Too Much of a Good Thing

With as much zucchini bread as I make for my family (it is a favorite here), who would think that I would get totally burnt out on baking it.

I did.

You see, my Aunt Ginger's neighbor grows a garden and they gave her some zucchini out of it. They were kind of massive zucchini so Ginger gave one to me in the hopes that I could do something with it.

Check this puppy out! It was totally gynormous!

When shredded it totally filled up the 9 cup capacity of my food processor which translates to 6 loaves of zucchini bread. I was baking that bread for hours yesterday!

Three loaves went into the deep freezer, one was eaten, one is out for this weeks consumption and one went to a neighbor. Maybe I should be happy my zucchini plant turned out to be a cucumber plant.

O How My Garden Grows

In Spring as soon as the weather started warming up, I had a bug to plant a garden. Not sure why, but I just HAD to have one. I had a raised garden bed box built and I carried 10 bags of dirt down there myself and guilted others into carrying another 6. It didn't fill up the box, but I honestly didn't care. (My yard is huge and you can't easily get to the bottom level with any kind of wheeled device.)

I ran to Lowe's and bought several different plants to stick in my half filled garden box. I planted a tomato, three strawberry, six cauliflower, one cantelope and one cucumber (I thought it was a zucchini). I wasn't sure if anything would actually grow since I have heard tons of stories about how you just can't have a garden in Bend without a greenhouse. I figured this was my experiment so we would see what happened.

Well, things kind of exploded. My strawberry plants had a ton of little berries on them, but the birds ate most of them. That's ok, I'm willing to share. My cauliflower are huge, but I don't see a head of cauliflower anywhere. My tomato plant grew so big that it now covers most of the planter box. And the zucchini plant that I thought I planted turned out to be a cucumber plant and I found three huge cucumbers down there today.

That tomato plant alone has about 50 little and large tomatos on it that are in various stages of growth. There is one that is just a few days from total ripe so I can put it on Katya's sandwich for the first day of school next week.

Now I need to fill in the rest of the dirt that needs to be there and I will plan out my garden a little better next year. I'm thinking I need to spread things out a bit more. Next year - heirloom corn!!

Monterey Aquarium

When I was downloading the pictures from my camera of our trip to the airshow I found I had over 300 pictures on my camera! They went all the way back to Father's Day. Evidently I am really far behind in my picture posting. I will try and make ammends.

As you all were aware, we did a 24 hour stop over in Monterey to basically just go to the aquarium. I had wanted to go forever, so this was my chance to check it out. It was more like a hit and run, but we did all enjoy our brief time at the aquarium.

Family Shot in Front

Alexis and Bob looking at the cool jellyfish

Toddler wrestling - now THAT should be an Olympic sport

Katya being her normal goofy self

Madras Air Show

I am a woman who likes a good airshow.

My mom used to take my brother and I to the Miramar Air Show in San Diego on a fairly regular basis. It is massive. We would park way out and trudge our way in, roast under the always hot sun and have the BEST time looking at all the airplanes classic to stealth fighter and the airshow was always something to oooh and aaah about.

I had taken Katya several times myself, only I bought the VIP tickets through Qualcomm so we parked on the tarmack and were served food in a covered tent. Ahhh, those luxuries I used to enjoy.

Well, now that I am a full blown Oregonian we decided to go to the Madras Air Show. I had seen the signs on my many walks around Bend and we put it on the calendar. My hubby, having a pilot's license, always wants to go to an airshow.

It was so much like when I was little. We had to park way the heck out, we roasted in the hot sun and enjoyed some nice aircraft. There was also a really nice small classic car show at the same time. The airshow itself was really awesome! A cool sailplane demo, a fly over by some military jets (I miss the sound of afterburners for some reason), some insane guy from Canada that was doing all kinds of crazy stuff.... way cool. We had to leave early because we were WAY past naptime, but it was worth it. Logan never really noticed that there were planes in the air - but Alexis did!

All in all - a way cool airshow! If you are a local, I suggest you check it out next year. It is only $5 a person for a full days worth of fun (kids 12 and under are free).

Frosh Team

Well, Katya made a team! Last night at the end of tryouts it was announced that she made the Freshman Volleyball team for Summit. She couldn't be happier. The other girls that made the team she has played with either on the Cascade teams or with OVA. She likes all of them and knows they are really committed to be the best in the state. She even made a new friend that moved up here from Cali.

