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I guess it makes sense that Blogger (or more accurately, Picasa) limits blogging/picture taking fanatics like me to a certain amount of space. What do you know? After just 2 and a half years of blogging, I've reached the end of it!

So I invite you all to follow us over to the new blog:

http://vmfamilyfootprints.blogspot.com/

It's going to look and feel very familiar, (hey, if you've got a good thing goin' why change it, right?) but it will be a brand new, space-filled blank slate for the next few years of VM Family Adventures. I'll post this new link here in the sidebar, so you can take your time to get it bookmarked. See you there!

Meanwhile, Back at Home

While Dave and I were living it up on our second honeymoon in Hawaii, things were far from boring back at home. I can't emphasize enough how grateful we were to have Mom and Dad generously fly out and thoughtfully care for the girls for the week. What peace of mind we had knowing they were in such loving and capable hands! We knew it would be work to take care of them, but it was our hope that the time with their granddaughters would allow Grandpa and Grandma to get to know them that much better. This is exactly what happened! I know this because Mom keeps calling to tell us stories about the cute little things Ella and Delia did. They forgot their camera, so we gave them our older one to use and here are a few of the pictures I found on it.
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We were all a little worried about Delia. Managing her energy and willpower takes delicate balance. She's a mama's girl and she's working on that potty training. However, she could not have done better! She was never sad we were gone and warmed right up to Grandma and Grandpa.

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The girls enjoyed a number of outings with Dave's parents. They went to the park and the cheese place. They went out to eat at Red Robin and the mall. And they got some more use out of the zoo membership. We know the girls enjoyed all these special trips to their favorite places because they have told us all about them. Dad was able to get out a bit too with some friends. One day he went golfing with men from our church and another day he went to Big Trees with an old family friend who drove up from SoCal for a few days.

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I think I'm right to assume that the best times were the ones just had at home. Ella said her favorite part of the week was playing outside with Grandma. Mom said her favorite part was simply hearing the girls singing praise songs together. The girls jumped right into their every-day activities, like dress up and baby dolls, while Grandpa and Grandma watched and learned and participated in every detail of their lives.

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Hawaii, Day 5: Pineapple Tour and Lahaina

We were technically scheduled to depart Hawaii on day five, but our flight was a night one, so we still had a whole day to enjoy. It was a little tricky because we had to be packed and checked out of our hotel by noon. We spent the morning taking a mile or maybe two (who really knows when you're strolling through sand with water lapping at your feet?) walk down the stretch of beach that connected our hotel to Black Rock. We hopped in for dip, watched paddle surfers and shared our favorite memories.

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We were so excited to find this Maui Gold Pineapple Tour for the afternoon of our final day. A pineapple bus picked us up and drove us out to the fields while a friendly tour guide named Carlos gave us lots of information and history about Hawaii and its pineapple exporting. We were surprised to learn that Hawaii is actually only responsible for about 7% of the world's pineapple growing. And though Maui Gold still owns half of Maui, they use only a small fraction of it to actually produce the fruit. It's much more profitable for them to make money off their land with tourism. Makes sense, I guess, but was surprising. Within a few years, the pineapple industry will be completely obsolete in Hawaii.

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We exited the bus into the fragrant fields to watch workers actually harvesting and hear giant-machete-wielding Carlos tell us more about the fruit. Pineapples are given a 1 to 5 rating based on ripeness with 1 being green and 5 being golden and most ripe. Most pineapples picked and shipped (the ones we eat from the store) are ones or twos. Carlos chopped up samples for us from each rating. By number 5 we were in pineapple heaven. Nothing has ever tasted so incredible! How will be ever go back to eating regular pineapple?!

