fire in the hole!

The other day, we had a little fire.  In our oven.

Well, it was big enough that I wanted to yank the fire extinguisher off the wall, but small enough for JP and I to have an argument about the best way to put it out.

Everyone survived, dinner was still put on the table and eaten, and JP and I have even recovered from our argument.

The one thing left to do was actually clean the oven.

Background info: we've lived in this house for almost seven years.... and we've never cleaned the inside of our oven.  Okay, that's pretty darn gross, but technically, no food is ever touching the sides and bottom of our oven.  (I always tell my kids if you have to say 'technically', something's not right.)

Not to mention the fact that this oven came with the house....we can draw our own conclusions there.

After the fire, we weren't able to use the oven without cleaning it, so now was the time.  We chose the chemical-free pinterest option of baking soda, salt, vinegar and letting it sit overnight.

The next morning, I started scrubbing.  I don't think know we haven't seen through our oven window in seven years.

This is what it was looking like.  Let's just say I went through several sponges.

And then I called in the big guns and let JP scrub the inside.

How do you get a little helper not to help?  Food in a high chair. 

We'll skip to the good part.  Sore muscles, and the use of a flat file to scrape off the filth, this is what our oven looked like afterwards.

I know there's still some spots, but after what it was...this looks like NEW!

Look at that shine!  Let's keep it that way, shall we?

treetop adventure

Last year, we bought a family pass to the VA Beach Aquarium for Diego's birthday.  He loves ocean animals (his favorite is the giant squid), and we thought it would be something we'd love to do as a family.

And then we realized Carmen hated long car rides.

And even without Carmen, Isabela almost got four teeth knocked out by an ocean wave after visiting the aquarium, so that put a damper on us going back.

But the pass was expiring soon, so we decided to brave the drive one last time.

I wish we could have seen more of the aquarium, but we had one main goal this trip...

...the zipline course!

We walked along the nature trail to get to it.  There were pelicans and paddle boarders to watch.

A beautiful breeze was blowing and the temperature was perfect.

We paused to get a closer look...

...at the jets doing flybys.  So cool.

Now here's a hint if you ever go...do NOT start at the starting platform.  Notice those tiny signs on the steps that say clip in?  Our wild bunch of kids, and Dad included, sprang up the steps only to be greeted at the top by the workers saying, "Whoa, whoa, whoa, how did you all get up here?  You don't even have harnesses."  I guess it's important to have the proper gear if you're going to be zipping around.

Getting gear and learning how to clip in took about an hour.  But then they had 3 more hours to try the different courses.

From each platform, there were different obstacles to cross.  I don't think any two are the same.

Diego was even able to go around by himself after awhile.

Here Isabela is holding on to trapeze rings and zipping across to another tree.

Diego suspended mid-air.

He would purposely jump off and dangle.  No fear.

Isabela made it across on this fish, but almost missed the platform at the end.  She had a surprised look on her face as she held on for dear life, but the harness would have caught her.  Still, I was glad someone had to stay on the ground and watch Carmen.  It may as well be me.

Diego loved doing the splits across these swinging logs.

Oh, look, there's Joaquin.  He's getting ready to swing across on a rope and grab onto a net.  That's pretty high up.

Diego unhooking after zipping across.

And that would be JP on the double black diamond course.  He decided to tackle the hardest course in the last thirty minutes we were there.  It looks simple enough.  But then there was that darn incline at the end.

He didn't make it.  Then ended up slipping and tried to pull himself across using just his arms.  But after three hours, his strength was sapped.  He had to be rescued.

Here they are lowering him to the ground.  He's not giving up though.  He's started up with a trainer to boost his upper body strength.  I asked him just today if he's got any muscles yet, and he laughed and replied, "You have to get worse before you get better."

This was an amazing day of adventure that was so worth it.  I guess if we ever go back, I'll have to work up the nerve to try it.  I better start doing push-ups now.

Here's a video of Isabela zipping:

And one more of how much nerve it takes:

(try and ignore my annoying advice given from the safety of the ground).

stuck inside

I tried to keep the kids busy while we were stuck inside for days and days.

This lasted a good thirty minutes....I picked up these klutz castle building cards for $3 at a children's consignment sale.

Joaquin and his dad built this together.

Kitty spent a lot more time with us inside.  Carmen and the cat seem to be having some kind of stare down.

Joaquin made his famous vanilla shake (milk, sugar, vanilla, and ice).  It leaves a great milk mustache.

And I finally gave in and turned Carmen's bed into a toddler bed.  (She sleeps in our bed anyway, so really it's just a big decoration.)  

She was super-excited at first.  But in the end, everyone EXCEPT her wanted to sleep in it.

Juan Pablo brought some cool toys home from Bolivia for the kids to try out.  There was one we've seen at colonial days around here, but we never could figure it out.

Let me tell you how not to do it:

Don't swing that heavy end up into the air!

It's solid wood and metal and could probably be used as a weapon.  I was shocked it was a kid's toy at first.

But of course, Isabela discovered how to use it.  Here's a little video...sorry for the quality...I'm still not good with my camera's video option...just be glad I edited out the conversation for some music.

snow play

What great snow we had this year!  

Three different kinds.  The first was a powdery dust great for sledding, the second was perfect for snowballs and men, and the third was icy and great for tracking wild animals using their foot prints.  

It turns out that while we all had snow pants, none of us had snow boots.

Plastic bags solved that problem.

But we also don't live near any hills.  I take that back, there's an awesome that looks like it's in walking distance, so I tried it with Diego one day.  The brush got so dense with pricker bushes and tiny trees, we finally had to give up and turn around.  Well, not until Diego's shoe fell off and he walked around in his sock feet on the snow.

Joaquin found a way to get around the no-hill problem.

Carmen with her feet bundled up.  She didn't like that too much, so she didn't stay out in the snow for very long.

Isabela was trying to prove how warm the snow really is.  Then Joaquin pegged her with a snow ball. There really was no escape.

Diego thought he'd try it out...

he hated it.

There turned out to be a way more fun sledding spot...

...straight into the street.  (The girls were the blockers to make sure he didn't go flying into traffic.)  I decided to give it a try, but quickly had to put an end to that fun after I went careening into Joaquin and carried him with me headfirst towards the street.  The kids are still mad I made them stop.

We also put out some black-oil sunflower seeds for the birds, and they were oh, so happy!  

We saw all kinds and colors of birds.

Looks like they all have a favorite branch.  And it's the same one.

I loved how the gum balls pop out in this picture.  Do you see the bird?

With the second snow, Joaquin was the only one that ventured out to play in it.  He built a precious snowman.

I thought he was all done so I stepped out to snap a few pictures.

Nope, he wanted to add a hat.

And then a scarf.  Doesn't he look like he should just come to life?

His carrot nose and grape features are currently decomposing on the lawn now.

Here comes spring!