St. Francis Dam

Today started out like all other days, it was my turn to get up early and Erik was awake at 6 am, oh lucky me. We convinced him to play in his room or at least stay there until his "sun turned yellow" at 6:40 so I got almost an extra hour in there. Then I am up, we make muffins, we play games, I catch up on my computer a typical morning for us. I declared it a "no tv" day so we invent a lot of games and the boys stopped asking for a show. Its really amazing what they can do when they stop thinking of tv.

At this point Carl was still asleep, or at least in bed, so I decided to take the boys on some errands but told Carl to be ready when we got home because I wanted to take the boys hiking and they also really wanted to go. So an hour later we are home, I run my groceries into the house while the boys are still strapped into their carseats and tell Carl to get his shoes on.

At this moment Carl is on his computer looking at an article on the St. Francis Dam. He then tells me, we're going to some place new today, hiking in Santa Clarita Valley. So like that we changed our plans from a local family hike to an adventure. I just filled up the water bottles, grabbed a bit of extra food, my camera and we headed out the door. Total time to plan this trip 10 minutes and one potty break on the way to Santa Clarita because the boys swore they didn't have to go potty before we left.

About 40 minutes later and a long drive through the Santa Clarita Valley with me wondering if we really should move up there, we finally arrive at our destination. It is very ominous with road blocks stopping you from entering, but hikers are allowed anywhere, well not anywhere, but they are allowed here.

Let me give you a little history about this place. This is the abandoned and washed out road from the old St. Francis Dam that provided water to Los Angeles. In 1928 after opening the dam, it collapsed and 100 foot high waves smashed through the Santa Clarita River and through the valley until it emptied in the ocean. You can read this complete article if you want more details. What we hiked today were the remains of the dam and what remains of the road almost 100 years later.

See one thing I have learned about being married to Carl, compromise. I love hiking and want to teach that love to my children, he loves anything car related and old ruins. So instead of hiking to the hills we go to this place and he is happy because I take great pictures and he got to go to a fun place and I am happy because we had an adventure.

There isn't much to tell about our hiking adventure. It was hotter than I expected as it was 57 when we left Burbank so I over dressed my kids. This meant it was slow going for most of the hike with lots of stops and water breaks. My favorite part of the trip is that I can let my boys be boys and conquer nature. The means lots of rock throwing and stick playing.

  

  

Of course this trip was more than about just my kids so I took a lot of pictures of the ruins and our rustic setting. Keep in mind that I am taking all my pictures at the worse possible time of day in the mid afternoon sun, but they definitely tell the story of how this site has faired for the last 90 years. This first set are pictures on the way to the dam.

About a mile later with lots of "ups" and stops we finally made it to our destination. Honestly we had to debate amongst ourselves whether this really was the site since there is hardly any rubble anymore, but its here and this is what remains at the actual location.

Although its interesting to see and touch a piece of history, this was a morning about family and just spending time together as a family. I treasure these moments for every second I have them.

 

Let's not forget this, although there were no wildflowers yet, its SPRING and all the signs of spring were showing up on this gorgeous afternoon. I couldn't help but take a few landscapes, although not my speciality.

Here are a couple markers from our trip. This first bus sign confuses me because I thought this road was closed and this sign looks new. Can't figure it out.

The original sign from when the dam opened.

Enjoying spring while it is here

After having weeks of very cool weather and rain we got a break with warm temperatures and lots and lots of sunshine. I know must of us moms who have taken our kids out are very confused, long sleeves, short sleeves, shorts, I see it all, and once us moms get it down the weather changes and we get it all wrong again.

So today, dressed appropriately I think, we woke up from our naps and decided to enjoy this beautiful spring day. What this means to us is chalk, short sleeves and bare feet and lots and lots of time outside.

Please excuse my toes, but I was letting them "breath" for the winter. Looks like I might be hitting the nail salon for a pedicure this weekend.

After my inspiring parent education lecture last week I hit the Target $1 bin for some projects I have in the works, but in the meantime I grabbed some chalk. We haven't done this project for a while and it is always fun when it is fresh so we decorated our driveway this afternoon. There is no color discrimination in this household, we like pink here just like any other color.

We haven't drawn each others bodies for months, but Erik's memory is amazing lately and the first thing he wants to do is draw me. Elliot laid down as soon as Erik asked and of course he was the first victim. Then comes mommy and then mommy has to draw both boys. Its a very complicated project over here.

Then there are times when it is not about projects it is just about enjoying what you can do outside and for my two boys that involved a lot of chase and bike riding.

The beauty of my house is that we can play in both the front and backyard so when it is time to cook dinner we change locations and it gives us a fresh new perspective and a whole slew of projects. I love this time of year because I put out the water table and said to my boys, no tv this afternoon and you are not allowed inside until I tell you. I LOVE spring! I also love that the only tv they watch is the 30 minutes while I take my shower.

 

Erik is learning lots of new things in preschool and one is how to be a boy. Today he started playing pirates and took my cooking shears and started trying to play swords. I immediately took him outside and gave him appropriate toys to play pirates. I do have to admit if I didn't start reading up on boys or go to my parent education class I might freak out by sword play, but I realize now it is a natural process for boys and nothing I can really control.

    

The last couple things I love about spring at my house. The back door is always open, the grill is almost always going and the flowers are blooming. Definitely a great time of year.

