I took Tyler to get his haircut for picture day. They stylist took him back to the shampoo bowl to get all grass and leaves out of his hair (do people with girls have to deal with that?). She asked him about his summer and what types of things he did.

The little stinker said we didn't do anything fun over the summer! WTH? We went to the beach EVERY day for week when the relatives were in town. We went to Sea World. We spent a ton of time at our neighborhood pool and had Deb and her family over twice. I'm sure there's more, I've just blocked it out already. I was a bit miffed.

Then, she asked if we'd gone on vacation and all the anger fell away and I reached for my Worst Mommy Ever hat. This is something Phil and I feel really badly about. We've never been on a family vacation. Phil has gone to visit friends. I took Tyler to visit my grandparents. I've gone on trips.

But, we've never gone anywhere as a family. We have the best intentions every year. We think about where we can go and come up with a budget. We were supposed to drive to Utah and go camping with friends but we would have been driving back three days before BlogHer and I just couldn't do it. Tyler's face when we told him we weren't going after all made me feel like shit.

I know it's not about WHERE you go, but what you do together. I get all that feel good stuff, and it's true. But. I can't help feeling like we're not making any memories. And to be perfectly candid, I want him to have an answer to this question. I want him to be able to tell his friends about the places we've gone. I want him to see other cities and states.

I shouldn't care about Keeping up with Jones' but I'm big enough to admit that I do, at least a little (who the hell are the Jones' and exactly how did they become a standard to look up to?).

Living in southern California is like being on vacation and I do feel lucky and appreciative when I get glimpses of the ocean as I run errands. But there's nothing like the anticipation of going somewhere new, eating different foods and sleeping in a hotel. Hopefully we'll be able to give that feeling to Tyler someday.

(National Lampoon poster from Google Images)

Mama, Look At Me!

"Mama, did you see me?! I was in the deep end!"

Bathing Suits, What I Ate and a Secret

School is out in 5 days and I know I'll be spending lots of time at our pool (free entertainment!) I thought I should get one more suit so I'm not always washing the one already have. So, I went bathing suit shopping Tuesday.

It was awful. Horrible. Demoralizing. I tried on 8 suits at Marshall's and hated them all. If I could wear this I'd have no problems:
But alas, this body ain't a bikini body. My quest for something like this continues:


I did not, however, come home empty handed:


Ahhhh! Isn't it fabulous? I love, love, love it. Only $20! I've been looking for a purple jewelry box for the longest time. Shhh, don't tell my husband. It's in the trunk of my car for now.

And here's what I ate Tuesday and yesterday:

Tuesday
4 grapes
Half a cantaloupe
My smoothie
1 bottled water with Crystal Light To Go fruit punch flavor
8 Sprees
Chicken nuggets
French fries
Baked beans
12-15 gummi bears (I lost count, Weeds is such a great show!)

Wednesday
Half a cantaloupe
Half a multi grain bagel, toasted with peanut butter
1 mug Chai tea latte
2 bowls of homemade chili over spaghetti, sprinkle of cheddar and 4 crackers
1 mug Tazo Apple tea
1/4 cup chocolate caramel trail mix

Works for Me Wednesday: Cheap model kits for boys

I don't know about you, but the end of the school year is sending me into a panic. My 5 year olds last day of kindergarten is in a few days. Since I was working until recently, I've never had to deal with the summer boredom blues.

Now, I'm faced with keeping DS entertained without spending a lot of money. In looking for craft ideas, it seems the store shelves are either full of sparkly, feathery things to make, or are a little more complicated than my son can handle without getting impatient and frustrated.

I went to Michaels looking for model kits that he could do with little supervision. I lucked out with these. I bought six kits: a tank, helicopter, fighter jet, tri-plane, railroad train, and racecar.


Each kit comes with the paint, paint brush, glue and sandpaper.


Some of the pieces, like the ones from the tank kit, are small so be careful around younger children.


The instructions call for the pieces to be sanded and painted before assembly, so it's a great "start now, finish when your father gets home" project.

And the best part, they were only $1 each!

For more "Mom, I'm bored" ideas head on over to Shannon's.

Works for Me Wednesday: Sunscreen and Sun Safety

Most advice on when to re-apply sunscreen, including the says that more applications are needed after two hours, swimming or excessive sweating (blech!).

I followed either the two hour rule or when my son’s cheeks started to get pink, whichever came first. I’m crazy anal about putting on sunscreen before we head out, but not always good with the re-application. Then I saw an ad last year in one of my parenting magazines for Sun Signals and became a changed woman.

Sun Signals are small stickers that react to UVB rays. Fresh out of the package, they are light orange with little sunbursts. The more UVB rays they absorb, the darker orange they get, and the sunbursts disappear. The transition from light to dark lets you know it’s time to re-apply the sunscreen, regardless of how much time has gone by.

Today, I put a Sun Signal outside to demonstrate.The day started out a little overcast, but was starting to clear up. I put a Sun Signal on my patio at 9:51am, before taking DS to school.


I ran a few errands and in just over an hour (11:05), it had gone its darkest shade.

The two on the left are from the package, the one on the right was outside (sorry for the blurriness!)

These have been so helpful because after we started using them, I was really able to grasp the idea that keeping “fresh” sunscreen on is so important. We’ve never made it a full two hours before the Sun Signal changed colors, which means we were going under protected for years! And, I would put on a little sunscreen on an overcast day but rarely, if ever, thought to re-apply.

My son hates putting on sunscreen even though he knows it means he can’t go swimming/to the park/to the zoo etc. without it. With the Sun Signals he can see what the sun would be doing to his skin if he didn’t have it on. He still fusses, but not as much as before I started using them.

People see the sticker on our shirts or hats and ask about them, especially when I pull the old sticker off and put on a new one, so I wanted to pass them along. Have a safe summer!