Life with Little Monkeys...

SNOW!!!

2010-02-15T21:26:00.000-08:00

We've talked about going up to the mountains every winter for several years but it just never worked out before. During the last two weeks 6 feet of snow fell in the local mountains, and we just couldn't resist a weekend trip.

We found a little cabin to rent and left early on a Friday to beat the traffic. The kids were so excited as we wound our way up the mountain and the snow got deeper and deeper. They've never played in the snow before and they talked about it all week. Emmy counted down the days every morning when she woke up.

This is the view out the back door of the cabin, and what is supposed to be the patio! Gage has always hated the cold and wet, so we were a bit worried that he would be miserable. But Blake spent the week hunting for bargains on good winter clothes and found some great stuff for them all.

Gage looked like the stay puff marshmallow man, but he played for hours without getting cold in his new warm clothes.

Hadley enjoyed the snow too.

Hadley at just past 2 is still a little small to play very long in the snow with all the layers on, so she spent a good bit of time "tuddling" (cuddling) with mom and dad.

Emmy of course had a great time. She played for hours with Gage digging tunnels and caves in the huge piles of snow. They made some snow angels and snowballs, and I don't think they fought once!!!

Emmy did a little sledding with Mom and Dad.

And she helped build our first family snowman and decorated it with her own hat and scarf.

The kids were so tired after playing in the snow all day long. Tired but happy. What a great trip.

First Day of Kindy Garden!

2009-09-12T07:17:00.000-07:00

Emmy's first day of kindergarten! She has been so excited all summer long for her "real" school to start. She loved her two years of preschool and two days a week wasn't enough anymore. Emmy always loves being with friends and learning new things so she has a hard time in the summer with no school. She was ready to go back and have her own life away from home.

The other kids were sad to see her go and sad to be left behind. They look up to Emmy and rely on her for make believe time and to create games to play at home. Her school adds a lot of energy to family time too because she is so excited to share her stories with us at dinner.

She told us a funny story the first day about "her friend" that opened her lunch box and was so sad because she didn't get the snack she wanted. Then she laughed and said "but it wasn't her lunch box! It was the same as my other friend's!"

Of course, daddy had to get her in trouble the first day. I thought she would be excited to have a small handful of chocolate covered raisins in a baggy for a treat on her first day.

Apparently momma had signed a sheet saying they weren't allowed to bring treats or chocolate.... That's why momma packs the lunches!

On their first day they read the Ginger Bread Man" and played a game of can't catch the gingerbread man around the school to learn where the library and other rooms were. The teacher said most kids are pretty shy for the first two weeks, but on the first day Emmy was already hugging the teacher with a smile and talking about her friends over dinner. We're so happy to see Emmy enjoying school so much. It's a good thing too! She'll be there a few years!

Emmy's First Day of School

2008-09-14T21:51:00.000-07:00

For weeks Emmy has been asking, "Momma, how many days until school?"

She could hardly stand the wait, especially when most of the neighborhood elementary school kids started the week before her. She finally got to meet her teacher last Tuesday and starting getting really excited, but still had to put up with her friends talking about recess and lessons and teachers. Finally, last Thursday, it was her day, and man did she let everyone know! She literally came flying out of her room at 6 AM and screamed (not uncommon for her!) as she ran though the house, "IT'S MY FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL TODAY!!!!". We managed somehow to get her dressed and through breakfast without her falling to pieces with anticipation.

When she was ready, she stood by the door very impatiently, waiting for the rest of us to get ready to go. No one seemed to understand what a hurry we needed to be in!!! I did get her to hold still for the required first-day-of-school picture.

Waiting for the gates to open at 9 AM.

Since this is the second year of preschool, Emmy gets to sign in by herself! She usually writes just "EMMY" so writing "Emerson" was a bit of a challenge, especially when it was so hard to concentrate on the first day! She sort of got the bottom half of the "s" backward, and maybe an extra leg on the "n" !!! We loved it, but we're still not sure what an Emercow is? HA!

Miss Three Tooth

2008-09-14T20:37:00.000-07:00

Hadley decided at 10 months that she was tired of watching everyone else walk around on two feet so she pulled herself up and took a few steps!!! She copies everything Emmy and Gage do, so we aren't really surprised that she was interested in walking too.

