Staycation 2011

This year, in lieu of a traditional family vacation, we opted for a 'staycation'. We did the math and reasoned that a seven-day-long plan of staying in the area and visiting local places would be about 50% less expensive than just two days at a vacation destination. So we opted to stay home, sleep in our own bed, and not have to pack any luggage.

And so, I bring you, the 2011 Knapp Family Staycation: 

Day One: San Francisco

This was actually our first trip to San Francisco in five years, and the first time with kids. Our previous trip was a really bad experience, so we never wanted to go back. It was only because friends urged us to try it out again that we finally relented and decided to give SF another try. We're glad we did because we all had a lot of fun. 

Taking the early morning Baby Bullet train to San Francisco. The kids were thrilled to be on the top deck. We were thrilled that the trip only took one hour since it only made about five stops along the way.

Watching and waiting for Muni. Riding public transit was half the fun of our trip. During our visit to San Francisco, we rode a high speed train, a light rail train, a bus, a streetcar and a cable car, and the kids were thrilled with each ride.

Exploring a boat on Hyde Street Pier.

Concrete slides of Golden Gate Park. Quite possibly the longest and fastest slide our kids will ever ride.

Day 2: Gilroy Gardens

Mark took the boys to Gilroy Gardens in the afternoon while I stayed home and had some time to myself. I used the time to clean, catch up on laundry, nap, and read. 

Look at how fun things can be when Daddy takes kids to Gilroy Gardens!

Riding a worm orbiting an apple core.

Dinner with Daddy at a local Mexican restaurant. From what I hear, the kids absolutely loved this place.

Day 3: San Francisco again
We enjoyed the first day so much and only got to do a fraction of the things we wanted, so we came back for a second day.

We took a boat tour of the bay and went underneath the Golden Gate bridge. The kids were really excited to see the bridge the first day we came to San Francisco, but it was so foggy that we couldn't see it at all. They were pretty bummed about that. So they were excited to go close to it and underneath it on the boat.

Tommy has been asking to go to the beach for a few months now. We found this little beach area right by Ghirardelli Square and the boys had a lot of fun playing in the water. There was a man nearby making a sand sculpture of a mermaid, so the boys were inspired to make their own sand castle sculptures.  

Playing with sand at the Exploratorium. This was an amazing place for kids to play and learn. It's a little too old for our kids' ages, but I can see ourselves making many visits here in a few years when they can understand the exhibits a little better.

Blowing bubbles at the Exploratorium.

Waiting for a bus.

Taking a late train home from SF. We tried to be on the 6:30pm train home, which would put us at our house by 8:00pm, but we missed it by an hour. So we ended up pulling into to the station at San Jose at 9:00pm. Tired kids and tired parents (and I'm sure tired commuters) were very thankful for the peace afforded by the tiny edition of Cars on my iPhone.

Day 4: Gilroy Gardens again

For our second trip to Gilroy Gardens, we took two of our nieces. The kids had a ton of fun together, and we learned that taking four kids to a park isn't much different than taking two.

Day Five: Monterey

We went down 17-Mile Drive because it has several diverse beaches, all within a few miles of each other. There are sandy quiet beaches, rocky cliffs with loud crashing waves, and everything in between. The boys loved exploring each beach, playing in the sand, climbing over rocks, and exploring tide pools.

The seagulls were fearless and aggressive. They actually stole food right out of Benji's hand while we were sitting at a table eating our lunch. And I'm sure doing things like this (feeding them out of our hands) aren't helping!

Exploring tide pools. Tommy was afraid this crab was going to hurt Mark and wanted him to put it back in the water as soon as possible.

A trip to the beach isn't complete without burying kids in the sand.

Click here to see the full photo album of our Staycation 2011 adventures.

7th Anniversary

Happy 7th anniversary to my love and my best friend! 

Photo by Benji

Gilroy Gardens

Our family took our first trip to Gilroy Gardens this weekend! 

Getting a pre-roller coaster pep talk.

Obviously still not too happy with roller coasters. 

Furrowed brows...trying to figure out how the race cars work.

Spinning fun. Mark and I were sick just watching them.

Ben at 3½

You're three-and-a-half, but you say that you're four when people ask you how old you are. You insist that you answer this way because that's what size clothes you wear, but really it's because you're always trying to find a loophole so that you can be the same age as Tommy. The other day on the playground, a few people asked you how old you are and you said, 'size four!', and of course, they thought you meant that you're four years old. You didn't bother correcting them.


You're a fun-loving little guy and you're usually happy and cheerful. You're still just as physical as ever, and you often get along well with other kids who like to be physical, even if they're one or two years older than you. You're still adventures on the playground, as evidenced in this video, which is just a small glimpse at your skill as a monkey:

Books: You're not really into books, but you'll sit and listen when it's time to read a book. You're enjoying Daddy's reading of The House at Pooh Corner and A Cricket in Times Square.


