Monterey Bay Aquarium

Last weekend, we took a trip down to the Monterey Bay Aquarium. It's about a 90-minute drive for us, which to the kids means they get to watch videos on the way there and back. A win-win in their book - the aquarium and TV in the car! We've had a membership there for years now, so we never feel like we have to see or do anything in particular when we go. This time, that was a good thing since the place was packed. We hadn't seen it like that in a couple of years, mainly because we tend to time our trips for afternoons during the week. This was a Saturday during the summer, reminding us that Monterey is, actually, a tourist town.

The one exhibit we really wanted to see was the newest one to open - The Secret Lives of Seahorses. Our older daughter absolutely loves seahorses - they've fascinated her for as long as we can remember - so we knew that was the one thing we needed to see this trip. It was well worth dealing with the crowds to see. The sheer numbers of seahorses and variety of species they had on display were amazing, including leafy seadragons, which are a particular favorite of mine. There was a video - on a VERY large screen - showing a male seahorse giving birth to babies. Our kids then had to recreate that scene for us, which would have been extremely embarrassing in any other location! Luckily, the people around us just thought it was funny. If you're in the area and have a chance to see this, it's fascinating.

We hadn't planned on staying for the entire afternoon, but the kids were enjoying themselves and were being very good, so we just kept moving from place to place. We finally realized it was dinner time and the aquarium was staying open until 8:00 and offering dinner at the restaurant, so we managed to get a table and eat before leaving. The food was okay, but the kids were remarkably well-behaved for the whole meal, which lasted about an hour and a half. Even the server commented on how good they were the whole time. The kids thought it was very cool to be in the aquarium when it was closed and can't wait for the chance to go back and do it all again.

iPhone Apps

I've added a new Gadget to my sidebar - Favorite iPhone Apps.

What are your favorites? Let me know in the Comments!

Just Sitting Around

I've discovered that my tolerance for laying around on the couch is 3 days. Two of those days were in a Vicodin-induced haze, so my real tolerance may very well be much lower, but it's now day 4 and I'm sick of sitting on the couch.

There have been some pluses. I've read a book and a half so far, kept up with the happenings on Facebook, and increased my score in Bejeweled. My kids and my husband have been waiting on me hand and foot, which is quite a treat. I can take a nap whenever I want, which is less frequently now that I've taken a bunch of naps and stopped loading up on pain meds. I haven't had to cook for anyone in 4 days.

But for someone like me who rarely sits still, it's hard to feel useful in 10 minute increments. I should be making better use of my time sitting around. I have pictures to put into frames; I could be training the dog; I have outgrown kids' clothes to fold and pack away; I have a photo book to finish and a pile of "stuff" from the desk to sort out. Instead I'm sitting here not doing any of those things. Ah well, there's always the other foot.

Foot Surgery

For several years now, I've had pain in my big toes. I had x-rays done for a broken foot about 18 months ago (Zatarain stepped on my foot and broke it - that's when you know you have a big dog!) and the doctor asked at that time when I was going to get my toe fixed. Even I could see that the x-rays looked bad, with huge bone spurs and arthritis, but I still had a baby to carry around, so it just didn't make sense to undergo surgery yet. Now that my little one walks on her own most of the time and the pain level was getting to the point that it hurt to press the gas pedal in the car, it was time to get my foot fixed.

I chose to have my right foot done now so I wouldn't be stuck unable to drive during the school year. The operation involved shaving off the bone spur and contouring the bone so it doesn't stick out so much. This alone will make it easier to find shoes that fit. My doctor also cut the bone and shortened it to open up the joint, cleaned the joint out to remove the arthritis, and drilled holes that will fill with blood and eventually form a fibrous cartilage to replace the cartilage that has been destroyed. He said no one my age should have feet that bad and was very pleased with the amount of movement I had at the end of the surgery.

I now get to spend the next 5 days laying down with my foot elevated to prevent swelling, with the exception of 5 minutes per hour where I need to be weight-bearing. I should be able to drive by Monday and my activity will progress depending on how I'm healing and how I'm tolerating increases in my activity. I should be healed in 6 weeks and able to have the second surgery done in 3 months.

