Saturday, March 29, 2014

Rockin' at the Exploration Station

Guess who teamed up again for a great Saturday adventure?! And it wasn't just a regular day at the Exploration Station in Grover Beach, it was "Geology Rocks" day. Oh my. All the pics are here.


Saturday, March 22, 2014

Fillmore and Western Railway

Matteo and Papa Jamie had an AWESOME day traveling to the Fillmore & Western Railway for their Weekend Scenic Train Excursion and, as it turned out, so much more. Not only did the dining car serve hot dogs and nachos, but candies, nuts, and the most sugary candies you've ever seen. And the fun kept right on coming as we stopped at Santa Paula where they have "museums" that sell stuff (i.e. antique stores), old freight depots, oil museum, ag museum, bakeries, and murals galore, and then on to the Loose Caboose and Garden Center with its plethora of koi fish, turtles, goats, bunnies, upside down trees, and peacocks. Matteo slept the entire drive home.

Photos: http://friends-smvrr.org/140322.html


Wednesday, March 12, 2014

A Day in the Life of a Rattlesnake

The Central Coast STEM Collaborative (CCSTEM.org) in conjunction with the SLO Children's Museum (SLOCM.org) put on a Science After Dark program about snakes. Right up Matteo's alley! There was a brief slideshow presentation about rattlesnakes, and then the kids got to go around the museum and visit six different snakes, up close and as personal as they wanted. Even a rattlesnake! A few more photos: http://jf2.com/140312/


Tuesday, March 11, 2014

Matteo's Pond

It seemed each kindergartener was to bring something to school that would help his classmates learn something about him. This "fishing pond" was perfect. It is Matteo to the T. Choose a rod, pull up a fish, and read a tag with a little something about Matteo, like "Matteo wants to be a paleontologist." I think there was some Mom help. Very cool.

BTW, tomorrow night it's Rattlesnakes at the SLO Children's Museum!...

Saturday, March 8, 2014

Solvang Century

"Century", in this case, refers to a 100-mile bike ride. And who do you suppose decides to tackle a half-century, 50 miles, but Tracy and Janice. Wow. Spoiler alert: they were smiling almost as broadly at the end as at the beginning. What an accomplishment! Solvang to Lompoc and back. Photos: JF2.com/140308/

Friday, March 7, 2014

Hand To Hold

4/10/2014 - Update - I am just $100 away from 1st place with less then 24hr to go!!  Please push us into the lead!

#update with in an hour of posting you guys pushed me into the lead!!  Love you all, tears of joy!  Dont let that stop you from donating if you haven't, I still need to stay in the lead!

Wow, what a week/few months it has been in these parts of the world.  Probably one of the most trying weeks for all of us (I know me or sure).  With the twins super sick, unable to communicate their needs the amount of crying in these here parts has been out of control.  During this mornings scream fest I texted a dear friend a plea of help.  She always has the wisest advice and new ways to look at the situation.  In her return text she wrote back with a list of things that could be causing this cry feast and at the end wrote:
 "if that's the case, they are further proving the fact that they're little miracle babies who just don't sound very miraculous right now." 

If that statement wasn't the truth I don't know what is.  It made me laugh and cry all at the same time and think about where my boys started and how far they have come, maybe just maybe, today they need a few extra hugs because they have fought harder in their 2 years of life then some people will ever fight in their life time.  

Which of course always makes me think of our NICU and those faithful doctors, nurses, therapist, and cuddlers that cared for them as they would their own.  

Our charge nurse and 2 other nurses form the NICU holding the boys at our NICU reunion just 3 months after we were released.


I so badly want to give back to them what they have given our family..two healthy happy boys.  But nothing every seems right.  We take them cookies or little treats, stop by and just say Hi, but I would love to give them something more to help them, the way they helped our boys.


Hand to Hold is a non profit organization that helps get educational materials to NICUs, and support NICU families and bereaved families.  I found them when we were introduced to the NICU two years ago and I learned so much and loved their support.  I still visit their website pretty regularly to learn about new developments in the care of preterm babies and also to seek support in their section on "life after the NICU"

They are currently trying to raise money for their programs and have an awesome giveaway.  Basically the person who receives the most donation will be able to give a $5,000.00 grand prize to the NICU of their choice.  The prize includes things like new equipment for the NICU, education for the staff and more.  I would love nothing more then to give that grand prize to our local NICU.  This would be a dream come true.  I can't even express what that NICU and their staff means to our family.  

So if you are able I would love it if you could donate to Hand to Hold to help out our local NICU!  I am currently in the second place and would love it if you guys could push me over the top!!  Here is a direct link to my page which has more information about Us, Hand to Hold and the NICU Giveaway:

My donation page.

Here are few pictures of our beloved  NICU staffers with our boys!  

The #1 cuddler.  One of the first people to hold our boys, he spent almost every night our boys were in the NICU holding them and loving on them.
Our Primary Nurse.  Words can not express the spot she has in our heart.  So many tears shed the day we left the NICU with our boys, of joy and sadness.  She had loved my boys with all her heart and still does today.
Special Signs one nurse made for both our boys.  Taking into account their culture!! So much love.


Our boys final crib before coming home.  The nurses always made sure they had cute blankets and toys to look at.  LOVE!


Please if you could see it in your heart to give to a good cause, any dollar amount to earn our NICU the grand prize it would mean the world to our family.  It might be a little but as they say;

"Small things matter in the NICU."