Sunday, July 5, 2015

June highlights

Can't believe we are already in July.  Summer is, of course, flying by again.

We had almost the whole month of June off from school/camp etc, but we still ended up spending a good deal of time at our favorite place.   Our classroom was painted during the break and needed to be put completely back together before camp started.  That job was left to just two teachers, so of course our little community rallied for them and showed up two days in a row to clean and organize the classroom.  We took turns watching the kids on the playground and cleaning.  We had a great time and the teachers told us over and over how much the appreciated our efforts.

These four, two sets of brothers, thick as thieves.  

The morning this picture was taking these two were fighting like cats and dogs.  Just goes to show you what a day at school can bring.

We have had lots of slow mornings of hanging out.  This particular morning became geography morning.  The boys can't enough of globes and maps.

As a special treat before camp started we met up with friends at an indoor play place nearby.  Up til now I have never actually turned on any arcade games for the boys, but this time I filled up a little game card for them and they were hooked.



Owen's favorite: Ski ball.  He played for 30 straight minutes before we stopped for lunch, and then he was back it at right after.  Each time he got the ball over the edge he would yell "YESSSS" and "Alright!!!".  It was so stinkin' cute!



So much fun with our friends.


That weekend the boys went up to grandma and gpa's house for a visit while Brian and I stayed home.  Our weekend started with a cardio barre class for both of us (Brian lost a bet back in January and cashed in over the weekend...and he didn't even quit halfway through).
The rest of the weekend we enjoyed sleeping in, furniture shopping, eating sushi, swimming laps together and going out for drinks with friends.  It was an amazing time for us to just hang out and reconnect.

We picked the boys up early on Sunday so we could celebrate Father's day. 
The boys got some new legos from grandma and gpa so we spent the day building those.


The boys also picked this bad boy out a few months ago to give Brian for father's day, so we worked on that as well. 

A week or so before camp during our quiet/drawing/reading time Scott worked hard and finally was able to write his name with no help.  Such an awesome feeling as a parent let me tell you!

Our friends treated us to a dinner night out on the boat in Westlake.  

These friends had a blast.

If you couldn't tell....


Another evening we made a grocery/dinner run with Parker John and co.  I mean really??!?!!  They are the craziest.

We (brian) have also been scouring craigslist for a bike that's the right size for Scott.  You may remember we lost his off the back of our car last summer.  We bought a new (used) one that was too big, then another new (used) one that was too pink, then Brian stripped the paint and painted it silver. That worked great for a bit but then he outgrew it.  We tried the big bike again, still too big.  So finally this one....perfect size and Scott is loving bike riding again.  We have literally gone for at least one ride a day since we picked it up and I have to say evening bike rides in the summer are perfection.

We have been playing lots of games, doing puzzles, playing marbles, reading tons of books and generally just enjoying our long summer days.


Hoping to play some catch up in July with a few more posts than average (i.e. more than one)

Tuesday, June 9, 2015

End of school + start of summer

We closed out the school year in the only we way we know how....craziness.
Brian travelled to Hawaii for work for 10 days during the last two weeks of school, Owen came down with a mysterious rash that kept him home missing most of the end of the year festivities.  Fortunately, I felt it had faded enough and was not contagious and we ended up making it to the class picnic in the park.  We have been camping already and are halfway through our first sessions of swim lessons. Shazam!

So to sum it up in pictures:

While Brian was away Hilary and I and the kids had "sister weekends".  We went on hikes, and stayed up late and did art and even were stupid enough to think that a trip to costco with all four kids would be fun.

 Hiking buds.
 When we made it to the top the boys were wandering around and exclaimed "look a snake, we see a snake."  We told them we could never joke about seeing a snake when we were hiking, only say it if its real.  Turns out it was real.  It was up climbing a tree, I got a great picture and now can't seem to locate it on my computer....sigh.  But you've seen snakes so I'm not worried.  The boys were STOKED to say the least.  They talked about it the whole way down and wanted to call mimi and papa to tell them.

Evening bike rides and the occasional picnic dinner at the park are also underway.  Owen loves to stop on bike rides to pick all the flowers.
 And makes wishes...

Backyard concoctions helped us make it through our days of self quarantine.

And this guy has been all over these work books I picked up at Lakeshore, he has been choosing them during quiet time, and even sometimes "just for fun."  I'm glad he is showing some interest in reading and writing with kindergarten right around the corner.

The last official day of school and picnic pals this lovely lady and I decided to stop for a quick drink to celebrate, I'm gonna miss the heck out of this family at HH next year, but so so happy and thankful we will be at the same elementary.

Little back yard sand art:


And some saturday morning yoga and planks with this guy:

The first official weekend of summer we also attended Zoey and Kenzie's birthday party at the park.  Owen had a heart to heart with one of his favorites, Miss Jennifer, we are so lucky that we have such wonderful relationships with our teachers, I mean who gives up their Saturday to do piƱatas and cake with their students they see all week??!!

Three musketeers are five!!!!

And this party girl rocked her hat the whole day!!!


Kite flying and chasing in the park

And this past week we headed up to Rincon.  Tuesday we dropped of the RV for mimi and papa to camp/save a spot for us.  And you know we can't go up even for an hour without hitting the waves:



Never gets old:


While we were home and Mimi and Papa were camping we got to have Eden over for the day.  These boys just loved giving her attention....not sure how much she loved it though...

Scott started swim lessons...Owen kept himself entertained

And just for posterity:  That day Scott and Owen's car seats were next to each other so we could fit Eden in the car, well they got in a fight over something and Scott punched Owen in the face.  And gave him a bloody nose.  Fantastic.  The redeeming moment is that when Scott realized how bad he'd hurt his brother he cried, and not because he was in trouble, because he genuinely felt bad.  He spent the rest of the afternoon apologizing and checking on Owen.
  The same day we went to Parker John's end of the year performance/graduation from preschool, that Scott kept calling his coronation....LOL!!!!

And by Friday at 2ish we were back on the beach for the weekend.  Happy place!!!

Freeze tag:

 Obligatory family selfies.  Owen's smile in the bottom picture cracks me up every time.

Rincon sunsets are my favorite...


I made Brian stop at a random liquor store on the way up for tequila...just had the craving.  And then I drank it looking like a unibomber...

Brother love:

And more sunsets...



Summer is off to a good, but busy, start!!!  Looking forward to more camping, and school camp starting up and swimming and beach days galore!!!

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