Her first few attempts! Did I say 10 MONTHS??? Yikes!

She not only has started walking, but decided she likes to climb up on things and stand up there too!

She recently sprouted her third tooth, so I've been calling her "Old Three Tooth" lately! It is super cute and we're not looking forward to our last baby getting all her teeth and not looking like a baby anymore. We're trying to enjoy them every day just as they are. She was in the bath for the first shot.

One of her new habits is to crawl into Gage's dump truck and take a seat. The problem is, she can't get out on her own very well so she hollers at us every 20 seconds or so to help her out. Of course, then she climbs right back in again!!!

Hadley is getting pretty good at feeding herself now. And by "pretty good at" I mean, she can satisfy her hunger. A good bit of the food still doesn't exactly make it into her mouth.

Another of her new daily routines is pulling the tupperware out of the cabinet and investigating!!!

Of course, being a baby, she still takes a couple naps every day. She's waiting for the cell phone to ring. She loves it when it lights up and makes noise and can never seem to predict when its going to happen so she'll hold on to it for hours.

Just so this post isn't all about Hadley, here is a picture of all the kids from the end of August:

Summer Fun

2008-08-03T21:01:00.000-07:00

I had to brush off a few cobwebs to get back to my blog after a long summer of fun. I know, I've neglected this badly and this short post won't hardly make up for it, but I thought I better throw up a couple pictures from our adventures. Summer seemed to last forever when I was a kid, but now it just flies by. The kids made the most of it, and Blake and I just tried to keep up. A few of our fun memories from the summer:

A trip to the aquarium

One of our neighborhood block party BBQs. The kids were let loose to eat and play, and obviously were not cleaned prior to photo time!!!

A little waterfight after lunch took care of most of the mess and the heat!

Emmy playing with one of her friends from school

As always, playing a little dressup (Emmy's favorite)

Dr Seuss inspired block castles

Hadley playing her new favorite game!

Peekaboo Hadley!!!

One of our best memories of Summer 2008 was our big northwest road trip. Here's a picture from Glacier National Park in Montana, but I think I'll save more vacation pictures for another blog. Hope everyone is enjoying back to school time!

Little Man

2008-03-14T15:21:00.000-07:00

Blake always calls Gage "little man" and this post is all about our cute little monster.

Emmy will get the honor next time. Maybe when Hadley does something besides drool she'll get a whole blog entry to herself! Oh wait, she can roll over, and she has a really cute laugh, but I digress... Today's post is for Gage. Hadley will get her chance, and I think I'll find a few more things to mention about her than her excessive drool:)

Gage's favorite things:
Rocks (Rots)
Trucks (Ruts), and
His Blanket (mah-mit)

If you only got to know one thing about Gagey, I'd tell you about his love of rocks. It doesn't matter the size, shape, color, or amount of dirt stuck to it, he LOVES rocks!

At first his fixation was SO cute, but it has started to get old because we literally can not get him to walk past a tiny broken pebble on the way to the car without him hollering, "Rot, Rot, Rot!!!" and pulling away to pick it up and show it off. "Yes, rock Gage" we reply with a sigh, and tell him to put it by the car for later. Rocks have been banned from the car as at the moment of unbearable boredom during a car ride he will hurl it wildly and unwittingly toward his baby sister who sits in front of him. The fact that he actually lets it out of his hand is amazing because usually the only way to wrench it free is to trade for food.

Speaking of food, Gage is finally old enough to hold his own "big boy" cup and not do much damage.

Gage will be 2 in April, and he is really growing up fast all of a sudden. He actually isn't growing much bigger, but he is growing up. He started talking a lot in recent months and now frequently says two words in sequence. Emmy teaches him to count, so he can count to three sometimes on his own. He likes to repeat after Emmy as she counts to 20, but he's a ways away from doing THAT on his own I think. He isn't quite ready to dress himself either, but he does try putting on his shoes by himself.

The only thing Gagey loves more than rocks and his sisters is his blanket from Grandma Mimi. Actually, I think he likes his blanket better! He doesn't like to go anywhere without it, and I'm not sure he'd be able to fall asleep without it. He loves to dig his fingers through the holes, especially when he's really tired. He might just be the most happy in the world when he wakes up in the morning and drags his blanket to "his" rocker and climbs in.

