Happy Birthday Dad =) It was Loren's birthday and I let the boys decorate the cake. Not too bad for them doing it all themselves, although Loren is a little older than 2 of course. We had too much going on to do anything elaborate, but we had fun and got to go on a date too.

Also, I got my first egg. I can't use an exclamation because I broke that key on my keyboard, but many exclamations. I'm very proud. I think it was Dolly or Meg, but I have to see who lays brown eggs. It was very tiny, but I've read that the first ones generally are.

Nolan is starting to get really good at skateboarding since Loren cleaned the garage out and we have some room in there. He can ride it all around, stop and turn it now. Pretty soon we can go back to the skatepark, and maybe someday he'll be as good as his dad. I've been able to skate alot lately too and am really enjoying it, although my joints are much less pliable than the boys and my wrists hurt when I fall. I got to take the boys out on a longboard when we were in Santa Cruz and we took the boys to Moonstone this weekend. Loren had Nolan on the longboard and pushed him into little waves and I pushed Caleb around in the shallow area. No photos yet, but hopefully we'll be able to get some footage soon. I took down the "dropshots" site with the snowboard and skating footage but I opened a youtube account so hopefully I'll get time to get that running soon.

Four of my six baby chicks were killed so I bought four adult hens. Their names are Lily, Rosi, Dolly and Buffy. They all came named, except for Buffy, who was named Madonna, but she's way too sweet to be a Madonna. My two chicks which are left are getting bigger, but need to be kept separate because the older ones pick on them. They're names are Scruffy and Roscoe. I think they may both be roosters but I'm not sure. The older hens should be laying any day!

Here are a few photos from our trip to grammy's house.


We have a lot more photos of Caleb with others, as he is still the more cuddly and friendly Camper boy.


Cousin Kailey was very nice and shared all of her toys with them. I'm not sure how Caleb got the blue sand all over his face, but Nolan is looking suspicious.


Other than a few minor preschooler power struggles, everyone got along really well.

We went to a lot of fun museums and parks. This is El Dorado park and we learned all about animals here.



The boys didn't seem to mind that all of the new toys they got to play with were pink and had princesses on them. =)


Darin, Elsa and Kailey Camper.

Grammy and Kailey took us to their favorite park and showed us how to feed the ducks and squirrels


Running away and hiding!


Grammy had friends with dignitary seating at the fireworks show and Nolan loved the fireworks. Grammy said she had more fun watching him than the fireworks! Prior to the fireworks we had to wait quite awhile for the wind to die down so we danced to 50's and 60's cover tunes.



Both of the boys got their scruffy Humboldt County hairdo's shaved down at the Camper barber shop. Caleb looked at the hair on the floor and said "Grammy you made a big mess!" The haircuts did bring out the blue eyes I get so many compliments on.



Both of the boys got lots of new clothes and toys (and still managed to fight over them).


We tried all week to get good shots of all three of them, but Nolan was always distant and Caleb was always making faces. I like this one a lot. It's the wrinkle nose and growl I get often these days but can't capture on film.

In the end we just took separate photos while the were strapped down and spliced them together.


More to come.....

It's July already! I'm finally getting caught up and can add a few photos to the site. I'll have a lot more to post from our recent visit to sunny Southern California, but here are a few from June.


We took the boat out to Trinity Lake to camp over the long weekend. I didn't get very many shots while we were there, but I couldn't resist Loren in his tank top putting up the tent!!


The boys and I have been going to the river to swim with friends and we go to the fish hatchery a lot. There are lots of Steelhead and Coho in the hatchery right now and they're fun to watch.



Here are the boys playing in the river.


Nolan looking at the fish.


Caleb with sagging pants because I took off his pullup and his pants don't fit right without them. He kept tugging on them, but they kept falling to his ankles and he'd trip while he ran through the sprinklers. A little sad, but funny as well.




We are picking some of the native blackberries as they ripen. The Himalayan's will be out soon, and although the plants are a nuisance the berries are bigger and sweeter.



We picked berries for about 10 minutes and a snake grabbed a small rodent right at my feet. I had no idea a snake or rodent were there until I heard the rustle and squeak! I couldn't get a great look without the kids poking their faces in but it looked like a King snake.



We finally got chickens again!! I got 3 Lakenvelders and 3 Phoenix chicks. Unfortunately 2 of the Phoenix and 1 of the Lakenvelders (my 3 favoites of the bunch because they were the most docile), got attacked by dogs and killed. We have 3 left, and I'm hoping their hens, but two are looking very rooster-like. =(



Nolan loves them all! Sorry I didn't get to rotate this image yet.