Malia takes a few steps today!

Malia has taken 4 steps today! I was standing infront of her encouraging her and then she took 4 steps!

Haven't posted in awhile, I know. Been very exhausted lately. No new news except for chickens are on my mind...

Awesome little swing

While Greg has been working on our chicken coop we have been hanging outside with him. Malia loves to swing ( from Ikea, Ekorre swing chair). She fell asleep soon after.

Again the next weekend, Malia enjoys a comforting snooze in it.

The hallway.

Here is the hallway from the kitchen looking down to the living room which has the sliding door closed. Sava's room on the front left, laundry room ( unfinished) on front right, bathroom middle right and our bedroom furthest left. The hallway is painted and bamboo floor is in. Yeah..I am not even worrying about trim yet.

Malia!

Malia swinging..just for fun.

School is starting soon along with Ballet with Tap dancing

Today was Savannah's visiting day back to school. School starts this coming Monday. She will go M,W,F and Thurs,Ballet with Tap dancing- thanks to Nana. Ballet with Tap will start tomorrow. We are gonna have one busy school yr. Malia started her class as well ( on Tues).Here is her pic in her new outfit, excited as can be. She fell asleep with the new bag of clothes on her lap in the car and then as soon as she woke up she had to try the outfit on. So cute!

Coop updates

We have decided to expand the coop and make it larger. I am so proud of Greg!! Shall we call this Gigantor? Or chicken mansion or palace or?? It is almost too nice to be for chickens. I think he will be building Savannah a playhouse one day soon after..? Time, finances etc.. allowing, etc..

A day outside to play (chickens)

Well these guys are growing bigger - on there way to becoming happy hens and laying bountiful eggs. They were outside playing on a warm summer day.

Anniversary- Mercey Hotsprings

Mercey Hotsprings here we come. This is a place that Greg found while on one of his target shooting trips. It is literally out in no where. This is the first time in years we did anything special for our anniversary. Greg was so proud that he finally has taken me somewhere that I had never been and that he planned as a surprise months in advance for us. Thanks honey!

It is only about 60 miles from Prunedale.
The landscape is beautiful.. Gorgeous golden rolling hills, vast and for the most part plain.

Here is the infamous Pinoche Inn ( not much of an Inn) but they serve cold beer and sandwiches. It is basically a biker bar out in the middle of no where. Greg loves it, mentioned it to me several times from his shooting trips.


Mercey Hotsprings office

We stayed in the green cabin

These are pepper berries from a large pepper tree which was right in front of our cabin.

Happy 6 yrs of marriage and 15 yrs( in Dec) total that we have been together.

Ok y'all- we got some der chicks!

Ok - Y' all! So I have wanted chickens for several yrs now. Everyone knows I am an animal lover..but we have had to wait because we just couldn't take these on yet,being pregnant and then having a Malia as an infant would have been too much. Finally we are ready. Picked up 6 chickies on Friday( Ameraucanas, Barred Rocks & Rhode Island Reds), another 6( Blk Australorps,Golden laced Wyandottes, Buff Orpingtons) on Saturday..minus as well get everyone motivated, picked up a dozen more chicks for E and C! Would be fun to be on this journey together besides there won't be anymore chicks around until spring, then another 5-6 months for the eggs. We had to motivate! So come and visit the country life and you will find dogs, cats, dirt, bugs, and now chickens! Yeah! We are stoked. We are so excited. We are gonna get fresh eggs and chicken meat(?). Greg and I want to live a more sustainable lifestyle and this is one step towards it. We are moving at a slow pace due to small kids and having enough time. Greg is stoked on getting his own meat and has even talked about hunting for wild boar and deer etc..." I am man, hear me roar!" Then freezing it or canning it etc.. to eat. I say Greg let's start small first...how about a chicken. hee hee. Oh plus we have so much scraps that our worm bin cannot handle it all. The chickens will be able to help with this load. We are also so stoked on gathering fresh eggs, some will even be green ones too! Plus I am so excited about giving my kids this opportunity and this experience. I think they may be interested in 4H club when they are old enough. Btw-Did you know that grocery stores allow up to 60 day old eggs to be sold? Bleck! So you all will be getting some eggs soon.. We are gonna have so many eggs on the hill..we won't know what to do with all of em.


Here they are at a day old . Egg layers and dual purpose chickens. We are gonna add 2 meat birds soon. They will be ready in 4-8 weeks..
These are day olds and 2-1 week olds

Savannah already has favorites and named a few.."Princess"( ofcourse), Julie, and Rose...Don't worry we are very sanitary with them and have read and done all our research-

Here Greg has started the building of our chicken coop

1/2 done.

An Annual Tradition- The Monterey County Fair

Every year we go to the fair. This year by far has been the funnest year for Savannah. She could go on all the rides and she had her cousin Colven to do them all with. Here are just a few pics. We won't mention how tiring things were for mom and dad but the kids had a blast! Mom ( me) almost didn't make it because I was just soo exhausted from the last week....:( ( Greg worked on the house last weekend and we painted the hall way and Greg put in the bamboo flooring- Yeehaw! but I watched the kids all weekend.....no breaks-exhausted sigh..) As Greg would say " suck it up and drive on soldier"! haha-

Here is Savannah getting her face painted. She picked out the pink butterfly.

We had a lot of funny pics of Grampa on some of the rides with the kids. He had a blast and thank gosh I didn't have to go on those..hee hee.
This was one of Savannah's and Colven's favorite rides besides the long slide.

We were on the adult Ferris wheel.



At the end of the night. Look how cute those kids are holding hands...what good memories they will have at the Fair. We checked out all the animals too. Chickens, pigs, lambs etc.. We have some chickies!! Pics and post to come.

Strawberry picking- Gizdich

Notable mentions and beloved aunties and uncles

Uncle Nick was up that weekend of Savannah's party. Yeah

So was Colina on summer break with Justin
Aww Auntie Erin and Uncle Cy
Where is uncle Gen and Auntie Nori?...ah yes, having baby #3 in Japan. We think about them a bunch and miss them.

Savannah's birthday- 4yrs old!

Here is Savannah on her actual birthday. A huge garden grown Sun Flower from Auntie Erin & Colven.

Savannah's party she has been waiting for all school yr long. Finally it is here at Toro Park, Sat August 2nd. Lots of friends and family showed up for food, fun and crafts.
Craft table. Flower makings, wooden popsicle frame makings and wooden magnet makings were a huge hit.

Auntie Colina was in charge of face painting. She was a pro.
Malia hanging out with Grampa

Mom was in charge of gathering kids for games on the grass.

Kids played with waterballoons too.

Cake time!


Hanging under the huge oaks. Thank goodness for Nana- Malia took a long nappy on her.

Thank you everyone for all your help in making this huge birthday party a wonderful, fun success!