We Do Things

WATCHING THE WHALES

The Kids had an extended winter break this year.  3 1/2 weeks. In most households this was met with horror. I am pathetically over attached to The Kids though, so in this household, it was met with much joy and over enthusiastic hand clapping.

Of course, that may have been just because I realized I would also be off work that entire time.

It was a great break.

We headed on down to Long Beach, CA to watch some whales.

The week before, there had been several sightings of Orcas. We didn't get quite so lucky, but we did get to see some amazing sea animals. The boat was filled with some neat people too. The lady I sat next to was from Poland,  had recently relocated to Ireland, and had spent the month in California with her husband travelling up and down the coast. Seeing whales was on her Bucket List.

Our first sighting! Two whales migrating south together.

Whale back.

The moment we all were waiting for. Diving.

 

Sometimes, it is super cool to have someone else do the driving. We were able to hang and enjoy each other.

Big tail waves.

After the whales dive down, the imprint of their tail hangs out for quite a bit.

Just as we were almost back to the harbor, we caught sight of this smaller whale. It was staying much closer to the shoreline. I guess it had also heard about the Orcas being in the area.

Tiny blowhole.

This spray was much smaller, but no less impressive.

 

Soon, I'll introduce you to our other sea friends. There are just so many photos I want to share.

THE BOY'S ROOM

The Boy's room has been a work in progress for years. His is the one room in The House that is a modge podge. The reason for that is that he can't make a decision to save his life.

The Girl and I redecorate her room about every two years. When I last attempted to repaint The Boy's room, it's been the same color for 8 years now, he picked the exact same paint color that was already on his walls. Change and The Boy are not good friends.

I learned that I can gradually add elements and then he will fall in love.

Such as the fruit crate shelves. The Dad and The Boy built them together because The Mom was too cheap to buy actual fruit crates.

Just perfect for his fledgling soda bottle collection.

We added these shelves in the spring. It took him a while to get used to them. He would say, "I'm not sure I like them yet." He didn't want me to print out vintage labels, or stain them. That would be change.

We added a spot for pictures of his favorite people and places. This was his idea. The Boy is one who cherishes people.

This walls displays The Boy's varying interests. Science, specifically the Periodic Table of Elements, vintage license plates we picked up at a garage sale, plus a bonus one The Ohio Grandpa sent him from Grandpa's time in Colorado. A Baseball cross stitch The CA Grandma gave him for Christmas a few years back, and Legos. The Boy's devotion to Legos is boundless.

The flag that flew outside of my childhood home. The CA Grandpa passed this down to him recently. One day The Boy is going to own an antique store. Or be a hoarder. In which case, I will call his hoard an antique store and live in denial.

Going back to his Lego obsession, these bins take over his room. I only photographed two because it really is quite embarassing how many Legos this kid owns. With his August birthday quickly followed by Christmas, he tends to receive every single new set available. Lego sets were all he requested from his 5th Birthday to his 10th.

I came across on another much more creative person's blog, which I now can't remember, the idea of using type setting drawers for Lego min-fig storage. The Boy was a bit hesitant because he thought he could no longer play with his mini figs if I put them in one.  I explained to him and he fell in love with the idea. Do you know how expensive those drawers can be? I finally found one on E-bay for around $20 including shipping. I LOVE it. So does he.

The Dad hung it right above The Boy's desk. The Boy spends hours playing Left for Dead, MIneCraft, and a billion other online games. He enjoys having his Lego buddies helping him out.

When I come across the minifigures series in any store, I pick up about $20 worth for him. We both enjoy seeing who he gets.

I've had a difficult time giving him equal time in the knitting arena. He doesn't wear hats, mittens, or scarves. He has turned down every offer of a sweater. Toys he loves, but I've not been much of a toy knitter lately and really, how many stuffed toys does an 11 year old boy need?

I've been slightly obsessed with Us maps lately.  The Lion Brand yarn catalog randomly showed up in the US mail a few weeks ago and I found the perfect knit for him.

A United States of America afghan. Made mostly with yarn from my stash. I enjoyed knitting this so very much and The Boy absolutely loves it.

It looks lovely on his bed and I'm sure it will keep him toasty warm.

I'm proud of this knit. Mostly, when I finish something, I focus on the mistakes only I can see. This time, mistakes and all, I love this piece.

Oh, and to say The Boy is slightly obsessed with Left for Dead and Legos is no understatement. Some of his Christmas money recently went towards the purchase of Left for Dead Legos.

 

WE ENJOYED CHRISTMAS

We had a very nice Christmas. It is another transition we made this year. Out of many small presents for The Kids into one or two more expensive ones. Gaming computers replaced Legos, make up in the stocking (The Boy was a little offended at first), and electric toothbrushes for the both of them.

