Birthday at the Beach

January 9th was my 29th birthday. I REALLY wanted to do something cool for it. You see, since I've been married I've had a string of bad birthdays. (I swear, it has nothing to do with being married to Ben.) One year I substitute taught middle school PE on my b-day. What was I thinking??? And another year Ben and I were in the middle of a romantic dinner at a restaurant when he got a call from one of his officers (he was in command) that a soldier on the lam had been "tackled and shackled" downtown. So Ben went back into work leaving me at home alone for the rest of the evening. The all time worst birthday was my big 3-0 when I was 7 months pregnant and had to MOVE on a cold snowy day. My dad had just passed away, and the DAY AFTER returning from the funeral, we got a call from our property manager basically telling us we were being evicted. Long story short was that we had to move as soon as possible, and that day was January 9. So, yeah, I was due for a good birthday.

So I had it all planned out this year. Ben luckily was done with class at 10 a.m., so we basically had the whole day to spend together. The plan was to go biking along a segment of the "17 mile drive." This is a famous and BEAUTIFUL drive along the coast of the peninsula that hugs Pebble Beach and drops off into the quaint little town of Carmel (hometown of Clint Eastwood where he once was mayor). The plan was to pull the girls in the trailer for the "five mile" ride (that's how long the sweet elderly lady at the tourism office told me it was) and end at Carmel beach for a picnic. The forecast was PERFECT, high of 70 degrees. I mean, how often do I get to go to the beach on my b-day? Try NEVER. So, I figured this was a once in a lifetime opportunity.

The day didn't start exactly as planned. C woke up extremely cranky with a swollen and sore arm (see previous post) so I took her into Urgent Care. After waiting for over an hour the doc casually looked at it and said it probably wasn't broken and she wouldn't do an x-ray since the radiation isn't good for little kids. The problem was that it WAS broken!! So, poor C tagged along on our adventure with a broken arm unbeknownst to us.

And then I got majorly delayed at the pharmacy. I'll spare you the details but it wasn't until after noon that we got going on our escapade. Here are some views I took from my bike, while pedaling mind you!

So hardcore


And you get the point...
but I can't help post a couple more...

So can you believe people actually live along this beautiful drive? They live in homes like this one:
Yeah, some day.
We FINALLY arrived at the beach. It was more of a ten mile ride rather than five. And ten's not that big of a deal, except when you're pulling a one-year-old (although an extremely light-weight one) and a three-year-old and all our picnic supplies. Poor Ben. He really does love me.

Can you believe I got to spend my January b-day at the beach?!?! (If you can't tell, I'm really excited about this).
Just in case you can't see Em in the other pictures

Why do bad things happen

to cute little girls??

We had a rough day today, actually we've had a few rough days now... Sunday night C broke her arm while roughhousing on the bed with her sister and daddy. But they wouldn't take an x-ray at urgent care, saying they didn't believe it was broken. So three days later with a very swollen and painful arm, C finally got to see an orthopedist who took the x-ray and said, "Yep, it's broken."

She's in happier spirits now that the cast has curbed the pain.

And at least she's got her sister and Super Why to help her forget her troubles. Now how to figure out how to dress her since her cast is five times the size of her arm. Any ideas???

Back Home

After a grueling 18 hour drive (it should have been 15, but you know how it goes with kids) we arrived home from our Christmas break in Utah. We had a grand time hanging out with family, but I'll just share these two photos... Em played Mary in the Christmas Eve nativity alongside Joseph, played by cousin Ricky. After it was all over, they just kind of impromptu started kissing...

It was really funny and slightly disturbing.
And a recent good read and good watch:

Many of you have probably already heard of this...I finished it just before Christmas break and it was a real page turner. It's the story of an Olympic metalist and WWII bombardier in the Pacific. His story of survival is unbelievable. We hear so much about what the Europeans suffered in the concentration camps, but our very own Americans suffered the same cruelty, torture, and starvation in the Japanese POW camps... it seems to be overlooked. It's kind of violent but such an AWESOME story. Definitely worth the read. It's an eye-opener and makes you really appreciate what our WWII veterans endured for our country!!

And Ben's bro just gave him this ESPN documentary for Christmas. I got kind of sucked into it and ended up REALLY liking it. It's the story of the Columbia drug cartels (1990s) and how their poisonous influence permeated every aspect of Columbian society including their beloved national soccer team. It highlights Pablo Escobar, the most powerful drug lord, and Andres Escobar (no relation), a popular and talented soccer player. Super interesting history.

The End of an Era

(... if you count nine years as an era)

It's been so great to see the troops come home in time for the holiday season.

The end of the Iraq War has special significance for us. Ben has served three combat tours... two to Iraq and one to Afghanistan totaling 29 months. And yes, I am dang proud. Of course, I think I would have chosen a different adjective had you asked me while he was actually there.

I hadn't met Ben yet when he served his first tour in 2003. He went in right after the invasion, and overall his tour, with the exception of a couple crazy incidents, was peaceful. The girl in the peach dress was someone Ben befriended along with her family. She's named Amil, Emily's namesake. That's her dad and older brothers.
Ben's mom and her ward sent school supplies to the children. Can you find Ben?
Ben was just leaving Iraq as his brother Joe was arriving. I believe I've mentioned Ben's family's insane, ahem, I mean HONORABLE family tradition... all four brothers are in the army and between three of them they have served seven tours overseas. Too bad Oprah doesn't have a show anymore.
Ben returned again to Iraq in 2005. This picture was taken moments before saying good-bye, we had gotten engaged just three weeks earlier. We were separated 8 months, he came home for two weeks on his R&R when we got married, and then he was off again for another 4 months. Oh the things we do for love.