We were told to wander around and select as many pineapples as we were able to carry home. Carlos said, "Don't pick the pineapple, let the pineapple pick you." Dave and I found 6 that jumped out at us, the perfect combo of gold and green. Sure enough, the ones we have eaten so far have been heavenly.
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Stuffed with pineapple, we headed over to Lahaina, the shopping, restaurant and gallery district. We spent the afternoon wandering around this town picking our souvenirs and eating a Hawaii classic, Shave Ice. Day 5 was perfect.
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Of course the overnight plane ride home felt long, but the time in Hawaii was just right. We were ready to say "Aloha" to our tropical paradise and "Hello!" to our girls. Ella and Delia had such a good time with Grandma and Grandpa. They didn't appear to miss us at all. We gave them their presents (these dresses and hair clips and some hula girl dolls) and told them all about Mommy and Daddy's vacation. Who knows? Maybe we'll make it back some day with the girls...but not for a long while. For now, I'll call this the trip of a lifetime.
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Hawaii, Day 4: Blowhole and Honolua Bay

Day four was the day Dave picked to relive. Like all the other days, it held quite the mix of remarkable sights. We started in the morning with our second big hike, "Acid War Zone to Blowhole." This trail name sounds strange, but it pretty well sums up the landscape we walked through. Along the northern coast there is about a mile of lava rock that has become so eroded from wind and saltwater, it looks like an alien land, like an acid war was fought there. Dave said it reminded him of the Badlands in South Dakota.

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We hiked through this for about an hour, astonished at the eerie shapes of weathered rocks on one side and the hungry ocean on the other.

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The destination for this hike was the Nakalele Blowhole. We had no idea what to expect from this blowhole. It was awesome! Every few seconds water from the violent sea got trapped in an underwater lava cave and was forced up through a perfectly round hole. The force of it sounded like thunder and shook the ground. Depending on the wave sizes and wind, the shoot could go as high as 70 feet! From some angles we got sprayed, from others we saw the rainbow that formed each time it errupted. All around the blowhole were tide pools just teeming with life, we saw crabs and lung fish and all sorts of cool things. Again, because we got there early and were a bit off the beaten path, we had the place to ourselves for the whole morning!

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Heading back, we found this too-perfect rock. It was eroded into an exact heart shape. This may be my favorite picture of the trip.

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Back at the hotel, we made lunch and changed into swimsuits. An afternoon of snorkeling and beaching awaited. Our first afternoon stop was at Honolua Bay, supposedly one of the best snorkel spots in all of Hawaii. Its giant reef and marine wildlife sanctuary house and protect a whole world of underwater tropical life. Dave and I paddled around the bay, holding hands and pointing out one Finding Nemo character after the next. We swam through schools of fish, saw huge blue ones that were "this big!" and even a large spotted blow fish.

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Next we drove up the road just a bit to relax at Maui's number one rated beach, the ritzy Kapalua. Here I did my tanning and reading, while Dave hopped right back into the water for more snorkeling. We had fun swimming and bobbing around in the waves too.

More than one person, as well as our all-knowing guidebook, told us we had to eat at Kimo's. What a neat restaurant! Our view was SO good, I could have jumped off our table right into the ocean. Our 6:30 reservation allowed us to see another sunset as we ate dinner. Day four was perfect.

Hawaii, Day 3: Pancakes, Sea Turtles and Hula Dancers

One thing I am so happy we did was some research. We knew our time in Hawaii would fly by so we wanted to waste none of it with things our guidebook did not label as "the best." We hiked the best trails, snorkeled the best beaches and ate at the best restaurants. One of these restaurants was a little hut on the beach called Gazebo. It was hailed as having the best view and best mac nut pancakes on the island. By staying on California time (going to bed shortly after sunset and waking shortly after sunrise) we were able to get there before it opened and didn't have to wait in the long line that had already formed when we were done. Check out my plate of banana macadamia nut pancakes and pineapple! Do I even need to go into extra detail about how delicious this breakfast was or how great the view was?

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After breakfast we pulled out the snorkel sets we had bought at Costo and drove to beach stop number one, Kaanapali Beach and Black Rock. This was how we did all our snorkeling-- read about the good spots, found them, parked the car and hiked to and hopped in the water. The highlight of this day was seeing 5 sea turtles swimming around with us. Dave was so close to one he could have touched it! Dave also saw an eagle ray and more colorful fish than we could even find in our "Fish of Hawaii" guide.

