Garden construction, phase 2

Still working on the garden project. As you can see, there are no plants in sight, no young, eager tomatoes spreading their stems or beans winding their way up the fence. It couldn't be that easy. No, it's all about keeping those critters out to start with, and apparently, that's a tall order up here. So, between entertaining Jasmine, running the skilsaw and stretching wire fencing, we're not ready to boast about any growth yet.

And next week is June 1st. Sigh. On the other hand, we've had unseasonably cold weather here this spring. People are still covering their plants at night from time to time, so maybe no one will be growing tomatoes this year.
Entertaining Jasmine is almost as much work as building a garden, at least when done in tandem with any kind of project. We had as many of her toys out as we did tools, and truth be told, all she really wants is another human being to play with. Toys are only interesting when shared with others. I understand the attraction of having more than one child--at least, when they decide to get along with one another. But in all fairness, she tries really, really hard to let us get some work done. She tries even harder to help. There's nothing like having a child sitting in your lap when you're trying to work with power tools.

Swimming lesson #1

Jasmine got her first official swim lesson today and it couldn't have been a finer day for it. After months and months of rain (we've officially been burning in our wood stove for 8 months--and we live in California...), the sun is finally shining upon us.

Teacher Bonnie knows her stuff. She's been teaching kiddos to swim for many, many years. She instructed me to have a seat and the one time I thought I should try and help, she quickly put me back in my place.

As for Jasmine? Let's see how many emotions can be elicited in 30 minutes. Of course, it all began with excitement, putting on her swimsuit for her first lesson. But when Teacher Bonnie started pouring buckets of water on her head, J started having second thoughts.
And when she got dunked under the water briefly, she felt downright betrayed. Teacher Bonnie looked at me and said, "Strong-willed?" Uh...yeah, you might say that.
The personal injuries were soon forgotten as Jasmine chortled her way across the pool. Maybe I'm biased, but when this kid laughs, she infects everyone around her. Many heads were turned listening to her both scream bloody murder and laugh unabashedly.
In the end, Teacher Bonnie was forgiven her transgressions and Jasmine completed her first swim lesson in style.

Skinned knees

Our daughter has the most banged-up, scabbed-over, bruised little legs of any 2 1/2 year old girl I know. Granted, my pool is small, but still. She's part tomboy, part adventurer, and 100% energy. We have now learned that no matter where we go, we carry her little travel bag, not for diapers and bibs anymore, but with bactine, Band-Aids and wipes. She's certainly not clumsy, she just lets her eyes and enthusiasm get ahead of her feet.

Especially when she's wearing flip-flops. Which she loves.

We tell her, "Don't run in your flip-flops." But it's just so hard to walk carefully, no matter what we're doing. We tell her, "Be careful, slow down!" as she runs, full gallop down our steep gravel driveway, most often staying upright and enthused for more.

What I do know is that my little girl is growing up faster than I care to admit. She's putting her own band-aids on now--a first--and even more than that? She says, "Mama, I just need to be alone for a minute" as she collects herself on the steps. Thankfully, she's still all about hugging and snuggling and being carried in my arms.

Cuz if she wasn't, I'd be the one sitting on the steps looking for a band-aid.

A weekend with kids.

Nothing could be more excited to Jasmine than riding a big girl bike outdoors. She obsesses about having her very own bike, so much so, that every night I am required to tell her a "bike story". We go into great detail about her fantasy bike and I am sure many a dream has included a bike equipped with not only pedals and a basket, but wings and a tail.

It was no surprise, then, that on our weekend with her cousins, riding her cousin's smallest bike was exhilarating. It is only a matter of time, really, until she will be riding sans training wheels. If her determination is any indicator, it will come sooner rather than later.
A busy morning outdoors still requires a nap, and this can only happen if she is removed from the playful influence of her youngest cousin. I wasn't sure it would work, but it did.
J is in love with her oldest cousin and in between her busy social weekend calendar, she took some time out to help Jasmine work the bars.
And finally, Sunday morning was reserved for 4-wheeling. I know Frenchie was driving this jeep a year ago at 4 years old, but it is still a sight to behold. Her adeptness is inspiring as she steers, reverses and even parallel parks. Jasmine was quite happy to be a passenger on the way to the playground, and being the responsible driver, Frenchie made sure Jasmine was wearing her helmet and was securely buckled in.
I can only hope that my brother and his wife had as much fun being away for the weekend as we did staying with their kids. They were awesome.

Amgen!

