How much damage can a 5 inch Screech Owl do in a home??

Wel, we have had quite a few exciting few days...starting at 5:10am Friday with a loud banging coming from the living room...Brian got up to see what it was, then I got up, and we knew there was "something" in the livingroom fireplace...but what "IT" was, we weren't sure...whatever "IT" was, was desperately trying to push the fireplace doors open...so we got the flashlight out and looked in...I was expecting to see one of the many gigantic racoons that we have here, but nooooooo.....what we saw was this little, big-eyed bird...we looked closer and realised that it was a FREAKIN' OWL!!!!! an owl in the house.....what the?? we looked at each other, laughed for a second and then said "oh s_ _ t"..now what do we do?" For startes, not wake the kids at that hour....

I called the Marin Humane Society emergency number...they came over at 5:45am...told us it was a Screech Owl...she tried to get him, and he said "nope, not gonna catch me"..and he jumped up on the flu door opening in the chimney and became unreachable.....

then, he jumped back down about 10mins. later, so back came the Marin Humane Society...we waited, waited, waited...no owl coming out....I was past time for kids to eat, get dressed and to school....so we had to leave the house with the little sucker back up in the chimney again...

I take both girls to school, and I call Anna to tell her I can't make the gym, due to my little "friend" in the house...LUCKY for me, Anna's neighbor works for WildCare, this great organization in San Rafael that helps animals ...so Anna and her neighbor Becky came over, and Becky tried to get the little owl out, but no luck....so she called her ofice and and they have an "extraction specialist" on their staff.....so she came up....and tried and tried and tried and tried for 2hrs. to get this little stubborn, naughty owl out of my fireplace....we had to dismantle the gas fireplace, take the doors off the fireplace, even had a person inside my fireplace up into the chimney trying to get this little 5 inch bird OUT!!!

here is Becky (in the blue shirt) and Jasmine...trying to get our little "friend" out.....

but Jasmine has been defeated by this 5 inch little creature.....he's not coming out.....

we blocked the entrance with a sheet taped to the outside of the fireplace, took the cap off the chimney, hoping maybe the owl would go out the top...so last night we all went to bed...Meigan passed out from pure exhaustion...and Catie was SO worrid about this owl getting out into the house....she finally fell asleep, then at 11:30pm, she was crying out LOUDLY in her bed...I ran into her room, and she was sobbing uncontrollably....I asked her what was wrong, and she said she was too scared to get up and go to the bathroom.....poor bean....so I took her in our room, and she fell asleep with us.....so much for getting a good nights sleep...

This morning, 7:25am, Brian gets up...and comes down into the living room, and all I hear is "oh no"...and I hear Catie come running up the hallway and she jumps on me in the bed and under the covers....I hear Brian chuckling to himself, and he says "hon, we've got a houseguest in the TV Room"....

and here it is.......

so, I called the Humane Society again, and our same wonderful person came back, and caught the little sucker, but not without a fight...he got out the net the first time, flew to the living room, then she got him again, then he escaped again in the kitchen...and finally she got him and put him in the box to keep him safe....he'd had no food or water for over 24hrs...poor little owl......

now, what did he do inside the house????? well, he knocked over picture frames, turned my walls sconces sideways, and turned pictures on the wall in my entry way sideways and upside down....he must have been flying the loop around my house...I'd have loved to see that! All things considered, it could have been much worse...he was really kind to us and didn't do that much damage.....

Then, it was all over and Winnie saves the day!!! here's our favorite Humane Society Emergency Rescue person...she came on Friday morning and tried to get him....and she came back this morning...Catie opened the door and yelled out "Hi Winnie, come quick the owl is in our house"...so cute!

she grabbed the fiesty owl with her hand after his 3rd escape attempt this morning.....then let the girls get right down next to her and see him upclose...they thought it was really cool.....though Catie was hesitant to get too close, Meigan ran right up front fast!

so, here we are at 10:00pm...the fireplace is put back together, picture frames righted, sconces fixed and kids asleep with no worries.....

and we're SOOOOOOOO tired!

The End of an Era...

