A "bumpy" in the road

Well, it is an end of an era. For those of you who know Kiira well, you know that wherever she goes, "bumpy" goes as well. Bumpy translates into her blankey. I'm not sure when she started calling it this but it seemed to stick.

When she was about 3, her original blankie got lost. I'm not sure how, but that little worn, restitched, loved piece of material was nowhere to be found. In fact, we thought we had found it when, to our surprise, Auntie Liisa called from Australia to say that in one of her packages I had sent, there was a surprise guest. You guessed it, blankie. I thought, well, being a kid, Kiira probably stuffed it in the box as a surprise to her beloved aunt. Our hopes were shattered however when we got it back in the mail and discovered it was yet another "car blankey".

Surprisingly, she took it ok and started sleeping with "car blankey" who was the exact same blankey (we have many of these) but was, in my mind, softer and more cuddly. Well, apparently, Ms. Kiira feels that in order to be comfy, they must be well worn, and hence the name bumpy developed for blankey #2. In her defense, it did seem to develop little nubs where it has been rubbed, dropped, stepped on, and generally played with.

Slowly over time we started making her leave "bumpy" at home or in the car. However, this fatefull night, bumpy seems to have followed us out somewhere, not to have made the return trip home. I knew we had it when we went riding and then to the burrito place. I thought for sure it was in the bathroom of the burrito place. However, one phone call later and a 9 pm trip to said burrito joint, no luck. In fact, we had to pound on the door to have them let us in as technically they were closed. I think they knew something was up when they saw a little girl in a pink nightgown, wet hair and slippers looking longingly in.

Although we are still in transition, we have hopes of attaching to yet another blankey. Blankey #3. We have a plethora to choose from at home and thus far Kiira seems to be taking several for a "test drive" before settling down to "the one". I, of course, will keep you posted on which one it will be, and if she has named yet the third in line for the throne of her lap, her cheek, and her little thumb that holds it close.

The mighty fisherwoman

A carryover from July 4....she loved fishing!
Try this link for a video. Otherwise it's on youtube under "mighty fisherwoman".
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wG0dvzJSro8

The mighty Evan at bat

Ok - I'm not one to brag about my kids (truly!) but Evan is pretty darn smitten with baseball. AND, he is pretty good. He just turned two and he can make contact with the ball! His definitely has his daddy's baseball gene. Have I mentioned that he takes the bat EVERYWHERE with him? He even sleeps with it.

Little known fact - did you know that Alan played for a minor league baseball team in VT?

I apologize for the video being sideways - yet another challenge/mistake on my part!

The more the merrier!

Last weekend was a busy one - we had Alan's sister Ann and her husband Kent in to stay with us for a night. That day, turns out Alan's brother Glenn was also in town so he came by with his daughter Sydney and then, well, the more the merrier so Alan's aunt and uncle, Miriam and Maurie came up from Palo Alto along with Alan's cousin Larry. A fun time! The kids just adore their aunts and uncles!



Ann and Kent with Kiira and Evan



Funny faces - no Kimble this time?

Kiira's first horse show and Heidi's first show back

Well, Kilham farm had a fun show today and it was Kiira's first horse show. I finally broke down and got her some real jodpurs and jodpur straps. We came out this morn, slicked up, hairnets on, ready to show the world what "we got". It was a raving success with Kiira taking 1st place in the walk class and 2nd place in the walk over poles class. In both classes she followed her teacher Suzanne b/c she was a little nervous but, being the proud mother I am, you could not even tell she was nervous. In her walk over poles class, Robin Hood spooked and she almost came off (thank goodness her teacher WAS there to catch her!) but rallied and finished the course. She didn't actually fall off FYI but it could have been sketchy had Suzanne not been there. Kiira was also VERY pleased with herself which is what matters most.

Heidi had a great time. Orbit had had a cold bath earlier that morn and was feeling quite high and tight so after a 5 min school, I decided a lunge might be better. The old pregnant girl worked out the kinks and we ended up getting 3rd in our hunter under saddle, 1st in our first jumping class (1'-0" fences), 3rd in our second jumping class (also 1'-0 fences) and 2nd in our third jumping class (2'-6" fences). Our last class we placed behind the owner of the barn's daughter so in my mind (she's so good) I really felt as if I got 1st! Yippee!!

Alan came and cheered us on as well. Great video footage was taken but alas, I still am not sure how to upload the camcorder. I have only mastered the video on my little digital camera. Poor Evan stayed home as he is still at an age where he is quite disruptive.

Kiira's got the bug for sure. She has already asked when the next horseshow is. I may bite the bullet and see how much (oh lordy) it will be to have her do leadline down at the Woodside show in September (45 min away). I know she'd love it!
Here are some snippets below - if you'd like the unabridged version - feel free to head on over to this link.