You all must know by now that we are serious cycling aficionados--our bike-racing days are mostly behind us (with the exception of an occasional hair that creeps up somewhere and causes me to humiliate myself) but nothing gets us more excited than going to a world class bike race. This weekend, the Amgen Tour of California arrived in Northern CA, the most prestigious bike race in the U.S. and guess what? They rode right up our road! Passing through our town of Auburn, crossing the bridge that we use for our commute and heading through the foothills down into Sacramento. Of all the great pictures we could have taken--Shane and myself with Jasmine in her trailer, riding the race course beforehand with all the cheering fans on the streets--this is all we got. One lousy picture. It was a great day, and if any of you ever have a chance to spectate a world class cycling event, we would highly recommend it.

Field trip to the Zoo Sanctuary

Last week, J's preschool planned a trip to the Folsom Zoo Sanctuary, a small zoo that we first visited last summer. What I love about this zoo is that the animals are all rescued from an even worse life outside of the zoo, and most of them are creatures that I sometimes get to see out in the wilderness in my own backyard while out running, riding or even walking with Jasmine. It's one of the benefits of living in the foothills. I've said this before, but I do prefer seeing the mountain lions up close and behind bars, at least for my sake. I feel bad for them but I know they've been rescued from a worse fate.

Back to the preschool. Little did any of us know that apparently it was zoo day for dozens of preschools. There were little people EVERYWHERE. Clinging to their parents. Running wild in the park. Climbing the fences. Any what else are children supposed to do with themselves? We tried, as parents and teachers, to get them interested in the animals but quite honestly, they would much rather chase their friends them stare at a bear.

Jasmine, like most kids her age, loves to climb. And with her long, lean legs, she's easily capable of reaching great heights.


Mama and J. She spent a lot of time in my arms on this trip, until we left the zoo and went to the playground. Then she went wild.
And this picture is Jasmine giving me her finest pout. Which she does with regularity, in between running, jumping, dancing and pulling me from place to place.
As my work partner remarked, this is the first of many, many field trips that will be taking place in our lives. I certainly have a newfound respect for teachers, who are around this kind of chaos daily at work, and then find a way to deftly create order. Honestly, how do they do it with PE no longer an integral part of the schools? I mean, kids need to run and chase and climb all day long, from what I can see. And Jasmine? Given the opportunity, she will skip right through her nap to keep it up. In fact, after the zoo, lunch and the playground, I took her to our friends, Steph and Reinhard, since I still had to go to work for a few hours, and rather than taking a much-needed nap, she refused to nap and went to the playground with Steph, not even willing to get in her stroller for one small minute.

Boundless energy.

Belated Mama's Day

If you're thinking we don't celebrate Mother's Day around here, you'd be wrong. But it's still strange for me to celebrate my own Mother's Day. I'm still more inclined to think about my own mother than myself. Thank goodness others think of me. Like Shane, who gave me cards and a living rose bush and told me anything you want, we can do.

I want to build a garden.

And if this doesn't honor my own mother, I don't know what would. Because my mom? As I've said before, can grow enough food to feed a neighborhood, with the smallest plot of land available. She has the richest compost and worm castings, and this produces the most prolific supply of tomatoes, beans, peppers, lettuce and zucchini one could ask for. If only she didn't live 3 hours away, because it's tough to eat out of her garden on a daily basis.

In honor of my mother, we mixed concrete and set posts for our enclosure. We will not be feeding the local, burgeoning population of deer if we can help it. And we dreamed about the possibilities of nurturing our own little crop of food, just like I did as a child. I loved being in the garden with my mother, and when she would tell me to go outside and pick something for dinner, I would happily go outside with my bowl and see what I could find.

This garden's for you, mom. I hope that I can give to Jasmine exactly what you gave to me (and I wouldn't mind some help along the way).

Confessions of a frustrated cook

I love to cook. I would say it's probably in my genes. Both my parents are fantastic cooks and if you haven't noticed by Dad's blog, he's all about food. He's written countless books on catering, food, and most recently, food science. So if you're wondering about anything related to food, steer on over to his blog and check it out. Or, even better, by his latest book on Amazon, What Recipes Don't Tell You: From Appetizers to Zucchini.

But back to me. Actually, truth be told, I was a chef in a former life. Not a graduate of any fancy school, but one of those chefs that worked her way up in the restaurant biz, and worked under a trained chef. It was 10 good years of my life, starting way back in high school and putting myself through college, and eventually, just became my way of life. Chopping, planning, shopping, all have been daily fare.