Food: Peanut butter and honey sandwiches remain your favorite food.


Shows: Since the television hasn't been on in months, (except for a rare occasion when other kids are over and we put on a movie at night), I'm probably going to retire this category, at least for summer time. Ever the warm weather came, I decided to keep the TV off so you kids could find creative ways to spend your time and not keep begging me to watch a show. It worked, and you haven't asked me to watch a show in quite awhile.


Toys: Tools, anything that can be made into a tool. Drums, and anything that can be made into a drum. Tinkertoys frequently become hammers or percussion instruments. But mostly, you play outside and find things to do and games to play with your brother. You really love Tommy and much prefer to do whatever he's doing.

Activities & Skills: You're able to ride your bike completely on your own now, and you don't need us to help you push off. You love to sing. Frequently throughout the day, you'll find a few sticks (see Tinkertoys, above) to bang together and will parade through the house singing praise songs. You can only remember a few words of most praise songs, and then usually inaccurately, so your songs end up sounding something like this, "Nothing our God can do!.....Nothing our God can do!....Nothing that we do!..." (The real song goes, "My God is so great, so strong and so mighty, there's nothing my God cannot do!")


Behavior: You used to be incredibly stubborn, especially when it came to obeying a simple instruction like, "Clean up your blocks." You seem to have left most of your stubbornness behind in your second year. 


These days the behavior issues we have with you are more about the heart. For instance, a little while ago we had a situation where a boy hit you with a stick. He was disciplined by his parent and then he apologized to you, but you refused to forgive him. After praying about it together and talking about it, and then praying and talking some more, you eventually forgave him happily. But getting to that point was a lot more work than I was expecting! 


New things: You recently started pronouncing your "L" sounds correctly and clearly. It's sad in a way, because it means no more hearing the words "bwankie", "wuv", or "pwaybround".


Other stuff: You don't like to do work. If I ask you to put to do what you think is too much work around the house, you'll whine and say, "But my aaaarms don't wooooork!" or "I don't know hoooooow!" We're working on this. You also don't like to walk long distances, but you've gotten a lot better about this in the past few months.


You like to help in the kitchen and you're getting really good at cutting fruit and vegetables with a butter knife. Often I'll give you a pile of carrots or zucchini to cut and you slice everything up for me. You're also learning how to make scrambled eggs.

You really love people. One day you told me, "Mommy, I like to say hi to people because I love them." I believe you! You always say hi to people wherever we are, whether it's a really strange-looking man on the sidewalk downtown or an employee stocking shelves at Target. You're friendly to everyone and ask them about themselves. I have a feeling you're going to be a compassionate and friendly man when you grow up.


You insist on looking at books upside down. You know the right way to look at books, but you like them upside done for some reason. Whenever I fix it for you, you turn it back the way you had it.


I'm looking forward to your 4th birthday, because you'll finally be four and then I can finally stop lecturing you on the importance of telling the truth. Unless, of course, you start insisting that you're five, since you were already four. 

Garden

My garden is exploding. Well, most of it. Some things like my strawberries, zucchini, and bell peppers have gotten a slow start I think because we've had unusually cool weather this year. But everything else is thriving and giving us lots of things to eat. It's been amazing to watch it grow so quickly. Some days we don't get out to the garden to look at it, but when we finally do it surprising how much it's grown in just a few days.

Left to right: Onions/shallots/leeks, chard, strawberries, zucchini, bell peppers and broccoli. Along the back fence is spinach and snap peas.

Here's our broccoli in all its glory.

My favorite thing in our garden: leeks. I started them from seed back in February and transplanted the seedlings in the garden in April. They looked really pathetic and I didn't expect them to grow at all, especially because we had a lot of rain right after I planted them and it looked like they got washed out. But to my surprise a few months later, I had leeks growing! It brings me joy every time I go check on them to see them growing strong.

This is what I'm doing with the plethora of carrots, chard, and spinach we're getting: washing, cutting, and freezing. We have a chest freezer which is almost full of bounty we've been collecting and freezing from farmer's market, our garden, and family's garden. I had originally had dreams of learning to can and preserve, but after reading about it (and other's experience) I decided it's too much work for me right now. So instead, I'm saving everything in the freezer to be used for soups and smoothies later. It's going to be a yummy winter.

June In Our Family

I haven't updated our blog much because, well, there's not much going on with us. We've been mellow around here. So mellow that I haven't bothered to pick up my camera to document how laid back we've been. If I do take a snapshot, it's with my cell phone because it happens to be the closest thing to me. 

