Princess Meagan

I forgot to add this...Meagan has become quite the dress-up queen. She loves putting on a tea party and then dressing up in her finery. She strips off all her clothes and insists on wearing one of her dresses (not shown in the pic) and all her jewelry. How did I end up with such a girly-girl?? I'm going to have to see about getting her some dress-up clothes. Good thing her birthday is coming up!

I also need to take a video of her prancing around in her heels- funniest thing ever. She sticks her little booty out and shakes her hips...oh my!!

September outings

Even though school has started we have still managed a few more outings here and there. Of course, there are still trips to the park...

And chasing down the ice cream man is always fun...

Then there was a fun little picnic at a "secret" swimming hole on the upper Sacramento river. Tony's eye doctor was telling us about this place, and every time we've mentioned it to a "local" we always get the same response- "Oh yeah, I know where that is!" Big secret...Anyways, it starts at a turnout on I-5, then you drop down a little dirt road, cross over the railroad tracks and hike down a trail to this little swimming hole. Very fun place, we even got to see 3 trains while we were there. The kids loved it, and we will definitely head back when the weather gets hot (the water is freezing!!)

Next adventure: the Shasta Sunset dinner train. The McCloud Railroad has restored their Pullman dining cars and every night they take an excursion up to the base of Mt. Shasta and back. They serve a yummy 3 course meal and between courses you can wander the train or go out on the open air car to take in the view. Tom and I have wanted to go ever since we've moved here and finally decided that our 10 year anniversary was the perfect time to ride. Nana and Papa took the kids on an adventure of their own- a trip to Sac with a train ride of their own, a trip to the zoo and the railroad museum, and Tom and I took off for the dinner train. We all had a great time. Tom and I even made it up to Ashland and Jacksonville for the day, all by ourselves. Such a treat!

We are off to Denver on Wednesday for another grand adventure- the Great American Beer Festival, or as Tom and Papa have taken to calling it: BEERLAND. They talk about it with such reverence, you'd think we were going to Mecca....I'll keep you posted...

Back to School, part II

We now have 2 members of the March household in school. Today is my first day as a student at Simpson University, a small college here in Redding. Today begins the first of three semesters at the end of which I will have my teaching credential. I have two semesters of evening coursework and the last semester is student teaching at two different elementary schools here in town. I am very excited, slightly nervous (I thought I was through with school!!) and ready to take on a new challenge. Stay tuned for updates on this latest adventure...

That was fast...

September 4, 1999

So long, Summer!!

Whew, just when we're getting into the swing of summer....its OVER!! That's right, today is the first day of school! Yikes. So much has happened since the last post, I'm not sure where to start. We've been camping a few times, taken several day trips, had a couple of birthdays, visitors have dropped in, Tom has done some more centuries on his bike, Meagan took her first swim lessons, and Tony was in the Macy's Back to School fashion show.

I guess I'll start with the birthdays. Tony turn 6 on July 17th. His birthday went on for quite a while. He managed to rack up 3 parties this year- one over the 4th with all the family, another one the next weekend with his friend Noah, and then the actual day itself. Way to go, Tony! The week before the day of his birthday, Tony got to stay with his Nana and Papa at the lake. Unbeknownst to him, Mama used his absence to take apart his bedroom, purge outgrown toys, build him some cubicals and put it all back together for him just before he got home. It only took three days to put together. It was in shambles in less than an hour, but since then he has been working pretty hard on keeping it in shape.

Then it was my turn for a birthday. I took advantage of Aunty Carolyn's very generous offer to watch the kids and headed out with Tom, Mom & Dad, and Robin & Richard to see the new Harry Potter movie and take in some "panda food" (aka Chinese food- the kids won't touch the stuff, so we don't get to enjoy it all that often) A very enjoyable evening. I even got serenaded by my little ones. Here's a video sample for you:

We had a quick visit with Rachel and her kids as she passed thru town on her way home. It was quite the houseful with her 4 little ones and my 2 monkeys! We spent the evening up at Whiskeytown trying to cool off, and then they were off first thing the next morning, much to the disappointment of Tony & Meagan. They are still asking when we can see the Wilde bunch again...

If you haven't guessed, we like to head out of town to cool off as much as possible. Here are a couple of slideshows from little excursions here and there. The first is from a picnic on the Trinity River just outside of Weaverville. The last is from our camping trip with the Prices at Lake Siskiyou, near Mt. Shasta.

Almost done...I promise...

Last week was Macy's Back to School fashion show. Our dear friend Trish is a manager at Macys and gave Tony a call to see if he'd like to help out modeling some of the new fall fashions. Tony picked out his outfit and strutted his stuff (sort of). I think he caught a bit of stage fright as he started down the runway. He whizzed down and back so fast I couldn't catch a picture of him. After it was all over he relaxed a bit and decided to ham it up with his friends on the runway. Meagan can't wait for her turn. Only a couple more years kiddo!

So there you have it. The last 6 weeks or so in a nutshell. I am (perhaps foolishly?) hoping things will quiet down, but I know better. Soccer starts this Friday with opening ceremonies and the first game on Saturday. Meagan has (finally!!) decided to give potty training a try. Its cooling off a bit and Tom is thinking its time to start brewing again. I'll keep you posted....

Fourth of July fun

The party was at our house this year! We are lucky enough to be able to view the City of Redding's fireworks from our own backyard, so after a BBQ and pot luck, everyone (all 26 of us this year!) rolled out to the driveway to watch the big booms... We combined Tony's birthday with the festivities this year and all his cousins from the Bay Area came to join him. The next day we wandered over to Turtle Bay to check out the new Lego exhibit. Unfortunately I didn't manage to get any pictures of the cool sculptures, but we have a few from the 'building room' they had set up next door. There are big bins with Legos of all types for you to build your own masterpiece. Very fun!!

All Done!!

It is finished!! The butterflies have made it to their new home! Meagan has been waiting very patiently for me to finish binding it- every morning she'd come into the office/sewing room and ask if it was done yet. This is my first time using rick rack and I love how it turned out.

The butterflies are all hand appliqued with machine embroidery down the middle and for the antenna.