Mike is taking the next 5 days off to take care of the kids and me. The kids are fascinated by this whole process. Our son has appointed himself my timer, making sure I'm not up on my feet for more than 5 minutes at a time. Our older daughter wants me to give her jobs to do to help out. So far, she has help gather the laundry so I could sort it, fed the cats and fish, gotten the mail, and taken charge of the garden. Our youngest has enjoyed snuggling in bed with me and wants to bring me "presents". At one point this afternoon, all three kids were sprawled out in bed with me, Ben was laying on top of me, and Zatarain was in his crate next to me. I guess no one wanted me to be lonely! I wanted Mike to come up and take a picture, but I didn't get a message to him before everyone started to move.

As you can see above, Dr. Chicory has also been taking care of me. He kept me company during dinner tonight (Mike made ropa vieja) and has been laying on the couch with us this evening. You can see the blue tubes for the ice machine that circulates cold water through a pad that is under the bandages so I don't have to constantly change ice packs. I've had these for other surgeries (this was number 10) and they make a huge difference in keeping down the swelling and making me more comfortable.

Hula Hoop

My older daughter learned to hula hoop for the preschool circus this year. She took her job as head hula-hooper very seriously and worked and worked at learning how to keep that hoop going. I finally got her a hula hoop for here at home and she was showing us her skills the other day. This video cracks me up every time I see it.

Round-to-it Recommends - Chocolate

El Rey Icoa white and Gran Saman dark chocolate

This is the most amazing chocolate. Mike and I love chocolate and we try every new chocolate that we see, especially the really dark ones. I, frankly, don't even like white chocolate, but this stuff is amazing. It is the first white chocolate I've had that actually tastes like chocolate and it is absolutely irresistible. Mike says it is the only non-deodorized white chocolate ever produced, which is why it actually tastes like chocolate. It is also the only white chocolate we have ever seen listed with a cacao percentage (34%). The dark chocolate is 70% cacao, which is lower than we usually like, but it has a lovely complex flavor, with a nice wine foretaste and berry aftertaste. The discos melt really well and are great for dipping. Mike found these at our local Whole Foods a couple of weeks ago and we've been indulging in them ever since.

Waterworld

I took the kids to their first water park today. We have one that is about 20 minutes from our house, but it's in a questionable neighborhood, so I head to the one that's about an hour and a half away when i feel like a day of waterslides. Aside from the bother of driving that far, it's a fun way to spend a hot day.

Our little one was not at all impressed. As soon as I put sunscreen on her, she wiped it in her eyes and spent the whole rest of the day with running, red eyes and a very bad attitude. The only time she was really happy was during lunch and when she finally fell asleep in the parking lot as we headed home. My normally insanely water-loving child wanted nothing to do with the water or the slides, so she spent the day standing in the water in the kiddie areas or sitting in the stroller.

The other two had a great time, though. Our daughter loved the kid areas, with the smaller slides and even got over her disappointment of having to wear a life jacket in the wave pool (anyone under 48 inches tall has to wear one, no matter how well they swim) once she realized how much fun it was to bounce around in the waves. Our son was happy to try out some of the bigger slides on his own. He ended up in the wrong line at one point and went down his first speed slide. He didn't like it - he said it was scary and really hurt - but I was seriously impressed he even tried it. He did love the regular body slides, though, and did then several times.

So even though our little one didn't enjoy herself, it was a good day. The older kids said they definitely wanted to go back again, so we'll have to make another trip up there in the future.

My Current Favorite Dinner

We managed a night out tonight and, of course, we went to dinner at Parcel 104 before heading out to see Harry Potter. I have had this dish 3 times now and I just love it. It's pan-roasted, wild Alaska salmon with a very crispy skin, served on barely cooked vegetables. This time there were tiny yellow and orange tomatoes, peas and pea pods, corn, green beans, radish, and cucumber. There was also a good sprinkling of dried beet pulp, which adds a great tang and crunch.

