Insectival

Last Saturday the San Bernardino County Museum hosted the "Insectival". My son can't get enough info on bugs. He has numerous books that we read over and over. He is always digging in the yard looking for new little critters. He recently caught his first cricket of the season. It helps that we live in a great place for bug hunting.

Unfortunately, I am deathly afraid of pretty much any kind of bug. I have tried to put on a brave face for my son, but he'll probably see through my rouse sooner or later. And it doesn't help that we live in a desert with some pretty knarly looking insects!

I still remember the day my son, about 2, brought his first bug to me, sticking it in my face and asking, "What's this?" I didn't bother responding to the question, instead cringing and pointing to the door, "Outside! Bugs stay outside!" After my initial wave of panic subsided, I calmly explained to Ira that our home did not welcome pests. He has been pretty good obeying this rule.

So when my sister phoned and told me about the Insectival I knew Ira would love to go. We also brought Ira's friend Kennedy. She is also a bug lover. We had a great time! Ira got to hold several bugs--a tarantula, walking stick, millipede, snail, mealworms and madagascar hissing cockroach. Emma repeated her no touch policy when it came to touching the bugs, but was dying to hold a small boa snake (they let the kids touch, but not hold it, and she loved touching it). Of course, now my son wants his very own pet bug (over my dead body). The closest he will get is the crickets and other insects he catches and keeps in his little bug cage outside.

Family

So I mentioned in my Snow Day post that my grandmother passed recently. She was an amazing woman. She lived about 45 minutes from where my family grew up when I was 5 till after I left for college. We ALWAYS celebrated the holidays at her home and drove up frequently during the year. I knew how special she was because my father KNEW how special she was.

I have fond memories of food fresh from her garden, from fresh peaches with cream to strawberry angel food cake with fresh strawberries to cherry pie made from cherries off her cherry tree. I love fried catfish because of the fresh caught catfish my grandmother would fry up (though I now cook it oven fried to be a little healthier...).

She lived through some difficult times. She came from a poor family and her own small family had some great financial struggles. I was touched when I learned how she gave up smoking to buy my father a clarinet. She was that kind of person--trying to make the best life for her children despite difficult circumstances. My father learned the hard, but important, lesson of being a hard worker from her.

Because the funeral was in the morning in Redondo Beach we decided that it would be best to drive down the night before. Then we decided (okay, I was the one who decided) that we should drive down earlier in the day and take the kids to the Aquarium of the Pacific. Mark worked the night before and then got delayed by several hours because of a late call so I was a "little" stressed that morning.

But we were able to leave about 1.5 hours after I intended to leave (Mark got home about 30 minutes before we left). Traffic wasn't too bad, except we had to stop at the bank and to grab lunch and then my son had to make two potty stops. When we had to stop for a second potty trip an hour after the first I thought we would never get there! But we finally made it to the Aquarium at about 3pm.

I loved the aquarium and Ira was excited about being able to touch sea creatures. After viewing the large aquarium and sea lions we went outside to see the shark pool. I thought Emma would enjoy touching the sharks as Ira had talked about little else. I helped her up and tried to guide her hand. As soon as her hand touched the water she recoiled and refused to have any more to do with the sharks. She didn't even want to be near the larger shark aquarium, but daddy eventually convinced her to take a look.

Once we could peel Ira away from the sharks, we visited the lorikeets. The kids are familiar with feeding lorikeets because we have season passes to the Wild Animal Park (we can also go to the San Diego Zoo, but it's farther) and feeding the birds is one of their favorite parts of our visits.

After feeding the birds and talking to the bird caretakers we went to the upper level. Ira was stoked about touching the tidal wave animals (sea stars, sea urchins, sea cucumbers and anemones). Again, Emma would look but NOT touch ANYTHING. Ira then visited the ray pool before we walked inside.

I thought Ira would be so excited to see the jellyfish, but all he could think about was touching sea animals. He did pause briefly to view the octopus and eels. Thankfully the Aquarium knows that kids want to touch and have several kiosks inside the aquarium with more tidal animals that the kids can pet. My mom even convinced Emma to touch an anemone by telling her it was a ocean flower! She wouldn't touch anything else, but at least she touched something.

We were pretty hungry by the time we finished at the aquarium and seeing those huge rock lobsters and enormous crabs gave me a craving for sea food! I'm sure the people who built a Bubba Gump's Restaurant next door to the Aquarium did so for people like me. :) It was a little pricey, but I don't know where else you could get a "bucket of boat trash" that tastes any better!

The next day, after the funeral, all the extended family made a special trip to Leo's Mexican Restaurant. It is a small mexican restaurant that my father's family frequented when it was little more than a taco shack. Even though we lived over an hour away, my father still took us on special trips to this fabulous place! I have happy memories of making wishes on pennies and throwing them into the fountain on the patio or feeding the birds singing in the vines growing along the iron fencing and overhead. If you are making a trip to the Redondo area I would highly recommend it!

Snow Day Pictures

I thought I would include a few pictures from our two snow day trips in a separate post. Here they are!

Love the shoes!

Ira--the big helper!

Ready to Slide!

Snowball Fight!

Ira Crashing into a Snow Tower!

Snow Day

Our family planned a trip to northern Idaho at the beginning of February to visit my grandmother who was diagnosed with lung cancer. We knew we would be facing some severe snow weather so we went to work getting the snow gear necessary. Unfortunately, my grandmother passed 3 days before our scheduled flight. I was sad that grandma did not get to meet little Sean, but thankful that we visited a few times with our other two children, last summer being the most recent.

We decided that we ought to get some use out of our snow clothing. The first scheduled visit to the snow was taken by Mark and the two older kids while I was out with Sean for a meeting. We were in a rush to get to our various destinations. I put together the kids hats/mittens/snow bibs and Mark got the kids out to the car. Emma was still asleep at the time and he figured she would take her nap on the way.

I told Mark he could probably find a small spot on the way to Big Bear but he was having no luck finding a suitable spot. He only became more frustrated, after arriving in Big Bear and finding a spot, when he realized that Emma's snow boots were not brought with them (Ira was wearing his snow boots already). In fact, she had no shoes on at all. He did not want to turn back around after an hour long drive and a patient son only a couple steps from snow. Then he remembered that he had packed his snow boots and was wearing hiking boots. So Emma made do with daddy's hiking boots. She couldn't walk, but her feet were kept warm!

A couple weeks later, after another snow storm went through Big Bear, we planned another trip up to the snow. This time the whole family went--even my mother (who volunteered to sit in the car to watch Sean) and my in-laws. This time we were much better prepared and the kids enjoyed themselves. My in-laws built "towers" of snow for Ira to aim at as he sled down the soft slope. He even hit at least one before the day was over!