December '16

Just a little phone dump of pictures.

Owen loves when Eden comes to his class.  Lately this little (big) girl has been joining us for picnic pals regularly. 

Preschool happy place.  We are going to miss this place so much next year!

Hanging out with big kids!

This particular day Ms. Jennifer brought Owen home for me, but not before taking him on a whole foods shopping extravaganza.  She told me she was just going to stop for a couple things.  Turns out she basically let him buy anything he wanted.  A few of his choices: sushi, guacamole, 2 kinds of popsicles, string (goat) cheese, pineapple, watermelon and chicken salad.  He was thrilled.  And we all feasted when they got here!

Our friends treated us to a Rams game one Sunday which was super fun even though the Rams lost....by a lot.

To make ourselves feel better we stopped at sumo sushi on our way home.  I haven't eaten here in years - and it didn't disappoint. 

Oh monday..... but the good thing was that this was our last week of school before the break!!!

I kicked off winter break in style.  Thursday night I stopped by my girlfriend's house who was having a "carb party".  She's a fitness competitor so she had missed all her favorite carbs at Thanksgiving.  So after her competition she had friends over for wine and side dishes.  It was hilarious and amazing.

Then friday night a bunch of moms from preschool went out - always a good time.  I have really enjoyed getting to know some new moms at HH this year and this was the perfect way to celebrate the end of the semester. 

Saturday I got to spend the day with some girlfriends at the LA Yoga expo.  It was crazy fun and I left super relaxed and stretched out.  I had to leave early to make it to the family Christmas party but I was still able to take 4 classes!

Holiday happenings post up next...

Lake Cachuma Thanksgiving Adventures

Wednesday of Thanksgiving week we headed up to Lake Cachuma to meet family for a weekend of camping.  We made great time and had almost a full day on Wednesday to play and enjoy. 

And that first night we went ahead and busted out the marshmallows for roasting!!!

Thanksgiving morning we started the day off right with bloody mary's...

...and bike rides.

The boys brought their bikes too and Owen really picked it up this trip.  He's been riding a two wheeler for a while now, but he was still having a hard time starting and stopping.  After this weekend he's definitely an old pro.

We hiked down to the lake bed a couple different times.  So sad to see it so dry.

Auntie and the cousins joined us for Thanksgiving as well.  

Perfect day for some exploring with these 4!

Thanksgiving dinner...

Unfortunately I have no pictures of the whole group.

That night we had all of Owen's favorite foods, including 3 kinds of Owen friendly pie.  He was the happiest I've ever seen!

Friday morning we had breakfast and hot chocolate outside, our RV gets kind of tight with 7 people in it!

Then we explored the nature center

And they even performed their own puppet show!

Then it was time to say goodbye to cousins.  It sure was a treat having them there with us for Thanksgiving!

More hiking and exploring...

And cuddling by the campfire...

We had planned to stay through Saturday night but after a morning of rain Saturday morning we ended up hitting the road around noon that day.  It was a great weekend and the perfect way to kick off the holiday season!

November in a nutshell

And just like that the Holidays are upon us.  We are a full week into December and I just can't believe it.  November was a whirlwind and I'm going to try to sum in all up in a post (maybe minus Thanksgiving week which might deserve its own post)

The beginning of the month started out with great weather, not too hot, but definitely not cold.  At all.  Not quite fall but we enjoyed the heck out of it.

We have been taking advantage of the hiking trails close to our house and this particular day we took the boys to the top of Lizard Rock.

Owen played his last soccer game and earned his first metal. 

Excited is an understatement.  After years of watching Scott play and get trophies he was so excited to finally have his own hardware.  He wore it all day.  And still puts it on regularly.  Scott didn't play his last game or get his trophy til the following week so it was pretty special for Owen that this was day was all about him.  Despite your opinion of "participation trophies" - you can't deny their excitement.  Yes, eventually they have to learn that not everybody wins or gets an award, but for now I'll take this smile with his participation trophy.

Already looking forward to next soccer season!

The next day we headed up to Mimi and Papa's where they graciously took the boys out paddle boating and let Brian and I escape on our paddle boards for the afternoon!  It was a great date day.  Brian and I haven't paddle boarded together in almost two years, we both get to go out alone a lot at Rincon, but it was a real treat to get to go together!

Enjoying the day....can you tell?!?!

We headed to Mimi and Papa's for hanging out and dinner the rest of that day, when this is how the afternoon goes I would call it a success:

Parker J. and co. joined us too and these three boys got to work with some hammers, nails and scrap wood - I love watching them cooperate on a project, they could have done this non stop for days.

After the time change its been getting late on my early morning hikes - this was my view from the top of a local hill the morning after the super moon.  Kinda rad.

The week before Thanksgiving Owen's school had its annual potluck at the park.  Nothing is better than these two friends sharing a meal....and shenanigans!

And don't forget a little tad-pole-ing 

The saturday before Thanksgiving Scott played his last game as a neon ninja.  We got lucky with our coaches and teammates again this year.  Scott came so far and learned so much from all of them!

So proud of his hard work!

Hearing a coach say kind things about your kid....these are the moments...

He has definitely found a love of sports and I'm so happy for him.  3 goals this year and he couldn't be prouder.

Watching Scott's last game with Owen - forever baby!!!

And I said yes to a "regular" donut at his party after the game.  Full gluten and artificial dye.  Cool mom points for sure!

That night Brian and I headed to Aunt Jenny's 50th birthday party.  Dia de Los Muertos theme.  Such a fun night out!

And Sunday we celebrated Thanksgiving at Mimi and Papa's.  The boys spent the night the night before while we were out at the party and worked hard on all things native american, including a feather headdress and these rad earrings that Scott could not be more excited about!

It was a fun day of relaxing and family to kick off our week long Thanksgiving vacation!