracle, if you know my preferred sleeping habits!) and then made all three subsequent transfers from bus to train to bus to train! We ended up in my old hometown of Truckee, where a friend picked us up and fixed us dinner while we waited for the Huzbunkle to fly back from a business trip in GA and then drive up from Sacramento. All together the logistics of this trip were akin to an algebra word problem, but it all went surprisingly smoothly in the end. We made it to the work holiday party in Reno, and rubbed elbows and white elephants with the big bosses, despite the fact that I had pretty much lost my voice to the hacking cough that had taken up residence in my torso region.

This weekend we're all considerably healthier and homebody-er! We got our tree up, and some lights on the entry way, and are tackling the two weeks of back laundry! Funny story about the tree though, last night, a mere 8 hours after getting the darn thing up and decorated, it decided to take a swan dive in to the middle of the living room floor. The Huz and I who had been dozing on the couch watching the tube, bolted upright ready for action at the surprisingly loud noise a fully decorated tree makes hitting the hardwood (and the family dog, totally uninjured btw.) An hour and three vacuum passes later we were back in business. Lets hope the bugger stays put this time!

We've got non-stop carols on the sound system, and a ham in the freezer! I loves me some holiday cheer!

Tasty Autumn With A Hint Of Spring

Due to an unusually forceful and prolonged rainstorm here a week or so ago things have, again, taken on the rosy tones of Shangri-La. The fall colors are coloring, but the air is clean, crisp, and dust free. The waterfalls are flowing again and the grass is growing. The past two weekend have been painfully pleasant, that aching sweetness that only fall can conjure.










If you're wondering why this entry is filled with so many fantastic pics, its because they were all taken by the Hubsand. He got a new camera, and is up to his old (and fabulous) tricks!

I'm still working away on the dinosaur/dragon costume, here's the latest addition, scary claw fingerless mitts! (Note the lack of flair in the pic, it was taken by me...)


The Women's Thursday Evening Climbing Club has come to a halt for the season, that pesky darkness just kept interfering. It has, however been moved to the Friday Day Women's Climbing Club for all those who are interested! Last week a gal and I did the (CLASSIC) Nutcracker. I led all 5 pitches (yay me!) and was WORKED by the end of the day! Today is the first day I got out of bed without creaking!

And yet again the world reminds me why I love the savoriest of the seasons. I keep reminding my self to breathe, absorb, and enjoy.