He'll rock for an hour, just humming a little song to himself and holding his blanket. The only thing that will get him up is a promise to go outside and look for rocks!!!

He is temperarily over his obsession with cars and trucks, but still likes to get them all out of his drawer and line them up on the floor, couch, or table, and make little "vroom vroom" sounds as he drives them on the furniture.

Some other things Gage likes:

GIVING KISSES

TRYING TO BE LIKE HIS BIG SISTER

HE'S ALWAYS LOVED BALLS!

WHAT KID DOESN'T LOVE CANDY!!!

HE'LL DO ANYTHING OUTSIDE

and his favorite hobby of late? HUNTING SPIDERS!!!!

We Love Our Little Man!

First Beach Trip of 2008

2008-03-09T07:29:00.000-07:00

I woke up Saturday morning at 5:30 thanks to Gage and his early morning hours. I actually like getting up early and I wouldn't on my own as often maybe so its a good thing, but I don't love jumping out of bed in the middle of sleep to get him before his hollering wakes up the whole house. While he drank his warm milk and rocked in his favorite chair (like he does every morning) I watched news footage of the winter storm that was blasting the midwest and northeast and decided that it was a good day to go to the beach!!! Ah, the weather in S California... It was in the 70s and perfect for a spring day at the beach.

Hadley wasn't overly impressed. Kids these days...they just don't appreciate what they've got:)

I rarely get the three girls together in a pic so I was so happy to catch them all smiling at once!

Time to go set the clocks forward an hour. We love this time of year because there's actually time and sunlight to play outside now after I get home from work. Summer is on its way!!!

Seeds

2008-03-06T18:36:00.000-08:00

Thanks Grandma Silly for the seeds and planting tray. The little peat moss pellets were really fun to use. We had never seen them until now, but of course now that we know what they are we see them for sale in all the garden stores. They start out hard as rocks, but with some water they swell 3 or 4 times their size and the seeds poke right down in.

We love springtime every year and the peas and beans apparently love it too! We couldn't believe how fast they sprouted. It must have been the little greenhouse cover that comes with the tray. They are too tall now to keep the cover on. We'll have to find a place to transplant soon.

And since we're talking about Grandma Silly (who by the way would remind me not to start a sentence with "and"!), I learned most pictures are boring without people in them! So here's a couple of my favs from late 2007 that I never got time to post.

Happy March everyone!

Out and About in February

2008-03-02T15:15:00.000-08:00

I was trying to keep up with at least one post a month, but even that's starting to slip. I have no excuses now though because we finally got wireless and upgraded from dial-up (yes, we still had dial-up at home... I know, hard to believe) so now I can sit on the couch with the laptop and post away. No excuses... :)

This post just has some pics of random things we did in February. We had the flu in early February (no pics of that!) and it drug out for 3 weeks before everyone worked through it. Besides that time though we've been trying to get out and do more fun things.

"HIKING" AT A PRESERVE IN IRVINE

I usually don't call it hiking unless you at least go up or down a little, but a lot of our regular weekend hiking spots we closed from too much rain so we decided to try something new and had a great time. It is right in town and you'd never think there was so much open space in the middle of Orange County, but they've done a good job keeping open space all around.

This was some drying algae, but Emmy called it spider webs. It did look a little creepy on an overcast grey day in the swamp. Emmy asked if there were aligators in Irvine. We got a kick out of that one.

BOOMERS

Emmy and Gage have sticker charts for their daily chores and if they get enough we get a special weekend treat. You can see their charts behind them on the wall. I love this picture anyway but it just happens to show the charts. Emmy and Gagey are both being their classic silly selves.

They did so well with their chores the last two weeks we took them to a little amusement park for a few rides and games.

Emmy really wanted to go on the ferris wheel and Blake couldn't believe it because she is terrified of them. She almost scared Emmy out of it:

Hadley thought it was a bad idea too :)

But Emmy insisted and we got on!

She did get a bit scared, but mostly enjoyed it.

After a little convincing Gagey went on a smaller ride too.

That was enough for him though. After that he wanted his blanket back and wanted to be held and just watch for awhile. He's having his timid phase.

Going inside for a little skee-ball was a good rest after the rides, and it's Blake's favorite game too.

Of course everyone's favorite after a fun day is to come home and relax.