Tonight we bade farewell to our beloved car...we loved our car, but it grew too small for us and 2 kids, and carpooling, swimteam, etc...nevermind when Nana and Grampa come, there's no room for them either.... we got this car before Catie turned 3....oh, so many memories in that car...so many tantrums, spills, goldfish dumps, laughs, roadtrips......but, it was time to say farewell to our lovely Lexus.....

AND HELLLLLOOOOOOOO TO OUR NEW 2007 NISSAN PATHFINDER!

this nice little gem is right up our alley! with a 3rd row seat, for Catie and her friends, and it folds down for extra storage.....

as you can tell from the next few pictures, the girls are VERY excited about the new car!

Catie tries out the side mirrors for blowing kisses......

Meigan has excellent form scaling the folded down 3rd seat to get into the 2nd row....

I think it's safe to say, these new wheels are a BIG hit with the girls!!

now, about that new car payment.......

How To Catch a Leprechaun...1st Grade Style.....

here it is...Catie's leprechaun trap!
what a FUN 1st grade project! I though I'd help her, but nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo....I got the "Mom, Daddy is an ENGINEER and he KNOWS how to do this...you don't!".....well, smack me in the face...geesh.......

so, on the weekend, Catie and her engineer Daddy got busy with this contraption! trapping the leprechaun with chocolate gold coins, with sticky tape! I say it's a winner!!!!

so much for my idea....I just make lunches, clean up messes, drive to school, art class, play dates, gymnastics and swimteam.....

How to play in the sandbox WITHOUT getting sand in your shoes....

I about fell off the bench today when I saw Meigan doing her new trick!
I told her to take off her shoes and go in the sandbox, and she said "no, I can do it this way, SEE"!

truthfully, I had the camera ready as I expected her to go head first into the sand, but nope, she held it together....she's quite the agile little monkey...she can balance, pull herself up on monkey bars, invert on the rings at gymnastics....she's too much!

Goggle Girl..........

80 degrees outside suddenly..................pool barely 60 degrees.....2 girls skinny dipping.......
2 frozen children.........

pneumonia.....

kidding.....I hope....

Ringing in Chinese New Year

Can anyone match the crocs and the kids?

These are a few fun pics that we took on Saturday night, celebrating the last night of the Chinese New Year celebration... We had Anna, Steven and Norah over for noodles (for the kids) and a fabulous london broil and salad for the grown ups...and that's it.....well, alright...I'll tell the truth...a few pomegranate martinis were consumed along with some really good wine...and the kids stayed up MUCH MUCH MUCH too late...but it was very fun! I bought a lot of poppers in Chinatown for the kids, and they had a blast throwing them on the ground and hearing them "pop" and stepping on them.."More Please"
Norah was having a very good time with the poppers.....
but all that celebrating tuckered out the girls...and they had some down time, watching Charlotte's Web...they all had their little stuffed pigs with them, and some popcorn and they got comfy in our bed....(and I was finding popcorn for days after under the covers).....

and then, things got "lively".....Meigan and Norah got their jammies on and got happy feet....Brian was playing some very old vinyl records and the girls were having a great time dancing around.....

Catie was making all of us menus for her restaurant called "Friends and Family" and taking our orders..writing down everything that we wanted...she's such a smart girl...reading and writing....then she decided that Steven needed some "doctoring"...and made him homemade casts....out of my nice chinese new year napkins and scotch tape...

and at last the party was over and it was time for all little girls to go to bed! shortly after this hug, Meigan went to bed and passed out!

It was quite a fun CNY party at the Van Weele house....next year we'll be hitting the big parade in San Francisco and splurging for the bleacher seats! Catie loves the parade, but this year, it was going to be too much for Meigan and Norah...lots of loud drums and firecrackers..

Happy Year of the Pig!!!

Meig's stylin' new flip flops....pretty cute, huh?

she picked these out at Target (fondly known to my girls are Tarjay).....Catie got lavendar ones... I have to admit, they are very cute...and even cuter on Meig's tiny little size 7 1/2 feet...

Lovely in Lavender

Every year for CNY, I take a nice picture of the girls in one of their nice Chinese dresses...Years ago, back when I was organized I'd take a photo, and send out Chinese New Year cards to friends and our travel groups.....unfortunately, I"m lame now, and not organized anymore...

here are some of the highlights from our photo session...

Piggy Jammies

I had to post these jammies I found for the girls the other day...appropriate for the Year of the Pig!

