Anna's new toy

I bought this trash can to use in our new kitchenette upstairs. Of course it won't fit under the sink. So I had it downstairs to take back. No idea what drew Anna to it, but it is now her new favorite toy.
Each evening I empty it out and put stuff back where it belongs. Then first thing, she gets it, shoves it full of whatever possesses her. Then she pulls, pushes and drags it everywhere she goes.

Visit to Great-Grandmas

After Ryan's Botox at Shriner's we went to Great Grandma Force's house in Murphys. Mostly we sat on the deck, relaxed and of course ate a ton. One day we went to the park and it started to pour rain. So we headed to a local winery and museum. Ryan had been wanting to gold pan, and they had a mill set up. So for $8, Ryan got his wish. Ryan collected a fair bit of the shiny stuff. Once daddy cleaned through the fools gold, there were several small bits of real gold. It was fun for Ryan, but certainly not how I would want to earn my living.
Funniest thing was when we were gold panning, a tour bus of Asians arrived. All 30 were in a line with Ralph and the kids, trying to find a fortune. One younger man was very interested in Anna. He just sat on his haunches and stared at her. Finally I asked where they were from, and he said Japan. I said Taiwan, and he just nodded his head. Many of the people were either giving Anna sideways glances, or out and out staring at her. I just thought it was funny with so many Japanese lined up at the trough.
Ryan was taught by a man from Northern Italy how to use the gold pan.

Anna had lots of fun playing in the water. I caught her trying to drink some of it. Hopefully she didn't get any. Guess if she gets sick we know why!


Great Grandma was a big help with the kids all weekend.

The little dictator

No idea what brought this on. Anna was obviously lecturing us about something, but of course we couldn't understand any of it.

We caught a few minutes on video. (Sorry about the quality, it was done with a digital camera.) Even though you can't understand the words, watch the facial expressions and body language. Too funny!

First Family Vacation

We finally went on our first family vacation. Last year, Ralph got sick the day we were leaving and had to stay home. We spent the first half of the week at a friends condo in Mammoth. It was very nice of them, but a small 1 bedroom condo with horrible weather wasn't pleasant with 2 bored kids. Kid you not, the weather finally hit 50 degrees for a high. We went to the top of Minaret overlook, and it was balmy and windy 41 degrees. It was snowing just slightly above us. Ralph also had to go home for the night since the housekeepers left a window open and our cat Clyde escaped. We honestly thought he was coyote food, but he had hid under the deck for two days. We had workmen at our house who cut a hole through the deck, only to find out he wasn't there. Few hours more of searching and Ralph found Clyde under some antique farm equipment. Of course Clyde thought it was great fun and Ralph was less than impressed.
Our final day in Mammoth finally warmed up. We had pictured spending the entire time there hanging out at the beach, which of course didn't go along with the 40 degree weather. But the last day was beautiful, and of course since it was Saturday, there were tons of people. Our hilight was going to the top of Mammoth Mountain in the Gondola. We hiked to the top of the peak and admired the views at over 11,000 feet. The only scary part was taking the gondola back down. After you load, it kind of sling shoots you over the edge with a thousand foot drop. Little scarry seeing that while holding Anna.





We decided to finish our vacation in June Lake, 30 minutes from Mammoth and one of our favorite places. Much smaller and not crowded. It was our original plan to spend the week in June Lake, but the offer of the condo in Mammoth seemed to good to pass up. So we upgraded to a newer 3 bedroom condo looking over Carson Peak. The extra rooms are upstairs so Anna is sleeping in our room. But, nice kitchen with new appliances, new furniture and a nice deck. It finally feels like we are on vacation. We spent the day at the beach yesterday then relaxing at the condo. We are headed back to the beach today, then to walk around town and out to dinner for our last night.








Tomorrow we plan on visiting Bodie Ghost town on the way home. And lunch at the Mobile Gas station. Yep, for those of you who don't know, it's the best place to eat lunch. Tri-tip Ceasar salad, buffalo meat loaf and my favorite, lobster taquitoes.

I'm a bad, bad blogger

I can't believe how long it's been since I posted. Anna has almost been with us two years now. So here are some events.

Our biggest even was Anna's re-adoption. In June we went to court in Reno. Judge Willer was the judge who was shot in his office several years ago by a man who had just murdered his wife, with the child in the house. Court was delayed due to a nasty divorce before us. The kids were wonderful, especially considering it was late Friday afternoon and Anna had missed her nap. We have the entire court process on DVD. Anna was squrimy as always and wanted to sit in her own chair. The judge had Ryan hold the gavel during the proceedings and hit the gavel to make the adoption final. Ryan had practiced what he wanted to say to the judge, but when the time came all he said was "I like her".
The only thing I disagreed with was the Judge Willer said we had given Anna the greatest gift. I think he was wrong, that we were the ones given the greatest gift.
After court we celebrated at PF Changs, which was fortunately not busy since the kids had maxed out their good behavior.













Another big day. Ryan got his first bike. The group that makes these bikes had their conference in Reno this year. Whatever town they visit, they donate 30-40 bikes for local children. It's going to take some practice for Ryan but he will be able to ride around the ranch soon.