Goodbye February 2008. No more leap years for 4 more years...

Emmy the Ballerina

2008-01-07T12:39:00.000-08:00

I already missed my chance for a Christmas blog, so here's my nod to Christmas:

So Emmy just turned four yesterday and she was so excited!!! It really made her feel like a big girl, especially with two babies at home. She got a bike for Christmas, which she has been loving.

Before that she only had a tricyle and a scooter so she's really stepped up to the big time and joined the other big kids in the neighborhood. She still measures at above the 90th percentile for height, so most people thought she was 4 all year, but now it's the real deal. One of her favorite presents was a ballet outfit and a multi-week class to learn ballet. If you saw my Halloween blog you'll know that Emmy moved on from the typical little girl princess phase and was into witches and goblins and everything non-cute. So on her 4th birthday I was happy to see she was still open to ballet. Gagey was also really excited about her frilly outfit, but that's another story:) Here's Emmy's untrained and free version of ballet!

See below for a video of Gage's new pursuit...

Gage Houdini Martin

2008-01-07T12:26:00.000-08:00

So the last few weeks Gage finally figured out how helpful talking can be and began to repeat everything he hears. While he's been repeating a few words for months, he didn't seem interested in actually communicating. It has been so much fun listening to him try and pronounce everyday words, but what hasn't been fun is dealing with his new found attitude. He decided now that he's 20 months old and can talk (if that's what you call it) that he doesn't have to do "baby" things anymore. So he went from two naps a day to none, doesn't want to sit in his booster with a tray, and wakes up at 4 AM because he can!!!! Yep. Hilarious. I thought this didn't hit til the teenage years. The real kicker though is that he decided even a crib couldn't keep him in...

This is the real reason he gets up at 4 AM. He can get free of his cage and start the new exciting day! His parents aren't too excited though. Especially cranky papa bear because momma bear is nursing the new baby, guess who gets to deal with "big boy" Gage? Yep...

Baby 3 at Last!

2007-12-20T10:28:00.000-08:00

Its already been over a month since baby 3 finally decided to join us in the real world, but somehow I haven't had time to post some pictures. I did send around an email, but I've felt bad about neglecting my monthly committment to the blog. There won't be many details, but I had to at least post a few pictures.

Hadley Reece
Born November 7, 2007 (11/7/07)
10 lbs 0 ozs
23" long

We love the date, and if I can't remember that birthday then all is lost for me:)

The hospital actually measured her at 21" at birth, but we don't think they were too careful because she measured 23" and then 24" a couple days later. So unless she sprouted an inch a day we're pretty sure they just didn't pay attention. We didn't care for the nurse that cleaned her up and measured her anyway, but that's another story...

A couple pics of Hadley with Emmy, Gage, and Blake:

HAPPY HOLIDAYS TO EVERYONE!!!

HALLOWEEN!!!

2007-11-01T11:38:00.000-07:00

Halloween is so much fun with kids. I don't even remember having that much fun when I used to go out trick-or-treating. Emmy designed the jack-o-lantern this year on paper first and then I set out to carve her creation.

I think it turned out to be my favorite Halloween pumpkin ever!!! I couldn't have made one that interesting to save my life. Behold, Emmy's 7 eyed Monster!!!

Emmy has been excited for over a month and she could hardly stand it all day waiting for it to get dark. At 4 PM she even said, "You know, its God's fault its not dark yet" HA!!! I had a good laugh at that. I then tried a disertation on how if God gave us what we wanted all the time we wouldn't be able to be happy because everything would be too easy. Of course the point was entirely lost on her. Having things her way all the time sounded pretty good to her:) Hope she grows out of it, but she is a girl... :)

Fortunately it gets dark pretty early this time of year so after an early dinner we all got dressed up, and much to my surprise, everyone enjoyed it...and I mean everyone!

I thought Gage would hate being stuck in his outfit, but he wore it all night long without complaint. He looked so cute as a giraffe.

Emmy was a truly terifying witch. It didn't take any convincing to get her to hold still for makeup. She loves dressing up, and she has been talking about being a witch for ages. She could hardly take it that it was finally time.

My favorite part was when we met some neighbors for pictures, and ALL the girls had dressed like princess brides. That's all Emmy could talk about last year, but this year it was all witch for her. This picture of her among all the sweet princesses makes me laugh out loud every time I look at it. I just love it!

