Jesusita Fire

As most of the country knows, Santa Barbara is taking on horrific fires right now. Our family and homes are fine, so don't worry. It is moving towards Goleta however. My Mom is seeing flames a little closer than she would like, but I am sure they will be OK as well. Our friends, Suzanne and Andrew and their daughter Keira just evacuated their place. Suzanne said that her temperature gauge read 114 degrees when they left at 8:30 at night! It is HOT here, but this tells you how close the fires were getting, if it got THAT hot! It is a really scary time for a lot of people right now. My thoughts are with those who are in evacuation areas and all the fire and police men and women that are risking their lives for us all.


Smokey sky and moon behind our house.

These are the flames that we could see from our back yard. Scary.

HOT HOT HOT

After a long day of hangover recovery from Cinco de Mayo, I walked Owen to the beach with our friends. It has been SO HOT the past few days, we had to get out of the house into some cool sea breezes and cold ocean water. It felt SO good! The waves were pretty impressive today.

Owen and Laith were working very hard at the task of finding every stone on the beach and throwing it in the water. Later Owen was filling up a sand pail with water and pouring it into a hole Laith had dug in the sand. We also got to pet a horse that was riding on the beach which was exciting. The horses name was Sebastian and was very nice : )
The fires are still going strong right now and they are getting really scary for a lot of our friends who live near them. Over 2,000 homes have been evacuated. (Victoria, Bill and Gwendolyn Strong are one of them http://www.petitiontocuresma.com/). Please keep them and everyone else who has to leave their homes in your prayers. This is a picture of the smoke from the beach. Fortunatetly, (for us) the winds have been blowing the opposite direction from us, so our air quality is still good.

Dinner at the Table

Tonight was the first night we had dinner at the table as a family : ) It wasn't as messy as I was anticipating (with the help of a plastic placemat of course). We had stuffed eggplant (like manicoti, but used rolled slices of eggplant instead of noodles), swiss chard and garlic bread.

He looks like he is saying grace in this picture. (He's not, but I can pretend that he IS that polite ;)

BIG DAY!

walking in mommy's shoes

Eating cereal with Daddy in the morning

Emptying my purse and wallet...before he's a teen

Well, I thought that today's blog was going to be short and cute about Owen wearing my shoes. HOWEVER, that's nothin' compared to him going "pee pee" in the potty today all by himself for the first time! He walked up to me and grabbed his diaper and said "pee pee" with a big smile, so I walked him over to his potty chair and sat him down. We waited a bit, and then we could hardly believe our eyes; there was pee pee in the potty! Owen was cracking up the whole time! He thought this was the coolest thing ever. He sat there for about 15 minutes trying to get out as much as he possibly could. We were both laughing hysterically in the bathroom. I am a little worried that the next few days are going to be spent in the bathroom since this seems to be a new favorite and fun thing to do.

Sweet Heart

Yesterday I pulled out a drawer too far and it landed on my big toe. The pain brought me to my knees with a yelp as Owen looked at me overly concerned. He came over and gave me a hug and kissed "mamma's owie." That of course took ALL the pain away. I kiss all of his boo boo's when he gets hurt. This morning, I bumped my bruised toe again and said "ouch;" Owen came over immediately and before I knew it he was kissing my toe again. What a sweet way to start the day.

Today I took him to feed the ducks with our friends Daalia and Laith. We didn't have the strollers with us, so we let them walk to the ducks. In my mind, it wasn't very far off, however I have never done this walk with two 19 month old boys before. It took FOREVER to get anywhere! Our little explorers only wanted to go in the direction they felt like going, AND in their own time. Daalia used a bag of snacks as her motivator for Laith, which worked for a short time. I used the promise of a visit to Nanna and Pappy (who happen to live around the corner) to get Owen running in the right direction. From a slow short walk I had envisioned, it turned out to be a strength training day of lifting, carrying and sprinting! Those ducks felt like they were miles away!

Two of Owen's new discoveries are crayola markers and ice cream sandwiches. The ice cream sandwiches he makes his "cold face" (you will have to see this on video if I can get it!) and enjoys every last bit. With the markers, as you can see, he likes to color in his mouth some times, but his coloring is keeping his attention much longer than it used to : )

He is also expressing his desire to wear what he wants. (This reminds me of a child I see at UCSB sometimes with his dad and he is ALWAYS wearing his superman costume (no where near Halloween)...I have a feeling that is what I have to look forward to). Here he is in his Ladies Man shirt, with his cowboy pajama bottoms (he likes the horses on them), and his sun hat. It's very difficult to dress him in what you want him to wear these days. He would much rather run around in the buff, or wear something "unique." ; ) Last night while I had to work, Adam said that he let him run around for half an hour naked before bed because he refused to sit still for a diaper or pajamas.

