Spring

Spring isn't over yet! We only have seven days until the summer solstice so enjoy the cool weather before it turns blistering hot. We went to the pirate ship park at Shoreline and admired all the baby geese. Too bad it is a huge problem and the golf course is going to start filling in the ponds to discourage breeding.

Proud mama and papa:


Enjoyment found in granules of sand:


These sailboats whispered out to me, "Come Shannon, sail with us." Not with kids I don't:

Reading

The Summer Reading Program at the library has begun so we are reading books like mad around here.

Our first stack:


Friends of the library:


I have fallen in love with the town of Belmont. I took the kids there to kick of all the reading and was pleasantly surprised to find a wonderful park behind the library. What a great combination of reading and blowing off steam:

Congrats!

Dear Public,
Please, please, please stop spelling congratulations with the letter "d." It is starting to drive me insane. You make driving around town kind of unbearable right now:



Here are some hints: Congrats! Graduation! Gratitude!

Sincerely,
One edumicated individual!

Ginko

Outside of my Nana's backdoor looms a large ginkgo tree. I always admire the leaves both on and off of the tree. My last visit with her tree inspired me to attempt a ginkgo quilt for a new baby. I couldn't quite get the gingko leaves to look like anything but stingrays so I am abandoning that idea. Here are some ginkgo things that make me happy:

Bookends from Etsy:


A quilt from a great website called Ink & Spindle:


An access cover in Japan:

Travel Bug

I have a bit of a travel bug biting me these days. If it weren't for small children, I would be a flight attendant so I could travel the world. This book helped put things in perspective because he often stated that people are so different, yet so similar everywhere you go. I recommend it as a fun book to read, but not one you drop everything for.

Here is the gist of the book: " After more than a decade of planning, John Higham and his wife September bid their high-tech jobs and suburban lives good-bye, packed up their home and set out with two children, ages eight and eleven, to travel around the world. In the course of the next 52 weeks they crossed 24 time zones, visited 28 countries and experienced a lifetime of adventures."

They attempted to do this on two tandem bikes!


See the author's website here.

I am now reading this book:

On Amazon.com.

So far, his writing is super fluffy and wordy. Hopefully it will be a quick read. I am interested in traveling to Mexico, Central America, and South America someday so leave a comment if you know of any good pop-travel books I just have to read.

Silly

John Stewart said that the Bush Administration gave him so much material to make fun of, he didn't even know what to do with it. That is how I feel about my mother's group emails. If you are getting sick of them just let me know and I will stop. From today:

"My 3 year old daughter and I were waiting to get her hair cut at Snip-Its in Town and Country Village in Palo Alto this afternoon. We had purchased some sidewalk chalk at the CVS there and decided to draw with chalk on the sidewalk just outside the shop, making sure to not get in anybody's way. After about 15 minutes, two security guards approached my 3 year old and me and told us that we had to stop because this was private property. I pointed out the number of children oriented shops right around us and asked if they were serious. They ordered us to stop immediately. My daughter was so upset. She thought she had done something wrong, and we weren't even able to get her the haircut.

I wish I had videotaped this incident so I could truly show you how ridiculous this was to have two security guards threaten my 3 year old. And I am pretty sure there was recently a court case that ruled that malls are protected free speech areas. But I didn't think of fighting it at the time because I was too shocked. If anyone else is interested, I have half a mind to stage a "chalk-in" with moms and kids from the mothers clubs to protest this policy. At the least, maybe we could mention to shopkeepers there and write a note to the owners of Town and Country asking them to reconsider their approach to creating a family-friendly environment."

Dear Ridiculous Lady,
I am guessing your child's artwork does not resemble that of Justin Beever (as seen below)?




It probably looks more like this:

Silly lady, we all know a place that charges $25 for a kid's haircut and offers mini-manis, make-up application, and hair wraps for five year olds may want to keep their storefront clean. Someone posted a comment saying, "Buy your kids an etch-a-sketch so they can play, but not deface property." Well said!

Birthdays

Happy Birthday to all of those who celebrated an early June birthday. We got cupcakes to celebrate my sister's birthday. This last week was spent in Sacramento so my blogging has been on hold. I was having so much fun I couldn't even stop for a second to blog about it. My belly is full now and I really feel like Leann Rimes-ing it up now (I don't see the big problem, for the opposite could be worse?):