Taken inside a C-17 as the troops are about to parachute over Baghdad. Just kidding, they just landed the normal way. But Ben is airborne qualified.

Winning the hearts of the Iraqi army. Ben is meeting with an Iraqi Lieutenant Colonel. You have to admire his gun collection.

Blending in with the locals... another attempt to win the hearts and minds. You can't even tell which one's Ben, right?

Ben's very favorite battle buddy, Josh. They went through a lot together. His second tour was quite the opposite of the first... they went in right at the climax of the civil war.

And one of my favorite photos. This was actually in Afghanistan, his third tour. This was taken the day Emily was born, his buddies gave him a bubblegum cigar to celebrate. He was only gone six months but he missed his grandfather's funeral, his daughter's birth, and his brother's wedding. Like I said, where's Oprah when you need her? But Ben is by no means unusual... almost all of his fellow servicemen have served just as long and even more than Ben has and have sacrificed beyond comprehension.

Jolly Ole St. Nicholas

Apparently, C didn't find him so jolly
But Em did. When he asked her what she wanted for Christmas, she said very thoughtfully, "a present." That's her sidekick cousin Ricky.

Natural Habitat

Lately I've been able to enjoy some of the area's natural wildlife with the girls. I'm trying to help Em feel more comfortable around animals. She thinks dogs are great as long as they're on the other side of the street. And it's not uncommon when she goes to play in the backyard to come back in about 15 seconds later and inform me there's a bug out there. When I go to check it out, it's usually an ant or a tiny speck of a fly. The other day she was very put out by a humming bird. Really.

So, a couple weeks ago we went to Pacific Grove's monarch butterfly sanctuary. This is really a cool place. Every year thousands of monarch butterflies fly hundreds of miles to live out the winter months in this ideal eco-climate. And in the spring they migrate back to their place of origin. What's so cool is that each year it's not the same butterflies that come, their life spans are so short that it's actually several younger generations of butterflies that make the same migration each year to the same spot. Somehow they know where to go.

ANYWAY, in this picture you can see them clustering to keep warm along the tree needles. They deceptively look like leaves.

As we were admiring the butterflies one flew directly at eye level towards Emily, which made her very nervous. Just before reaching her, it turned suddenly and lit upon a little boy's pant leg.
Immediately after that near death experience, Em wanted to go home. I had to keep convincing her that butterflies are nice. She kept saying, "I don't like butterflies. I like kitty cats. Kitty cats are nice. I don't like butterflies."

Reading up on butterfly literature. Are they truly a species to be feared?

Another instance of a complete stranger insisting on taking our picture. They're so nice here!

Close up of one of the little critters. I tried to get Em in the pic too.... yeah, fat chance. She wouldn't go near it.

So a couple days later we went to the wharf. The wharf offers all sorts of wildlife viewing. Harbor seals and pelicans hang out there every day. As we were standing on the wharf looking over the bay I spotted some seals playing in the water together. They were splashing and doing flips and literally kissing each other. This pic doesn't do it justice. They were a lot closer than what this photo depicts.

I excitedly pointed them out to the girls. Look Em! Do you see the seals playing in the water?

Em, trying to figure out what I was so excited about, crouched down and to get a better look between the two wooden boards. She exclaimed, "I see it Mom! I see the web!" Confused I took a closer look. Instead of spotting the seals, this is what she saw:
Yeah, a spider web one inch from the tip of her nose.

So, not so much success there, although I really love going down to the wharf, it's so relaxing and I can usually find some good chocolate along the way.

Some more seals relaxing in the sun. Sometimes we can hear them barking from our house! Em and C do really cute impressions of seal barking.

So, just yesterday we had another chance to see some local wildlife. Actually, not so wild. Farm animals. Our friends scored a deal where they're basically going to farm sit for a family and live in their farm house for free (except for utilities) for the next eight months. All they have to do is feed the animals twice a day.

Em was much more at ease around these animals. Both girls LOVED it in fact. Maybe because all the animals were behind a fence. Or maybe because we have about fifty books/toys that are farm animal themed.

Here's an alpaca. Am I the only person who has never heard of an alpaca? Probably. They were pretty cool. Reminded me of a Dr. Seuss character.

An emu. The lady giving the farm tour told us she eats emu egg omelettes!

Not so scared of the goats.

And go figure, Em's very favorite farm animal was the pig. She couldn't stop talking about the pig.

Cute little guy

Em's friend Izzy (remember hide-and-go-seek?) who is moving out to the farm. Hopefully we'll get to visit a lot!
I had to get a picture of the pony's antlers. Classic.
And on a completely unrelated note, I had to get some pics of C at the ward Christmas party donning her Christmas dress. She only wore the hat for about four seconds that night, so we had to take a pic fast.

And in case you're wondering where the heck my hubbie is, here he is in his natural habitat as of late, poor guy!