Neglect

I have seriously neglected this blog. Sometimes life just gets a little too busy. Well, the last few days I have really been trying to catch up on my blog reading. I will try to post some more blog posts soon!

Things to look forward to:
Life as an Allergy Mom
-and-
My New Cooking Adventure

See you soon!

Hiking and Geocaching

On Monday, we had the day off. So, we decided to go hiking and geocaching. If you don't know what geocaching is, it is what I like to call "hide and seek for big kids." You have to have a GPS unit to do it. You go online, find coordinates for different "caches" to find, and then use your GPS unit to find them. Sometimes they are hidden around cities in very obvious places, but you wouldn't know they were there unless you were looking for them. They often are like little treasure boxes with prizes for the kids to trade out in them. You take something to leave in the box, and then you get to pick something out of it and sign the log book in the cache that you found it. Kaylee is really good at finding the caches. It is fun and we have done it all around the country. We did several caches on our trip last summer. Anyway, Nathan had heard of a cache that was not too far from us on a trail owned by the Army Corp of Engineers. It is called Sam Bass lookout. It is up high on a hill where the bank robber Sam Bass used to hide out because you could see so much of the area. It was about a 3 mile hike round trip, but the kids enjoyed seeing all of the fun things. It is also a free family outing! We packed a picnic and ate our lunch at the top of the hiking trail before heading back down. It was a nice little workout and a fun family outing!!

Nathan and Kaylee at the beginning of the hike.

Here we go! Nolan alternated between walking and being held. He kept getting distracted and wanted to play with the sticks and dirt (such a boy!), so we would have to pick him up and carry him for awhile. I really want to invest in a backpack carrier for these little outings. I think he would like that. He is only 23 pounds and most of them work for children up to 50 pounds. I think we could still get a lot of use out of a used one!

Nolan stopped to throw some dirt. Kaylee had to check out something, too!

Big sister was good at dragging him along at times.

Family picnic at the top of the hill.

Yummy! Almond butter sandwiches, carrots, grape tomatoes, trail mix, and water! And, Nolan had his trail mix, carrots, and allergen free granola bar.

We found it!
After eating, Kaylee and Daddy searched for the cache. We were actually sitting about 10 feet from it! It was hidden under a big rock ledge. Of course, Daddy had to poke around it with a stick first before sticking his under there to make sure there were no snakes or creepy crawlies!

Kaylee took a little yellow plastic dolphin and Nolan took a Hot Wheels car (go figure)! What a fun day!!

American Girl Boutique and Bistro

I was waiting for my mom to make her blog post first, but, since I have today off, I decided I better do this post while I have time.  Make sure to check out her blog soon.  She might have some different pics!

Nikki's hair was such a mess.  I was really afraid that they would not be able to fix it.

Kaylee was watching the hairdresser's every move.

I couldn't believe how good Nikki's hair was looking!

Then, it was off to lunch at the Bistro!  Kaylee was so excited that Nikki had her own menu and that we got to keep the star cookie cutter napkin rings!

Kaylee in front of the Bistro

My lunch.  Yummy.  A salad and a grilled veggie panini.

Kaylee and I at lunch.

Kaylee doing some "shopping" after lunch.  Granna told her she could pick out one outfit and that is a hard choice!

More shopping and admiring.

So, Kaylee picked a little out of season outfit for Nikki.  She picked Julie's swimsuit, sunglasses, towel, and athletic outfit.  It is cute, though!

p.s.  Please ignore the random underlining to make a link on some of the words above.  Sometimes blogger and I just do not see eye to eye!!

Tagged: 8 Things

My friend Jennifer tagged my before Christmas and I am finally getting around to posting!

8 things I did today: 

1. Cleaned the ink off of Nikki, Kaylee's American Girl doll's face.  Nolan gave her a few "tatttoos," and after trying alcohol, hairspray, baking soda and water, nail polish remover, and Magic Eraser, I was about to give up.  I surfed the web and found a solution.  Clearasil!  You put Clearasil on the ink, put it in sunlight for a day, wipe-off the dried Clearasil, and then it has vanished!!  

2. Had 6 cups of coffee (It was a Monday, after all!)

3. Read a cool article about the Vlingo app for Blackberry.

4. Ate my oatmeal for breakfast and took my Vemma!

5. Listened to Steve Novielo on Mix 102.9 on the way to work talk about organizing your finances.

6. Yelled at my class.

7. Checked my email/Facebook

8. Worked on this post!!

8 favorite restaurants:

1. Olive Garden

2. Cristina's

3. Pappas Bros. Steakhouse

4. Taco Bueno (Nathan won't eat it.  It is my guilty pleasure!)

5.  Perini's Steakhouse

6. La Madeline

7. Vince's 

8. Chick-fil-A

8 shows I watch:

1. Greys Anatomy

2. Desperate Housewives

3. Days of our Lives

4. Oprah

5. CSI (all 3)

6. The Biggest Loser

7. Big Brother (when it is on)

8. The Hills

8 Things I wish for:

1. Nolan to gain weight

2. Nolan to outgrow his food allergies

3. Healthy kids

4. My children to grow up successful and marry Christians

5. To get an AP job next year

6. Enough $ to pay off student loans and debt

7. Run a 5K without walking

8. To someday earn a doctorate degree (I know, I know . . .  I think I could be a lifelong student.)

8 Things I look forward to:

1. Christmas this year in Alaska

2. Summer break!!

3. Alone time

4. Not having to buy Alimentum for Nolan anymore

5. Working out

6. Church Ladies' Retreat

7. Lake Nacimiento this summer

8. Kaylee's dance recital

I tag anyone who is reading this and has not done this post yet!  And, I know who my four readers are!  Haha!