Lost in the Woods!

Big Rock Hole Trail

One sunny day we drove to Henry Cowell State Park to meet up with some friends who were camping there. They told us to meet them at the river and to follow the Big Rock Hole trail to get there.

We start the hike at 12:30 and I bring a stroller for Willa, 3 bottles of water and a few snacks. We park at the visitor center, find their campsite and then start on the trail which is right next to their site, easy peasy.

We hike out of the shade of the forest and into the chaparral where the sun beats down raising the temp to about 80+ degrees. We make it to the observatory platform and ditch the stroller as it is too sandy to take it any further.  The trail splits and we continue on  Big Rock Hole trail for quite a while taking a few turns as there are a ton of side trails at this park.

Its really hot and Scarlett & Willa are wearing bathing suits and bad hiking shoes.  I thought this would be a short little hike to the river so I let Willa wear her princess rain boots and Scarlett chose her new school shoes.

We make it to the top of the grade, have a quick break and thankfully the trail starts to head down  into the shade of the forest. Were in about 2 miles in at this point.

Willa taking a break in the shade

We continue down, down, down for a long time and in the back of my mind I am thinking how this means we will have to return by going up up, up... I am also surprised that our friends hiked this far to the river as they are not big hikers. Luckily my girls are used to me dragging them on hikes so they are hanging in there.

Finally, we hear water and make it to this beautiful hidden river with no one to be seen. I figure we missed them and they must have left already. We take a break and play in the water for a few minutes and eat our snacks which consisted of watermelon taffy and nuts.  I make the kids save the last half empty bottle of water and rush everyone along to get back before dark as its around 2:30 at this point.

Our very own beautiful private river!

Willa starting back up the hill

We start the hike back up the steep hill and its tough going. I carry Willa for much of it and poor Scarlett drags behind, both girls hiking in their bathing suits because it was so hot. Ava has a head ache but isn't complaining which is a big help.  I think she knew I was on the edge. By the time we reach the top we are out of water and pretty tired.

We make it to a 4 way split and I wish I would have paid more attention on the way down. I quickly rule out 2 paths and am really not sure on the other two. I was pretty turned around.

I see a girl walking our way but when I ask her for directions she doesn't speak much English or Spanish for that matter. Luckily I see someone else was walking up the trail and I am about to ask him, when I see he is shouting something while holding a sign on a stick which says "911 was a hoax" The girls just stare and he keeps rambling. At this point I quickly choose the trail in the opposite direction that the weird guy went and we head down the hill.

About a mile later I have an idea where we are and it is nowhere close to where we need to be. You see, Henry Cowell has 2 different entrances and we came in through Graham Hill and we were now headed toward the highway 9 entrance which is where the main ranger station and store is located. My new plan is to get to the ranger station and get water as we are all out and extremely thirsty. At this point we spoke to a fellow hiker who confirmed we had about 1 more mile to go and was kind enough to give us his water. 1 more mile, that's nothing, but it seemed so far away.... I was so tired and shed a few tears at this point and possibly said a few cuss words as I couldn't imagine carrying Willa one more mile.

Finally, we made it to the ranger station and the kids plopped down and drank water. I asked the woman in the store for a ride to the other entrance where our car was. She said no, the rangers can't do that, and so I called our friend Leanne who happens to live 5 minutes away. She dropped everything and came to our rescue,  driving us back to our friends campsite and even walked with me to hike back up to the place where I left the stroller.

I figured we hiked between 7 to 8 miles! Once we met up with our friends we realized they meant for us to go to Big Rock River which is different than the Big Rock Trail,  Woops!   They made up for it by cooking up some hot dogs for my ravenous kids and poured me a nice cold glass of Chardonnay.

I'm now way more familiar with Henry Cowell trails and this was a cool bonding experience that they will remember forever, not to mention a great story. Now, whenever we go on a hike the kids say, is it as long as the hike when we got lost in the woods? 

Sisterly Wisdom

This is one of my favorite picture books. It explores scenes above and below the ground and has great illustrations and tons of conversation points. 

