May - parks and play

 We live right by beautiful Balboa park. These are from a day when we spent the morning enjoying walking and catching bubbles in the park, as well the National History Museum. They even made a movie about coral reefs mesmerizing - for kids and adults!

May I present: Ziggy. He loves ponies and rainbows. He is constantly in trouble at school. Unexpected, but when you see him, how can you not understand that this is the one Victoria has picked to be her future husband? He is her best friend, and that usually takes you pretty far as long as match making goes. We will see in the future!

My old neighbor challenged me to join a plank challenge and while day 1 was totally awfully disappointing, I was happy to say that the 7 days of just one plank practice per day got me from 1:45 to 3:32!

This is the day we went for a run to the dentist office. Victoria insisted on pushing William in a separate stroller. With the big load it so happened that William got stuck alone in an elevator. He found that so amusing that he can't wait to ride an elevator again. See something different with this child?! Crazy, but as cute as can be. 

A hot day when Bart is working on the motorcycle. The kids take the chance to sun bath the Swedish way and when it gets too hot Bart comes out with the hose for an ice cold shower. Cheap fun! (Except that we are in a drought area...)

Good morning! Full of energy and ready for the day, as always!

Just another hiking day with the boys and MOMs Club. The kids enjoyed throwing pebbles in a river for 30 min. 

End of soccer season. Everyone loved having Bart as a coach and we really bonded with the team. It is such a fun group of boys (plus Victoria!) and wonderfully engaged parents that I definitely hope to see more of!

We made yogurt and granola with the Little Chefs. It smells amazing in the house when you make granola and kid as well as moms devoured the results.

  

Another little family hike. Victoria and William have Camelbaks from Ben and Jon and drinking water (plus many pee stops!) during the hike is part of the fun!

The last days of May we spent in Big Bear with friends. It was wonderful, exhausting and relaxing all at the same time! The kids didn't sleep much, but we had so much fun hiking, playing games, cooking and just enjoying each others company. The kids ages span from 1 to 6! River really loved being able to take care and help "baby Cyrus", as well as playing with the big kids!




This is at the Discovery park in Big Bear. River is feeding me pretzels. Something tells me we went there so that Bart could build a house, but that's ok :)

One night we played poker, Texas hold em. It was my first time and if you wonder why noone else has chips it is because I outclassed them all!!! Ofcourse I was very proud, nut then again, this is mostly a game of luck, right? So now I am wondering if my option trading success may simply be that I am lucky! :)

April - the big first loss

I think this sums up much of the month - warm month with lots of beach time, I had my nose down in my options trading book and we baked a lot to prepare for Becca's baby shower. Here we are testing out the cranberry scones, per William's request. I was paper trading this month, which is practically practicing trading without real money. On the flip side this means that I cannot cash in my $35.000 profit, but at least I felt quite comfortable and prepared for my new side job.

The baby shower day came and we all so enjoyed the party! About 25 ladies were gathered around delicious food for a tea time celebration in a Woodlands theme. I made Becca a blanket and some items in a really cute animal fabric and I know she felt all the love I had put in the food. It was such a pleasure to do this for a dear friend.

 

Zoo and Safari days this month. Planning required. It is a huge zoo! This long neck turtle totally looks like a combination of a snake and the gris in William's book. And a turtle, I guess! Of course he was mesmerized. 

 

The Safari park was even better. In huge areas the giraffes, elephants, hippos etc live together like in the wild. We saw a little 2 year old gorilla do somersaults and get nursed by his mom. They also have a water park and we even enjoyed a hot air balloon ride to view the whole park from above!

Normal day at the Randall house hold. Commissary trip (grocery shopping). It is always good to have Kylo Ren and Batman with you, should anyone try to rob you on base. 

Can I tell you how much I love that Bart is not a helicopter parent. Although it sure looks like he is watching every step from his throne on this one! This is at a friend's birthday party at KidVentures. River is standing up for himself protecting his (current) property from a friend.

Our cooking classes have taking off and both moms and kids (including me) enjoy this so very much! Lena is the proud maker of this delicious hummus.

Birthday party on the beach. Roasting marshmallows and treasure hunting in the sand dunes. You really must pinch yourself sometimes reminding yourself that this is not a vacation. 

This was just supposed to be a little play date with friends on the beach, but turned into a big day when we found Victoria's first lost tooth in the sand! She wrote a note to the tooth fairy asking if she could please keep the tooth as this is one of the culture conflicts we had to solve in the house hold. All she wanted was for it to fall out before the Sweden trip so she could show her big girl smile off!

March animals

I couldn't quite imagine, 6 years ago, that our little bundle of joy would one day master 10 pull ups for an ice cream sundae, or that she would know more than me about Star Wars. Well, that last thing doesn't tell you much. 

Soccer season is running and Victoria is kicking butt. William is the youngest one on the team and really improving a lot. When asked he says he "loves soccer, but mostly he loves the breaks"! River couldn't enjoy it more. For a full hour he is surrounded by tons of friendly generous adults carrying snack bags.

William's butterfly larva arrived. We watched them eat, grow and turn into the pupa. Eventually, we even got to see them transform into adult butterflies and fly away! Quite a lesson! The day after they all took off we first met a lady with a bird on her shoulder during a walk, and then befriended a giant turtle at the playground. That same morning I had opened the door to car and found a brand new shining penny by my foot. I told myself that I was going to be extra observant that day, and not let my luck pass me by unobserved. 

Everything is "way mine", "way hot", "way high" with River... He is eating constantly. One hand is always for holding a snack bag, whether it is apples or crackers. He specifically likes to eat "animals" - toddler parents probably knows what that means.  

I am teaching a cooking class for the little ones (Little Chefs) and we made baguettes this month. It was a very successful morning and even the dads were impressed by the proof in the paper bags that the little ones brought home. I think we baked 18 baguettes and there was so much munching going on!

One of my favorite things to do on a rainy day is to visit the European rustic bread shop. The selection is huge and so inspiring. Everything from leek and cheese bread to yummy chocolate loaves! We are all in heaven! 

This night Victoria is up late making cheese. She enjoyed the process, while Bart and I got to enjoy the product!

It should be totally clear who it is Victoria has pictured here. Total keeper. 

Easter is here. It fills me with joy to put up all the little Easter decorations from my late grandmother. I think about her every time I walk by it and every time I see River walking around with one of the chickens, so that is pretty much all the time.  

At our Easter party with MOMs Club he was truly enjoying the egg hunt. Can anyone spot who took off before everyone else and got a bunch of eggs in advance?

Look who got her bike back! It was picked up by social services at night after she had forgotten it in the park. Returned with helmet still hanging on!

There is nothing called sleeping in anymore. That's the earliest reminder of how lucky we are in life.

Taking the ferry over to San Diego. Victoria is such a caring and responsible big sister, at least very often! Another great month in the books.