A more grown-up Christmas to fit our more grown-up family. A Christmas morning where pictures were not really "allowed" because The Kids hadn't showered yet.

We did still get a 6 a.m. wake up call, the only part of the day we were not expecting. I guess even at 14 & 11, Christmas morning can still hold some magic. Thank goodness.

The Boy is the keeper of our traditions. He is the first to remind us of how and when things need to be done. Decorating The Tree is a big one. He is convinced that you must hang your own ornaments. Baby's 1st Christmas 2000? Only for his hands to hang. 1997? The Girl.

The Girl is a "get 'er done" type of person. It's great to see all the childhood ornaments, but you can see them once they're on the tree just as well.

I got a little creative with the cookie plates this year. Instead of just Gingerbread men, I had to make Gingerbread Elves. Thanks to Bridgette.

Her everything was perfect. Recipe, icing, easy directions. So fun to make, especially with my new helpers.
A great way to spend a Saturday afternoon for sure.

The changes around here have been great. It's just that they came on so suddenly. It is still nice, just different nice. More grown-up nice. Laughter and easy nice. It was a nice, easy, relaxing Christmas for sure.

ODDS & ENDS

I'm really at an odd point in my blogging "career". The Kids are moving on to their own activities, hanging with friends, online gaming, and texting. It seems like even though we still do a lot together as a family, it tends to be the same sort of things. Hiking being a major family activity.

Hiking, generally, doesn't lend itself to great blogging. That is a very good thing for our well being, but not so much for the blogging. I've found myself stuck in the same position other "mommy" bloggers find themselves. Do I continue to blog about The Kids and The Family, risking "embarassing" my teen and soon to be teen, or do I try to find more "interesting" things to write about?

This space originally started as a way to keep The Dad's family, mostly to the East of us, informed on what was going on in The Kids' worlds. It quickly became an outlet for a stay-at-home-mom who enjoyed writing. Now that my main subject(s) are grown enough to kindly let me know as I take pictures, "This one is not going on the blog mom" or, "I won't do it because you'll just blog about it.", my blogging material has been seriously limited.

There are still plenty of things I can post. I'm sure. It's just that it might take me a while to find my new blogging "feet" so to speak. I will continue to document the growing up of The Kids here, trying to maintain a balance of scrapbooking and preserving their right to not have their mom splatter their lives all over the internet.

I still have my knitting. Maybe I should change the blog name from We Do Things, to I Knit Things?

And, like I said, we still go hiking.

While I take pictures of barbed wire fences, The Family patiently waits.

One of my new favorite things to do, now that The Kids are older, is to hand them the camera. I love to see our adventures through their eyes.  It is so interesting to see the differences in their personalities come out via their chosen subject matter.

The Boy focuses on The Family. He took various snapshots throughout our hike.

 

The other bonus to handing over the camera is a picture of ME! See Kids, I actually did go hiking with The Family. The wind was crazy that day, as you can see from my wings.

The Girl is experimenting with hair colors now. She is not scared to express herself. It's a very, very good thing.

The Dog prefers to stay blonde. That's a good thing as well.

The Girl's photos focus on the landscape. This area had burned a few years ago and she enjoyed the contrast of the new growth with the lingering effects of the fire.

We've had a very warm winter here in Southern California. The day we went hiking it was 82 out. It's been nice, but we do miss our cooler temps and the little bit of rain we do get. We're trying to make the most of these winter months because if it keeps going the way it is, summer is going to be a scorcher.

The Kids and I have been enjoying an extended Winter Break this year, almost four weeks off. It seemed so long when it started, but as we near the return to our normal schedule, we aren't ready. It is making us enjoy these precious last days all the more.

We are finding it hard to believe that taking pictures of abandoned barb wire fences doesn't count towards our Elementary and High School curriculum. It leads us to believe all the hype that the California School system needs a major rehaul.

The Boy experimented with wind velocity and flying. As I said, there were giant gusts of wind. He opened his sweatshirt and tried to fly.

The Dad and I quickly pointed out that he was trying to "fly" against the wind.

That's almost homeschooling isn't it?

THE BIRTHDAY HIKE

The Boy recently turned 11. I'm in complete denial even though he has definitely made the turn to looking more man-ish than boy-ish. I figure once his facial hair starts coming in, I can live a fairly nice life in denial.

This year, The Boy felt very lucky as his birthday day fell on a Saturday. We gave him all the choices and he sure did push us around. His first activity forced us all to awaken early on Saturday and return to the scene of one of my most recent crimes.

