Saturday, August 29, 2009

Frazier Park, Ca 93225

Harrison and Papa had an adventure this morning and came back with some cool, new shoes!  Apparently H selected them and started jumping up and down in the store when he tried them on - and he has been wearing them for about 10 hours so far.



Papa's #1 helper

Still helping with a little lawn mowing


Sunday, August 23, 2009

Wait, whose kid is that?

Party crasher does his stuff in the empty bounce house

The party and people who likely paid for the bounce house Harrison so enjoyed

 "Wait, whose kid is that?  The little one in the orange?", says mother of party guest (who is now enjoying the bounce house after leaving it completely empty for H to take over)

Scene:  Mom, Dad, Kid and Dog take a walk in the neighborhood and wind up in the local park.  Among other activities, the family comes upon a drum circle, makeshift rope swing, AA graduation picnic, cap gun fight and numerous birthday parties.  One party stands out in particular for the completely empty bounce house set away from the celebration..the only way one would know it's connected to a party (and not a free fun gift from the City for park users to enjoy) is the Cars theme of the bounce house matching the myriad Cars theme tablecloths, gift bags and balloons at one of the birthday parties.  

Dad to random person at a picnic table, possibly part of a birthday party : "Do you mind if my son takes a quick jump in the bounce house over there?"

Man at picnic table :  "Sure, at least I'd get my money's worth if someone uses it!"

Dad :  "Cool, thanks."

Harrison proceeds to go insane in his own personal jump house.  Crashing into walls, catching serious air, laughing hysterically, refusing to come out.

In the distance Mom sees a pinata smashing session and hears shouts of joy as the candy hits the ground.  Mom soon realizes these kids are running towards the bounce house Harrison is enjoying.

Mom :  "Hun, don't you think we should grab him so these kids can enjoy their bounce house?  Plus they seem way bigger than H and I don't want him to get a bloody nose or something."

Dad :  "Good call.  Hey, Harrison, come one, let's go see the ducks.  Come on out."

Harrison :  "No.  More jump.  I want more jump.  Harrison jump.  Jump."

About seven kids proceed to jam into the jumper and go almost as nuts as H did initially.  H, the smallest by about a foot and two years, just continues to jump away, laughing, screeching and calling for mom and dad to check out his moves.

Harrison :  "Mommy, Harrison jump.  Daddy jump?  Harrison jump.  Jump, jump."

Mom : "Hun, I think you should just go in there and grab him.  I seriously will flash all of those strangers if I try to crawl in there in such a short skirt.  Just reach in and grab his leg when he comes close to the side."

Random stranger : ""Wait, whose kid is that?  The little one in the orange?"

   

The Coolest Place in Sac (for kids)

Monet-in-training working on one of his many masterpieces

Hand painting with Madeline

Exploring the AWESOME sand and water table in the courtyard

Dancing around (jumping and running = dancing for H)

Cooking up treats in the kitchen

We explored basically the best place ever today...Art Beast is a dream come true!  A huge remodeled Victorian on K Street with one floor dedicated to dramatic play (puppets, costumes, musical instruments, stage), one floor for art (paints, markers, collage materials, easels, moon sand, clay), a loft/play house (kitchen, baby cradles, reading area), one floor designed for movement (huge open dance studio, tumble mats, parachute, crawling tubes) and an amazing courtyard with all kinds of sensory activities.  Harrison and Madeline went nuts and we probably would have stayed a few more hours if the young man wasn't so tired he was about to fall asleep right there.  It is an awesome place, but made me slightly sad that I am not a stay-at-home mom who can take advantage of the fun on a more regular basis.  We can't wait to go back!



Saturday, August 22, 2009

Happy Birthday Party Kate


The ice chest was a big hit


Daisy gets some love from the boys

Kate, Harrison, Daisy, Merick

It's crazy to think that we met Jen and Kris in our breathing class, just before a Kate and a Harrison came into the world, over two years ago!  We loaded up the bike trailer and had a fun ride to Tahoe Park for Kate's 2nd birthday party and learned a very important lesson:  there is absolutely no need to have a bounce house or other formal activity when you have an ice chest full of ice- the kids were completely entertained!  We had a great time with great Fruit Basket cake and great friends!


Harry, meet Saul

Harrison and Solomon Jacob Tarpin

H's first time with a teeny, tiny baby!  Solomon (the son of Ben, one of Matt's oldest friends) and Harrison were fast friends, with the former opening his big eyes for us while the latter remarked about the amazement of the baby's two feet.  Cute baby.  Baby two feet.  Cute baby.  Well said, Harrison!




Tuesday, August 18, 2009

Carpinteria




Harrison had an amazing beach day with Amanda ("Manny), Bubba and Parker ("Pahkie").  He ran around, buried feet, played in the waves and laughed for two hours straight (after, and this is the best part, he took an awesome nap in the Bugaboo for at least an hour while the mom caught up on more Madoff stories in Vanity Fair and the Jillian and Ed saga in Us).  We are huge Carp fans!


Butterflies Alive

Harrison and Riley on their way to check out the butterflies


Finally a butterfly came to play with Harper!


Harrison's favorite "byue buffeye"

Quietly waiting

Goofing around and posing as butterflies


I haven't been to Butterflies Alive at the SB Natural History Museum since probably 2000 and it was SO much more fun to take kids!  The butterfly exhibit itself is wonderful - peaceful, quiet, lush garden with tons and tons of butterflies everywhere.  Harrison, Riley and Harper had a blast exploring and patiently waiting for the butterflies to land on them.  They ran all through the museum grounds, dutifully posed for pictures, threw bouncy balls all over the place and my favorite, tried to talk the taxidermy bears, elk, deer, seals, otter and more out of their glass case ("get out ammulls" in Harrison's words).  What a fabulous afternoon with some of our favorite people!



Thursday, August 13, 2009

Viva la Fiesta (*Disclaimer: photos do not adequately capture true level of confetti on the ground or fun had by the child!)

Harrison and Steve


Aha, so that's what it does when you smash it



See, see

Mesmerized by all of the festive dancers

Harrison's first Fiesta weekend in SB...we checked out the kids' parade in the morning with Meggie, Steve and Aunt Debbie and of course cracked a few cascarones along the way!