Father's Day 2012

Another Father's Day, another hike up to our pancake breakfast with our core group of friends - I love this tradition.

Bike Race

Team Wiggers

Our third annual bike race, and this year Marieke got to take part.  Before the race, she alternated between being really excited and really confused.  We weren't really sure what she was going to do once the race started.  Luckily she was in the 3rd "heat" of the 4 and under racers, so she was able to get a sense of what was going on.  She zoomed out of the start on her little balance bike & did great.  Especially cute was when we saw & heard Lukas cheering for her - she totally lit up.




Start of Marieke's race

And she's off!

Still made time to smile for her adoring fans

Lukas, of course, is a pro by now.  Totally confident & did great.

This was the most "normal" shot I could get of them on the medal stand.  Lukas had to do his en garde fencing pose & Marieke had to be a surfer girl.......

Goodbye Big Red!

We've been in denial for some time. Big Red has always been much bigger than our other 3 chickens. Big Red has a much bigger comb than our other 3 chickens. Even when Big Red sprouted fancy green feathers in his tail, we consulted internet photos & decided that he/she could still be a hen. But on a beautiful sunny morning last week at about 6:30am, we just couldn't ignore the LOUD "cock-a-doodle-doo" from our backyard.

The next morning Big Red must have really been proud of his new skill as he crowed LOUDLY about 20 times. Now while I know that hens are allowed in Belmont, I'm not 100% sure that our chicken coop meets all regulations regarding distance from property line, etc. and I don't want to find out. I ran outside in my PJS, waving a broom at Big Red, trying to get him to shut up. No luck. Lukas comes out, hands me some lettuce & says "maybe this will work". Um. yes. Big Red happily & quietly started pecking at the lettuce. Much more effective than a crazy lady waving a broom around. So Big Red had to go. Marieke & I brought him back to the farm store in Half Moon Bay where we got him (where the chicks are supposedly 96% hens). He'll go to a farm (or a farmer's plate.) I was actually quite sad dropping him off & a bit depressed that day - he was a great, friendly chicken for us. I'll miss him. And now Rob (who picked him out) doesn't have a shot at the "first egg" contest.......
Marieke says good bye to Big Red in his new temporary home.

Chickens!

Chicks poop often & a lot. I was really looking forward to the day that the chicks were old enough to leave the warmth of our house & head outside to their coop. Of course, we had to build the coop first.....




Lukas & Marieke eating snacks while on "chick watching duty"


Lukas tries out the chicken ramp.

Our cats test the security of the coop within the first few minutes.....

Our chickens are "free-range-when-we-can-find-the-cats-and-put-them-inside chickens"


Coolest farmer boy

Cutest farmer girl (we actually call her the "chicken whisperer" since she can catch the chickens sooooo calmly & easily)

St. Patrick's Day

Lukas shows off his homemade Playmobil decoy.

Lukas' most exciting holiday is now over - I swear he'll be more bummed to learn there's no leprechauns over there's no Santa. He gets soooo involved in designing and building leprechaun traps and planning the wishes he'll get when he catches one.  He has been designing his trap for weeks and tested out his assembly last night. This year the trap designs included decoys, alarms and even harmless electric shock walls to prevent escape (yes, engineer Rob was a contributor to that one!).Unfortunately (or I see it as fortunately), he had to abandon that idea since the shock proved too powerful.   Lukas said he was 99% certain that he'd catch a leprechaun this year. 

He was up at 5:30 am to check the traps.  Alas, we once again caught the leprechauns, but they once again managed to escape before we could find them.   Lukas was SERIOUSLY bummed.  We have to downplay it a lot more next year - his expectations are just getting too high.   Luckily, all the leprechaun mischief/silliness, Marieke's excitement & an all-green breakfast were able to slightly lift his spirits.

Yosemite

A great deal came across for Evergreen Lodge in Yosemite - a place that I've been wanting to check out.   Lukas had an extra day off for teacher conference so our extended wkd was booked.  Although it was only March, we totally lucked out on the weather - beautiful & warm.  And of course, no crowds at that time of year.  Perfect.

It has been years since I've been to Yosemite - before Lukas was born.  So it was fun to redo all the "main" sights & show them all to Lukas (and Marieke) as well as do the popular hike up to Bridalveil Falls. 

Lukas spent lots of time taking his own pics on our "old" camera.

And I got practice on my new camera

One day we checked out the Hetchy Hetchy Reservoir which I've never seen before. 

Rob risks our daughter's life above the dam (not really ;-)



 

 

The lodge was great - totally kid friendly.  Our cabin had baskets filled with games and kid books.  The lodge had a game room with pool table, foosball, and huge toddler play area, ping pong tables, etc.   And there were a couple cool playgrounds with climbing structures, nests, swings, and tepees made out of natural materials.  At night they had a roaring fire with all the smore fixins provided.  On another night, they had t-shirts for kids to tie-dye.  We actually spent a fair amount of our weekend just hanging out at the lodge and the rec areas.   I was a little worried since our cabin didn't have any cooking facilities - you have to eat all your meals at their cafe/restaurant.  But the food turned out to be really good (and reasonably priced) so that ended up as a hassle free bonus.

 

A lot of patience required to play ping pong with Marieke

What a 2 year old learns from her big brother......