She told me that 22 incoming freshman tried out and only 11 made they team so she was really happy. The level of excellence among all the players through Varsity is awesome and she can't wait to get even better. She is looking forward to going through the high school years with these girls as her teammates. It is also an added bonus that even before school starts she has some good friends and a new friend.

Last night immediately following the v-ball tryouts was something at Summit called "Gym Jam". It is a really clever idea by the high school to get kids involved in their high school years before they start the first day of school. All incoming freshman were invited to stay for 12 hours overnight at the high school and plan Homecoming. Isn't that awesome! They had pizza and junk food, watched movies, played silly games ... the athletes were invited to sleep in different rooms so they could actually get some sleep before their practices this morning.

So far it is looking like Katya's high school years are getting off to a stellar start and I couldn't be happier.

V-Ball Tryouts

It seems like Katya's whole summer has been in preparation for this week.

As soon as we got home from San Diego Katya started training. She actually would ride her bike down to Farewell Bend Park three times a week and run with the high school Cross Country Team during their training runs. Evidently the X-Country coach is bummed she is a volleyball player because she has a knack for long distance running. (Just like her mom - sniff-)

She has also been attending every volleyball conditioning and open gym that she could attend as well as doing a variety of exercise tapes at home. Add into that all of the bike riding she has been doing because of her summer volunteering at the Art Station, she has been getting some serious exercise. I figured with the bike riding alone she has ridden about 35 miles last week. Then there is all the volleyball we have been watching from the Olympic games. Beach v-ball, team indoor v-ball, men's and women's. She is listening to what the commentators are saying for their errors and trying to soak up what she needs to be great.

Well, this past Monday was the start of the high school V-Ball tryouts. High school is hard core! The tryouts are all week from 10-1pm for conditioning and fitness testing and then volleyball games are 6-8pm at night. Obviously, all of that intense exercise has done nothing but help Katya. She aced her mile by doing it at an easy 7 minutes. Her vertical jump is 15 inches. She did all of the required sit-ups in the 1 minute...etc.

Today is the first round of cuts and she is nervous. Not about being cut - she is too good for that. (This is for the people that couldn't do the minimum fitness requirements for the coach) She is nervous because she wants to make that JV team and not the Freshman team.

Wish her luck! I'll let you know how it all shakes out on Friday.

Animal Encounter

On my walk Saturday morning, I had a very cool little animal encounter.

I've been leaving my house around 5:30am for my training walks. I do that so I can attempt to be home early enough to still spend the day with my family. And since it has been in the 90's lately, I get to walk while it is still cool.

Well, I was about 2 1/2 miles into my walk and the sun was still creeping up slowly when all of a sudden a big deer jumped right in front of me. I'd say less than 5 feet away. Luckily, it was a girl deer and not a boy deer. I don't want to be that close to anything with antlers.

Anyway, she just stood there and stared at me. I stopped dead in my tracks and didn't move a muscle. Then a minute later a little baby jumped behind her and started across the street. She moved to the middle of the street, but kept staring at me. I didn't move. Then, after what seemed like a very long time, another baby zoomed by in front of me and headed across the street.

Mama deer ran to the other side of the street and kept watching me. I figured that I had better move or she would stand there all morning. I was trying to convey to her that being a fellow mother, I had her back and would never dream of hurting her or her babies. But I guess my deer conversation skills need work.

I walked for about twenty feet or so and then I looked back and saw her head pop up over a big bush like "I'm watching you".

Very cool.

Olympic Fever

Olympic fever has hit! Although I missed the opening ceremony last Friday due to very important visiting family from Texas (I am still hoping they re-broadcast at some point), I have been an avid watcher the rest of the weekend. My DVR is filled with hours of Olympic footage. Katya and I are hard core Olympic fans so while Bob cleaned the garage and did other stuff, we had our noses pressed up against the TV in awe of these amazing athletes.

Some of my favorites right now :

- Men's & Women's basketball (how awesome was that game with China against Ming?)
- Men's & Women's swimming (just how many records weren't broken? Go Zimbabwe. Didn't think they would have a swim team for some reason. Silly me.)
- Men's rings (INSANE!!)
- Women's gymnastics (poor USA with all the errors. But they qualified so they can still come back.)
- Women's bicycling (The UK coming in to grab the gold at the last minute!! So exciting.)

Some stuff we watched just because it was the Olympics and we watch everything:

- Women's badmitton. Didn't even know it was an olympic sport.
- Men's boxing. Just because we didn't realize at first that other sports were being broadcast on other stations.