A practice run with Jeff, one of her trainers, over the poles



With both her trainers, Jeff and Suzanne, practicing



They broke the walk class into two parts - two kids in each class - so they would have enough ponies to go around. This is Kiira's friend Michaela (7 yrs old) who was in her class



This photo cracks me up because all the kids in the walk over poles class got to "walk the course". Walking the course is usually what the big time classes do so it was so cute to see the little kids doing it. Note the white horses in Kiira's and Michaela's arms. These were trophies for winning their classes.



Hanging with pals



Kiira and Robin Hood in "walk over poles" class



The equestrians - Kiira and mom

ahhhh memories....

Well, I am behind a bit by now because even before July 4 my good friend Beth, her husband Ed and their two kids Amelia and Henry came for a visit. They were on a whirlwind tour of CA where they used to live (are now in Ann Arbor) and it was such a treat to be one of their stops on their vacation. We of course caught up and got to see that each other's kids had grown about 4 feet (literally) since we last saw them. Beth and I met at Cornell and became fast friends. We are truly soulmates separated at birth. Speaking of which - we have the same birthday!

Evan was so taken by Amelia that he kept screaming to hold her hand. It was the cutest thing.... Which brought back memories from when Alan and I visited them and Amelia was about 2 yrs old and kept telling Beth that I wasn't Beth's friend but was rather Amelia's friend...

The rest of July 4 in Ithaca!

There were many highlights but I'll try and illustrate in photos!


Our cottage

Sunset at the cottage-Lake Ridge, Cayuga Lake

Lady luck and the fish

Flares

Sparklers

Uncle Jeff and Aunt Marilyn's riding Ellie, "Who's the pipsqueak?"


Cream at the Top soft ice cream

old friends circa 1970/1 "ish" Casey and Kevin

Old friends circa 2008 - Casey and Kevin (our moms were friends growing up and we would see each other over summers growing up) Kiira and Evan are 4th generation BTW at the cottage....

If you are into some more July 4, click here for more photos (more photos)

Flyin' the friendly sky

Well, we are off. Off to Ithaca, NY that is. Yes, this is where I grew up and we are even staying in my childhood house no less (above pictured). We arrived Wednesday night. We being Kiira and me. We are having a girls weekend with Nanny since neither Alan nor I jumped at the chance of traveling with Evan at this age (he just turned two). Alan volunteered for home duty aka boys weekend. Besides, I think it's nice to have some one on one time with the kids. Alan took Kiira to Boston in March so they got a little one on one time then. Now it's my turn. We've had a marvelous time thus far. I have to say, she is quite my little buddy and we genuinely have fun traveling.



Well, Thursday was just another rainy day in Ithaca. It's ironic because I try to time my visits for beautiful weather. Also translated means I travel in the summer. I have no desire to trudge through snow, sludge and ice. Well anyway, drag. So, on a rainy day we decided to head out to Sapsucker woods where Cornell University has their lab of Ornithology. Well, I hadn't seen the new building and I will say that it's QUITE slick. It's got a big window with fancy telescopes to see the birds, it has a sound lab where you can go in and hear different animal sounds and a movie theatre to see some more interesting things that they do. Kiira loves birds so it was a perfect way to spend a rainy day. And, had it not been rainy, they've got some lovely walks where I'm assuming you can bird watch. Needless to say, we didn't hit the trails in the downpour.

Today, July 4th, looks to be a beautiful day. We'll head down to the cottage and do some fishing. This is what Kiira has been talking about nonstop. My mom's boyfriend, Rick, got her a bright yellow fishing pole so now we just need a hook and some bait.

A few cottages up the lake, we will see some friends (Yengos/DiGiacomos) that we've known for four generations. Yes, our grandparents were friends, then my mom became close with their children, then my sister and I became friends with their kids, and now we all have our own kids. They have a VERY large family so Kiira will have her pick of kids to play with. There is a big field next to all of our cottages and there is usually a game of baseball, some rocket launching, frisbee, and well, you get the ideas. No shortage of stuff to do.

My aunt and uncle, Marilyn and Jeff will come down to the cottage today and we will hang, probably talk horses knowing Kiira (Marilyn and Jeff have horses) and nibble. Then as night approaches, we will get our flares out on the dock and break out the sparklers! If everything works out, we will even build a bonfire and have s'mores!! Yippee! Stay tuned for pictures of above activities!

On Fire

Well, contrary to what you may think I'll be writing, I'm not writing about my writing prowess, or my riding accomplishments or even my day to day philanthropic activities (yeah, I wish all that were true!). No, I am writing about the awful fires we have been having throughout California. I know each and every area has their own natural disasters. Well, perhaps it is Mother Nature testing us. I believe that this is such a beautiful area to live in, perhaps it is her way of saying, "Now, do you REALLY want to live here?" Well, yes I really do. So we "weather" the fires, the threat of earthquakes and even the wicked winds that roar through in rainy season. I still believe it's like waking up and being on vacation each and every day when I look outside and see Mount Tamalpais and the tip of the Golden Gate Bridge. I wouldn't trade it.

Well, our view hasn't been quite as good as you can see lately. Even Arnie came on the tube to recommend the young and old stay indoors because of poor air quality. Oy vey.