A Jelly Belly Sugar Rush

Our week of school vacation is winding down, so this morning, since it was raining, I took the girls to Fairfield to tour the Jelly Belly Factory. We were accompanied by Meigan's preschool buddy Pascale, her Mom Jean and baby Noemie. We had a very fun time touring the plant, seeing how they are made, smelling the intense lemon scent of the lemon jellybeans, and best of all..was the FREE candy at the end and tasting many of the flavors! I held out hopes for Meigan taking a nap on the way home, but that was foiled, since the sugar rush of a kazillion jellybeans kicked in! Lunch was something, as you'll see from the picture...a jellybean shaped cheese pizza! pretty creative thinking!

Pacsale, Meigan and Catie infront of the giant inflatable jellybean

We got special hats for the tour.........

The girls looking down at the factory where the jellybellys are packaged up...

this is the jellybean shaped pizza...think there is enough cheese on that??? My 2 girls ate all but 2 pieces of this...

and last but not least....

THE LOOT.... I left there with $15 worth of jellybeans...what WAS I thinking???

Words escape me....

Truly, this really is my finest moment as a Mom, I think.....I mean really, what's NOT to be proud of when your 3 1/2 yrs. old daughter says "Mom, look at what I can do"...and you turn around to see this....well, the pride just wells up within! and yes, snot is what's sticking the kleenex to her face.....

A Monterey Weekend

The Lone Cypress..This is one of California's most enduring landmarks and it has been on this rocky perch for over 250 years!!!!

April 9th will mark my 15th year of living in California. While I do miss New Hampshire, I can't imagine living anywhere else! We are so very lucky to live here! The California coastline is truly stunning!

This weekend, we took the girls down to Monterey! We spent Sunday at the Aquarium, and today, driving the beaches, and sightseeing along the incredible, breathtaking and famous 17 Mile Drive, home to some of the finest golf courses and ocean viewing in California, and some of the most amazing homes I've ever laid my eyes on. Where do these people get their $$$$$????? We had a really great family weekend of fun, food and lots and lots of laughter and jumping on hotel beds! (scroll down for those photos)

Here are Catie and Meigan being eaten by a giant clam at the Aquarium...

This giant stuffed sea otter was outside a store right next to the Aquarium...the girls got nice and cozy with him..as it was a chilly, foggy breezy morning..

And when it really comes down to what a great family weekend getaway is all about, I think we can all agree that it is ALL ABOUT jumping on the beds in a hotel!!! This has been our ritual everytime we go to a hotel...the girls "have to" check out the beds first to be sure they're a-ok for jumping on! As you can see, Catie got some good air with her between the beds jump! She prefected this move in just a couple of minutes! I say a definite 10 for form and style!!

Now, you didn't think it was ALL about the kids did ya? heck no...Brian and I found this fabulous brewpub downtown Monterey in the Portola Plaza Hotel.....Peter B's was excellent! really really good beer they brew, and the food was great, and it was very kid friendly...we stumbled upon this place and were really happy with it! I had a fantastic caesar salad, and the kids got grilled panini jack cheese sandwiches and fries, and Brian and a great grilled skirt steak....

Then it was back to the hotel, the girls sharing one queen sized bed, and Brian and in another..

here's the Sunday night scenario..Meig passes out at 8:20pm (had to be first asleep in order to get the ONLY remaining cookie left in the room), Brian snoring by 8:35pm, Catie and I watched a great whale segment on Animal Planet and ate Tootsie Rolls, and then by 9:00pm I sipped wine and watched Desperate Housewives.

....then throughout the night, Meigan was restless and Catie was yelling at Meigan to get her feet out of her face...... nothing like all sharing a room for a peaceful night's sleep...needless to say, we were all up by 6:15am today...

These are from the beaches along 17 Mile Drive...the wind was howling, and whipping cold, and as you can see from these pictures, it wasn't a good hair day for any of us! but we saw a TON of seals in the water, on the shores, etc. and it was such fun! This coastline is just spectacular!

CAtie counted at least 25 seals around this spot...these guys on the shore and a bunch were right in the water.....now, the beach here, is infront of this huge house...I couldn't get a really good picture of it, but it was outrageous..HUGE... serious big bucks around this area....crazy!