Baby Beach Fun

We did baby beach in two parts today. Pre- zion nap and post. The morning was super peaceful and perfect. All the kids were pretty relaxed (especially Zion) see below. The afternoon was equally perfect but just a little bit more crowded and crazy. Eden was stoked to be playing with her cousins again!

Zion wanted a ride on the boogie so badly today that he did not care how he got it. This is how Eden placed him on it, so he just went with it. It was quite strange to see her dragging him through the water like this. Tracy and I could not believe how relaxed he was about it. 

This is the new move Eden has been working on. 

She is actually getting pretty good at it.

She also Loves the wiping out part - can't get enough of it

I Love to see them playing together!

Catching Up

I can't believe I have let so much time pass since I have posted anything to this blog. But even now as I try to post something Eden is badgering me about picking this picture or that for some imaginary game she is playing. Which is wonderful and great fun but absolutely not conducive to my own personal productivity. That, in addition to the fact that she decided to quit napping and Zion decided to start crawling, and somehow my days are a constant blurr of trying to keep us all alive and in one piece.

Updates on Zion since the last post:

He started crawling on Easter day, since then he has climbed out of his crib, crawled up stairs (while no one one looking), and now he is walking along furniture. He also has several words including mamma, dada, Eden, and Ya (in response to "Do you want this?"). We have also heard him say hi once or twice but not consistently. 

Updates on Eden:

She is riding her scoot bike really well. Rides it all the way down to the school, around the school and home. Jon says it might be about a mile which seems like a lot for a 2 1/2 yr old (which is how old she was when she started doing that). She is also swimming really well and starting to be a lot more comfortable in the ocean. Recently she started letting the waves crash over her head. 

That's all I have for now. Eden is relentless for attention. I don't think I can ward her off for another second.

Here is a sneak peak into our daily rhythm...



And one more because I can not help myself - this one gets a bit long, but it is pretty special to us. A bit of background: we have fairly recently discovered books from the library. Just about every other week now we go and check out new books. It has been incredibly fun! A few weeks ago we came across a book that Eden came to love dearly. We read it so many times, and she loved it so much that one night as Jon was reading it she just started reciting each line before he got a chance to read it. We didn't get that first moment on video (we were just enjoying it too much and didn't want to break the spell), but the night before we returned it I tried to capture it. At this point she had become somewhat bored with the book so it didn't happen as magically as that first time she did it, but it was pretty special.

White Seabass Time

Often times we are asked what is the best way to cook the seabass that we give out.  This is one of our favorites.  We end up putting the fish over some rice and mixed baby greens.

Recipe:

1 cup Mayonnaise

1/3 cup soy sauce

2 TBS olive oil

2 TBS sherry

1 lime (juice)

1/2 TBS sesame oil

2 garlic cloves - chopped

Handful of fresh cilantro - chopped

Splash of tapatio sauce or Tabasco to taste

Mix this all together and chill for 2 hours

Dip the fish in this sauce and then grill it on aluminum foil on top of your BBQ

We also put more sauce over the top of everything, like a dressing.

Don't over cook it or it will be tough

The other way that we cook the fish is on a bed of fettuccine noodles with a white wine, garlic, lemon, and caper reduction poured over the top of it. We pan roast the fish with just a small amount of salt, pepper, and garlic on it.  After a quick browning on one side of the fish we turn it over and put it in the oven at 400.

Today

Being a mom is hard, so hard. In fact right now I am so incredibly exhausted that I don't know why I am writing on this thing instead of crawling in bed. But the kids and I just had one of those perfect days that I don't ever want to forget. I am so blessed by these children that God has given me. I can not properly put into words the joy that they bring me every single day. We had a great day, walking down to the farmers market and playing in the water down at baby beach, as Eden "surfed" on her boogie and zion repeatedly charged into the deep water, with his head up army crawl style, despite the fact that he was near drowning every single time. But hands down the highlight of my day was the way they were playing together after dinner tonight. Zion following Eden everywhere she went, and Eden just egging him on, watching out for him and taking care of him the best she knows how. I hope that they will always love each other the way that they do today. 

And now that Zion is 8 going on 9 months, we are starting to realize his true self a bit more and the things that truly make him happy.

1. Being LOUD

2. Being in the water

3. Playing rough/wrestling

4. Being tickled

5. Being LOVED/snuggled, especially by mommy (:

And I would like to state, for the record, that he and Jon have officially started getting along. Yes, if you didn't know (and don't feel bad if you didn't cause I didn't officially know myself) that up until recently Jon and Zion were not quite friends yet. I attribute their new found friendship to the fact that Zion suddenly and incessantly began saying "Da-Da". Jon claims that is not the case, and that their new found friendship is simply because Zion can now be put down for 5 minutes without having a screaming fit. Whatever it is, I am glad that they are finally hitting it off. And hoping that it will take Zi just a little bit longer to realize that Jon is the fun parent. 

Rootbeer Floats & Artichokes

I brought root beer floats to Kara's baby shower a couple of weeks ago. There was a ton left over so I made one the other day. Well, I didn't get to drink much of it. Eden seemed pretty certain it was one of the best things she had ever had and she was not letting it go. 

That day we harvested our artichokes. We didn't get a ton because a wind storm uprooted the plant and we had to harvest what we had. But we got a few really nice ones, and the old plant is already coming back up. 

Below, Zion is eating artichoke for the first time. This was really fun for him on so many levels. The minute I handed him a piece of what Eden and I were already eating his face just lit up in a way that I can not begin to describe. He was so thrilled to be eating what we were eating and he did such a great job with it too, just gumming the fruit off. It was amazing and adorable. Only problem is he was pretty gassy the next day, oops. But I think even he would agree that it was worth it!

Top 5 Things that Make Zi Smile

I did a post like this for Eden when she was about Zi's age. A couple of months ago I came across it and was marveling over the diversity of things that made her smile. At the time I could only think of one thing that made Zi smile, and that was Eden. Even still she is number one on his list, but now I can think of other things too (sort of).

1. Eden
2. Daddy
3. Being Tickled
4. Peek a Boo
5. Chasing Eden or Klamath, but most particularly tagging Eden with his own hands - he is a big fan of that.

Just for good measure I think I should add the top five things that make Eden smile.

1. Daddy, especially Daddy Eden days (the days I go to work) she looks forward to the day all week
2. Water
3. Gardening
4. Riding her bike and scooting - she has lately been riding her bike &/or scooter all the way down to the school, all the way around the school and then home. It is an incredible thing, and she is incredibly proud of it.
5. Zion

Joshua Tree with Kids

We headed back to Joshua Tree over the weekend to take the kids camping and climbing. Jon had some of his friends meet us out there who had never climbed outside before but were interested in trying it out. That enabled us to climb a little bit, because they were able to belay one of us while the other watched the kids. I have to admit that I was disappointed at how hard it was to climb with the kids out there. I had unrealistic expectations of how it would go and how much I would climb which led to my disappointment. Nonetheless we had great company, and as Jon so eloquently put it - "It was a nice try". Also, before the heat and shear exhaustion set in everyone did have a little bit of fun. It was neat to see Eden scampering around on the rocks. She is getting better and more confident in her frictioning skills, and she is even starting to pick up on some of the lingo. While Jon was climbing she was yelling up to him about where he should put his hand and foot next. It was super cute. I just have such a fierce addiction to climbing. It is something that I realize I may always struggle with. I am grateful to Jon for understanding it, and making room for it in ours lives. And I am hopeful that my kids can grow up around it similarly to the way they are growing up around surfing. 

Eden climbed up and down this little rock so many times that she wore holes in the bottom of her shorts (such a proud moment for me).