You all might remember The Hike of Death? We shall never forget it in this family. Which is why I thought we'd never return to that particular park. The Boy had other plans. He's obviously one of those "if you fall off a horse, you get right back on" people. He must take after his father.

He wanted to stick to the safe trail. The one that if you dawdle takes 5 minutes to walk. It can't even be considered a hike. Apparently, he's not stupid.

I knew better than to ask if I could lead. 

It was a beautiful morning for hiking. It gave us lots of time, well 5 minutes anyway, to reflect on how much The Boy has grown and how great of a kid he is. The past two years have seen him mature into a confident young man.

The Girl and he have become closer and learned that they can rely on each other. They have both mentioned that the other is their best friend. I couldn't be happier for them. The Boy talks to The Girl about things that he feels he can't share with us. She guides him through as well as we would. I know, because she then comes and lets me know where he's at, without breaking his confidence.

We are looking forward to what 11 brings. Knowing he can handle it now. I might be getting closer to being able to cut those apron strings. I suppose he'd look mighty silly going of to Jr. High with them next year. This is our last year of elementary school. Something, when we first started with The Girl 10 years ago, that seemed so far away. Those years have flown by and I would like to think that we did our most to appreciate them. I know that I will be so much more appreciative of the next 10 years as we send our kids out into the world to find their way. May they always know that the doors to their family home are open to them and theirs.

Even if they do plan hikes a little differently now. 

As we were leaving, I realized why The Boy wasn't so worried about returning to The Hike of Death spot.

He had called ahead for reinforcements.

MOVIE NIGHT

The Boy is all about family togetherness. This summer he decided would be the summer of Pixar. We have been rewatching A Bug's Life, Monster's Inc., and Cars, to name a few. The first few nights found us all cuddled on the couch together and gradually, we all found things to keep us occupied while watching the movies.

For me, it was knitting.

"This is a Platypus hold up. Don't move and nobody gets stabbed."

The Dad returned to his guitar repair work.

The Girl returned to her computer and joined us for certain movies when she felt like it.

The Boy spazzed out between the rest of us and generally made way too much noise for effective movie watching.

He is always more entertaining than anything on television.

It was nice that we all felt like family movie night meant that we had to be close, not necessarily glued to the television. It was a special treat to rewatch the movies that I know all too soon The Kids will have no interest in whatsoever.

Even Nemo was so excited he couldn't sit still for a picture.

MORE HOME IMPROVEMENTS

After 12 years in the same house I think it's finally hit me that we are done with moving every two years. I've really begun to decorate The House in a way that reflects us. Or reflects the us I would like us to be?

Anyway, more sanding was needed.

We found the perfect coffee table for us. Three years ago. Some of you might remember?

While I had everything out to redo the chairs for the porch I figured I'd pull the coffee table into the garage and kill two projects at once.

Unlike the chairs, the coffee table did not want to be sanded down. It sure made me trust Ikea finishes because even after sanding, heavy chemical usage, and more sanding, the table still wasn't giving in. I spent almost 12 hours sanding 8 pieces of wood.

The table didn't know about my secret weapon however.

The Dad. He always rescues me from my overzealous project doing. He rarely complains about the rescuing and he always does it well.

The next day, we set out to stain the table so it would match our other furniture. While The Dad was busy staining, I had a brilliant idea to makeover the wicker baskets.

I looked through our meager spray paint supplies and found a lovely light blue.

In the very way that is special to me, I would need two more cans of spray paint because the wicker was very thirsty. In yet another way that is special only to me, they no longer sell that particular color of blue. I found a close enough color and started over. It did have a very happy ending as the baskets look fabulous now.

The basket on top was given to me by my soon to be new sister in law whom I love dearly. She thought I would like it to hold my current knitting project in. I love it. The fabric is Amy Butler and couldn't please me more if I had picked it out myself.

 

WOOD WORK

Just because I haven't been blogging regularly doesn't mean that I have been lazy in all other aspects of my life. As a matter of fact, I've been quite productive. Forcing my projects on The Men in this family.

One of the projects that has been on my To Do List for almost a year was to repair and refinish the two porch chairs we found at a yard sale last summer. We paid $20 for both chairs and although they needed quite a bit of work, I think it was well worth it.

Yeah, a little rough. Overall, the wood was in good shape and nice quality. The hardware just needed to be cleaned up. It was just a matter of finding time to do it.

Well, I took it upon myself to convince The Boy it would be "fun" to help me with this project.

As usual, The Dad set us up with the tools and sent us off in the right direction. Even making sure I took pictures of how each part of the chair was put together before letting me take them apart for sanding.

