On our way

CAMPING

So tomorrow we head out at 4:30 am on our very first camping trip with the kids. Rileys whole family has been visiting this one camping area for more than 50 years and it is total tradition for the family to head out every summer. Im sure you are wondering where this magical place of tradition is...truth is, I really have no idea. All I know is that it is seriously in the middle of nowhere, completely removed from civilization as we know it. We pass through Fresno at one point, but then begin climbing a hill of no end until the destination is reached. I remember camping as a kid at camp sites with swimming pools and snack bars. Not this place. No toilets. No showers. No running water. This is hard core camping to say the least. Tatum so far is most excited about swimming with the dogs that will be there and peeing in the dirt. It should be interesting.

4th

We had a splendid little day yesterday celebrating our countries Independence! First, we dressed as patriotically as we possibly could and headed out to an adorable little hometown parade in Spreckles (The cutest little town!), then home for a little siesta, then out to the Gailys for a good ol' fashioned BBQ. I tried to explain to Tatum exactly what the day was all about, but I think she got a little lost with words like "United States of America" and "Declaration of Independence". Oh well, understanding has never been needed to have fun. And that we did.

Sweet Tooth

There is one thing to be known about my Holdridge side of the family that has been a long time truth since, well probably since, the beginning of time itself. We all seem to have HUGE sweet tooths. Dessert in my family growing up was less of a treat than it was a nightly ritual. I remember Vividly even, sitting at the dinner table in absolute frustration trying to relay a message to my parents that they just never seemed to get. I can still hear my childish voice echoing in my head, saying "But I'm not HUNGRY for DINNER! I'm just HUNGRY for DESSERT!" of course my mother would come back and tell me that if I finished my DINNER, then DESSERT would promptly follow. And of course I would repeat again, putting more emphasis on the words "NOT", "HUNGRY", "FOR" and "DINNER"...but still, they never seemed to get it. I enjoyed my little life, living in similar company, always eating dessert around a table with folks who were equally as enthused about dessert as I was. You see, eating dessert is, as I see it, a huge social event. It needs company to be completely satisfying, just as a Sunday afternoon car ride, a round of bowling or a card game. It needs smiling faces around it, and "mmmm this is good.." to be said around the room. Dessert needs people.

Now when I married Riley, I entered immediately into a completely foreign world that I never knew existed in the realm of desserts. I found out many things that I loved about Riley surely, but to my absolute devastation, I found out that well, hes not really a "Dessert Person". A Dessert Person? I thought that everybody from birth was a Dessert Person! That every one was born craving chocolate and cheesecake. Apparently not. Apparently his entire family was not. Apparently, I was the odd man, needing chocolate at weird times of the night like some crazy crack addict spinning out of control. This caused a few bumps in the road during our first year of marriage.  Now I will say that Riley has, and always will support my dessert eating habits, and has tried to reassure me over the years that I can have as much dessert as I see fit. But the bumps came as I was forced to eat it alone. It just wasn't the same anymore, eating cotton candy alone at a baseball game, or munching away loudly on my peanut butter M&Ms while Riley sat sipping a bottle of water during a movie. My declarations during hot summer days that it was Ice Cream weather fell on deaf ears.  And going out to eat was the absolute worst, as I had, through the years trained myself to purposefully skimp on dinner to save room for the "Double Giant Large Fudgy, Gooey Chocolaty" whatever they had for dessert. Yet I would inevitably hear the words after dinner, "Go ahead hun, if you want dessert go for it." And feeling like a little piggy who would eat it alone, I usually would say "Oh never mind". 

So entered Tatum into the world. A possible sweet eating mate. A possible couch potato friend to sit on the other side of the Ice Cream carton with a spoon. Most parents hold off on sweets for as long as possible, to purposefully not create sweet toothed children. I followed suite as much as I could, reserving her first birthday as the day I would invite her into my indulgent world. I baked her the most chocolaty cake imaginable and plopped it down right in front of her after we sang happy birthday, and waited. I waited hoping to see on her face the look that I had always longed to see on Riley's face. A look of pure joy and satisfaction as she took a huge spoonful of cake. I had remembered seeing this look on my nieces and friends kids. What a look! What a face! But it never came. Instead the room was filled with silence as she left the cake untouched, and ever body watched me take it solemnly away as I heard people say "well maybe shes just not a dessert person". NO! I would not have it. Weird to some parents sure, but since that birthday it has been a major goal of mine to convert her, and make her love, crave, and adore dessert as I do. It has been almost two years since that day and we have seen, to my complete delight, a complete turn around. This kid is nuts for dessert. Anytime, anyplace, shes game. Finally! I am not alone. Riley too has come a long way since we said "I Do" five years ago. He has learned to suck it up on many occasions to appease me, and I think he has even found that dessert can be quite enjoyable. The other night even, I made two ice cream pies to bring over to a Friends house, and after dinner every one had a slice and seemed to be enjoying it. I glanced over at Riley to see no pie on his plate of course. I looked at him squarely and said, "You are hurting my feelings." He returned in minutes with a slice of each. In restaurants, he's learned when ordering dessert, to ask for two forks to play it off like we are sharing, and will even sometimes spontaneously announces that we should all go out for ice cream. Brady's 1st birthday is next month, which of course, means his first bite of cake. My feeling is that he will make me proud and devour his cake like any fine son would. Riley will be forced to converge, and soon, we will be a happy little family sitting around a table with smiling faces over dessert. Or so the plan goes. Updates to follow.

Scavenger

A favorite past time for Brady: Scurrying around the house, peering under tables, lifting up couch cushions, and crawling into and under tight spaces seeking lost treasure. And due to moms thorough and in depth cleaning skills (right!) he usually finds just what hes looking for (pennies, screws, hair clips, old cherrios, earplugs and the like). Here I caught him under our bed at it again. Busted!

Operation Cool Down

PLAN A.

Go to Target to buy a new Kiddie Pool

(What? I have to stay home and wait for the dishwasher repair man? But its like a million degrees out and we are meeeelting!)

PLAN B.

The Storage Bin Pool

                                            Ok dumb Idea mom.

Plan C.

Good Ol' Little Mermaid Slip n' Slide

                                                                       Much Better

He DID IT!!

Congratulations to Riley for passing his grueling and unforgiving 36 hole players ability golf test yesterday! I cannot tell you how stinken hard this guy has been working and how PROUD I am of him! Now all those mornings of him out the door playing Peter Hay before I even THINK about getting up, and all those late freezing cold evenings out on the course by himself have finally paid off. Now just one more trip to Florida for a final before becoming a "class A" professional.  Great job Ry, now maybe you can actually enjoy golf again!