I'd like to take this moment to say I hate blogger.

The End.

I found myself in Marina Del Rey this morning buying this lovely beauty from a craigslister. I've been looking for one for a while now and this one came up. It's no Le Creuset but not having an extra $150 lying around to buy one of those I paid $25 for this one used only once (or so said the seller).

I've been wanting to make this bread for over a year now. Can't wait to see the final product.

Since we were along the coast we stopped off in Manhattan Beach and played for a couple hours. We met up with a friend and ate lunch on the beach. A beautiful day at 73 degrees with blue skies.

I read something in a book recently about children and running. Everything they do, in all their activities, they are running as they play. It is the adults that tell them to slow down, to stop, to calm down. (sounds like my daily mantra...) I've been doing some research lately on the history of running and humans. Contrary to old held beliefs we are made to run. I can only imagine the decline of all the ailments that plague western culture if we never told kids to stop running. The joy would always remain and it would never be a chore or something they had to do to maintain health as they got older, it would simply be in them. Much of my day is spent finding ways for Ale to expend energy. We really put him to the test on Saturday and he shocked me. We went on a 5.4 mile hike up a mountain. It was the first time we made him walk. We went prepared with an extra carrier anticipating his melt down. It never came. He complained once maybe twice on the way up that he was hungry but never once did he ask to go home or be carried. On the descent he and I held hands and ran most of the way. He would have gone faster were I not insistent on holding his hand and slowing him down because of the sheer drop offs of the trail. When we were almost at the bottom when I asked him [jokingly] if he wanted to go on a bike ride when we got home and I was met with an emphatic YES followed by tears when he realized I wasn't serious, followed by promises to take him the following day.

I'm slowly realizing how we short change our kids by not pushing them and underestimating their endurance level.

More to come in the weeks ahead..........

I LOVE this man. And it's his birthday. Here's to 33.

Finished at last......A series of three 18x18 for a friend.

First battle scars from the two wheeler. When David tried to turn around to come home a bloody nosed and sobbing Ale insisted on continuing. Tough cookie this one. He went on three different bike rides today and it would have been more had we had the time.

If Sam were a tree he'd be a ficus. Maybe not, but I bet he'd love to pee on this one if he had the chance. Today we planted Sam's memory tree.

There wasn't a big production. Ale and David scooped the dirt, Ke'ano placed the tree and hung Sam's collar. Yeva, well she just screamed since that is all she seems to do these days.




Now it sits in the corner of our entry way. At least until Yeva discovers it and we have to hide it temporarily.

Now I feel like the kids (and David and I) have some sort of closure.

Time to move on and remember our sweet little rat dog as a wonderful member of our family.

These past few days have been so sad in our house. Even Ale has been asking me what's wrong and "Why are you so sad mama." Sam's pesky absence is palpable in our home. We will do something this weekend when Ke'ano is back from his mom's to commemorate Sam. I'm sad we couldn't take his body home and bury it ourselves.

In the midst of loss there has been celebration. Ale can officially ride a two wheeler. David took the pedals off his bike a couple weeks ago as a cheap alternative to the increasingly more popular balance bikes. I'm glad we didn't invest in a balance bike as I'd originally wanted. This was much more cost effective (of course it helps that David is obsessed with bikes and knows how to do all this stuff too). In the course of a couple weeks, not even getting out every day, Ale learned the most important aspect of riding on two wheels--maintaining balance. (It helped that his BFF, Miles, started riding a two wheeler a couple weeks ago too). He started asking for David to put his pedals back on a week ago and David finally did it last night. We took the bike out this morning for a quick trial run. Armed with video to capture the first moments we didn't even have a chance because Ale just took off. No instructions. No holding the seat and running beside him. No picking him up after falling over. He just road on down the street as if he'd been doing it all along. So amazing!

A boy and his dog. Ke'ano met Sam when he was 2 days old. Sam came to live with us a year later. We've had our ups and downs. We've tried to give Sam away. We've loved him and been beyond annoyed with him. Before little babies came along he had a much more...affectionate standing in the family. He has tolerated two little ones pulling his hair, kicking him and tugging him around. He was always some what of a neighborhood philanderer and I'm convinced he has at least a dozen offspring wandering the streets of Los Angeles county. He had more than one love affair with Ke'ano's stuffed animals and all three of our chickens. He was the Houdini of escape artists and ticked off mailmen wherever we lived.

We always absolved those who watched him that if he ran away it was not there fault. He was simply too difficult to contain, the pursuit of procreation too intense for his little chihuahua terrier mix. We always said that if one day he took off and never came home that would be okay as he probably died happy doing what he loved. And in all reality the dog has lived years longer than we could have imagined for his temperament and desire to roam the streets.

I came home today to find him on the porch, belly swollen. I knew this was a bad one. I thought he'd been hit by a car because of the lack of blood. We took him to the vet for the second time in his life. The vet found the puncture wound on his back where a dog had for once succeeded in making the little punty dog submit. His intestines were herniated. Our little family pathetically stood in the vets office for over an hour, waiting for David to come. We talked about Sam and our favorite stories. We said our goodbyes. We tried to answer hard questions like "when they put him to sleep and his heart stops beating does he feel like he can't breathe?" and "Is there a special heaven for dogs." Even Ale "got" it and cried which surprised me for some reason. Sheesh, these things get harder when kids are in the picture.

I'm glad that Ke'ano was there for it though I don't think he wanted to be there (who does?). Pets passing away is a good way to help children learn to deal with death. Ke'ano has had a rough year, first his hamster now the dog. We let Ke'ano choose whether or not we stayed to watch them put him to sleep and he chose to leave which was fine. (And who knew they actually charge extra if you stay and watch).

Little Sam Sam, you were the biggest pain and greatest love. I hope you got a shot in on the dog. You are missed.