I was reading this page to Willa which says: Early in the morning families buzz 'roud the house. while down in the cellar sleeps one tiny mouse.

I asked Willa if she knew what a cellar is as we do not have these in California.

She pointed at the mouse in the right corner and said Yes its full of... and then she paused.   I said yes they do often have mice in them  to which she replied  No, they are full of dead bodies...

I asked her who told her that and she replied Scalrett, who will seems to believe to a fault.

When I asked Scarlett about bodies in the cellar she started laughing. Who knows what else she has told Willa.

Our Toilet is Glowing!

Kevin ordered the craziest contraption, a toilet light! Did you even know such a thing exits?! This is no ordinary toilet light but a color changing one at that. It rotates between 4 colors and is motion activated[. At first I thought it was a weird unnecessary item but that was before I learned about the logistics involved when guys pee in the dark.

Because this house is full of girls (and Kevin) I never thought much about what is involved when a guy has to pee in the dark.

When I go pee in the wee hours, I'm always half asleep so I sit down with my eyes closed and then shuffle back to bed. I now know that guys have to not only keep their eyes open, but also have to aim at the target. If you miss you get a mess and then there is the matter of trying to pee quietly, aiming for the edges of the bowl rather than the middle.  Who knew there was an actual strategy to peeing in the dark?

The 1st night the toilet light arrived, the kids went nuts. They literally had to come watch me pee so they could see my pee change colors as it streamed into the bowl.  I had 2 little girls hovering over me while I sat on the toilet, talk about no privacy! Scarlett is still waiting for a nighttime poo so she can see what the light does to poop! Sadly for her we are all morning poopers...

Ava's BFF Ella also love the toilet light!

You Did What?!

We were having a little Bar B Que when Ava asked me if she could dye her friend Tommy's hair with food coloring. I figured that was a safe non-permanent way to color hair so said "sure". You would be surprised how well it worked, Tommy had perfectly pink hair.  Scarlett was adamant that she was next.

Scarlett joined Ava in the bathroom and I peeked in to see how it was going and it was crazy! It looked as though a paintball gun went off, pink everywhere!  I honestly do not understand how it got on the walls! I told her to quickly clean it up before her dad saw it.

You see I am the one who lets the kids do things that seem like a good idea at the time and Kevin always errs on the side of caution. More often than not, he ends up being right.  I did not want Kevin to come in and see the explosion of pink and say "you let the kids do what with food coloring?!"

Ava's friend Ella showed up for the party and I ushered her into the bathroom, handed her a bottle of 409 and told her to please help Ava clean up the mess.  The 3 girls got to cleaning and a few minutes later I came in to see the progress and was speechless. Let me set the scene...

Scarlett is stark naked in the shower, dripping red,  being sprayed down with 409. Thats right, 409 with duel action grease fighting power. I asked Ava if she truly thought that it is OK to spray your sister with chemicals that we lock up under the sink?! She said "The bottle says it is an all purpose cleaner"  I was so mad I told the girls to get out and I took over.

As I am washing Scarlett with soap and water  she tells me that they not only sprayed her body but her feet and under her armpits too! As if there was food coloring under her arm pits, really...

20 minutes later I had a squeeky clean Scarlett and a semi clean bathroom.

I learned 3 valuable lessons that day:

1. Food coloring is an effective but extremely messy way to color your hair

2. Smart kids can do really stupid things

3. I hate to admit it but Kevin is most often right (most, not always...) 

Who needs a door anyway...

You know that sound of a slamming door followed by a screaming child? You get that icky feeling in your stomach while your mind starts thinking of the awful smashed finger stories you've heard in your life.  You run to see if your kids still have all their fingers and breath a sigh of relief to find 10 intact digits. Well, we not only have doors but also a big sliding glass door which  have strict rules not to slam and it inevitably happens anyway. The slider is like the big daddy of all finger munchers, especially after the annual maintenance when it slides nice and smooth.

