Summer Squanderings

Hazel on the back porch smelling the fresh cut roses after a swim 

It's officially summer, and with two working parents, summer for us happens on the weekends and those precious hours between pick-up from daycare/preschool and put-down to bed.  We've taken full advantage of our backyard bliss and broke out a hippo pool given to us as a present for Tatum's first birthday.  Most evenings are spent splashing in the hippo pool, but some evenings entail a different kind of adventure. 



No worries - Hazel did not suffer any dysentery after this play day



Our new favorite park located in LaCresenta has a small babbling stream.  The key to visiting the park is to be prepared with a change of clothes and towels.  Although I have yet to take this key advise myself, we make the most of wet tushes and enjoy the simplicity that can only be achieved on a hot afternoon, sittting in water, and throwing rocks. 



Snacking at Descanso before the Show

Yesterday the family summer concert series kicked off at Descanso Gardens.  So if you are wondering where we'll be the next five Tuesday evenings, it's here.  Last night we attended in our matching ballerina fairy dresses, graciously given to us by the girls Great Aunt Bobbi and Uncle Dick.  And if you can believe it, this is the first time I've dressed the girls in matching outfits.  Needless to say, they are SUPER cute.

Being a perfect mother....

Is saying yes to your children when they ask you for popcorn for breakfast.

Getting into the Saddle

It is a wonderful experience to be near Hazel as she squeals in excitement about animals, birds, and insects. Hazel has not started using words yet (and no, I am not worried) but what she does use are shrills and screams to express her joy of seeing other non-human living things.  So it was really fun to take her and Tatum to ride the horses at Griffith Park last weekend.  Hazel is finally getting to the age that she can do more and more fun activities, and she is so excited to be allowed to participate. 

Oh yes, and Tatum loves it too! 

Goodness! Well...here's an update

Wow?  Has my lack of posting gone on so long that now Google blogger has a whole new format to compose posts?  I guess so.

It appears that half my entries in the blog start with apologies to my dear viewers for the lack of posting, and, well, this post falls into that category.  We are in June, and my last post was in March.  Ah, oh well!  If you are reading this then your commitment to me, and my bogging, is still in tact and I hope to not disappoint.

So much has happened (as you can imagine in a house of two girls under five) in the last few months, but let's start with the biggest news - TATUM TURNED FOUR!   And to celebrate, we had four parties for her, more like four celebrations....

The Shearer Family celebrating at Outback Steakhouse thanks to a birthday gift card from Pop Pop.

A super happy four year old celebrating with friends at preschool.

 

 

For the past year or so I have been working on Karma Triyana Dharmachakra's (KTD) National Steering Committee for Family and Dharma programming.  KTD is the monastery I belong to and have been affiliated with almost my entire life.  In case you didn't know, I am Buddhist!  My work lead me to participate in a Family Weekend hosted at KTD where Tatum and I took our first trip together to join my mom and grandmother in Woodstock, NY.  That's right - four generations!  It was the first time I had returned to KTD in ten years, and it was a wonderfully magically weekend full of activities, crafts, nature hikes, life releases, and fun!  And even more special, Tatum turned four while in New York.  She was able to share her birthday with her new friends, my mother, and grandmother (not to mention a whole plane of strangers too as we flew back to LA that night).  

 

Above - Tatum poses in front of prayer flags near the pond. 
Right - Tatum insists on swimming in the gorge although it is freezing.  Like mother, like daughter - where there is water, we will get in!

The rest of the family, meaning Andrew and Hazel, are doing great.  Hazel is still smiling with only six teeth in her head, but that does not keep her from eating anything placed on the table.  We finally moved Hazel out of room and set her up in Tatum's room.  The girls enjoy their shared space, and we parents LOVE having a room to our own.  The simple freedom of being able to walk into my bedroom and turn on the light no matter what time is an act I will never take for granted.