The House of Nash: Some Recent Summer Fun

Rose has turned into such a little snuggler lately and not just because of teething or tiredness or anything. She likes to tease Paul by peeking out at him, then when he makes a funny face for her she ducks her noggin' under my chin and giggles right up against my neck. It is seriously too sweet and I don't think I will ever get tired of it.

Blackberries were a big hit with Rose and she got them everywhere.

We have been on a pizza kick lately. The other week we made a whole wheat veggie pizza (possibly one of my favorite things ever - it is seriously SO good) and Clara was my big helper. (I also tried a Chicago deep dish pizza recipe from America's Test Kitchen that was sort of life-changing - recipe is on Tastebook). She really loves rolling things out and pizzas are great because the dough is forgiving and then she has such a great time putting the toppings on the pizza. I totally believe in getting her involved in the cooking process as much as possible early on. Except that she ends up snacking on the mushrooms, peppers, zucchini and cheese that she is supposed to be putting on the pizza so I usually have to take over to make any progress and make sure that dinner actually gets made. Incidentally, Clara has been crazy into wearing her leotards lately whether she has had gymnastics or not. This was a non-gymnastics day because her hair was down and I always braid it for class.

Painting is still a favorite pastime around here. Clara has finally started using crayons too but painting is her first love.

Rose has actually started having success over the past two days with actually fairly consistently getting cheerios from her tray into her mouth using her thumb and forefinger. Is it crazy how ridiculously proud I am of these little developments?

Along with dressing up in leotards, the girls have been wearing the fairy wings (which are apparently butterfly wings since Clara doesn't have a clue what fairies are) to dress up as butterflies. Clara insisted that she was a "sleeping butterfly" when I was trying to take her picture. You know how some kids refuse to take off certain dress up clothes when they run errands with mom? That is how Clara tends to be with these wings and she will walk out to the car wearing them and I have to convince her that I can't buckle her into her carseat with them on.

The girls and I often sit outside in the shade in the evenings while we are waiting for Paul to get home from work. He usually texts to let us know how far away he is since he rides BART and can give us a good ETA. The girls love it and sometimes we take books out there and read for a bit in the front yard while we wait and sometimes we talk to neighbors who come by. Clara likes to bring one of her babies (zebra or giraffe) out with her and push them up and down the sidewalk in the stroller or she plays with Gnomie (a Travelocity roaming gnome that sits on a rock by our entryway).

Waiting for Daddy to Get Home from Amy Nash on Vimeo.

Two weekends ago we decided to go swimming late in the day because we had been running errands and working outside in the heat cleaning up the yard. We ended up at the Dougherty pool that is on the San Ramon/Danville border, I think, because the San Ramon Olympic Pool was closing too early for us. It had a nice kiddie pool that was pretty basic (no climbing structure or slides or anything) and was practically empty. The girls had a great time and Rose has finally seemed to really have come around when it comes to swimming pools. It used to take her quite a bit to warm up to being in the cool water but she got right to it this time and started splashing and playing immediately.

This video is just a random one of Rose chatting with Paul the other day. I like it because it shows what a wiggle worm she is and how she has little squeals and noises that are darling:

Rose chattering from Amy Nash on Vimeo.

We are still going to 24 Hour Fitness on a regular basis and it is seriously awesome. The girls like it too and as I type this Clara is walking around chanting "I want to go to the gym, gym, gym!" because Rose is still asleep and we can't leave until she wakes up. They have a huge playplace-type structure with slides and platforms and tunnels and that kind of stuff and Clara literally goes up and down that thing the whole time I am in class while Rose basks in the adoration of the staff who are totally enamored with her. My favorite thing to do right now is go to a class called "Nike Team Training" which is sort of like a bootcamp class set to music but not involving any dance. It has lots of steps and weights and squats and pushups and that sort of stuff without being all cheesy (which drives me crazy about group exercise classes).

I posted this on instagram and am definitely tooting my own horn here but a while back I was watching Clara do gymnastics and started wondering why she gets to have all the fun and why did I feel like I was incapable of doing gymnastics myself. So I set out to accomplish some feats of strength to prove to myself that I CAN still do gymnastic type things. Doing a handstand is one of those things that I really wanted to be able to do. I can hold it for a few seconds at a time and although my feet are cut off in this picture I was not touching the mirror behind me - I just like to practice next to a wall still just in case I kick over too hard when I am going into it. It is so weird how I still have to overcome fears every time though - fears of looking dumb or of falling or getting hurt. But I feel like it is good mental and spiritual exercise to push myself past those fears and do this. Anyway, the next step is to try to find an adult gymnastics class and try it out. (okay, okay, it is Wednesdays at 8:30 at night - I just need to go do it already. My friend Bethany inspired me about this when she joined an adult ballet class last year and then posted a picture of herself in her costume at her recital this past spring. Seriously, Bethany, you are my hero.)

This past weekend Paul and I participated in the ROC (Ridiculous Obstacle Challenge) 5K race. Only it is not so much a race because it isn't even timed and most people don't run the whole thing (we did though - mostly). Essentially, it is a 5k with obstacles along the way that you have to go through, much like the TV show "Wipeout". There was a wall to climb, a giant moon bounce to jump across, a huge waterslide that you rode down in an intertube with a big bump at the end that dumped you into a pool of water, rotating padded "sweeper" arms that knocked people off a balance beam as they attempted to cross, giant swinging "wrecking balls" that knocked people into a pool of water as they made their way across a cylindrical padded beam, etc. Paul made it past the wrecking balls which was pretty amazing since hardly anyone was getting across without falling. I did pretty well and made it to about 4 feet from the platform before I lost my footing and ended up in the water. It was a super fun day date, reminiscent of the Warrior Dash that we did a few years back, only we liked this one even better. We would definitely do it again.

After we got home and the girls woke up from their naps, we went to explore downtown Pleasanton and check out a pretty wonderful soft-serve ice cream place called Meadowlark Dairy. It is a drive through or there is a walk-up window (which is what we did) and it has been around since the early 1900's and was "the first certified dairy in California" (according to their website). Paul and I both got vanilla/chocolate swirl cones and Clara got a strawberry/pineapple cone (I didn't like the pineapple to tell the truth but the vanilla/chocolate was excellent) and we sat on a nearby curb to eat them. Rose even got a couple of tastes from Daddy's cone, thanks to her status of being the second child (ice cream was off-limits for Clara until she was 1 although Paul says he snuck her some when I didn't know about it).

And we have been playing lots of "Go Fish" around here with these darling Eeboo cards that I ordered after playing with a set that Emma has while we were visiting in Utah. We also got "Old Maid" but haven't opened it yet. The colors have more elaborate names like buttercup, turquoise, eggplant, café au lait, and indigo, which is kind of cool and Clara loves it. When the three of us play together she only wants to ask Paul if he has the color she is looking for, never me. And when he says "no, go fish" Clara grins and says "oh gosh!" and then draws her card. It has us cracking up every time.