snake, lake, quake

Hi friends and family,

Kendra has been busy planning adventures and having as much fun as possible before the summer in NorCal slips away. Me? Well... I'm just trying to stay out of trouble and enjoy my time with the 4 Webbs and Kendra's family. On the way home from a walk to Jamba Juice with GG, Kendra spotted a tiny snake crossing the road. I scooped it up in her starbucks cup.


I gave Easton and Layla the chance to look at it, but Kendra's mommy instincts kicked in and she insisted I not hold the cup down at hand/face level. I complied, but it's clear she is more over protective than I am! The truth is that I'm extremely glad she is that way and sleep better at night knowing she is so cautious.

Anyway, one of the cool toys we learned about at Megan's house was crayons for the bath tub. The next day Kendra went to Wally-world and bought some for the twins. turned out to be a useful toy because they love it.


The only trouble is that the package comes with THREE crayons, which causes issues when there are two kids wanting to hold them. also, the round body of the crayon is blue and actual crayon stuffed inside is pink. This is confusing to Easton who asks for the "be-you" one and I can't figure out if he is more interested in coloring with the blue crayon or just wants the big blue ball to hold.


All things considered though they are very cool, but we are concerned they may not understand that writing on the walls in the bath tub with appropriate crayons that wash away is not the same as writing on Oma and Opa's living room wall with normal crayons. Guess we'll just wait and see if their comprehension level is really there!

And in other adventures... Oma and Opa convinced Easton and Layla to ride the train! We tried last time we visited to get the twins to ride the train, but they were scared. This time was no different. they were STILL scared, but Oma and Opa talked them into getting on the train (voluntarily) with excellent results! They loved it and told me all about it with great enthusiasm.


One of the big planned adventures Kendra put together was a trip to the lake courtesy of Miss Joan and her boat. We've been hyping up the trip for days now so the twins will be excited about it too. Obviously it worked because we didn't even get out of the parking lot to go to the lake without them wanting to get on the boat.


As we waited for the boat to get in the lake Easton and Layla discovered rock throwing. We separated them because they kept getting in each other's way narrowly missing their head as the rock whizzed by. Layla throws with both hands; even at the same time, occasionally. Check out her excellent overhand form. Just needs a little fixing on the release timing so it doesn't come down on her head.


Kendra and I both have a passion for being around water (ocean, lake, pond, pool, etct.) but Kendra is way more enthralled by boating on a lake than I. We had a fun day together even in the midst of the chaos associated with boats and keeping Uno and Dos in line.


This was my view for a few hours today... I know. You're jealous. It's ok. :)


Miss Joan let Easton honk the boat horn, which sounds like a muted VW bug. He didn't care though. He kept on pressing the horn until we forced him to stop. He discovered equal fun can be found by pretending to drive the boat. You'll notice his "Phineas and Ferb" sunglasses... nothing but the best for our toddlers!


We spent a good amount of time lounging on Miss Joan's Caribbean Island inflatable thing. It was the most enormous raft I've ever seen complete with a little play pool area in the middle that fills up with the lake water through the mesh bottom.


Easton and Layla have the coolest Oma and Opa in the world... Know any other grandparents who double up and ride the tube on a lake???


Easton and Layla spent less time in the water than I hoped, but I did convince them to float with me for a bit to get them comfortable with the life jackets. Easton was less interested than Layla, but he still stepped out of his comfort zone enough to float around with me for a few minutes.


Layla did fine until I lifted her back onto the raft and she fell into the mini-pool in the middle. She dislikes getting her face wet so her unanticipated dunk in the water was grounds for crying and an apology from Daddy.


The other part of the title says, "Quake" because I just learned the 4 Webbs experienced our first earth quake when we were in SLO last week. When we were sitting in the resort room I heard (and felt) what I thought was some small elephants running across the floor in the room above us.

However, Kendra mentioned there was a good sized (normal) earth quake near where we were on that day at that time. How anti-climactic was that for me? completely... I've been through tornadoes and blizzards and worse, but that "earth quake" we experienced was just a little rumble with zero panic. As disappointing as the incident was, I am very grateful it wasn't "the big one". I count it as a blessing. :)

See you soon!