I didn't think I'd be able to convince Blake to dress up, but what better way to utilize a 5-day overdue prego belly than on Halloween?

And of course, I dressed up as myself...white trash hick boy from Eastern Oregon:)

Don't I look handsome:)

Blake got the most attention by far. Everyone that passed would gasp when they realized it was her real belly, and at least 20 people stopped to take pictures. It really was quite a site. Both the kids got tons of compliments too. Their outfits were fantastic. Nobody really loved mine...but a few people did say something about Farmer Bob...or offered their orthodondists number... I think too many people thought my fake teeth were real...or maybe it was just a boring outfit. Most of the parents didn't even dress up, so I personally thought we were the cutest family in the neighborhood:)

Halloween in September

2007-09-28T09:49:00.000-07:00

So this year Emmy is SOOOOO excited about Halloween. She has been shopping with momma for costumes and decorations for the last two weeks and spent hours decorating the house with momma. We've tried to warn her that the baby is due around Halloween so we don't know what's going to happen yet. We may be trick-or-treating in the hospital, but gosh darn it we're dressing up and getting some candy!!!

The kids have both tried on their potential outfits. Gage isn't so sure about his. It lasted all of 10 or 15 seconds and he was over it! He might have to go dressed as a baby... or Charlie Brown (thanks for the idea mom!)

Emmy is not only patient with her outfit, but absolutely dedicated to being a terrifying witch!!! She's been studying the door hanging of a witch we put on her bathroom and said she MUST have a big warty green nose and pointy chin, and while she was sitting on the toilet the other night announced that she MUST have a green bottom too. We were impressed she projected the green skin from the face of the witch to the rest of the witch's unseen body, but its a theme that's getting a bit tired in our household. Emmy has a recent fixation on her bodily functions. Its just a stage, and a healthy one no doubt, but it will be nice when she wants to talk about something else:) Good thing Halloween is coming. Its been a great distraction. From first thing in the morning til right before bed she wants to wear her witch hat around the house and we had to hide the $1 broom, afraid it would break before the big night!

Auntie Cara Comes to Dana Point

2007-09-27T15:02:00.000-07:00

Auntie Cara and Uncle Tyler came to visit from Mesa last weekend with a big group of Tyler's friends from High School. Of course the weekend they decide to come is the first rainy cold weekend since April!!! It was a beautiful weekend at the beach though, and a nice change from the 140 degree Arizona weather! They didn't seem to mind the cool wind. Dana Point was beautiful, especially from a beach house, and the kids loved the piles of rocks there.

35 Weeks - YIKES!!!

2007-09-27T14:50:00.000-07:00

Yep, we are officially on standby. Baby 3 any day now. I'm scrambling frantically at work trying to stay caught up. It would be just my luck to have the baby come right before a deadline. With deadlines every day I can't do much to avoid it... but at least I can try! Blake has just finished organizing everything and giving the house a good cleaning. All she has left to do is pack the hospital bag and get as much sleep as possible!!!

Blake is still getting as cute as ever, but that belly is getting pretty ripe! She stuck on some tatoos (thanks Piper) so the kids could put their hands on her belly and Emmy loves it. This one's my favorite:

Slideshow of more belly and kid pics
(Click on pictures for larger pics or to download from web albums)

First Day of Preschool!!!

2007-09-26T15:28:00.000-07:00

I wish it was my first day of preschool. That sounds fun right now:) But no, Emmy just started for the Fall on Sept 18. This is her excitedly jumping out of the car to run in, and she was definitely excited!!!

When she gets there she always runs straight to the table and starts drawing or painting. It seems to be her favorite.

I'm always curious what else she does in preschool because she doesn't talk about it much. I think she likes having somewhere she can go that's all for her!!! I'm tempted to ask her teacher if I can set up a video camera for the day, just so I know how she is when she's away from us. I'm so used to her being home with us that I can't stand not knowing everything. Now Blake can't even fill me in on her antics... I guess I'll have to get used to it.

When Emmy started summer preschool she bumped her face on the first day and had a huge bruise across her nose and lips. On her first day of Fall school Gage had an alergic reaction to some antibiotics and had a horrible rash.

As my mom always says... there's always something...