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Dave was happy to stay in the water all day swimming with the sea life. I snorkeled for a while, but also enjoyed laying on the beach and getting through my book.

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Our vacation package came with luau tickets. This night, we chose a luau at the Sheraton on Kaanapali Beach, the same one we had been swimming and snorkeling at all day. The food and drinks at the luau were excellent. The show was pretty cheesy, but exactly what we were expecting. A highlight was being invited up to the stage with all the other anniversary celebrators and honeymooners for a special serenade and slow dance.
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The main course of dinner was this pig that had been roasted in the ground all day. We were called to eat with a conch shell blow and then watched these Hawaiian men uncover our pig and get it ready for us.
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After dinner and before the show we watched our third sunset.

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This one was cool because at Black Rock a guy comes out each night to light tiki torches, toss a lei into the water, pray and then cliff dive into the ocean.

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Day three was packed with good food and unusual sightings. (Sea turtles! Cliff divers! Fire dancers!) This gorgeous sunset was a great addition to it. Day three was perfect.
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Hawaii, Day 2: Road to Hana and Pipiwai Trail

Each day was incredible, but when Dave asked which one I would relive, I said "Day Two" without hesitation. On our second day we woke up bright and early and hit the 3 hour twisty- turny Road to Hana. The drive was through lush rain forests and had waterfall and shore stops every few mile markers.
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My favorite stop on the Road to Hana was the black sand beach. As soon as we walked up, it took our breath away-- the black sand and blue water making such a sharp contrast. Walking on the beach was so cool. We found it wasn't really sand, but more like tiny ball bearings or large poppy seeds. We then discovered a lava tube cave that let out into the crashing ocean. Indescribable!





Another great stop on the Road to Hana was the 7 Sacred Pools. Here we were able to actually swim in waterfall pools! As the name implies, a huge cliff supports enough water runoff to make a chain of seven waterfalls with seven pools ending in the ocean. The water was invigorating and I even took a fancy jump off the cliff into it.

I am a bit prone to carsickness and the Road to Hana's 600 curves were no exception for me. If the drive alone was the point of this day, it may not have been fulfilling. We actually made the drive to hike the Pipiwai Trail. I had read that this was the best hike in Maui and we sure weren't disappointed!

We hiked past too many waterfalls to count. This was my favorite spot. On top of one waterfall cliff you could stand and gaze in awe at an infinity pool only God could create!

We were totally safe, but here I sit at the ledge of another waterfall.

We went swinging in the giant Banyan Tree.

Dave's most memorable part of this hike was the bamboo forest. This was fascinating. The bamboo grows so tall and so thick that no sunlight gets in. It was dark and damp in it and a game of hide-and-seek proved he could literally hide a few feet in and not be visible. When the wind blew, all the bamboo clacked together making a cool noise.

The dead bamboo was really light. This one is probably five times my length and I can lift it easily. We broke some fallen shoots down to make walking sticks.

The conclusion of the 4 mile hike was to traverse across a stream and find Waimoku Falls tumbling down 400 feet-- the tallest waterfall we've ever seen. We had to just sit and admire it for a while before beginning the long hike and drive back. Day two was perfect.

Hawaii, Day 1: The Resort

Home sweet home. Sigh. I close my eyes and I see a patch of green and blue ocean framed with black lava rocks and a blue sky with a few lazy white clouds floating around. This Hawaiian getaway has easily jumped into my "Number One Vacation of All Time" spot, and we've had some good vacations. Everything about it was completely perfect and I'm still a little mind-boggled about some of the things we saw and did! One thing perfect about it was its length. To be home and hug the girls and hear about their super fun time with Grandpa and Grandma is exactly what I want to be doing today. How to blog this week, though! How to share it? How to record these memories! It's daunting. I decided I'll write one post for each day and probably write one a day so as to not overwhelm. Some will be longer than others, but each entry, because each day, in this Hawaii journal will be spectacular, I promise!

