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!

colors

Hi friends and family,

Easton and Layla know their colors! It's a work in progress of course, but they are both voluntarily pointing out the color of everything around them. red, green,blue, black, and pink are well comprehended. others like white and purple are next on list of color mastery.

Over the past couple of weeks we noticed Easton doesn't like his hands to be dirty or sticky. He smashes his hand in the dollop of sour cream and then realizes his hands are yucky. Then he won't touch anything and continually asks for someone to clean him up so he can do it again. He doesn't even want to touch his cup because his hands are not clean.


What's this green stuff? Oh, THAT'S grass... The twins are learning what normal parks outside of AZ look like.


Oddly enough they both ended up playing in the sand most of the time. We did all that work to get the 4 Webbs OUT of the desert and they gravitated towards the sand? Maybe that is related to their recent memory and enjoyment of the beach?

We spent an excellent evening at the del Rio's house along with Laura. I had the chance to enjoy Santiago's mad grill skillz and conversations. Kendra was able to share with Laura what it is like to chase three 2-year-olds around the house complete with bath time.


Isabella took a while to get comfortable again with the flamboyant personalities of the twins, but once they were reacquainted they played the night away.


I lost count of how many times Easton and Layla pushed their shopping carts around the house. They engaged in shopping cart races like you've never seen before. Luckily Layla didn't convince Isa to climb inside the basket. Layla looks "ready to shop" in the picture, but really she was preparing to race. On your mark, get set, GO!


Isa showed them around her huge play-house in the back yard. Easton turned it into an ice cream store as he stood at the window selling me an ice cream cone.


The girls continued to play house and Easton found Santiago's gold fish pond. I couldn't drag him away even for dinner because he wanted to catch the little fish. The sand shovel and min rake were woefully insufficient for fishing, but I didn't mind him trying. The boy needs a fishin' pole because he's ready to follow his male hunting instincts.


When we put the twins out on the newly remodeled patio of Oma and Opa's house, they stand at the door and want to come inside


Then when we let them inside, they ask to go outside. I don't know what it is about the door being closed. Maybe a fear they will never be let back in again? feelings of abandonment? whatever it is they need to play together alone more often.

One of the dangers of active twins at this age is the highly probable occurrence of running into each other. they are both the same height, still learning to walk and balance, and love to run around. Yesterday Easton and Layla collided at the park giving both of them bruised cheeks. Layla took the worst of it based on the black and blue-ness of her bruise:


The black and blue-ness around her mouth is from messy blackberries during breakfast. I consider it a successful week when the only damage is scraped knees and a couple of bruises. Way to go team!

We're still working on the reasoning and "why" questions, but the twins are progressing well. Layla was crying for some unmemorable reason so I sat down and hugged her. I said, "Why is Layla crying?" she said, "Because I'm sad.". Then I said, "Why is Layla sad?" and her response was, "Because I'm crying". Hmmmm... so much to explain. :)

See you soon!

The Cliffs Resort

Hi friends and family,

Easton and Layla are best friends no matter who bites or bosses or bothers. We had an absolute blast in SLO! Here's one of the best shots of the week showing the sibling love between our blessed twins.


We do have pictures of their faces, but do you know how hard it is to get a toddler to look away from the ocean and directly at the camera? Then take into consideration there are TWO of them and the odds become very small.

Do you see the stuff packed into this bellman’s cart?


This is what it takes for the 4 Webbs to set up shop in a room for 3 measly days of vacationing. That’s a crazy amount of gear, but it sure made for a comfortable, pleasant stay. The weather was perfect with foggy calm mornings and sunny, cool afternoons. I almost forgot what it felt like to be chilly because of the AZ summer temps. I wish we could have stayed there a full week or more. We spent most of the time dining at local specialty places and discussing what to eat at the next meal after the one which we were currently eating.

I can't tell you how wonderful it felt to be chilly with overcast skies. We gave Easton his blankie, Oma's lap to sit on, and a view of the ocean. He was very excited yet completely relaxed at the same time.