The Boy was thrilled to help me sand the pieces. He was a great sport about it anyway and stayed throughout the entire process. He was an incredible help to me. Pretty awesome company as well.

We had fun staining the pieces together and The Dad even jumped in to help us.

It was the perfect weekend to get this project going. The weather was just warm enough that the stain dried quickly, but we could still work outside without losing 20 pounds in water weight. Although, I'm not sure I would have complained about that.

The right side of the porch. We have enjoyed several evenings on the front porch.

The front porch has been years in progress, but now I love it. It has the welcoming feel that I've wanted for years. I wanted some succulents for added color and ease of care, it just so happens that The Best Man is a succulent God, so he brought several over for me. I potted them and they have been ever so happy on the porch.

Thanks to Blair over at Wise Craft, I had to have stump tables.  We checked Craig's List. There were plenty of people willing to let us dig them out. I was way too lazy for that. The Dad had put in a few calls to some arborists and one nice gentlemen told us he would call us if he got some for us.

Then, out with TGFF one day, I got the urge to ask them if they knew of anyone who had taken out a tree lately.

Well, they had, last year! They let me have two stumps for free, because they're cool like that, and they also gave me some other wood they had laying around for another project I saw online I just had to do.

I was thinking of finishing the stumps like Blair did, but my friends seem to think they look fine just as they are. So our stump tables will be au naturale.

 

 

DAD'S DAY

The Dad had himself a fabulous Father's Day last month. He spent most of his day working on his guitars and playing with some new thingamajiggy he asked me to get him for his gift.

Yes, he has to tell me what to get him. Lord only knows how it would go down if he didn't. Actually, it would probably go down something like this.

TD: "Gee, Honey, thanks for the new knitting needles. I think..."

TM: "WELL! If you don't like them, I'll just take them then!"

So, he just sends me a link to some guitary site and I click the add to cart button, ask if he has his wallet on him because my purse is all the way in the other room, and use his card to purchase his gift that he picked out.

I know, it just reeks old couple doesn't it?

This year, thanks to that wonderful world known as Etsy, we were able to throw a nice surprise his way.

It's his very own personalized pick that comes in a keychain holder. He teared up just a little. I highly recommend jcjewelrydesing on Etsy. The ordering was easy, the turn around very quick, and the final product is absolutely beautiful.

Then, The Boy pops in with his last minute, late into the night before project.

A #1 Dad badge. You better believe The Dad wore that all day long.

The Boy is always sneaky like that.

The Dad and all of his babies.

TRIPPIN' AT THE FALLS.

It was one of those phone calls you hate to get, but are happy once you do. You know, the one that comes early on a lazy Saturday afternoon. You're busy cleaning up your yarn stash and the phone rings.

It's TGFF Dad trying to get us all motivated to do some hiking. I looked around at my yarn pile and asked if TGFF Mom was going. No, she was going to stay home. I told her to get off her lazy *ahem* and join us for the torture hike.

TGFF Dad decided we should hit the "Falls". It's one of the rare areas to hike around here with running water, so we knew The Kids wouldn't whine too much on this hike.

Sure enough, as soon as we hit our first water crossing The Kids stopped whining. Thankfully, it was only about five minutes into the hike. I'm not sure if J-Boy is giving The Boy a helping hand or a friendly shove here. As much as The Boy talks, I wouldn't be surprised by the latter.

J-Boy was ever so helpful in keeping us on the trail. Much like I was ever so helpful during our desert hike. I do believe he was a recent graduate of my new hiking class. He's explaining to us that he's found a perfectly good trail as we use the "real" trail. I think he murmered something about us being wimps.

The Boys found a cave filled with sewage and other human general nastiness. Nothing speaks nature like trash and graffiti. Although, I can now tell you who in our town to call for a good time. Girls, seriously, it might seem romantic, but it's not really. Especially when you leave your Del Taco cup behind. Also, if he spray paints your name on a rock instead of giving you a rock, well, you might just be a red neck.

All that hiking eventually led us to this pool of water. Icy cold water. Other than having to photoshop the bad words off the rocks, it was perfect. We spent a good long time ensuring The Kids were properly wet and muddy so they could ride back home in my newly cleaned car.

TGFF Mom did some rock climbing.

Now, that's class. Pearl bracelet and all.

I thought ahead and had The Kids wear their swimsuits under their hiking clothes. The Boy still waded in his jeans because "the water is too cold".  We can't win them all as parents.

We did have yet another BigFoot sighting though!

That totally made answering the phone worth it on our lazy Saturday. The beer at lunch wasn't bad either.

Although I can't blame the single beer for my tripping at the falls. Nope, those trips were just natural talent.