Abalone Cove Calamity

Imagine my excitement when I heard about tidal pools in Rancho Palos Verdes! I looked it up on the internet, saw the great reviews and the information about it, and Brooke and I made plans to take Kailey and Hannah out for a fun filled day of sunshine and sea life. Although the website mentioned walking down a trail to the beach, I figured it wasn't bad so I wore flip flops-the first mistake of the day. We drove up to the parking lot and asked the attendant for one of the maps. Of course they were out, but "its easy, just follow the trail down", he assured us. Confidently, we parked the car, ate lunch (so Hannah could finish napping) and headed out. Walking down the trail was fun at first as we watched the lizards run across the path and joked about snakes. Unfortunately we came to our first big problem-the path split off into two paths. I forgot to mention that this was not a typical beach path. Think of canyons and trees and high weeds galore and you'll get the picture.
We headed toward the beach, which looks like this. (Yes, that is all rock)

This seemed to be the only way across to the tidal pools, so across them we went. Besides a hurt seal (or sea lion), there really wasn't much to see but rocks, rocks, rocks. There was no way the girls could walk on that so we carried them. Did I mention I was in flip flops? After, what seemed like forever and several rests for our beleagured arms, we made it to the pools.
Resting on the way:


Finally we made it to the pools! They were really neat, and we thought all that had been worth it. We saw starfish, sea slugs (which are really icky), crabs, and some really weird creatures that squirt water at you if you poke them or accidentally step on them. It was pretty neat and the girls loved it.




The weird thing that squirt water (or something at us)


Starfish



The Sea Slug


After a lot of fun, we decided to head back-up the trail that apparently we should have been on in the first place. Unfortunately THIS trail branched off into quite a few trails and we had no clue which one to take. After a few dead ends, we had one choice left: To make our way down a steep path with a canyon on one side and a cliff on the other. We picked the girls up and scooted down. Unfortunately, this oh so dangerous trail led us right back down to a jaunt across the rocky beach which we were hoping to avoid having to do again in the first place. I'm sure those of you with children can imagine how exhausted and grouchy we all were at this point. Brooke and I had been forced to basically carry the kids the whole way and my feet hurt. To top it off, we were both sunburned. Don't forget, once we made it back to the path we had a steep incline to hike back up. At that point, the girls decided they had enough and stood there and stared as we walked away. Anyone watching would have assumed we were lunatics (I'm sure the girls did) as we screamed for them to walk and got more and more irritated with them as they refused.
Here is a look at the blank stares that we were receiving from them at this point: Don't you love the look Kailey has on her face in the second picture? It's like she is thinking "mommy has gone crazy!"



Finally I broke down and went to get them. On the way back up the trail we finally saw a sign that we should have seen the first time-rattlesnakes! Since there was no way that we were letting them walk up the trail if there were snakes, we ended up carrying them some more-all the way up the cliff to the parking lot. We definitely got more than we bargained for and learned that while it is a beautiful area it is not exactly a kid friendly place! If I had not been more tired, I would have given the attendant a piece of my mind as well-sure it would be easy to go on the trail if you knew which one it was! The upside of this is that Kailey went to bed at 6:00 tonight she was so exhausted so I get a nice break!
Walking up the path

The view (The rocks down in the ocean in the first picture are the tidal pools)

The Bachelor: Women Tell All

So I am sure you are on the edge of your seats to hear this story! Since I can't disclose anything that happened at the show, I'll just educate you on how to prepare yourselves if you ever go to a (non-reality) reality show taping.
1. Make sure that you have a trusted person to take care of your kids because you will be gone a long time. Chad did the honors for me, while the other girls had their husbands' watch the kids. They are just so sweet!
2. Leave plenty of time for traveling! We had a scare right before we left due to a traffic accident on a freeway we thought we would be taking. Luckily it turned out to be somewhere else and we made it safe and sound with a few minutes to spare.
3. We all know how special we are, but apparently the directors/people in charge of these shows aren't on the same wavelength. We pulled up in the parking lot ready to get in our luxurious limo (or at least nice shuttle) to ride up to where they did the actual taping only to meet with a crusty old shuttle that had seen better days, had no air conditioner and carried an unpleasant aroma of body odors.
4. Be prepared to wait in line and bring sunscreen! Fortunately, we were at the end of the line in the shade while others were in the sun. If you happen to watch the show next Monday now you will know why half the audience was sunburned! Rachel was a genius and brought a crossword puzzle for us to work on.
5. Drink a lot of water and bring snacks! They take your water bottles away before entering the studio so drink as much as you can before (or sneak it in inside your bag).
6. Be prepared to sit for long periods of time and pretend to laugh at warm up guy's very cheesy and often inappropriate jokes. Remember you could be on TV so don't look upset no matter what!
7. If they give you a small break RUN to the bathroom so you make it back before taping begins again. Watch out for cockroaches though. Bring hand sanitizer in case the sink is infested with them.
8. Bring tylenol or some headache medicine. Who knew that clapping constantly, fake laughing, and cheering could be so exhausting?
9. RUN, RUN, RUN back to the shuttle as soon as you are released so you can get back to your car first and even have time to take some pictures!
10. Most important of all, be prepared to never want to watch the show again once you know what really happens!

Paint explosion!

The first of many posts on antics perpetrated by a determined two year old. The other morning I woke up at 6:30. The unusual thing about it was that it was later than usual and Kailey wasn't the cause. Immediately I was suspicious. She never sleeps in that late and usually comes in and bugs me or Chad until one of us is up. Upon hearing her talking to herself in her room, I opened the door-to complete mayhem! Kailey had climbed up to where her paints are stored and gotten them down. She proceeded to "finger paint" everything in sight including carpets, walls, and most of all herself. I can't give you any pictures of the scene, but imagine an American Indian in full war paint and you will get the picture of what she looked like. I was too stunned to even think about going to grab the camera, but that is something that I am going to remember in future incidents! I will include a picture of her painting with supervision just for fun though! I put Kailey in the shower and proceeded to try to scrub the "washable" paints out of the carpet. Chad slept blissfully through Kailey wailing that the paint was coming off-thank goodness-and me in the room next door scrubbing down everything in sight. I actually think that he was really awake, but decided that it was way too early to deal with his girls. Its a wonder that he doesn't sleep with ear plugs! Imagine my horror when, a couple months ago our neighbor informed me that she sleeps with earplugs in....oops! Actually she told me it is from the noises outside-not us!