24 Days and 22 Nights

Yes, it is official... I am home from 24 days of perfecting my Magda tan, and 22 practically sleepless nights full of bed wetting and night terrors!!

"Only 22 nights?" you ask... Yes, Steve and I stayed in Fresno one Saturday night after Summer Sizzle, a St. Agnes Men's club fundraiser. And many thanks to Barb and Sharra for taking care of the boys back at the cabin for us. Carson officially has a case of the Sharra blues!!

But moving on...

Many visitors blessed us with dirty sheets, good company and and plenty of opportunities to fill our bellies.

Exhibit A:

Exhibit B:

Exhibit C:

Exhibit D:

Exhibit E:

After evaluating my time during these 24 days, I realized that I have been disciplined enough to eat daily from ALL FIVE food groups.

Let's take a moment and visit them now...

THE BREAD AND CEREAL GROUP:

powdered donuts

THE FRUIT GROUP

homemade apple pie

THE VEGETABLE GROUP:

potato chips, lots and lots and lots of potato chips

THE MEAT GROUP:

forks burger (they officially know me by name)

and THE DAIRY GROUP:

ice cream

Now, hold your applaud for the next item of business...

My 24 days of eating

"Before and After Pictures"

life is good today

got my toes in the water

ass in the sand

not a worry in the world

a cold beer in my hand

life is good today.

really good

when i have a bad day, i just need to look at these

i love those boys

don't you just want to dust that sand off of his face and give him a big kiss?

yep, me too

he makes me smile

life is good

Life as a 3 year old...

best friends

eating ice cream on the back of the boat

blue bubble gum ice cream

they rode the sugar pine railroad earlier that day

and played trains in the bow of the boat

and then played trains on the beach

at 10 o'clock in the evening

by the campfire

with the light from a flashlight

pretty sure they have no clue how good life is...

4th of July TOP TEN

1. MY MIGRAINE... No, I am not thankful that I woke up with a horrible migraine on the morning the 4th of July, but I am so glad that it disappeared once guests started to arrive. It starts off my list because if it hadn't gone away, there would be NO Top Ten list!!

2. MY FLAT STOMACH... I have been working out trying to get back in shape since baby number 2 completely distorted my body, and to NO avail my stomach remains flabby. However, the Wednesday prior to the 4th I suffered a sever case of the stomach flu. Needless to say, my stomach remained fairly toned (which only means less flabby than normal) for that brief moment before I indulged in the holiday food frenzy.

3. NEIGHBORS AT BASS LAKE... We have owned our cabin at Bass Lake for just over a year now and this weekend we were finally given the opportunity to meet some of our neighbors. Most rent out their cabins, but this weekend all the owners gathered to celebrate the 4th. We learned that we have some pretty amazing neighbors and were fortunate to have met them this weekend.

This is Gary our neighbor from Florida.

4. SPENDING TIME AT THE LAKE... For most of the day we relaxed in the sun, hung out with friends, swam with the kids and just enjoyed our time at the lake.

5. NATIONAL ANTHEM... As we sat anxiously awaiting for the sky to darken and the fireworks to start, the clashing music blaring from the boats on the lake began to silence and a familiar tune began to make it's way across the lake. It was the sound of a trumpet playing The Star Spangled Banner. Simply heartfelt and truly amazing. I can still hear it playing in my head.

6. FIREWORKS... As usual, the fireworks show at Bass Lake was amazing. Last year little Brady was barely a month old for the 4th of July holiday so I chose to listen to the booming of the show while Brady was soundly sleeping back at the cabin. This year Brady and I, along with about 22 other friends and family, had a front row seat to the show from our dock on the lake.

7. BEER PONG... Finally the kids were in bed, and I was able to let loose. I kicked off my flip flops, pushed up my sleeves and competed in a fierce game of Beer Pong!! The shout out goes to Megan and Dave for bringing it. Super fun!!

8. GOOD FRIENDS...

9. GREAT FAMILY...

10. REALIZING HOW LUCKY I AM TO BE SO BLESSED...

Giraffes are horny too!

Let's first take a moment of silence for this little guy. He didn't live past his first month birthday. Not sure of the cause of death. Either epilepsy or an infection in his umbilical cord. His poor mother, Uzari, has given birth to three babies, all of which have passed away at a young age.

This picture was taken during my visit to the zoo last month:

Uzari was sad.

We visited the zoo yesterday and I was shocked to learn of the baby giraffes passing, however I was still anxious to feed the giraffes.

I was the first in line.

We were warned that the giraffes were rambunctious.

I was clueless as to just HOW rambunctious they really were.

Apparently there was another mother giraffe ready to give birth any day now. Hormones were raging in the air. "Gully" the male giraffe that the zoo uses for breeding was horny!

Seriously. I am not kidding.

We tried to feed Uzari, the mother giraffe that had just lost her baby, but Gully would not let her have anything to eat.

Typical guy. Not wanting to let his girl get fat?

Well, all that was on his mind was sex. Yep!! He tried and we watched.

We stood there in shock. Some parents were covering children's eyes.

I couldn't even take pictures. I was that embarrassed, violated, grossed out, and mentally scarred for life.

The good news is that Uzari, the smaller of the two shown above, is on birth control. The zoo is not sure they want her to have any more babies until they can figure out why here babies are so unhealthy.

Next up, the fighting tigers. Yep, they brawled. We watched, it was scary. Ask Carson about it, he saw the whole thing go down and loves to tell the stories of the fighting tigers. His sound effects are pretty good too!!

After that we opted for a nice calm train ride around Roeding Park.

Then lunch at The Cheesecake Factory.

Exciting morning to say the least.

Kissing Cousins

super tired today.

but couldn't resist sharing this picture.

parker... er... i mean, carson and jane.

that is just what jane called him for three days straight.

JACKPOT

It has been weeks now that I have been searching for my migraine medicine. Having to rely on good 'ol Advil just doesn't nearly do the trick. I knew it just HAD to be around here somewhere.

Then yesterday... I was cleaning Carson's room and came across a box in his armoire. Hmmm....I wondered... What is in here?

Some trains.

Some cars.

Some books.

and JACKPOT...

My migraine medicine.