Whenever the girls slam their door, Kevin threatens to take the door off the hinges.  Well, today he finally followed through with this threat. Scarlett slammed the door to keep Willa out of their room and it hit Willa in the face. So Kevin grabs his tools and takes the door off the hinges all the while both Scarlett and Willa are crying that they need their door. Ava just rolls her eyes and said "Who needs privacy anyway?"

The girls finally calmed down and we tacked up a shower curtain we had which ended up looking super cool! The girls are all excited about their new room decor and the lack of door somehow makes the room look bigger which is a plus as it is similar to an overcrowded dorm room. The best part is  that I can rest assure that the girls will be able to keep all their fingers!

Neen!!!!

I love breastfeeding! I have breastfed all  3 of my children. I nursed Ava until she was 2. I only nursed Scarlett until she was one, she was too busy to make time for the tit. Willa is still going strong and defiantly a major booby lover, just like her dad.

I love nursing for so many reasons:

1. It makes me sit my busy butt down and relax. For those of you who know me, this is virtually impossible. Or if I get an important work call, I pop it in the babes mouth and ahhh complete silence.

2. Its super cozy and special to look down in my babies eyes as they suckle away, I love these moments, not much can beat this.

3. Its a great way to calm a crying baby, instant pacifier!

4. A fail proof way to get my babies to fall asleep. (I know eventually this will bite me in the butt...)

5. Oh and its very healthy too, that's just a big bonus to all the other good stuff.

Willa will be 2 in April and my friends politely ask me how long I will nurse her, to which I often reply "Until she is 10"  You see Willa is getting big and she speaks really well. She says Momma, I want neen. Pleaseeeeee When I say no, she bargains Just a little bit, pleaseeeee momma, its special and its so sweet  At that point I almost always give in.

Sometimes  its not so special. For example, in the middle of the night  when she is not so polite and almost every hour repeatedly yells I want neen!!! When I don't give it to her she thrashes and kicks. I know I have created a mini titty loving monster.

I have truly evolved from a controlling, militant mother that regulated nursing to bedtime to throwing the rules out the door and popping it out whenever I hear the word neen. I know Willa is my last baby so I have let so many rules slide.  I am amazed how much I have changed from baby #1 to baby #3.

So how long will I nurse? I'm not sure but I do dread the day when I decide my tatas are closed for business. I don't think Willa will be in favor of this shutdown. Until this day I plan to enjoy every second of it!

Youth is Wasted on the Young

I have no regrets (well maybe a couple) but for the most part I don't regret any part of my life. However, if I could go back in time I would do a lot differently.

1. I would have a lot more sex (protected of course). I was such a good girl in high school and college that I missed out on a lot of that raging hormone sex. Don't get me wrong, I had a boyfriend all through high school so did not miss out completely but I wish I would have been a bit more promiscuous when I was in college. I went to UCSC for goodness sake! If I could do it again I would experiment more with girls, threesomes, foursomes, toys, places, you name it, if I could get a do-over I would try it at all least once.

2. On a similar note, I would have had way more sex with my husband before having 3 kids.   After baby number #1 it was pretty easy to find time. Even after baby #2 it was somewhat possible. Once baby #3 came along its next to impossible to find time and more so, a place where there are no kids.  Having 3 kids in a small 2 bedroom only leaves the backyard so we really have to want it to venture into the great outdoors!

3. I would go to college, get a degree in science and then a nursing degree so I could get a job right out of college. Instead I got a useless degree in environmental studies and became a professional student almost getting my teaching credential, nursing pre-recs, computer classes, and Spanish. Now I'm 36 and on a 5 year long waiting list to get into nursing school (2.5 years in). You do the math, I will be at least 40 by the time I can even apply for a nursing job. Really? It took me all those years to figure this out, uggh! After all this schooling I finally have a cool job that does not require ANY of that (except Spanish)

4. I would save money. I used to have way more money and very little expenses and I would blow it by going out to the bar, to dinner, buying crap I did not need.  I wish I would have just saved a little bit every month so now I would be able to buy a house instead of living month to month in a itty bitty house.