It has been so insanely exciting! I totally support my home team (go USA!) but I can't help but get excited when some little country has an amazing athlete that comes out of nowhere to take a medal. That reminds me, I need to print out a world flag chart. I don't recognize all of them anymore!

The Love is Gone

I'm talking toddler love here.

When we first came home from San Diego, the little ones were nothing but love, love and more love. They were so sweet to everyone it was hysterical. They missed being home.

- Constant kisses and hugs
- Lots of spontaneous snuggling
- Holding your cheeks so that they could gaze lovingly into your eyes before they kissed you again
- They would take turns kissing each other
- They would randomly hug each other and lay side by side

Well, those days are gone. It was a really nice little experience while it lasted. They are back to their same little selves again.

- Taking each other's toys
- Fighting over each other's food or vitamins
- Lots of pushing
- Occasional kicking or tripping
- Head locks instead of hugs
- Full contact diaper changes
- Lots of crying, complaining and general whininess.

Man, I hope I can figure out how to bring the love back without having to drive so much. Any suggestions?

OUCH!

The Breast Cancer 3-Day walk is coming up fast and I have been preparing by walking and walking. The three week break in San Diego is a hard thing to recover from, but I am trying.

Well, I am hitting the long mileage walks at this point. I should be up to 17 miles according to the charts they send me every week, but I have only done 15 miles so far.

I try, but I physically can't. Why? I have horrid feet. I literally can't take another step after one of those walks.

Granted, I have had awful feet my whole life. My feet are extremely thin and narrow with tiny narrow heels. Throw in something called nueromas - that are little tumors or growths that wrap themselves around the nerves inbetween your toes and can cause awful pain - and your feet hurt all the time. I had them cut out of my right foot before Katya was born, but they grew back. Three months on crutches just to have them come back.

I went to the foot doctor yesterday for the first time in 14 years and he checked out my feet and suggested cortisone and alcohol shots to try and shrink the nueromas and kill the nerve. He also said that my heels have inflamed tendons which is why they hurt so much. I start P/T for that today. I had the shots in my feet yesterday.

OUCH

But, I guess after shots every 10 days until the walk should help me to be able to finish it. At this point I am game for anything.

I am also going to invest in some new shoes that he recommends from a brand called Brooks. We'll see if those are any better than the Mizundos or other brands that I have in the closet.

Returning Home

I'm back! And I do apologize for the extended hiatus on my blog. I don't think I have ever gone so long without posting since I started it.

Well, it has been a crazy past few weeks. The drive to San Diego was, as you are aware, long. Not something to be repeated for at least a few years. However, I did finally get to see the Monterey Aquarium after thirty-someodd years of wanting to go. It really is quite amazing.

I didn't get to do as much visiting with people as I would have liked while in San Diego, but that is always the case. However, we did get all of Katya's school clothes while we were there. True, it kills me to spend money on sales tax, but she will look quite wonderful for her freshman year of high school.

And no trip to San Diego is complete without the kids getting sick. Not sure why, but they both caught some kind of cold that left them with a nasty cough. And the day I was taking them to the doctor, they woke up from a four hour nap looking and sounding better. Then I caught it. Of course. Luckily my doctor in San Diego is the BEST and he saw me the day before we left and loaded me up with an all better shot, antibiotics, two different nasal sprays and an inhaler. I managed to get a nice upper respiratory, sinus and ear infection. Good times.

The trip home was great! We left my mom's house at 5:30am and headed north up the I-5 and even with some meal and stretch our leg stops we made it to Redding at 5pm. (Books on tape baby! What a difference. We listened to Executive Priviledge.) I splurged for a nice hotel because I was dying by that time. The next morning we left at 9am and got home by 1:30. I couldn't believe how well the babies acted. Minimal fighting, minimal crying. What a relief!

Although I am still in the process of putting everything back to where it belongs in my house (for some reason the unpacking sparked a wave of Spring Cleaning) things are returning to normal. Somewhat.

On the drive back, I spent some time making a mental list of places in California that I would still like to take the kids when they get a bit older. And get an attention span.

- Hearst Castle: Haven't been there since my Mom took me when I was 10.
- The Giant Redwoods
- More time at Monterey
- The Getty Museum: My mom reminded me of this one.
- Malibu
- San Francisco
- The San Diego Zoo & Wild Animal Park (when they finally notice the animals)
- Lego Land (I didn't have a reason to go before)