Layla was her energetic self the entire time and found joy from the simple things like repeatedly jumping off the brick platform in the middle of the resort grounds. She has impressive skills for a 2-year-old. Just look at how she pulls her feet up behind her...


Oma and Kendra didn't have a lot of mother-daughter time during our short stay. However, they found time for a side-by-side massage. From what Kendra said, there was zero conversation between them or the massage therapists and it was the best massage she'd ever received.


When Mama is happy, everybody is happy!

Our big day at the beach was stressful as always when adventuring with twins, but well worth the effort. Nobody pooped in the ocean. Everything else was pure icing on the cake. I have no idea what it is about toddlers and being in the water, but we crossed our fingers the entire time hoping for a poop-free outing.

Layla wasn't excited about the waves or the ocean. My theory is that she likes controlled environments and confidence in the situation. Being her first coherent trip to the ocean, it was certainly not controlled with the waves lapping at the shore line nor did she have any confidence because of the unfamiliarity. This picture below sums up her ocean experience. Run away! Run away!


Easton surprised us all with his go get 'em attitude. He bravely charged into the waves while giggling as the water rushed towards the shore past his legs and then again as it retreated back into the ocean. From the first time we saw the ocean as we drove over the hill into the SLO valley Easton said, “wabes!” (meaning waves). He continued that mantra and asked to go see the wabes every second we weren’t next to the ocean. When I asked him what he likes about the ocean he has one word: "muddy".


Layla was timid and Easton was the life of the party. Seemed like a complete role reversal, but we just let them be whoever they want to be in every situation and try not to force them to act a certain way. Within boundaries, of course... Their rash guard shirts are 100% UV protectant and the sun block lotion Kendra uses has the consistency of mayonnaise which works out to SPF 1000 or something like that. Me? I'm Native American... me no need sun screen. me just darken like golden brown toast.


The morning fog burned off beautifully and left us a pleasant, sunny afternoon to dig in the sand and make sand castles.


Bree built the best castle given the clumsy, plastic tools we brought for the twins. Unfortunately Easton and Layla have no appreciation for art yet. They do have a desire to smash things with their hands and feet though...

Earlier in the day we took Logan's advice for toddler-friendly activities and sent the twins with Oma and Opa to the SLO Children's Museum. Turned out to be the perfect way to burn out the twins with activity and provide an environment for interactive fun with Oma and Opa. Layla pretended to be a nurse and gave Opa an excellent bill of health.


Easton found police motorcycles and fire trucks to save the day!


Throughout the short, intensely fun trip we all took time to stop and smell the roses... and the California Poppies.


Kendra and I agree the most incredible smell was the freshness of the ocean breeze. Maybe I'll look for a perfume to buy Kendra that captures the essence of the scent without smelling like Old Spice.

Speaking of things that stink... Occasionally Layla has a less than pleasant attitude about sharing simple things like a section of chains roping off the scenic view of the ocean. In case you can't read the look on her face, if you look in the dictionary at the word, "no", you'll see this picture:


Then again, if the word, "Yee-haw" was in the dictionary, it would have Easton's picture swinging on the chains like this:


Along the way through town we found a local park to increase our odds of wearing down the twins so they would take a nap. Layla and I took a ride on the cement USS Imagination ship.


That moment lasted about 10 seconds because although Layla and I both have great imaginations, there wasn't much to work with since it was just a big ship-shaped block of cement.

The park was atypical as one might expect with it being oceanside on the central coast of Cali. Very artistic, but... Seriously? It's a huge egg. How is that supposed to be fun? The most enjoyable part about the egg for the twins was dumping the misallocated sand over each other's legs.


The highlight of the park for Easton was the bold, brave, and daring move by Opa to turn Easton sideways in the baby swing. you would have thought he was being tickled based on how much he giggled.


There was a huge killer whale in the middle of the park and it made for a good picture of the three generations of girls.