. Obviously, day one included our flight out. Fun on this day was running into good friends Sara and Arend at the airport! (They snapped the picture.) What an exciting time to connect. Not fun on this day was the 2 hour delay we waited while mechanics fixed the hydraulics on our plane. I didn't care about the wait, I was sans kids and had a 500 page book and ipod I'd been dreaming about spending time with. I did care about flying an apparently broken airplane 5 hours across the Pacific Ocean. All was fine, however.

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We picked up our rental car and some groceries and checked into our hotel-- the Kaanapali Shores. This hotel went waaaay above my expectations. Our ocean view condo with full kitchen, living room and lanai was awesome! The grounds were tropically landscaped, the beach was steps away, the 2 pools and hot tubs were refreshing. We even found a bottle of wine in our condo as a congrats for our anniversary. We would completely recommend this place to anyone looking for a beautiful but reasonable place to stay in Maui.


Part of our package was $100 to spend in the resort's ocean front restaurant. We ate a gourmet meal, watched the sun set (this picture is taken from and shows the view from our lanai) and headed off to bed early. Day one was perfect.

Enter Grandpa and Grandma...Exit Mommy and Daddy

I just said goodbye to my girls. Surprisingly, I am not weeping. At 4:00 am tomorrow morning we will begin our journey to Hawaii. As happy-- no, more like thrilled and ecstatic-- as I am about this anniversary getaway, right now the gift I am most thankful for is the one Mom and Dad are giving us with their childcare. This weekend has already been wonderful. The girls are so excited to have them here. Even Delia, who's normally a bit of a clinger, keeps asking, "Where Grandma go?" whenever she can't see her or being a super-cuddle bug with Grandpa. Neither girl had any trouble saying goodbye to me tonight! So after giving a weekend crash-course in "Ella and Delia 101" and witnessing proof that Delia will, in fact, be just fine with out Mommy and Daddy, we feel all ready to go! See you next weekend with tons of pictures and stories!

Here We Go Again!

New shoes. Check

New folder. Check

New backpack. Check

Share bag labeled and filled. Check.

A dusted off and set-for-the-first-time-all-summer alarm clock. Check.

Fun first day of school snack. Check.

One excited little Star. Check!

Members' Nite

Last night we felt special and exclusive. We took Oakland Zoo up on their Members' Nite invite and enjoyed a behind-the-scenes peek at our zoo for 2 hours with other zoo members. It was a fantastic night with many highlights. One thing we all appreciated was the bay area's nice cool nighttime temps. Because of this we think the animals were much more active-- lions were roaring, monkeys were frolicking and the bats were awake and going crazy. As much as we do love seeing the animals in their habitats, this trip to the zoo was awesome for giving us a different look.

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There were a few stations where we could interact and get up close and personal with the animals. We stared at an owl perched on a zookeeper's arm, petted a ferret and a snake (!) and even chased a tortoise around.

Every half hour were special animal feedings. Here we observe the alligators gobble up their rat dinner. This is something that is always exciting to watch.

Some of the animal homes had open houses that let us walk through and see what the zookeepers see on the other side of the cages. At the tiger exhibit, we got to go in the night house and actually walk around in the tiger cages (don't worry the tigers were safely locked in the outdoor enclosure, obviously). We saw the balls they chew on, the brushes they scratch up against and even climbed around in their bed. Who can say they've been in a tiger's cage and put their fingers in holes that tigers have gnawed and clawed? Us now!

The veterinary clinic was open for tours and I found this completely fascinating. The vets showed us the x-ray equipment, dentist tools, shots for administering anesthesia and drugs, surgical suite and trachea tubes of various sizes (the elephant one was HUGE!). We saw the giant scales and nets for catching animals and pictures of animals being taken care of. It changes constantly, but once again, Ella has declared her intent to become a vet when she grows up.

Summer's Swan Song

It's been a busy summer. Not just for us, but for all our Swim Day friends. So while yesterday's Swim Day was only the second of the summer, it was also, sadly, the last one of the summer. And it was as splash-tastic, snack-stuffed and fellowship-with-friends-full as it always is. Delia was having the most fun going down the "wee slide!" over and over and over.