Helmet Head

As I was pulling out the stroller from our garage, Owen noticed his bike helmet. He loves to put hats AND helmets on his head. Needless to say, we went to the park with his helmet on. He let me take it off when we got to the park, but he wore it all the way home. People probably thought I was some over protective mother or something!

He is also beginning to figure out manipulation. For example, after two bedtime stories I told him he could put one shape in his shape sorter and then it was time for bed. He put the circle in the right hole, but would not let go of it. He would take it back out with a smile and pretend to put it in another hole that was obviously the wrong shape (just buying time to stay up a little longer). I kept telling him to put it in and he kept shaking his head no, because he KNEW that it was time to go to bed after he did. I can't believe he is already capable of this!

Nana Love

Nanna decided to take Owen for the night so Adam and I could have a night out. I got home from work and she came by to pick him up about 10 minutes later. As soon as he saw her walk through the door he started clapping and jumping up and down with a HUGE smile on his face. He ran into the house to pack his "necessities" (blanket and Ernie doll) and said "Go!" Apparently we are not as much fun to have around as Nanna and Pappy are. He said "bye" to us after running into her arms faster than I can blink. This of course MADE my mom's day! They quickly left as he was shoving her out the door, and now Adam and I are off to play some tennis!

Quack Quack

Having fun feeding the ducks until Owen starting eating the bread himself!

Adam decided to take Owen to Lake Los Carneros to feed the ducks today. This was a first for Owen. He was so excited to throw the bread to the ducks, until he tasted it and said "yummy." That was all for the poor ducks, as Owen decided to feed himself instead. When they got home he had the widest grin on his face and kept saying "quack quack."

Later, he tried to take his shirt off by himself but only got it part way. He thought this was hilarious and kept it like that while laughing at himself in the mirror!

A new way to get wet!

Owen found a new activity today and he's so proud of himself! We found him today scooping out water from the fountain in the back yard and watering the plants with it. Granted, the fern wasn't looking so good and could have used some water (except I watered it yesterday, and not knowing this, Adam watered it again this morning!).

Once he was done with his water adventure, he decided to empty all of his dresser drawers he could reach and throw his clothes on the floor. He then decided to dress himself (even though he was already dressed). He was wearing some short overalls around his neck with as many shirts as he could find on top of his head. He cracks me up.

After a nice nap, we took Owen to Nanna's so he could pick carrots in the garden while Adam and I got to borrow David's Porche to go to Cold Springs Tavern! Adam was of course smiling the entire time! He was in heaven. (Now I know where Owen gets his car obsession) I must admit, it was nice : ) We had a great time up there listening to music. Adam was just wishing it was a longer drive!

We then picked up Owen and went to a barbecue at a near by park with some friends who also have kids the same age. We had a great time, though it was a lot of running around and chasing my fast moving boy. I am happy to be sitting down at the moment.

Go Speed Racer Gooooo!

Owen in his favorite place...the front seat of the car. He is climbing on the dashboard looking at me through the windsheild. Could he seriously look any happier?

Snap peas and artsy looking beautiful artichokes (This one's for you Anna)

Well today was a wonderful day in Santa Barbara! Owen and I hit Farmer's Market with Nanna and Pappy. We went to several different stands looking for the best and sweetest strawberries we could find. Owen was my personal taste tester. If he caught a mere glimpse of red out of the corner of his eye, he would point and yell "MINE!" through the entire market. I was on a mission to find the good ones fast so I had and endless supply at hand (to keep the shouting down to a minimum).

Once my money was spent, and my bags were full, it was time to go. I heard many sleepy yawns in the backseat on our drive home. Once we pulled into the drive way he got his second wind. As soon as I got him out of his car seat he wanted to jump straight into the front seat again. He has the biggest smile on his face when he gets to do this. He says "drive" or "ride" (I am not quite sure which) over and over again all day long. He just likes to sit there with the doors closed for as long as he can. He looks like a captain in his cockpit. I am worried that he want's to be a race car driver when he grows up (over my dead body). I am guessing it's a boy thing, I don't know. I am thinking that we may have to get a race car bed when he out grows his crib.

On a side note, he LOVES to put coins into his piggy bank. He kept asking for "more" after he had already put quite a bit of change in through the slot.


He has recently discovered Mommy and Daddy's toothpaste. The caps are on tight, but he likes the taste of the lid I guess. Now, I just wish he would let me brush his teeth for him!