Firsts from vacation

We caught our first fish....







We saw our first waterfall...


We posed on our first fallen tree in Yosemite.


We played Pooh Sticks...

Everyone is a comedian

The Scene:

At the car, after a morning at the beach.

Mother: Oh this towel is nice and toasty.

Ryan: No it's not...It's not a breakfast bread.

Mother: (Shakes head, and giggles uncontrollably, while hugging Ryan)

Just a few of the words that have come out of my kids mouths, TODAY.

Evan: I'm Jack Johnson and I am going to the Hockey Hall of Fame. You, Ryan, are Drew Doughty, do you want to meet me there?

(If Evan could only know just how much every Kings fan love for Drew Doughty to meet Jack Johnson in the Hockey Hall of Fame someday!)


Me: Ryan, I am very disappointed in you, why did you not nap?
Ryan: Well, My puppies they keep waking me up.
Me: Well, I guess I will have to take them out of your room so you can sleep
Ryan: But, they are just stuffed animals (with an up turned hand in a position like duh, don't you know that!) Mom and they can't really do anything, see, they don't really have ears. It's all just stuffing. They are not real, not real ears and mouths.
Me: So are you trying to tell me that your stuffed animals are not responsible for your poor sleeping?
Ryan: No, just me.

Ryan's stories:
(Apparently these are the stories he is telling his buddies, instead of sleeping. He dictated, I typed. I made no edits, as you will see.)

There is a Monster Under the Nest

One day the monster went out to find a nest. He found one and he decided to bring it to the valley beyond the volcano. He loved it so much he decided it was his own, but it wasn't. It was a dinosaur's nest so he quickly hided under it and when the momma dinosaur came home it began to shake and shake some more so she decided to look under it to see if it was a monster and it was a monster. Then she started home and her nest followed her and the monster kept sleeping and sleeping in it's own nest. The monster went out to play hockey and the monster saw another monster and then they both ran off to play. That is the end of my book.

Gummies before breakfast

Gummies before breakfast went out to play, on a summer day. And they loved it so much they wanted to play for every day. Their dad said no come back you to get your sweaters because it is cold outside, they went back outside to play hockey like the monsters did. The monsters went out to play hide and seek, they came to find the great whole of grizzlies and all they could do was play and play.

The Sink got Fouled
(Fouled is when a sink gets out of water. I had to ask since I had no idea what he was talking about. I'm not sure Ryan knows either!)

The fouled sink stayed up for 20 years and it came down and then it came down and then it came up again. Then it came up again. Then it stayed down and then it came up again and again until it stopped and didn't come up again, Amen it didn't come up again.

The future's not ours to see

I often contemplate the future of my boys. I wonder what they will become. I look at the things they are passionate about now, and I can't help wondering if that will carry on through their lives and dictate what careers they will choose, or even what they will be doing in ten years.

Ryan and his love of knowledge. Reading, investigating, studying. His natural athleticism. His GPS like ability to know where we are on where we are going. His desire to please, to be loved, to help. His creativity, telling stories, and making up songs, building. I wonder where these passions will lead him.

Evan, oh Evan. His love of singing, the National Anthem, Canadian, or American. His Rain Man like ability to remember the team names and cities of sports teams, most notably hockey teams. His love for Drew Doughty, Jack Johnson, and Patrick Kane. His constant dialog, or as I call it play-by-play. His never ending questions. His boundless energy. What will you become my little ham?

And how will the things I choose to expose them to effect their futures? What if I'm too late and I've forever stunted their one true passion? What if it takes them to their late twenties, or early thirties to find *their* kayaking? What if they never find the thing that fulfills them?

Yes, this is the stuff keeping me up at night. I should take up mediating and my mantra should really be..."Que Sera Sera"

Hmm.. I have nothing to say.

So I logged on tonight to write something, and now, I just have nothing to say...I'm not sure why, but I have been sitting here for almost an hour trying to come up with anything. Something funny said, done, anything...

Maybe it is because for the last 3 weeks the boys have been in summer school, which has had them away from me for 5, 4 and 4 mornings, and well, that's a long time for us to be apart. What am I going to do when they start kindergarten? I'm lonely just thinking about it.

We did go to the fair, and the boys did miss their naps which was notable. But they handled it all in stride, they were tired, and a bit cranky, but it was not the disaster it could have been. The boys rode some rides, which goes against every nervous bone in my body...I love roller coasters, and thrill rides, but I do not like rides that are torn down and put up in one day. It makes me nervous. VERY nervous. I did asses the risk in each of the rides chosen and the kiddie rides seemed to pose little or no risk to the precious lives of my dumplings. The Ferris wheel, well, not so much, but Evan, sweet Evan was so excited, all he could talk about in the hour and a half it took us to get to the fair, meet up with Scott and find parking was how he wanted to go on the Ferris Wheel first. So, I swallowed my nerves, and the whole family climbed into a death bucket. Evan grinned from ear to ear, and it was totally worth it.

The fourth of July is tomorrow and the boys are very interested in trying to stay up late for fireworks. Last year they were so tired they kept asking to go home to go to bed. We shall see. I may have a lot to write about tomorrow night!