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Unfortunately we couldn't stay for the traditional Last Swim Day of Summer All VM Dinner because Ella had a back-to-school night last night. This reunion with Ella's teachers and friends at her preschool was neat too. She saw where her seat will be in the Star classroom and found her cubbie and played hard on the playground with school buddies Anna and Avery.

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Is summer really almost over?! With just one last grand finale-- Mom and Dad arrive in exactly one week and Dave and I make our romantic escape to Hawaii-- our crazy summer sure flew by!

Bye-Bye Butterflies

Today was the day we agreed to let our butterflies have their freedom. The excitement to set them free actually tempered any sadness the girls had about saying goodbye to them. We let them fly at the home of Gys, a sweet, Dutch-brogued, older gentlemen from our church. He has a major green thumb and grows extensive flower gardens all over his front and back yards. We thought our butterflies would like having a whole rainbow of flowers to choose from at his house. Hopefully they'll multiply and give Gys and his wife Pia even more beauty in their abundant flower beds.

. We opened the lid, but the butterflies did not exactly seize the opportunity to be free.

We had to gently scoop them out and help them see that there was a great, big, beautiful world outside their mesh home.

This guy didn't want to leave us!

For a good 20 minutes we watched our butterflies float all around the yard and hop from flower to flower. The girls pointed at them, chased them and left happy knowing that we were giving our butterflies a good home.

Like Mother Like Daughter?

Lately Ella has been playing school. Perhaps it's because she goes back to preschool next week Tuesday. She sets up her desk with the apple on it and some books. Then she lines up all the stuffed animals to be her class. She reads them stories and writes letters on the white board to teach her class the alphabet. Sometimes mischievous Delia will snag an animal and run away laughing. In turn, Ella yells, "My students! Delia's stealing my students!" It's very cute and very funny and makes her Mommy proud.

Pumped

And then again today we got to spend more time with Amy, Jonathan and Grace when they invited us on a MOPS outing with them. We went to Pump It Up, which is one of those inflatable bouncy house places. Ella went crazy on the 6 giant inflatables. She ran through obstacle courses, played basketball and king-of-the-mountain. She went down a giant slide about 100 times, climbed blow-up and rock walls and loved trying to scale this slope to grab flags. Delia was more leery of the humongous, noisy, brightly colored jump things, but still had fun watching all the other kids. She also got into climbing and dancing on the smaller playgrounds and driving the little cars around.
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With its reasonable price, hour and half time limits and weekday morning Preschool Play, we're pretty pumped about Pump It Up and will definitely have to check this place out again!

Play Date

Here are a few cute pictures of a play date we had last week. Amy came with Jonathan and Grace and Heidi came with Anika, Andrew and Kathryn. It was fun to watch the kids divide up and play their favorite games. Ella and Anika put on one fashion show after the next. Jonathan and Andrew set up train tracks. Gracie took a little nap. Kathryn toddled around exploring and Delia just jumped in whenever something looked fun. A craft was made and even some time outside was spent. Pretty typical play date-- kids tore through the house having fun, moms sat and sipped tea. Love it!
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Madeline and Tinkerbell. There was also a bride show, ballerina show, Cinderella and 50's Girl show, flower show...you get the idea?
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The kids even had their own tea party outside in the little house.