So very tasty!

Sick Day

I managed to catch a cold that my husband brought home from a trip to visit his sister and her family. Fever, headache, post-nasal drip, just lovely. The kids, God bless them, let me sleep in this morning and then we just hung out at home for the day. They watched insane amounts of TV and managed to occupy the day without killing each other. The little one took a 4-hour nap and I managed to get through a week's worth of newspapers while drinking copious amount of tea. I did take them to the pool after she woke up, and the sun (it was HOT today) and chlorine seemed to help my head.

Our son has pulled his Sky Coaster set out for the last couple of days and this is his latest creation. It was slightly modified by his little sister when she stepped on it and released his loop to form a corkscrew. He thought it was much better that way and thanked her for her help.

The First Pumpkin

I've tried planting pumpkins before and they've never grown into anything. This year, I've got vines all over the place (which are really prickly, by the way) and the leaves are the size of a small umbrella. I had no idea they got that big! There have been lots of flowers, too, which are really pretty when they open up. Now we have our first pumpkin starting to grow and it is growing really quickly! In the last 2 days, it has gone from about the size of my thumb to 6 inches long and 4 inches wide. It will be interesting to see how it develops and how big it actually gets.

Great America

We went to Great America (the amusement park that is 5 minutes from our house) for the day yesterday. I took the kids in the morning and Mike joined us after his lunch meeting for the rest of the afternoon. The last couple of years it's been basically useless for me to take the kids on my own, because our son wanted to do the bigger rides, but needed an adult to go with him and the girls were too little to do much of anything. This year, our son is tall enough to do most of the rides, with the exception of the most dramatic coasters, on his own and he is very set up with himself over that. It makes my life dramatically easier because I can let him go on a bigger ride while I take the girls on something more tame in the same general area. The same was true in the water park - he went on the big slides on his own and I watched the girls on the smaller slides and in the pool.

It was a very fun day for all of us. It was great to have Mike there for the afternoon so we could divide an conquer and everyone got to do the things they wanted. It was a long day - we were there 10:30 to 7:15 - and our little one fell asleep as soon as she got into the car. The kids can't wait to go back and do it all again and it was so much fun that I'm actually willing to go back, too.

New Friend

On Wednesday, I was filling the bird feeder and as I walked back out of the rosemary bushes, this little grasshopper jumped onto my arm. I carefully carried it back to the kids and my older daughter was instantly in love. She handled this little guy very gently, catching him and scooping him back up several times when he jumped away. She even named him Jumpy. She finally let him go in the plants nearby so he could go on with his day.

Barbecued Pork

I decided to pull out the crockpot again today and did a pork roast for the first time. I shredded the meat after it was cooked and we ate it on hamburger rolls with cheese and coleslaw. It was really good! This is definitely a recipe I'd do again. (Sorry I don't have pictures - we ate it before I thought about photos.)

Here is the link to the original recipe. My version is below.

Ingredients:
1 1/2 pounds boneless pork shoulder
1 onion, sliced in rings (I used a sweet onion, but any should do)
1/2 cup ketchup
1/2 cup barbecue sauce (I like Stubbs)
1/8 cup warm water
1/8 cup apple cider vinegar
1/8 cup brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1/2 teaspoon Tabasco sauce
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

Directions:
Use a 4 quart crockpot. Trim meat, and place into your crockpot. Add sliced onion, ketchup, and barbecue sauce, then pour the warm water into the measuring cup and rinse. Pour the saucy water into your crock. Add vinegar, brown sugar, Worcestershire, Tabasco and salt.
Cover and cook on low for 8-10 hours, or until meat shreds easily with a fork. Remove meat, shred into small pieces, and then add back into crockpot. Turn it up to high and vent or remove lid to reduce sauce for 1-2 hours, until desired consistency.
Make sandwiches on rolls or sliced bread, adding cheese of your choice, mayo (I like Miracle Whip, but I'm the only one), and coleslaw.

