Santa Cruz with family

Left to right: Owen, Me, Auntie Norma, Britney, Marlyn's husband-Steve, Dylan, Brandon, Cousin Marlyn, Samantha and Russ

We spent some time in Santa Cruz with my cousin, Marlyn, and her family this summer. We spent time at the beach, shopping in Capitola, hiking in the forest, going on rides at the Boardwalk and poking around the wharf. The weather did not cooperate at all. The sun may have been out a few days, but the wind was just horrible. The beach was tolerable behind the wind barricades, although the kids didn't even notice. They played in the ocean and sand for hours. At least we were able to enjoy a little vacation time together. The boys loved that they were able to share their special place with their cousins.

Sisters: my Aunt Norma and mom, Gloria

Love this shot of Sam giving Dylan a piggy-back ride

Second cousins: Brandon, Britney, Samantha, Dyaln and Owen

No more diapers...or so I thought

Well, it took quite a long time, but Dylan was finally out of pull-ups by the end of July. Talk about a LONG hard road to haul with that kid. Once he conquered his fear of "poo on the potty," he was wearing underpants and never looked back. Thank God! I swore he was going to start school still in pull-ups. How horrible would that have been?????

Owen was well on his way to potty training, too. He would have long stretches of doing everything on the potty. Then he wouldn't do so well at all. He wanted so badly to be the big boy, but sometimes playing took precedence over his body's needs. We recently went from wearing underpants to bed to wearing pull-ups...too many mornings of wet sheets. We are almost diaper-free. Really looking forward to that day!

Russ opens his own business

For those who don't know, my husband was laid off from his job of 23 years in December 2008. 3 weeks before Christmas to be exact. A "Happy holidays! Don't let the door hit you in the ass on your way out!" kind of moment. It was a horrible time for Russ. It took some time, but it eventually seemed to be a blessing in disguise. While Russ was working, we never saw him during the week because he worked 14-16 hour days. On the weekends we barely spent time with him because he did all the work he never had time for around the house. He lived here, but we rarely saw him. Then he suddenly didn't have the job that took him away from us. The boys got to see him every day. Russ got to see his boys grow and change day after day. It was wonderful. He was bonding with them, and they were completely enveloped in Dad's love and attention.

In the time between then and now, Russ finally accepted the fact that there were no garage door companies or fireplace companies that were looking to hire a salesman. Why would they when no one was building new homes? That's when he decided that he was going to go forward with opening his own company. It's been slow and difficult, but he's finally done it. The jobs have been slow in coming, but what work he's been able to drum up has been good. He's building his reputation slowly through these clients. The folks he's worked with just love him for his honesty, knowledge and work ethic. He's probably one of the few businessmen that is interested in getting to know his customers. He walks away with people telling him time and again, that they will pass his name on to their friends. I'm proud of him, and I'm doing my best to help him succeed.

Last Swimming Lesson

Dylan, Brandon and Owen with Amanda

I got to be at the boys last swim lesson. They did such a fantastic job learning to swim. Brandon was swimming across the pool unassisted and retrieving items from the bottom of the deep end. He was so proud of himself and loved that I was there to see it all.

Dylan was working on his kicks and scoops. He was nearly there swimming on his own. It was a coordination thing that he needed to continue working on. He for sure will be swimming by next summer.

Owen looked at swim lessons as play time. He did more playing than actually learning to swim. The plus side was that he was completely comfortable in the water, and that is really half the battle.

The boys loved their few weeks of lessons and look forward to seeing Amanda again next year.

Lots of writing to be done

Feeling bad that I have not written since July, but the motivation to keep up on the writing has been lacking. Never mind the lack of time now that I'm working so much. I'm going to try to do my best to write about the little things that have happened between my last post and now. I do apologize about being a horrible blogger.