More Monday Adventures

This entry has been a long time coming! Daniel found the laptop open and running and decided to play the prankster. He somehow managed to change the keyboard assignments so that when you hit the "m" button, it typed a "5." There were many other interesting changes and it has taken some time to undo his work.

Libby is crawling all over the house and pulling up to cruise down bedsides and couches (and I thought I was busy before). Emily actually got her to laugh the other day but we have had no repeat success. I feel sorry for any young man who tries to impress her with his wit because it takes serious effort with little encouragement in return.

We have remained faithful to our Monday adventures and have even recruited friends. The Branner family joined us in an exciting field trip to the Bass Pro Shop in Ontario last Monday. I know, I know, the Bass Pro Shop but the boys really enjoyed themselves. First, we shopped for a boat. The Branners' 3 year-old Micah was "test driving" a party barge and I asked him where he was driving. He was going to Vietnam. I was impressed. Jacob and Micah thought this must be Bruce from Finding Nemo.
The store has a large waterfall the feeds a huge tank which holds about 20 varieties of fish. The boys were fascinated and had to be dragged away crying. We walked around admiring the taxidermy and then had lunch and headed home.

This week we drove down to Santa Monica to play on the beach and walk down the pier. Jake immediately ran into the waves fully clothed so we stripped him to his underwear and let him have at it. The waves overtook him a few times and once Erik or Mark pulled him up, he ran up the beach to dry off and find his bearings for about 5 seconds, then charged back into the water fearlessly. These is a small amusement park on the pier so Mark and Erik were kind enough to indulge Micah and Jacob in a quick ride. Danny sat in my lap and sulked at being left behind. I felt sorry for him as it is never fun to be left behind but the last time I took him on a ride was ugly and no repeat was needed.
After our frolic on the beach we headed to Bubba Gump's for lunch. Libby was quite happy! Notice the note on the table in front of her: I may be an idiot, but I'm not stupid.

Here is the note I got:

Very true! Mark took us by his old stomping ground for ice cream at a favorite stop by UCLA in Westwood Village. We bought ice cream sandwiches from Diddy Riese's for $1.50 each and drove over to a grassy spot on campus for a dessert picnic. What a great day to be a little boy! After our adventurous day, we crashed on the couch for rest, relaxation and a little Planet Earth, our family's favorite video.

Work, Work, Work

Erik returned from house-building in Tijuana on Sunday and the boys were so excited to see him. They really didn't want to give him 10 minutes of privacy to take a shower once he was home but I insisted as the overall aroma was powerful. This trip is always convicting as the team constructs 12x12 plywood one-room "homes" on hillsides where you can easily see across the border to million dollar homes in San Diego. Here is the team framing a wall. This is the family who will live in the house. This particular house is an addition to another 12x12 home in which the family currently lives. They have dealt with many break ins recently so the man built the wall around his home and procured a very large dog in order to protect his wife and children.
Here is the family, cute girls!


Jacob has been hard at work protecting his baby sister. Erik has taught him that Libby is our "Treasure" and he is her protector. He has taken it literally! At the mall playground this weekend, a boy came over to look at Libby as she was playing on the floor. Jake ran over and wagged his finger at the boy saying "Watch out! That's Baby Libby and she's our treasure!" He has also been helping Erik with important man tasks such as selecting the evening's entertainment.

Daniel has been doing repair work around the house. He was borrowing Libby's jumping contraption a few weeks ago and used it a bit too close to the wall. Being the responsible young man that he is, he felt obligated to do his share in repairing the damage to the paint.


And Miss Libby, as any young lady who hopes to be accomplished, has begun her training in horseback riding. Here she is with Katie riding Rocky.

Erik worked into his lesson last night that he didn't buy a Valentine's gift for me. He said he went online to see what last minute gift ideas others had and what he arrived is truly a marvel. Three homemade coupons! The first: Relax...I'll watch the kids while you clean. The second: Unwind...the dishwasher does most of the work. And finally: Treasure..."He who finds a wife finds what is good and receives favor from the Lord." Proverbs 18:22 Do you think the last one makes up for publicly presenting the first two?

Moms are Mean

Erik left with a team of high school students bound for Tijuana yesterday. They will be working with Caravan Ministries to build small homes for the poor. It is wonderful to be able to help those living in poverty but the true purpose is to disciple the students and give them an awareness of how blessed they are as most have never seen true poverty.

I told the boys that Erik would be riding a bus to Mexico and Jake immediately latched onto the bus. Dad's leaving? So what! LEt's go see this bus. So we drove up to the church to "see the group off" and maybe check out the bus. We handed Libby off to a swarm of cooing high school girls and headed for the bus but it was a lot bigger in person than the boys expected. This is how far Jake got. I carried Dan onto the bus and tried to tempt Jake up but he would not have it! Coming home to Erik's truck but no Erik was really hard for the boys. They keep looking out the window and shouting "Daddy's home!" I'm such the downer when I have to set them right. To add to that I promised them we would go to the library yesterday afternoon. We went out and got buckled into carseats and once I walked down to check the mail I noticed that I had a very flat tire. They were none to happy to bypass the library in exchange for a tire repair shop. I know, I'm completely evil!