Better rash than a spill down the stairs or something. They keep us on our toes!

The Evil Minivan....

2007-09-11T17:33:00.000-07:00

Yes....its true...the Martins own a minivan :(

Do I need to say more?

Now Blake can't ever say I didn't buy her a really nice present. See, doesn't she look happy and grateful?

The car seats are huge these days and our Camry wouldn't fit 3 across in the back seat....so it was unavoidable. It really is nice to have for a family. The kids love it, and its convenient for Blake too, even though there is a definite stigma with owning a minivan. There's no turning back now.

Monster Surf for Labor Day - Thanks Mexico!

2007-09-05T16:54:00.000-07:00

The heat has been unseasonably hot for nearly a week, the weather reports blaming the hurricanes in the Gulf of Mexico for freezing the high pressure over Southern California. Each day the temperature seemed to get a degree or two hotter. But the hurricanes did something else too. They brought some monster surf to a world famous spot on our local beach called "The Wedge" in Newport Beach. The surf there piles up against the jetty and brings waves many times bigger than other spots on the same beach, and when there is a storm out in the ocean the waves are enormous. But unlike huge waves like the pipeline, the waves at the Wedge are usually a mess as the waves bounce off the side of the Jetty and the backwash collides with new incoming waves. Its exciting and completely unpredictable. Take a look at typical storm condition surf, where the waves just destroy anyone in the way.

This one shows perfectly how messy the waves are, most peaking in odd places and closing out on all sides.

Of course I couldn't leave the beach without a little swim so I dove in, intending to stay on the right side of the wedge, just catching the side of the big guys, but the backwash is so enormously powerful that it sucks you directly back into the middle of the wedge. The most terrifiying part of the area is that the current pulls inward from both sides so if you get caught in an early part of the set, you are pulled straight back into the center of the next one. I only found out after breathlessly escaping from 3 pounding waves that you are required to have fins to swim there:) I won't forget for next time... After all your strength is pounded out of you from the first waves pummelling you don't feel you can hold your breath as the rest of the set pounds your chest. I really felt lucky to escape only short of breath. Fins would have been helpful...

Blake said she had contractions the whole time we were there. I found her the highest spot on the beach and dug two walls and trenches of sand to keep larger waves back, but the waves were so big and unpredictable you really didn't feel like you were far enough away. In my 10 years of coming here I've never seen summer waves that topped the berm above the waves. Its always been dry. You can see Emmy standing on what is always the dry shelf, many many feet above the water level:

I have to say though, I was quite proud to have engineered walls that kept her seat (look at the spot below the umbrella) dry when a huge wave snuck up on everyone. The wave came so close to washing our stuff away that Blake just didn't feel comfortable sitting back down hoping that was the biggest one of the day so we moved our stuff back, but you can see the nice dry spot where she had been sitting. Is that a proud husband protecting his 8 month pregnant wife or what!!! :) Blake is rolling her eyes as she reads this right now.... LOL

Beside us a family with a newborn baby ran away, leaving their bags and towels to get soaked. Some boys behind us lucked out becuase our walls diverted the wave and kept an area dry where their stuff was left while they swam.

You can get an idea of the size of the waves from a couple shots Blake took while I swam showing a swell piling up against the jetty and then the size of the mess after it broke, with me underneath somewhere... You can see in both pictures tiny little heads of stupid people floating in the water...what a rush!

The weekend got calmer from there, and thank goodness because Blake was going to go into labor nearly 2 months early:)

The only thing bad about the rest of the weekend was the heat. We shouldn't complain about the heat because it isn't nearly as bad as the East Coast with heat and humidity, but it was getting hard to bear day after day, especially with no A/C in the apartment. We usually don't need it, but the 95-100 degree days made the only pleasant place the local mall. Apparently everyone had that idea because our favorite indoor play area was packed with kids and tired parents. That didn't stop the kids from having fun though:) They seem to love the chaos of kids bouncing off each other as they jump from place to place.

We didn't last long because even the malls had turned down their A/C to save electricity and it was so crowded. We luckily had a party to go to for Labor Day, and thank goodness they had A/C.

We stayed until dark:) Emmy had a great time playing with her friend Meyleh.

Gage found plenty to do as usual.

Gage wasn't sure what to do about the new baby, except stay as FAR away as possible!