A Post a Month in the Making

It all started this spring when we found a fuzzy green caterpillar in one of our flower beds. I put him in a mason jar with some leaves and sticks and got the kids all pumped about watching our caterpillar go through his big change. We spent hours watching him, feeding him, "helping" him climb the sticks and carrying his jar home around. Delia was especially into the caterpillar and gave him lots of love. Alas, we killed him.
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Seeing her interest, though, sparked the idea for Delia's birthday present-- a couple caterpillar and butterfly books and this Butterfly Garden. (Here's a bit of a product recommendation. We ordered it off Amazon and LOVE IT!! If you're looking for a gift that will teach, engage and amaze this would be perfect!)
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The Butterfly Garden came with a certificate for mail-order caterpillars. From Insect Lore we received 5 little black caterpillars in a jar with thorough instructions and food. For a week we watched them eat and eat and eat so much they more than quadrupled their original size and had to shed their skins multiple times. Then, amazingly, all 5 caterpillars crawled to the top of the jar and hung upside down in a little hook shape. We knew from the instructions that in the next few hours they'd harden up and make their chrysalides. Sure enough that is exactly what happened!
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Once the caterpillars were safely dangling in their chrysalides, we could gently hang the disk they latched on to in the Butterfly Garden and wait for them to emerge as butterflies. Even in their cocoons they were fascinating. They vigorously vibrated from time to time as a natural instinct to ward off predators.
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In our house we were just blown away by the opportunity to witness this process. The caterpillars did exactly what all our books said they'd do. Dave and I even found ourselves watching what was going on in that little jar at night when the kids went to bed. Ella's been inspired and has been creating all sorts of butterfly artwork and journal pictures of the changes she watched the caterpillars go through.
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Just ten days later and we are the proud parents of 5 beautiful Painted Lady Butterflies. We'll watch them for a few days and feed them watermelon slices and flowers from the garden and then set them free. What an experience this has been for all of us! What a creator our God is!
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More Firsts

This week the girls took their first boat ride and Ella rode in the tube for the first time. This weekend we decided to have a go at another first for the girls-- backyard camping. We yearn to take advantage of all our amazing California camping destinations, but I just can't get past my fears about camping with kids. Will they be wild around the fire? Will they sleep at all? Will everyone wake up grumpy? We set up our tent in the yard to test it out and we had a very positive experience! Delia ran into our room early this morning yelling, "I go camping! I go nigh-nigh with Daddy!" Ella loved it so much, she thinks she's sleeping out there again tonight. Next summer's family vacation will be a camping one indeed!

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Another campfire, more marshmallows, more s'mores. This is feeling very familiar this summer!

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I let Dave bond with the girls in the tent while I slept in the bed in the house. They had a ton of fun and actually slept okay. They stayed up late, but not crazy late.

To make it really authentic and put their crabbiness to the true test, we spent the day hiking at Big Trees. This is a day trip we've been wanting to make since we heard Gov. Schwarzenegger is proposing the closing of our state parks to help get our state out of deficit. When we left the park, we hoped it was not the last time we ever got to visit this favorite spot.

Ella was a happy hiker, gleaning all sorts of new information about the giant redwoods and how they grew and survived. Delia was unfortunately showing the effects of a less-than-normal night of sleep.

As soon as we got Delia down to the river and let her dip her toes (okay, whole body) in the refreshing (okay, icy) water, she was her joyful self. She kept singing, "I've got peace like a river..."

And just because this post is about firsts, here's a fun fact: we realized it was probably close to exactly 6 years ago TODAY that we visited Big Trees for the first time with Nick and Amy after they helped move us across the country!

It's a Tough Job...

...but on perfect days like today, I'm sure glad my youth pastor husband is the someone who's gotta do it! Today we tagged along while Dave was "hard at work" participating in his summer water sports day on the reservoir with his high school youth group. With 4 borrowed speed boats and several truck beds full of water skis, wake boards, knee boards, tubes and torpedoes, the people who attended had some of everything to choose from. Dave impressed us with his awesome kneeboarding abilities and fearless tubing skills. Honestly, the girls and I went for a morning of boat rides (they have never been on one) and a little beach play and ended up staying the whole 8 hours and doing things we never dreamed we would. You'll see...

.Delia was immediately a fan of the fast boat rides. She was squealing and laughing with every spray and bump. Ella was pretty scared at first.

Considering the reservoir is composed of essentially snow melt from the spring, it was a lovely warm temperature today. Most of our group went swimming at least once.

The boats carted us over to a sandy island in the middle of the lake where we unloaded shelters, chairs, coolers and bags of snacks and set up camp. This was a great place for the girls when we weren't riding. Whenever Ella gets around the high school gals, she thinks she's one of them. She tells me, "Mommy I'm going to go sit by my new friends. They're so kind!" Ella was entertaining everyone by collecting "treasures" (they were clams) and then proudly showing off her cup of "slams."

