The Gonzalez Family Herald

Headlines and commentary from a Northern California family of seven.

Tuesday, February 28, 2006

Where's the camera? And other funnilicious statementizers

Today our two year old discovered make-up. While in her oldest sister's personal belongings (a story for another post) she found a tube of lipstick. Being two years old AND in possession of a tube of lipstick... well, you get the point. Anyway, she comes out to mom, who, taken aback by the beautiful artwork displayed by a two year old's use of a tube of lipstick and a clean facial canvas, had to ask "What's on your face?".

Looking up at mom with her beautiful Precious Moments (r) eyes highlighted by the pretty rings of lipstick, she answered "I needed lipstick on my eyes.".

Where is the camera when you need it?

Honey Buncha Boy
When my five year old was not so five she coined the phrase "honey buncha boats". This was the name of our favorite cereal "Honey Bunches of Oats", only spoken by a young child who loves to be the cutest thing in the room at any given moment. Since then, our family has modified this monicer to become just about "honey buncha" anything. Tonight, for mom, it was "honey buncha boy". I guess you had to be there.

I wear my sunglasses to iron
Spotted in a local living room: A five year old daughter with her heavy coat on, hood donned, wearing sunglasses as she moves the iron over the curtains.

Where is the camera when you need it?

I Love Eggs
I am toying with the idea of giving my eight year old a blog. I have already done this for my nine year old. The first time around was a snap. My daughter gave me a domain name she wanted and voila, it was available. We bought it and within a few hours had her blog up and runnning.

Not so with the second. We looked for everything under the sun. My wife, my oldest daughter and I came up with over 20 different possible domain names and none of them were to the satisfaction of my eight year old.

Finally, in a desperate attempt to quell the tension created by not finding your desired domain name, my nine year old exclaimed "How about 'I LOVE EGGS' dot com?". Makes perfect sense to me.

A five year old eight month old and a two year old nine year old
A few minutes ago our five year old tells on her two older sisters. Apparently, in a fit of frustration and anger, our nine year old decided to smack our eight year old in the ear. As a retalliation measure our eight year old smacked our nine year old right back in the ear. How about that for developing maturity?

On another note, my eight month old son, the crawlker, managed his way down the hallway and into his oldest sister's room. He hunted down and captured a pink my little pony that he is now gnawing on as he cuts teeth.

Where is the camera when you need it?

G'night, and sleep well, from the never-dull, child-filled homestead of the Gonzalez tribe.

Saturday, February 25, 2006

Mobility and the dreaded kitchen

First Boost went mobile. Then Google went mobile. Then came a new baby. And he grew. And then he went mobile.

Crawlking
Up until about a week ago the boy knew nothing except reverse. Wherever he wanted to go, he would turn his butt to it and botta-boom, botta-bing, he was there. Backwards, but he was there.

Well, a few days ago, after many long days of lurching forward and falling on his face, he learned to crawl forward. SWEET LORD, HE KNOWS HOW TO GO FORWARD! QUICK, NAIL DOWN EVERYTHING!

OK, so maybe it isn't that bad. All it means now is that Mom and I need to make sure we sweep and vaccuum every day. And it means that the kids need to make sure all of their 14 million pieces of little toys need to be put away all the time.

The reason for this isn't so much that the boy can crawl. It is more because in just the last day or so, he learned how to crawl on hands and feet (as opposed to the more common and usual hands and knees). That means that he is in effect crawl walking. Or in plain daddy terms, crawlking.

Oooh, daddy just got smart(er)
So what is a dad to do when his son can now get just about anywhere in the house in a matter of a few steps? Introduce, the jumper. That's right ladies and gentlemen. It slices, it dices, it contains the boy child. And it offers him minutes upon minutes of good self-contained fun and enjoyment.

Now if I could just figure out how to keep him from crawlking out of it...

Friday, February 24, 2006

Is daddy cute? No. Not yet.

So my wife was talking to our two year old last night and asks her "Is daddy cute?".

My two year old replies "No. Not yet".

Isn't that cute?

Well, it might be in a little while...

Friday, February 17, 2006

A cold few days

I thought when we left Tahoe that we left the cold of the high mountains. Apparently I was mistaken.

Yesterday morning I awoke to a nice layer of ice all over my house. And my lawn. And my car. In fact, the ice was everywhere. It was 34 degrees and C-O-L-D. Throughout the day it got sunnier, but not realy warmer. I think it got up to 54 degrees at the warmest point, but it really never felt like it was that warm.

So night time rolled around and it got cold again. Not nearly as cold as the bay before, or as icy, but it was cold. And this morning it was cold, but dry. Then an odd thing happened. It snowed.

Now it didn't snow like you would expect if you were in Tahoe. Or Aspen. But on the time of the higher mountains in the Bay Area there was a snow cover to the mountain tops. Mt. Tamalpais, Mt. Hamilton, Mt. Diablo, Mission Peak and the Santa Cruz mountains all had a nice covering of the white stuff on them. And the cold mountain air managed to drift down to us lowlanders. Good thing I got that warm winter coat... wait, I never got that warm winter coat.

On another note, we are getting a piano tomorrow. My wife has been wanting one for some time now so I felt it only appropriate to get one. Not because of any reason in particular, except that she wants one and I want her to have what she wants. She is my wife, after all, and she deserves whatever I can give her.

WE INTERRUPT THIS POSTING FOR AN IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT FROM OMHOW.
The Organization of Men with Happy Open Wives would like to take a moment to tactfully implore all men around the world to learn a lesson from this. Men, it does not matter what the item is or what the item costs. It matters that it is important to your wife. If it is important to her it should be just as important to you. Show her you love her by listening to her and providing for her and letting her know how much she means to you.
THIS CONCLUDES THIS OMHOW ANNOUNCEMENT.