5. I would not drink copious amounts of tequila, ever. But that's a story for another blog.

6. I would have spent way more time in Costa Rica learning Spanish, or just studied Spanish more in college. Maybe do one of those language immersion programs, that would have been amazing!

7. I would have stranded that looser drunk boyfriend of mine in Grass Valley when he cheated on me on Christmas eve rather than taking him back to Santa Cruz,  I promise one day I will tell this story too, its a good one!

8. I would have stuck with guitar.

I could go on and on... The saying "Youth is Wasted on the Young" is so true. Maybe I can impart some of my life experience on my girls so they make a few better choices than I did. But I'm not sure I want to encourage them to be promiscuous, so I will keep that one to myself.

Santa Gives Candy at Church?

I have to admit that I have not done the best job teaching my children about religion. I was raised as a Jewish girl who celebrated Christmas, we were not very religious. Sadly I have never been to church, ever.

This past Sunday I was driving the girls to the store and we passed a fancy family walking to church. I jokingly said "guys, do you want to go to church?" Ava said "no thanks, its boring" Scarlett said "What's church?" To which I replied "Church is a place where people go to talk about God and pray"  Scarlett said she wanted to go and it sounded like fun. Ava said "Scarlett no, its not fun its boring." Not like she would know because she has never been.

Scarlett said "Will there be candy? Will Santa be there?"  I was a bit confused by her question but told her that Santa will not be at church and they do not give out candy.  Scarlett said "But Louisa (pronounced as Oooisa) took me one time and Santa was there and we got candy."

I was thoroughly confused and then realized Louisa did take Scarlett to the Christmas parade where Santa did make an appearance and gave out candy.  Ava and I then explained to Scarlett that to pray is not the same as a parade.  She said "Darn, I wanted to go to the parade..."

Girls and Their Gines...

As a mother of 3 girls, there is a lot of talk about vaginas. Some days its hairy ones, stinky ones, bald badgers, leaky ones, owie ones, pokey ones, you name it, it has been discussed here at the Carney house.

I swear, every day there is something I have to deal with that involves vagina care. Weather its applying diaper cream or assessing flaming owie lips on my 5 year old from her limited wiping skills, its a daily topic in my home.

Willa loves to climb under the bathroom sink and abscond with my tampons. It doesn't help that Kevin bought me the super cool fancy ones that come with neon pink, blue, and green wrappers.  She loves to take them apart. Yesterday, out of the blue, Scarlett said "Mommy, can I take your tampon out?" To which I replied "NO WAY, and I'm not even on my period!"

Willa loves to pull down my undies and poke it and say "Gina!" or "Spider!" depending on the current landscape. She too has seen the book that has a spider whose  mandibles look just like a hairy yonie as mentioned in an old blog called Spider Has a Vagina Its true this spiders mouth can easily be confused for a hairy gine. Whenever I neglect  my maintenance down there Willa reminds me that the forest needs a mowing by calling it a Spider, thanks Willa.

And now that I'm on the topic, Scarlett coined the term "Poop Octopus" I dare you to guess what this refers to... Ill just tell ya. You know those awful messy diapers where the poop is literally up the puss? Well one day I yelled "Help get me a bag, its crazy, poop up the puss!" Scarlett ran in the room with a bag yelling "POOP OCTYPUS!!" The term stuck...

My poor husband...

Hike gone BAD

I planned a wonderful outing for the day. Ava had a new friend over and I was determined to get out of the house and do something fun. I took my brood and dog to Delaveaga park which has hiking trails and a golf course. I was excited to do something different and was ready for a new adventure. Taking all my kids and dog anywhere is in adventure in itself.

Our journey started on the wrong foot as the main road was closed, so I figured we would enter through the other side of the park. We found a parking spot, got out the double stroller, snacks, water, kids, dog and went on our way. We had a map and even checked in with a woman at the help kiosk who showed us how to get to the nature trail.