Our days have flowed into each other so that there are some mornings that I wake up and it takes me a few minutes to remember which day it is. And that's a good thing. Because it means that we don't have anywhere to be (most days) and we don't have anything we need to do beyond the basics of living.


I still wake up early to run and to spend time with God, but after the boys wake up our usual morning routine has dissolved into whatever we feel like doing. If it's a warm sunny morning, the boys might feel like playing in the sandbox, even though it's only 7am and they haven't had breakfast yet. Most days, we have breakfast and then the boys head outside for the rest of the morning. It's amazing what kinds of things they find to do when we don't have anywhere to go all day. 


So, pardon the picture quality, but do enjoy a sampling of our little adventures from the past month.

Tommy and Ben all geared up for a 'venture, as they call it. They packed up their little backpacks with random toys from around the house, grabbed their sunglasses and hopped on their bikes to go see what the great big world had to offer (in our back yard). They came home about 15 minutes later complaining they were huuungry and asking when it was time for peanut butter sandwiches.

Our first family s'mores night of the summer. We put the boys to bed at the normal bedtime of 7:30pm, then got them up an hour later for a surprise marshmallow cookout in our backyard. After stuffing them with s'mores, we laid on the grass and stargazed for awhile, until it was the parents' bedtime. Then we all went to bed.

The boys asked permission to use some of Mark's tools, nails, and scrap wood (don't worry, they know how to use tools properly!) We found them attempting to construct Noah's Ark on our back patio. This kept them busy for over an hour. 

We celebrated Father's Day and Grandma's birthday with an egg and balloon toss at the park. Amazingly, no kids got egg on them, though the eggs didn't last very long. It was certainly entertaining to watch a bunch of preschoolers try to toss eggs back and forth to each other.

One Saturday we had a trip to Monterey to go to the aquarium. We had lunch on the wharf and got the kids a treat at the candy store. Almost a month later, they still speak with awe about the giant lollipop they saw in the window (Benji got a much smaller version and Tommy got cotton candy).

The boys resting on the couch together with a snack. I think Ben is trying to balance Cheerios on Tommy's head.

Painting a mural. This is the best kind of art project: give 'em a huge piece of paper, three colors of paint, some brushes, and let 'em have at it. They even cleaned themselves up afterward.

My adventure: I finally realized my dream of finding a recipe for bread that is quick, easy, and yummy! (Hey, I like to dream big). Next on my list is to try the healthy version of the recipe which uses whole wheat flour instead of white. I'm just waiting for a key ingredient to arrive in the mail and then all my bread dreams will come true.

Tommy being goofy at the big shoes outside the Children's Discovery Museum. We went there with some friends, and unsurprisingly, I think the kids had the most fun outside the museum, exploring the park and discovering a nearby creek.

Father's Day

Happy Father's Day to an awesome husband and father. You are an awesome role model to our boys of what it means to be a man who loves his family and works hard for them. I pray that they follow your example when they grow up and create families of their own.

Summer Time

After spending most of the spring in long pants and jackets, summer time is finally here! 

It's time to jury-rig our kiddie pool and water slide together to make a backyard splash park.

Time to slather the boys in sunscreen and kick them outside at 8am to make their own fun.

Time to make homemade popsicles out of orange juice.

Time to drape soaked swim trunks and beach towels on deck railings.


Time to fire up the fire-pit and stay up past bedtime making s'mores with kids.

Time to stay home all day with nothing to do and nowhere to go.

Time to sit on the deck swing in the dusk with my honey and talk about the day's events.


Time to have our family meals on the back deck.

I think summer is my new favorite season.

Chickens

Because nothing compares with the electric-yellow yolk of a home-grown egg.

Because pastured, organic eggs can't be bought at the grocery store.

Because fresh eggs from pastured chickens is about 7 times healthier than store-bought eggs.

Because it puts us one step closer to sustainable living.

And because a friend had a rooster they were looking to get rid of...

We're getting chickens!

Starting to build the coop. Mark tells me this is called "framing". 

Benji "helping" build.

Almost complete...

Boys helping to paint. They actually painted all the red seen in this photo. They were awesome helpers. I just had to touch up a few spots they missed afterwards.

Here's a conversation I overheard while the boys were painting:
Ben: "Tommy, I'm done."

Tommy: "I don't think you're done. I think you're just tired of painting."

Ben: "Yeah, I'm tired of painting."

Tommy: "Well, I'm tired too, but I'm still doing it. You just need to do it!"

Completed!

Tommy bonding with one of our baby chicks, currently being raised by Mark's mom.

Chicken secrets.

Stay tuned to find out what's next on the Knapp Farm!