Garden Makeover

I've had plans for a while to make some changes to my garden. The bark I had down on the path really needed to be replaced and I wanted to add an arbor for the morning glories that came up. Since we didn't have any plans for this weekend, I decided it was as good a time as any to put my plans into action.

After a trip to Lowe's, I got started with cleaning out the old mulch. My older daughter really wanted to help, so I raked while she scooped it up and then dumped it around the outside plants. Then, I put up a screen around the air conditioning unit, which sits next to the kids' sandbox and gets it's fair share of sand tossed inside. We're hoping the screen will stop that little game. I spread the new mulch over most of the path, and instead of using wood chips this time, I put down rubber mulch made from old tires that have been chopped up. My kids think it's the coolest thing and it should keep them from getting splinters in their feet when they head out to the sandbox.

My final task was to build the arbor, which turned out to be a lot easier than I had expected. It only took about an hour to put together and my girls were fascinated by the building process. I didn't have time to get it stabilized, but it was put together and standing up by last night. I took some time this afternoon to get the stakes in the ground and attach the legs to them, so it's pretty stable now. I still want to use a couple of L-brackets to attach the arbor to the planter boxes, but I don't think it will go anywhere before I can get to doing that.

I spread the last couple of bags of mulch and trained the morning glory over the side of the arbor (after trimming it way back - I had no choice since it was impossibly wrapped around the hook holding the hummingbird feeder). I also have a tomato heading up the opposite side of the arbor, which should keep it from being trampled as the kids go in and out.

I am so happy with how it all turned out. We have such a small yard that it's nice to have this little jungle where the kids can run in and out and play. The girls were already deep into a game of flower fairies by the time I was done, so I know I'm not the only one who will enjoy it.

Catching Up

It's been a busy couple of weeks. Our summer started off nice and calm, with a good rhythm to our days. And then camp started and everything went crazy. My son did one week of camp and loved it so much that he asked to go back this week. Since they had open spots, including for swim lessons, we signed him again. So instead of just having one kid in camp (my older daughter), I've been juggling two and my poor little one has been suffering with very short naps the last few days. The up side is that all three kids have been going to bed very early, so my evenings have been pretty quiet.

I finally had time tonight to get some little chores done that I've been putting off. My older cat, Ben, has always had an amazing coat. She sheds like a German Shepherd and I periodically have to really go over her to get her undercoat out or she mats badly. I've put it off too long this time and now I do have to battle big chunks of fuzz under her coat. She is not a happy kitty when I start working on her and she lets me know loudly. It should at least decrease the hairball puking, if nothing else.

I also sat down and trimmed Zatarain's feet. Leonbergers are pretty low-maintenance as far as grooming goes. They have a lot of coat and do require brushing, but you aren't supposed to do any kind of fancy trimming. The one thing that does need to be done on occasion, though, is trimming the feet. Audubon's mom, and therefore Zatarain's grandmother, had amazingly fuzzy feet and both of my dogs ended up with the same. Left alone, they start to look like snowshoe rabbits. It's not the best look for a Leo, so I trim Zatarain's feet when they start to get furry. I let them get pretty long this time, so it took a while to get them under control. Zatarain closely monitored my scissoring, resting his head on my left arm while I trimmed his feet with my right. It was very cute and he was very patient, wagging his tail when I would talk to him and tell him how handsome he looked. He was less happy when I started working on his nails, but he cooperated better than usual and I was able to get them done fairly quickly.

I've also been trying to work out more the last few weeks and that takes up a chunk of time in the morning. I'm having foot surgery on July 22, so I want to get into the best shape I can ahead of time since I won't be allowed to work out for a while afterwards. I try to run on Mondays, do a cycling class on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and do Pilates on Fridays. I just added the cycling back in after 2 1/2 years and it's been miserable getting back into it. I'm finally feeling better during and after the classes, so I think I've gotten past the worst of it. I'd love to add one more day, but I've never been good about working out on the weekends.

So that's the update. Hopefully I'll be more timely over the next couple of weeks since our pace will be slower.