However, you can imagine it wasn't all that interesting or fun for the twins. We ended up just making our own fun by taking turns running up and down the grassy hill. Guess which 2 out of 3 people were worn out from this sprint? Hint: it wasn't the energizer bunny, Layla.


As with all adventures, you win some and you lose some. Overall this was a "win" and everyone wished the time together would last a few more days. Neither of the twins took a nap in SLO and that made for some overly dramatic evenings, but...

Praise the Lord for the ocean!


We completed the journey to Oma and Opa's house safely thanks to Kendra's driving and the DVD player. We purchased this Pioneer model and it became our key to peaceful travel. Now we are working to settle into a good routine here before I head back to work on Monday morning bright and early.

See you soon!

Beach Resort Living

Greetings friends and family,

The last week has been mayhem at the Casa de Webb as we prepared for our trip to Cali. We left early (2 AM?) and headed for the coast of San Louis Obispo. The twins were real troopers and great car riders. Mostly because they slept until 8, then watched movies until we arrived. Kendra and I talked about going to the ocean for weeks and when we told the twins they would see it that day their attitudes were even better.


When I asked Easton if he was excited to see the ocean he said, "yes", but also corrected me by saying, "my nickname is Big Time!"


Kendra and Layla wasted no time settling in as they took a few moments to snuggle on the stately king-like chair overlooking the ocean.


It didn't take long before we were out in the back of the resort pressed up against the railing to get as close as possible to the ocean edge. Once we settled in we realized it's chilly here?! We dusted off the long sleeved gear brought up from the depths of our closet and added Layla's princess-fairy wings just because she asked for them.


The toughest part of this moment was getting Easton and Layla to look away from ocean behind and stare at the imaginary lady bug on Kendra's finger long enough to take a picture.


The beach is our favorite vacation destination and always has been. I’m not referring to a specific beach either… Almost ANY beach makes for a happy vacation. We planned our trip to Cali for a visit with Kendra’s family and decided to stop in San Louis Obispo. Her brother Logan lives there and hooked us up with an awesome suite of two joining rooms with ocean view balconies.


Talk about an incredible hookup? The rooms were extravagant with a full ocean view and more impressively they were discounted. Why did we need TWO rooms? Well, Oma and Opa decided to join us for the beach adventure!


How could we possibly turn down the opportunity to have a family reunion (minus Casey who had to work). The twins both ran towards Oma and Opa when they arrived. The moment was similar to Chariots of Fire only without the music. The interesting part about watching Oma and Opa unite with the twins was noting how Easton and Layla had so much to say, but you could tell their vocabularies are still insufficient to express how they really felt.


I've been day dreaming about overcast, cloudy, foggy, cool days for the last several months. I have no complaints about AZ weather, but once in a while a little variety is required. As you can see, the twins were comfortable in their jackets and required lots of play time to work out the energy stored up from sitting in the car all day.


I even captured a close up of the princess-fairy Layla zipping around like Tinker Bell across the resort grounds.


Our first stop of the evening once we unpacked was to eat some seafood. We chose the Cracked Crab based on Logan and Bree's recommendation. There is Opa with Logan and Bree. You can see the gavel-like mallet on the table which is used to smash the shellfish they dump on the table.


Now this is what vacationing is all about. New adventures, hanging out with family, and enjoying our favorite things.


Later in the evening the clouds burned off leaving a bright, sunny evening to stand on the beach with the whole family.


Everyone (including the twins) wore sunglasses except Logan, the local. He must be immune to the glare of the sun from the ocean since he lives there... Lucky dude. I almost didn't post this picture because of the blatant USC reference on Opa's jacket (Go ASU!), but it was just too good to pass up. The only thing that would have made the picture better is if I asked one of the surfers to take the picture so I could be in it too. No matter though, this blog is supposed to be through my eyes anyway...

I have so much more to share in pictures and stories, but I've run out of energy tonight. No idea why (can you imagine???) I'll leave you with the most awe inspiring moment of the vacation, which is the sunset from our 2nd story balcony overlooking the bay off to the South.


Not bad for day one of our most-incredible vacation. :) See you soon!