The End of an Era

I feel like some events from today mark the ending of an era. LOL.

Yesterday, I cleaned out our master bedroom walk in closet. Buried in the way back was our pack n play. I texted a friend whose daughter will be visiting this week with her newborn and I offered her the pack n play for keeps. She came and picked it up this morning.

We got the pack n play as a baby shower present when we were pregnant with Hannah. We used it with her. We used it with my niece McKenzie when she came to sleepover, and we used it with Rachel. There's no more babies coming up the ranks and thus it was beyond time to get rid of it! So long pack n play, you've served us well and now it's time for you to cradle new babies! The blonde headed baby is my niece, McKenzie. Rachel, just days old, in the pack n play.
The other event that marked the end of an era, was my listing our Little Tikes Victorian Kitchen on Craigslist. We originally bought the kitchen for Hannah's 2nd birthday. It served it's time with her and then it was passed on to Rachel. And while it's been a year or two since Rachel has seriously played with it, it's just been sitting in Rachel's room, often times becoming the collect all for toys not wanting to be put away in their proper places, clothes stacked atop to be put away, etc, etc.

Last week, I had the girls clean the dust off the kitchen with wipes as I laid out all the dishes and food and took pictures, ultimately listing it on Craigslist to sell.
Today, I was contacted by someone who was interested. And within a few hours, the kitchen was packed up in my van and delivered to its new owners. A new little girl who'll get hours and hours of play out of it. And thus, ending another era in our household.

It's all kinda sad. But nice at the same time to get things out of here that aren't being used any longer.

Ten Days

It's been ten days since school got out for summer vacation. I think we're in the swing of vacation now. No set bed times. No set get up time (ahhh, sleeping in is such bliss).

The girls and I have gone to Disneyland once. We saw the new summertime parade and are very much in need of another trip, perhaps next week!The girls spent two nights with their two cousins at the annual "Camp Gramma and Papa". My parents take all four of their grandchildren and they have a night of fun playing games, special treats, and awesome take home treat bags! This year my parents kept all four girls for two nights!! They had a blast!On Sunday afternoon, following our family bike ride, we returned home to find our neighbors BBQing and hanging out on the front lawn while kids went on the slip n slide. Rachel dawned her bathing suit and joined in the on fun. We hung out and talked to our neighbors, which was niceMonday, I drove into Los Angeles to the Fashion District and took my Mom to wholesale bead stores! She was overwhelmed by the abundance, the selection, the prices. It was fun! Then we went to Santee Alley and the girls loaded up on sunglasses, headbands, fishnet gloves, and colored hair extensions. On the way back to the freeway I drove past Skid Row and exposed them to the down and out homeless people literally living on the streets in cardboard homes. Needless to say, I think they appreciated the stop on the way home at McDonalds a little bit more than past trips. Because of the upcoming release to BluRay, The Lord of the Rings Trilogy was released for one night only at our local theater. Hannah has become obsessed with those movies, or is it Orlando Bloom!?!? At any rate, she was only a baby when they were released at the theaters the first time around and has never seen them on anything bigger than our 32 inch TV. A daughters friend who is also into the movies was going and she offered to take Hannah. Hannah was EXCITED! Amber picked her up and they went to the mall food court for dinner and then went to their 3 hour and 50 minute movie. She'll go again the next two Tuesdays for parts two and three. Other highlights of our week include playing games and eating lunch on the patio. Enjoying the June Gloom and mildly cool temps for this time of year. As well as making cookies! What will the next ten days hold for us vacationing folk??! Hmm, I think for sure a trip to the Magic Kingdom, at least an evening at the movies for Hannah, and who knows what else. The possibilities are endless...

I Got a Bike!

Steven has been riding bikes with the girls for a long time. With Rachel's training wheels recently coming off, they've gone on several rides about the neighborhood and to the local park, about a mile away. Hannah had outgrown her bike and has been borrowing a friends bike until we figured out if that was the right size for her, etc.

Last Sunday, she found a bike she liked at Kmart. And it happened that bikes were on sale. So she got a new bike. A few days later, after looking at a few I liked, I got a bike. It's the first bike I've had in probably 25 years! LOL. This afternoon, after we got home from church and had lunch, we went on our first family bike ride. Steven still has to map it all out, but we rode at least 5 miles! We went from our house to the local park (1.8 miles) and then took the bike trail home along the River bed.
The first few blocks the muscles in my thighs were starting to scream about how out of shape I'm in, but overall, it was a great ride and a lot of fun and i look forward to many more rides, especially when we go camping in July!

It's Official!

School for the girls ended on Tuesday with a minimum day dismissal at 12:40. And two hours later we were walking through the gates of my happy place.

It was a busy two days, Monday and Tuesday, but I survived. Needless to say I'm very much looking forward to the 7 week break we have. No more packing lunches every morning. No more getting out the door by 7:30 five days a week. No homework. Not to mention the break from all the time I put in at the school this year. I roughly had to estimate my PTA time for our Historian recently, and I gave a very rough estimate of 280 hours of volunteer time. That doesn't include the hours spent in Rachel's classroom, or some of the other miscellaneous things I did on campus that were not PTA related. So I'm sure my hours were way over 400, if not close to 500. Definitely ready for a break!

My school year officially came to an end this morning. We had an early morning breakfast meeting to discuss the 2011-2012 PTA budget. It lasted hours. But once it was done, I breathed a sigh of relief and bid every one a good summer break with a promise to see them in August!

And now I look forward to lazy mornings sleeping in, trips to Disneyland with my girls, outtings with my Mom, a week camping trip at the beach in July and many more adventures!