The big surprise and delight of the day came in the afternoon when Ella announced she was ready to try the tube, as long as Mr. Phil drove real slow. First she hopped in with Dave. I found this simply amazing since her first exposure to tubing was on "Reckless Ron's" boat where the goal was to knock the riding kids off in most spectacular ways!

Delia watched her from the boat waving and yelling, "Yook at you, Ella! Yook at you!"

When it was my turn to ride with Ella she realized that going faster and hitting bumps made for an even better ride. Phil saw her reaction to this and obliged. I was getting nervous for her and tried to hold on to her, but she said, "No Mommy, don't hold me. Hold your handle."

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An hour later and she wouldn't surrender the tube! Other people wanting a turn had to take it with Ella. Cassidy and Morgan gave her the wildest ride, actually venturing out of the wake. Next year I predict Ella will be riding backwards and tube leapfrogging like the big boys!

The 50 Pound Difference

It may have started this spring when, for the first time, we got into the show The Biggest Looser. Dave listened as a contestant said to the audience, "I was you! I was sitting on the couch watching this show with my bowl of ice cream. If I can do it, you can." He looked down at his bowl of ice cream and put his mind to a weight loss goal. Just a few months later and Dave's 50 pounds lighter! He's lookin' so good, even the bank teller asked, "Are you loosing weight?" today! This weekend we had to hit the sales to replace most of Dave's now-too-big wardrobe (the downside to weight loss being the closet full of pants, shorts and suits that are now 3 to 4 sizes off).
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Dave says that, for him, it was more that he was maintaining a heavy weight by making poor decisions and simply rethinking his food choices made a big difference. That may be the secret to his success, if you want to call it that. The social nature of his job was constantly presenting him with tempting options. But now, no more desserts at council, no more baked goods at senior game days, no more biscuits and gravy at morning breakfast meetings, no more high-calorie Starbucks drinks, no more late night snacking. There's a handful of recipes I've eliminated from our family's dinner rotation-- casseroles and high-fat dishes. And as a whole family, we've also been working on substitution. Turkey everything instead of pork anything, olive oil mayo instead of the original, yogurt and fruit instead of ice cream, etc. Many things we actually continue to do the same. With such great access to them, we've always been fruit and veggie lovers. Our beef is cut the leanest it can be. We've never had a pantry full of junk food.
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Another key to Dave's success has been daily use of the Wii Fit to monitor his BMI and set goals. I'm so proud of him and while I've always found my hubbie attractive, how can I not love his hot new body? I feel good about the pretty simple changes we've made to ensure better health for all of us as well.
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It's been a while since I've shared a favorite recipe. In the sidebar is one of Dave's famous dishes-- Hawaiian Sausage. He invented the recipe years ago and has tweaked it as of late to make it even better for you!

Surviving the Summer Sizzle

For the 3rd time in 2 days, we've heard the cool weather reports from our Midwest family and friends. So while I'm inclined to say, "Al Gore and his Global Warming can suck it," I do admit that we are just as toasty warm as ever this July (guess it's August now) in California. Highs in the hundreds are common, rain or any type of cloud or cooling down is not. A new daily routine has been established and we've had it in place for 2 whole weeks now. We wake up and immediately put on the sunscreen and swimming suits to get outside before it gets so hot the ground burns the skin right off the bottoms of your feet. We haul the little potty and sometimes even breakfast out there with us.

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We swim. Our old pool took a beating and ripping at Delia's birthday party, so we replaced it with this bigger one complete with slide in the middle (much like the popular pool we borrowed). We use it often 3 times a day-- first thing in the morning, after naps and again after dinner, though by this time it feels more like a hot tub. Ella and Delia have so much fun in it, I love watching them play all sorts of imaginative things for hours together.

We splash in the new water table from Auntie Karen and family. It was sent for Delia's birthday. We love it!

We tend to the thriving garden and pick stuff almost every day.

The girls play while I pull weeds and prune flowers. Often I join in the play, but there was just no more room on the trike or in the playhouse peep-hole!

After 6 years of summer in the Central Valley, this may be the first year I'm not surprised by or complaining about the heat. It's just a part of where we live and we can and will acclimate.