But Emmy, in typical big sister fashion knew just what to do and started reading and talking to him, and made sure he didn't roll off.

At the beach

2007-08-15T13:22:00.000-07:00

I took a day off on August 13th to spend some time with the fam since I'd neglected them so badly over the weekend and selfishly spent Saturday hiking instead. I also needed some recovery time after the big hike since I don't work out much anymore. My legs were pretty sore for a couple days.

We had a great trip to our favorite local beach on Balboa in Newport Beach. It was all the more fun because I knew everyone else was at work instead.

I'll just leave this as pictures since noone really cares what I think anyway:)

Caution - Nudity Involved (but don't worry, its not me!)
(Click a picture to enlarge and view separately)

Climbing Mount Baldy

2007-08-15T13:19:00.000-07:00

For those who come here for pictures of the kids (that's pretty much everybody) you can ignore this post as this one's just for me:)

I've been planning a hike up Mt. Baldy for a few months now and was so excited to actually go. It isn't a long hike as far as distance goes with only about 11 miles round trip. But the elevation gain is almost 4000 feet so its pretty much straight up the whole way. Adam decided he didn't want to take the trail so we went straight up the ski lift for the first mile or so to the lodge. He calls it a good "warm up" even though its over 1000 feet up in just a mile.

It doesn't look steep, but it gets worse fast!
View from the bottom:

Looking back from half way to the lodge.

Above the lodge the view started to get much better

Devil's backbone was my favorite part.

The trail went right up the ridge with great views off both sides.

The only bad part was the crazy strong wind that tried to push you off the backside drop off..

We made the summit by just after 9:30 so 3 hrs.

The view from the summit is hard to capture in photos. Its really the 360 view that is amazing.

We sat for 45 minutes and enjoyed the view, though I had to put on my long sleeve. The wind was strong, and pretty chilly at 10,000 feet.

I thought we'd be fast going down, but we took our time, mostly because I kept finding rocks to pick up:) Adam was patient with me though seriously every 5 feet I'd see one I just HAD to examine:) This one was like 3 feet across and looked like a chunk of meteorite that stuck in the dirt

Actually, I think its a schist....but I'm not a geologist, just a dork who likes rocks a bit too much. Adam calls it "a problem" but I wouldn't go that far, though my little pack did get so full of rocks by the time we made it to the lodge that it was tough to carry with one arm. You really had to wear it or pick it up with two hands. I ended up packing out 25 or 30 pounds of rocks.

I could feel my feet starting to blister a bit, probably cause I wore cotton socks and running shoes. The cotton held in the sweat and softened up my untrained skin. I convinced Adam to take the chairlift down the last mile and carry my rock-laded bag. Then my senses escaped me and I decided I would race him down on foot:) I did actually beat him pretty easily, but that last leg (1000 drop in five minutes of running) really did me in after a long hike. I got a couple nice blisters too. My feet were burning up after the run down from the lodge so I was happy to spot a cool spot on a creek to cool my feet.

Of course within a few days Adam and I were making plans for climbing Mt Whitney. It isn't tall at over 14,000 feet, but its the tallest in the lower 48 and no equipment needed. It will be a great one to conquer. And poor Blakey thought this hike would get the urge out of my system for awhile. It just fed the beast though.... there's no turning back now:)

The Martins in 100 words or less...

2007-07-03T10:17:00.000-07:00

My grandma (thanks Grma Bloom!) taught me if you plan to write a 5 page letter, you'll put it off until you have more time; and since you rarely get that much time, start with plans to write a short letter and at least you'll have something! Often I've found she was right and that once you get going you do write a bit more than you planned. So here goes my 5 minute version of the Martins, Summer 2007...

---CLICK PICTURES TO ENLARGE---

GAGE
Turned 15 months in July and really seemed like a toddler and not a baby anymore. He started walking at about 11 months, but at 15 he actually runs everywhere, and runs so fast we have to jog to keep up. He also climbs anything and loves to wiggle up into the big people chairs and sit proudly with his hands on the armrests.
He copies anything he sees or hears, including Emmy's tantrum shreaks and laughing after hitting daddy in the face:) He loves going outside first thing in the morning and will let me know by pointing to the door and saying "aow-bise?" with a the cutest little hopefull look and puppydog eyes you'll ever see. If you dare say no there will be an instant "lie flat on the floor and twitch and scream" tantrum:) which can only be topped if you yourself go out the door and leave him inside! He loves anything ball, with which to throw; and everything stick, with which to hit. He puts everything in his mouth...