Art that works for my boys

I try to take inspiration from everywhere. Sometimes it is in talking to a mom or dad about a new way to do things and trying it out at home. More often than not it was been in my Parent Education classes. Today our instructor during Erik's 3 year old class created an inspiring discussion that really got me thinking. It was about art and projects for preschoolers.

I have always shied away from complicated projects with my boys because they don't have the patience to sit through them, but today Teacher Karen really got me thinking. Maybe I am approaching this all wrong. Maybe its not about creating an elaborate art project like I keep seeing on all these blogs, but providing them tools and giving them the opportunity to learn. I have a whole list of things I want to buy and an idea of how I want to store it from the class discussion, but when I got home and had an hour to kill I thought to myself, TRY SOMETHING NEW.

Usually when we are winding how for nap I start reading them books, we play a game or we head upstairs and play with our trains. Today I decided to look inside my cabinets for a project. I had this rice sitting there that a friend gave to me when she moved that I was never going to use, I had the tin left over from Christmas, and then I grabbed a couple of everyday kitchen utensils, two ice cream scoops, a measuring cup, a coffee scoop and headed outside.

It was an unusually hot and sunny day today so I went for the only shade in our backyard. In retrospect I will probably create shade and do this on a smooth table but you'll find out why.

So I started off by pouring all the rice in the tin and told Erik and Elliot, just play, but the only rule is they can't dump it on the grass or the table. I just did one scoop into a container as demonstration. Then I got my camera stepped back and watched them work.

Elliot just kind of touched and explored everything and then walked off to do something else, but Erik touched each item and scooped up rice to see how it worked.

I really loved this project because I could just see his little three year old mind figuring it out, learning how everything worked together and just problem solving. Its exactly how I want my little boys to approach life.

Then Elliot who was mostly watching and wandering around the backyard decided this project might be something worth his time and found a way to help his brother.

Then Erik started coming up with different creative ideas, is this is why I love projects like this. It helps them to think and see the world differently. Erik wanted to build a sandcastle of the rice and I told him to give it a try to see how it works. They also played "cheers" with the rice bottles another fun game for both.

For my little boys who won't sit more than 5-10 minutes for any art project, they played with this for almost 30 minutes and I think it would have lasted longer if they weren't both ready for their naps.

This gets better. So like I said, I would choose a smoother table next time I start because the rice got in the wood slats, I wasn't thinking I just looked for the only shade in our backyard. Erik got to learn another valuable lesson, clean up!

Clean up took all of five minutes. The rice is back in the originally bottles and the utensils back in the kitchen. Total cost of this science experiment, $0, the results absolutely priceless.

Brother See, Brother Do

I noticed in the last couple weeks Elliot had another developmental explosion. He is probably getting to the worst of his terrible twos and there is a lot of "no" in our house right now even if he really means yes. He wants to know what everything is, and tell you what everything is especially when you are taking walks. His mind is just a sponge and this is one of those moments in life when you stop and enjoy the little things, all seen through a 22 month olds eyes.

Another side affect that is new to me is the imitation factor. Anything Erik does, Elliot is quickly on his heels in imitation. It is utterly fascinating. On the other side of it, I have taken this as an opportunity for Erik to lead and I ask him to help his brother do certain tasks or ask him to teach is brother. This is why you have siblings, there is a definitely benefit of learning from a different perspective.

One of the first moments I noticed this trend was the day after Valentine's Day. Erik had gotten two new "Cars" toys. We got to preschool early and were waiting for them to open the gate. He wanted to tell his friend Sophia all about his new toys so I told him to talk to her. Erik ran over with Elliot on his heels and tells her this very important news. Then after he is done, Elliot proceeds to have the same conversation with Sophia, but in gibberish. Same length, same tone, just too precious.

So in the last couple days I had my camera lying around and if I saw a moment I tried to capture it. There are only a couple and there are so many moments I haven't captured, but it is definitely a fun little stage.

After my painting fiasco early in February I gave up on arts and craft for a bit, but slowly I have been bringing out the crayons. Although Erik doesn't care for them much, it seems to be a new interest of Elliot so of course if one brother does art, the other as well.

My favorite moment of the week so far was a random comment I made. We always wash our hands before we eat. Erik is old enough now that he can go in the bathroom himself wash his hands and I don't have to supervise, Elliot still needs help. For some reason on this day I said to Erik, "Can you help Elliot wash his hands?" I have probably said this to him before to death ears, but on this day he helped Elliot. Also he really did help him, no splashing, no playing, no goofing around. Erik turned on the water, gave him soap on his hand and a towel to dry his hands. Truly what I do. It took me a while to figure out it was really happening so I had all of 30 seconds to get this picture.

The last moment was today. Part of this is just funny. Erik starts going to poop on the potty and of course this is the moment that Elliot wakes up from his nap so I head upstairs and have to clean a massive diaper. He is potty trained but having issues with poop so it goes in the diaper during nap more than in the potty. (we'll get there). So Erik starts calling me down to the potty and says "Mommy look at this, there is a car and airplane in this magazine," and let me tell you he was super excited.

This is what I saw. Then of course because his brother just woke up he has to visit him and talk to him while on the potty, who cares how much it smelled. Love and companionship over smells in this household.

I am sure this is only a taste of what is to happen for the rest of my life, but it is fun to watch it blossom and grow and see the innocence of it all right now.