July Highlights:
- Lilah has her first sleep over
- We watch fireworks
- We check out the local street fair
- We take our annual vacation to Lake Tahoe – here is a link to all the pictures
- The kids attend a week long camp at America’s Teaching Zoo
- I race in the inaugural Goleta Beach triathlon
Lilah Has Her First Sleep Over
Lilah had a great sleep over but not before we went through our fair share of drama. I may have mentioned this in a past, but Lilah is not fond of surprises. This month “grandmy” planned a special outing for Lilah — a trip to the spa which came with a mani-pedi (for the guys out there, this is short for manicure/pedicure) and a 30 minute massage. About a month before this surprise was to take place, Lilah wanted to know what it was. She was quite persistent about it. To the point where it even affected her sleep because all she could do was obsess on what the surprise would be. Well, on the day before the event we finally relented and told her that her grandmy was taking her to the spa for some pampering. Instead of being happy about the news, she flipped out and said that she did not want to have the surprise now because part of the plan for her sleep over was to have the girls give each other mani/pedis and the fact that grandmy was giving this to her as part of her surprise on the same day ruined everything. Well, actually, let me back up for a moment. Mom and dad ruined everything because we did not give her a heads up so that she could plan different activities for her and her friends to to during the sleepover. This led to a lot of arguing and then Lilah asked if she could call grandmy to tell her she was not going to be able to go to the spa today. In the end, we finally managed to calm Lilah down by offering her a compromise. We told her, why don’t you just get a manicure or pedicure at the spa (not both), and that way you could at least do one of those activities with your girl friends? Lilah thought about it for a while and finally agreed. Crisis averted.
The actual sleep over went off without a hitch. The girls had a great time together and even let Luke join in on the action giving him a manicure of his own — blue and purple nails. Later I shared a great kid-friendly scene from the movie Funny People with the kids. The kids busted up laughing and the next day the kids re-enacted the scene which you can watch in this short short video clip.
We thought the girls would sleep outside in the tent the whole night, but somewhere after midnight they heard a noise, which freaked them out and led them all to come running back into the house and into Lilah’s room where all three girls slept for the remainder of the night. That was the only real change of plan, but everyone took it in stride the the sleepover was deemed a success.
Lake Tahoe 2011
We had another wonderful year at Lake Tahoe. If you want to read more about it or see the pictures, here is a link to the Lake Tahoe 2011 blog post.
America’s Teaching Zoo Camp
The kids have been to several camps this summer — dance (Lilah), track (Luke), adventure (Lilah and Luke) — but I think one of the coolest experiences they had was going to America’s Teaching Zoo in Moorpark for a week. At the zoo they saw and learned about all different kinds of animals, including lions, hyenas, eagles, hawks, mountain lions, baboons, condors, beavers, cranes, monkeys, sheep, snakes, tortoises, and a wide assortment of exotic birds. They learned about suitable environments for the various animals (including the knowledge that animals live longer in captivity), what kinds of food the various animals eat (some will apparently eat dog food), the sounds the animals make and why they make them. They also got to feed and pet some of the animals and create some interesting crafts like a porcupine made from a potato with several straws sticking out from it, animal masks, and bubble art (which you make by blowing bubbles with food coloring and then letting the bubbles burst onto paper — not sure what that one had to do with animals, but I’m sure there was a tie in somewhere). The kids could not stop talking about this camp and they also took dozens of pictures and videos which I will have to upload soon.
The camp culminates in a series of short presentations given by the kids in a small outdoor auditorium on the last day. Parents and family are invited on this day to watch the kids present on a specific animal. The presenters come up in pairs and take turns speaking about the animal that is being showcased by a trainer on stage. Lilah’s dissertation (she wrote three paragraphs which was a bit more than most kids) was on Rosie the baboon, while Luke’s was on Delila the blue crane. After the camp is over, the kids are also encouraged to “adopt” an animal, which means that for a certain dollar amount they can come out to the zoo once a month with their friends and family to see the animal and do something with the animal under the tutelage of a trainer.
Goleta Beach Triathlon
Had a good time at the inaugural Goleta Beach Triathlon. As with almost any first time event, there were a few mishaps. The biggest one was the race volunteers directing us to the finish line when we still had about 1.4 miles of running left to do. So probably half the field or more ended up with world record 5K times according to the official race results. Obviously the results are skewed because of the shorter distance we ran, but it still looks nice on paper.
Overall, I was happy with my race and probably would have been in 4 or possibly 3rd place in my group had it not been for a mishap of my own. About two miles into the bike ride, I reached down to put my water bottle back in the cage. When I looked down I noticed the bottle was crooked so I reached back down to adjust it only to have the entire water bottle and cage break off into my hand. Apparently, the cage had snapped off my bike which left me with the choice of either ditching the water bottle or holding the bottle in my hands for the rest of the ride. Normally, the decision would have been an easy one — just toss bottle and keep racing. But it wasn’t just any water bottle. It was a fancy insulated Camelbak model. I couldn’t just toss it away, right? Well, I didn’t. Instead I rode with the bottle in my hands while riding in the aero position — not the safest move, but I saved the bottle. That is, until I got home and couldn’t find it. That’s when I remembered that I had set it on the rear bumper of the car while putting my bike on the rack. Too bad I forgot to take the bottle off the bumper before driving home. Irony? Yes. But it’s also a pretty strong message from the universe if you ask me. Message: next time don’t risk your safety over a dumb bottle, just toss it, and buy a new one later. Message received loud and clear.
That’s all for now. More next month…