Loves eating and drinking...

and of course loves to holler (wonder where he learned that?)

This in contrast to his big sister who had no interest in putting things in her mouth, throwing, hitting, or climbing at his age but only in wearing princess outfits with plastic purple high heels and watching her dress twirl as she spun herelf dizzy. I will say that he does have a fascination for her purple high-heels...but I'm hoping its just the color?

EMMY
At 3 and a half proudly started preschool in July and spends half-day Tuesdays and Thursdays at the same preschool her momma attended when she was 3 or 4. Daddy gets to hook up the bike trailer and drop her off on Tuesdays on the way to work. Momma takes care of the rest. She is always excited to go and to show off her projects, but she is oddly quiet about what actually occurs while she's there. She's always been one for taking things in and not much for talking about it. She used to sit and study her toys as a toddler but would get mad if you'd try to tell her about it or get her to talk about how something worked. She just likes to be left alone to figure the world out on her own schedule. She loves to "read" books and is just starting to recognize words. But she will spend hours sitting with a pile of books just to look through and tell herself the stories.

Emmy is first and foremost a princess.

She still likes to play dress up more than anything in the world, her favorites being princess dresses and shoes. She's broken two pairs of plastic princess shoes so far, just from constant use and not abuse. She treasures her dress up clothes and walks like a dainty princess anytime she has them on. Something tells me they didn't design the shoes to be worn three hours a day:)

Emmy adores her brother (except when he thinks hitting is the best way to play) and will always choose to be with him even when she is mad at her parents.

BLAKE
Found herself pregnant again this year with our third and last baby (at least thats what she says now). By this time in her pregnancy with Emmy we had two photo albums of "the belly" from 1000 angles. With Gage we at least noticed she was pregnant a few times by now. This time Blake sometimes forgets she has grown so quickly until she tries to squeeze through a narrow space and her tummy bumps into something:) She loves being a stay-at-home mom (most of the time!) and works tirelessly to keep our energetic wubbas entertained and happy. They spend a lot of time at the library, all the local parks and pools, and of course Target:) Blakes favorite hobby is trying to get me to pay more attention to her than my laptop:) No, she actually is a masterscrapbooker and meticulously documents all the firsts (first step, word, haircut, etc.) for each of the kids in their baby books. She also stays up to date on our photo albums, both family ones and the kids personal photo albums. She puts professional organizers to shame with labelled boxes in the kids closets for everything from pencils to stuffed animals and rotates large tupperware boxes of toys so the kids never get bored with their toys. So far I've mostly kept her away from the garage, but everytime she goes in there and sees my version of organizing she gives me a fresh warning that she's going to sneak in there and redo it for me:)

ME?

I love being a daddy!!!! Its the one thing that brings me unspeakable joy in this world. Still working at the same place for nearly 6 years (http://www.geotransinc.com/). I'm an environmental engineer with an environmental consulting company, though I can't remember the last real engineering work I had to do. Its mostly consulting work for commercial companies with environmental issues to resolve, and there are always plenty. We are very busy and have been trying to fill several positions for almost 2 years. So I work too much and try to spend as much time with the kids as possible. To do this I come to work late, leave early, and end up working late on my laptop after the kids go to bed. My version of exercise is riding my bike 4 miles each way commuting to work at least twice a week. I pretend its to save gas, but its mostly for some fresh air and a little peace and quiet before work. Irvine has great bike trails away from the streets so the commute is green and not concrete grey. I drag the family on a hike most Saturdays and the kids ride in backpacks or the jogging stroller. They love the jogger because they can sit together and read books or snack. The kids really do love each other and fight surprisingly little, even when stuck next to each other in a jogging stroller.

I know every parent thinks this, but they really are the cutest kids in the world!!! Its not hard to see why with those parents --- see below:) Sorry Blakey, its too good not to share:)

More pictures and events to come.

Contact us at:

denver1976@gmail.com
blakeymomma@gmail.com
949-786-7447 (home)

http://www.myspace.com/denver_martin