Girls getting catty & the Sublime Ms. Stella

Oh yeah. These are my Homies!

Plenty of good pickins' & carbs to keep going!

Significantly cool girlies getting their groove on!

Help Your Sistah, Help Yourself Success!

Wow!!!! That was awesome! So many amazing women under one roof! Great clothes, far out accessories, way yummy food & endless fun! Pictures to soon be updated. I'm exhausted!

Skate Monkeys

Holy Krakatoa! Me & the Boys discovered Thrasher Park in San Leandro yesterday! It rocks! My kids are doing "ollie's", "grinding", & jumping with the big boys at the skateboard park! Littlest Dude, Kip, is seriously gifted in the skate department. No fear. Finally, something sports oriented that he has the upper hand in with his older brother. We've easilly spent 8 hours there in the past 2 days! So much fun.

The skateboard culture is primarily male. And I have to say, it's the most physical, nurturing, supportive masculine sports environment I've ever witnessed. These guys really know how to show compassion to each other! And the big guys (17-23) watch out & support the little guys (8-12). I was fascinated. No fights, no hard feelings. Just sharing of space & techniques, respectful body language and tutoring, with a strong comraderie of what it is to be male. Every color, shape, size, skill level, & social class became moot. Truly diverse.

I will be faithfully supporting my kids to hang out at skate parks.(And so will I, with them...those older skate monkeys are really easy on the eyes!!!!)

रुलेस

(Thoughts while shopping & reading dumb authoritarian signage) "Well then. If you're gonna make up your own rules, then I'm gonna make up my own, too. So, there!" I think this mind set will suit me well in many arenas!

Should Summer Stay or Should It Go Now...

I am so ambivent!!!!! I LOVE not having a schedule; waking up when we want to, going where ever we want, when we want, NO HOMEWORK, staying up late, playdates & sleepovers any day of the week, SpongeBob... And yet, I can't wait for my guys to go back to school so I don't have to deal with finding playdates to keep them active & stimulated, have a sense of routine and organization, interaction with other adults (them & me!), PERSONAL SPACE, time to find my mind (I think it's with my keys & several mis-matched socks), the ability to finish a project without having to stop and make Mac N Cheese or wipe a butt. Ya know, If we went to a year round schedule, life would be so much more balanced. Honestly, I can't remember the last time I needed the kids for Summer help in tending to our fields. 6-8 weeks on & 2-3 weeks off would be so much more civilized. I am here to testify that my kids lose a huge portion of what they've struggled to learn all year by having too much time elapse during Summer Break. They need more consistent learning phases and breaks in-between to stave off the burn-out. With Year Round School we wouldn't need homework. Homework is killing our evening family time. S-T-R-E-S-S-F-U-L. Our kids and our families need a break. Let's get organized, protest & change this for the better of our families & communities!

Stinson Beach

Wow. I'm telling ya. 4 days at Stinson Beach is really the epitome of California cool. We had such a great time. Lots of sand castles, wave jumping, frisbee &sea crabs (Kip & his buddy, Fia, vigorously advertised to the Life Guard & other unsuspecting beach goers, that they both "had crabs & would be happy to share them." Such giving children! I highly recommend a visit!