Introduce Jasmine. Not necessarily interested in mama's passions. Or her cuisine.

I've never served so many meals/snacks out of a box in my life. In fact, she eats things that I honestly wouldn't dream of putting in my mouth. But what's a mom to do? She does not like green food (my favorite color), so the likes of broccoli, asparagus, salads and spinach are rejected outright. She does like edamame, but that's not much of a culinary challenge for me (open bag, boil water, serve). At least it's green. She'll eat tofu when she's in the mood and thankfully she loves fruit. Otherwise I'd be worrying about child endangerment.

Don't get me wrong. She LOVES to eat. She just doesn't appreciate a home-cooked meal. And I'm just not used to rejection. Our days go much better when I don't try to prepare anything special for her. Simple foods like turkeydogs, spaghetti, beans and rice go down easily but try something new? I'm usually treading on thin ice--sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't.

So my love of cooking has taken a little nosedive lately. I'm not planning meals in my head mid-afternoon like I used to. I don't get excited about making a spicy curry, or even baking in the morning. THANKFULLY, Jasmine loves to cook. And bake. So we at least share in the process and I know her palate will grow over time. She loves to see all the beautiful, fresh produce at the Farmer's market and eventually, I believe, she will come around and love to eat what we cook as much as she likes to help prepare it (or we're in for a bumpy ride).

Race against cancer

Saturday was the annual Race Against Cancer, an epic mountain bike race located just over the American River, in a place called Cool, California. Cool boasts some pretty phenomenal events for a township of 2500. There's the 50K run in April, 2 mountain bike races in the spring and numerous other endurance events involving running and horses.

Training for an event has taken on a different meaning in the last couple of years--it's more about finishing than winning, about learning how to balance time to train with work and family. Before parenthood, training was a way of life. This race has many categories to choose from, and fortunately, is more a race against yourself than other participants. Right up my alley. The super-elite rode 24 hours on their mountain bikes, starting at noon on Saturday and wrapping up whatever was left in their legs at noon today. Many were sensible enough to be part of a team, allowing time for rest, food and possibly beer, if so inclined (yes, mountain bikers are known to consume alcohol during long races).

I chose the 8 hour solo event, a pretty big stretch for me these days. I don't normally have that kind of time on my bike anymore, but these last 6 weeks, Shane has done everything he could to support me in my preparation.

It was certainly painful, but not nearly as painful as going through cancer. Not remotely close to what our friend Dan Moores went through, who 3 years ago completed the Western States 100 mile run, and last year died from leukemia after a brave and horrendous 8 month battle undergoing brutal treatments in total isolation. Or what my dear friend Ramona's father went through, being stripped of all his dignity, brilliance and his life from brain cancer. Halfway through the course, pictures of people's loved ones graced the hill as we rode past, reminding us that we were suffering by choice, and to have choices in life is a privilege. To be cherished.

I'm putting on a brave face before the start. I've done this race before. I know what I'm in for.
But these 2? Couldn't be happier. Jasmine was enticed by the prospect of snacks in abundance. Ask her what her favorite food is and she'll say snacks. Cliff bars, organic yogurt drink, and Annie's organic bunnies are some of her favorites. She has never objected to rice chips either, sans salsa and guacamole.
They were a great support crew for me--every lap, they were there at the start/finish with food, drink and major encouragement.
Playdoh on the feet.
Lambchop in the backpack.
Our little spot for the day.
And the grand finale, Jasmine was introduced to a portable DVD player. We received this as a gift last year from my mom as we were anticipating 3 weeks in the hospital for her pulmonary sling surgery. We never needed it and decided it was a great way for J to pass a little time between laps. Seriously, could she be any happier?

There's not much more I can ask for than a day racing my bike with my family at my side. Cherishing these precious moments in life...

Pine Grove

Jasmine's grandparents are a little bit spread out, geographically. My dad and stepmom live about 2 hours south of us, same elevation in the Sierra foothills. It was another gorgeous spring day, a huge relief after unusually cold temperatures and heavy rainfalls. We were all ready for some sunny weather.
Grandma Marj planned ahead for our visit and welcomed the assistance of 2 extra hands.
Jasmine is always ready to assist with a gardening project, and in this case, seemed to be actually helpful.


Jasmine loves a visit to her grandparents. She was patient on the 2 hour drive, reminding me and herself where we were going several times during our journey. Thanks for a great visit!