So I am going to be going out tomorrow to get us a piano that I found on Craigslist. I can't wait.

Anyhow, I am getting tired. I will write more when I can. Until then, pray that I learn how to carefully lift a piano by tomorrow.

Saturday, February 11, 2006

We had a snow blast

Yesterday was awesome! My kids first trip to the snow was absolutely fabulous. Now let me warn you ahead of time that this was my first time at the snow, too. So if my excitement shows through, well, you've been warned.

We started the day out by going to the Forest Buffet restaurant. The restaurant (and the food, for that matter) were nothing to boast about. But the view was absolutely out of this world.




After breakfast, and a long explore to find me some snow pants (long story, maybe I'll tell you later) we headed over to Hansen's resort for some tubing. That was a kick in the pants, literally. But fun it was. All of the kids, except the baby of course - hey, we're not Britney Spears here, had crazy fun crusing down the slopes on intertubes.



The one drawback tot he tubing experience is that the place had no easy way to get back up the hill after you went down the hill. So once you hit the bottom, you were talking back up with your tube.


Now this may not seem like something that should warrant a complaint, but when the snow has been melting for the last few weeks and all that is left in some areas is frozen water on the ground, well, let's just say that seeing a man of my size run in place before his feet decide go flying as he tumbles to the icy ground, is not a pleasant experience. Unless you watching it. Then you can laugh all you want.

After some rest at the cabin we took off in search of a snowy area for the kids to play in. We originally were going to go to Heavenly Ski Resort, but after talking to a few locals they said that Echo Sno-Park would be a better choice. Glad we listened.

This little area, neatly hidden off of Highway 50, was so cool. It is just a little hill side that seems to keep a large blanket of snow on it. There are little pot holes and ramps on the slope so kids can sled or tube or saucer and still catch air if done in the right spot.



Some of the snow is packed so sledding is fast. But some of the snow is loose so you can have snowball fights or make snowmen. So far, of all the places we have been around here, I think I like Echo Sno-Park the best. I think the kids would agree. For now, I will finish off with a few more images then its back to vacation for me.

Looks like someone has a target on you!

But how could she, she's such a (snow)angel...

Mom, Dad... What is the ground so cold?

Looks like some kids are having fun...

... and some others are not.

Friday, February 10, 2006

17 degrees is a little cold

When you go to the snow you expect the beautiful white fluffy stuff covering the forest while kids play with their sleds on little slopes and everyone has a grand old time. The sun is shining, people are jolly, its like the best summer resort around, except with snow. Yeah right.

IT IS STINKING COLD OUT HERE! Day time is not so bad (52 degrees and not a cloud in the sky). But night time drops down to somewhere between "I can't feel my nose" and "Is that squirrel frozen to the tree?". 17 degrees. What is 17 degrees? Darn cold is what it is.

With the exception of a few years ago when the city I live in recorded a low of 14 degrees, this is the coldest I have ever been. My kids have never seen or experienced cold like this. This is such a new experience.

Anyway, I took a few photos, some with my new PalmOne Treo 650 (what a cool freakin' phone) and some with our digital camera. See if you can spot the difference...

Our snow extravaganza



Let's start first with a picture of our resort. My wife picked a great place for us. Lots of space for the kids, close to everything, nice tree views. And it comes with it's own "slush mountain" as the kids have affectionly named it...



So we took a walk and I got photo happy. Here a couple of mountain shots I thought you'd like. I am ending it here because, after all, I am on vacation. I will try to put more up tomorrow because we will get lots of pictures from our snow day today. Until then, enjoy these views with me...


Wednesday, February 08, 2006

A day before a snow day

Tomorrow is the day we leave for the snow. South Lake Tahoe HERE WE COME!

I have not really paid too much attention to the fact that I am making my first trip to the snow in my whole entire lifetime. But now that the time has come I am starting to become very excited. Not only do I get to go to the snow, but I get to share this experience with my family. I am so glad the kids get to do this. I never had this opportunity when I was younger.

Looking back on my childhood... nah, let's not venture to that place yet. I'd rather focus on my kids and how much they are going to enjoy this trip. At least I hope so. They seem to be excited. And if nothing else, they are happy with the clothes their mother got them.

And mom is happy with the clothes she got, also. Me? Not so much. But it's just because I haven't gotten any yet. When I get some I will be happy than hungry man at an all you can eat barbeque.

Well, it is time to get done here. The next time you read from me will either be from Lake Tahoe or from the comfort of my living room after the trip.

PS I promise to post whatever good photos I can take. See ya!

Friday, February 03, 2006

Regularizing FArt

Overheard after dinner...

"F-A-R-T. Fart"

I am not sure why, but hearing your nine year old teaching your seven month old how to spell fart was amusing to me.

So I began to think about the wonderful world of FArt. No, I didn't mispuncuate or incorrectly capitalize the word. I mean FArt. The art of flatulence. All things patoot or related to the sounds of excessive gaseous pressure built up within you and escaping with force and pressure enough to conjure up its own sound (and subculture, for that matter).

Since flatulence, stench and funk are not much appreciated in my household, I quickly changed thoughts. However, I am so busy and tired nowadays that the thought I changed to suddenly flitted away from me without giving me a second thought. So I think I was left without a thought to think. How Pooh is that?

Since I can't think of any thoughts to think, and since the thoughts I thought I'd think are not to be found, I think I'll stop thinking and put down my thoughts for a bit.

What do you think?