We were on the trail for about 3 minutes when Ava screamed "Owe!!" She pulled up her shirt and grabbed what I thought was a spider and then realized it was a wasp. She threw the smashed wasp and began to scream way too loud. As I was trying to calm her down I heard Scarlett scream and start crying. I then realized what was happening as I looked up and saw all these little insects flying swarming us. Angelina yelled its a wasp nest and Ava began screaming even louder followed by Scarlett's cries to which I yelled "RUN!!"

Angelina started to run back the way we came and I yelled "not that way" and she did an about face and ran followed by Ava, Scarlett and Daisy. I attempted to run the jogger on the skinny root infested trail and poor Willa was getting bounced around like a rag doll. My girls were crying and after 40 yards began to walk when I yelled "Keep going their chasing us!" The Wasps were following us, I felt them banging into me. The girls kept running and I did my best to follow with the wide double jogger on the teeny hiking path.  The path was so bumpy and full of roots I had to go backwards for some of it because I couldn't manage to push it over the rough path and there was a big drop to my right.  Somehow Daisy got off her leash and took off at a full sprint.

Willa was fussing as the jogger was bouncing crazily down the trail and Scarlett was crying and wanted to get into the jogger but I could barely push it at my running pace so I began to walk. At this moment Willa lets out a big owie scream. I tell the girls to keep running and stop the jogger and pull Willa's jacket off. I see the broken wasp stuck in her neck and pull out the stinger and she cries uncontrollably. Sadly I cant stop to comfort her but take off running after the rest of the kids as she frantically cries and tries to pull herself out of her harness.

After a few minutes of running we start to walk with the goal of getting off this trail and finally find a slope we can clamber up that drops us off at the green on the golf course. We immediately meet a golfer who warns us to watch our for balls, the green is not safe and we should not be walking there. I tell our story and he backs off and points us in the direction of the road. We head off at a run through the green, happy to face a rogue golf ball over a wasp nest.  About 4 irritated golfers later, we make it off the green to the road and finally return to the car.

Scarlett had 3 stings! Ava and Willa each had 1 and luckily Angelina and I lucked out, no stings. Not sure how this stuff happens but this was definitely a nature hike gone wrong. We high tailed it out of there and went and got ice cream.

2 Minute Clusterfuck

4:10 pm:  We are in the back yard and it is a beautiful day. The sun is shining, and Scarlett is sitting in my lap eating macaroni and cheese. Daisy is playing with a doggy toy. We are watching cute naked Willa playing in the water. It is one of those perfect moments.

4:11 pm: Willa is toddling toward the stairs and does the cutest pee. If you have never seen a naked baby pee, it's like a moment of discovery. Willa looks down and seems to say "Wow! look what I can do!"  Scarlett and I laugh, there is nothing cuter than naked babies taking a pee break. Then it happens! She does a big long poo! I grab Daisy because she cant resist poo. I tell Scarlett to run and get some baby wipes. As Willa is running into the house with poopy on her butt, I plead from across the yard for her to stop. All the while this long poo is hanging out of her butt swinging around.

Willa turns and books it up the stairs and drops the dooky on the deck. I chase after her with the dog in my arms, and see another chunk falling on the carpet as she runs inside the house. I put the dog in the kitchen which has a gate to keep her away from the ewey poo and wisk up Willa as she tried to sit her poopy booty on the carpet.

4:12 pm: All the while, Scalrett comes flying over the other baby gate with baby wipes in hand and the macaroni & cheese flies everywhere. I grab the wipes and clean the kaka off Willa's butt and grab the poo off the floor. I take a breath and notice Kevin left the other baby gate in the kitchen wide open.  This gate keeps the cat food safe. Shoot, I just locked Daisy in the Kitchen!  Daisy is happily chomping away on Fancy Feast. I jump over, grab the dog, too late the cat food is gone which means I get to clean up more runny poo later.

4:13 pm: Kevin walks in the house as I have a naked baby on my hip, mac & cheese all over the floor, poopy baby wipes and a dog with cat food breath.

Amazing how much can happen in 2 minutes!