Wandering Browns

Building at the Legoland Discovery center Every two years, I have to do 40 hours of continuing education to keep my physical therapy license. I do as much of it as I can online, but I do need to attend 20 hours of classes in person. Enter Grandma Ev. She's always up for flying out to help babysit the kiddos so I can go to my classes without having to worry about my kids being with babysitters all day. I signed up for a 14 hour class to finish off my continuing ed for this year, and Grandma Ev came out to hang out with Landon, Owen, and Austin while I was in class all day.  They went to Kohl's Children's Museum, to the park, and had so much fun reading books together. Austin and I even squeezed in a brief date night out to dinner. In the days after my class, she came with us to Legoland and with us to renew my driver's license. It was nice to have the company and extra set of hands for the fun activities and the necessary, but difficult to accomplish with kids er...

Dribble castling Avila Beach certainly pulled out at the stops weather-wise our second weekend in California. It was a beautiful 80 degrees, sunny, and just perfect. The waves were big enough that I enjoyed bodysurfing for awhile before my head went numb. Landon dug in the sand, played with the kids that were around us, and built an awesome dribble castle with Claire and Grandpa Doug. I was very impressed that he was actually able to dribble for the dribble castle. I LOVE taking him to the beach because it is just one giant playground and he is so happy to dig in the sand (especially if construction vehicles are involved!) Landon also spent some time with Grandpa's bodysurfing hood on his head, pretending to be an elephant seal. He even lounged on some rocks and flicked sand on himself, just as he had seen the elephant seals do in San Simeon a few days earlier.  Owen took a nap in the stroller, lounged about in the shade, and dug in the sand. He seemed to like it!We ju...

Happy to be at the elephant seal beach No trip to California is complete in the winter or spring without seeing the elephant seals near San Simeon. This time around, the males were gone, and just mommas and babies were left on the beach. The babies were getting bigger, and some of the younger males were practice fighting, but it was not nearly as dramatic as during mating season when the big daddy males are fighting over the females.  There were still many seals, but not nearly as many as normal! Grandma came with us on this excursion, I definitely needed the help managing the boys! Thanks, Grandma, for coming with and driving us! Grandma with the boys There were friends of the elephant seals volunteer docents there as a school group was coming later in the day, so they had an elephant seal skull and some fun visuals to show what elephant seals eat. Landon enjoyed their demonstration, and was so fascinated with the elephant seal skull that he revisited their b...

With all the great-grandparents! Owen met his California great-grandparents in April. We had everyone over for dinner, and then had other opportunities to with them individually. It was so  nice to catch up with them! Owen the spectator at the track meet My little sister, Claire, is a track star! She runs the 1600m and as a freshman, made it to CIF and was all-league. That a girl! We were lucky enough to see her race in a frosh/soph meet while we were visiting, and she won! Landon had a great time cheering for her! Finishing up! We went to the Charles Paddock Zoo and park with Great-grandpa Karl and Great-grandma Betsy. Landon liked the lemurs and played with lots of kids at the park. Unfortunately, it was hard to get good pictures of him at either location because he was moving so fast! Charles Paddock zoo is focused on endangered animals, so while there are very few animals, some of them we had never seen before like a giant tortoise and foosa.  Great...

Grandpa and Landon checking out the blowhole Walking the trail to the tidepools In April, we spent two weeks in California soaking up the sun and introducing Owen to his extended family. Austin flew out with us, and Greg surprised us by flying in for the weekend as well to see his darling nephews. We were bummed it was too rainy and cold to have a proper beach day that weekend, but we did manage to have a rain-free trip to Montana de Oro tidepools. Although it was high tide when we got there, we managed to see some creatures, and more importantly, Landon burnt off some energy after being stuck inside because of the weather.  Getting ready to dip Checking out the wet sand...  Owen had his first experience with the ocean. The water was frigid, so he was not thrilled when Austin dipped his feet in. Hopefully he will warm up to it later, perhaps with warmer water! Mid-dip unhappiness  Owen had a great time being passed around between grandparent...

The backyard, pre-hunt When Easter time rolled around this year, I knew I wanted to take Landon to a proper Easter egg hunt because with all our traveling, he had never had this experience. Two years ago, we were in India, and last year, we were in a hotel in Brussels, Belgium for Easter. As I thought more about the atmosphere and frenzy of community egg hunts, I wanted to avoid that, but still give Landon an egg hunt experience. While in the shower one morning after a particularly rough night with Owen, I had the brilliant idea of hosting a hunt at our house. At first, I thought perhaps we should only invite those who didn’t have family in the area with which to do their own hunt, but I ended up inviting Landon’s whole Sunbeam class, which ended up being 8 classmates and their families! Everyone came and it was great to get the families of his classmates together. Although it was a lot of work, it was worth it. Release of the hunters! We were so lucky/blessed that it was a...

Mr. Owen is six months old! He's such a joy and light in our lives and we feel so blessed to have him. In the last month, he has really come alive exploring his environment. At about five and a half months old, on our last day visiting with my family in California, Grandma Brenda got him to roll from front to back. Within a few days, he was rolling both directions, and he was so thrilled with himself! Along with that, he sits independently very well and reaches for toys in sitting and on his tummy and back. He is so curious and wants to explore everything with his hands and mouth. He recently also discovered his feet, which he likes to put in his mouth, and his tongue which he sticks out all the time now.  Physically, Owen's hair has toned down a little as it has gotten longer. It still sticks up on occasion, but it can also lay down flat too. It is definitely lightening up even more, and is a brown/auburn color. His eyes are gray but will turn lighter or darker, and more b...