Fall at Rincon

To welcome daddy back from his longish trip we planned a weekend at Rincon.  In fact, Brian got off the plane, into a cab and went straight to pick up the RV and we met him there Wednesday afternoon to get everything set up for the weekend.  

As luck would have it some aunts and uncles were planning to be up for the weekend too and we had so much fun hanging out with everyone.  Perfect ending to Brian's long trip!

Rincon boys.  Such a tan group right?!?!

Rincon sunsets can't be beat:

Tequila on the beach....don't mind if I do.  A lovely ending to a long, rough week.

Saturday morning brought a lovely beach run followed by cold brew coffee and a frittata on the beach.  I could live like this.

Our cousin Cody joined us for Friday night and Saturday morning and the kids really dug him.  I'm kind of thinking of hiring him as our fully time "manny".

Cody also taught Scott the term "sick" to describe the waves he caught.  "Mom, did you see me ride that sick wave."  LOL

Yoga time

Our good friends/neighbors joined us for afternoon and dinner on Saturday and I think we hooked them.  Rincon is pretty magical.

Family selfie, always a must.

Can't wait til next time.  I think fall at the beach is my all time favorite!!!

Kindergarten scientists

We have a whole month of kindergarten under our belts, and knock on wood, it seems to be going amazingly well.  It is so much fun to watch Scott "big kid" learn.  The kid who had no interest in letters or writing or learning his numbers now comes home from school and asks how to spell words and writes them with little to no help.  He has so many new interests.  When I ask him specifically about school or what he learned he usually doesn't give me much but it comes out in every day life when he tells me "hey mom I just used my sense of smell and touch and sight"  or  "mom, check out my pattern, a pattern is something that repeats itself.  this pattern is an abcbabcb pattern".  Wowza.

 So far our elementary school has exceeded expectations.  Scott LOVES his teacher and she has done such a great job motivating him.  I think she's pretty great too.  

We have already done so many neat hands on learning projects and taken great field trips.

This past friday we were scheduled to dissect squid.  Friday is not my normal workday in the classroom but I asked if I could come in and help anyways, which of course was allowed.  

I distinctly remember my first time dissecting, second grade.  It was the most amazing learning experience and I really feel like it fueled my love of science.  That year I think we dissected at least 5 times.  Sadly I don't think that's the norm anywhere anymore.  Many parents in Scott's class said that had either never dissected or that dissections were only done by an instructor and projected on a screen.

The hands on learning that we do at our school is one of the reasons I love it so much. And this day was no exception.

We started with a story about a squid and then a more scientific book about squid.

Then we got to it.  

Scott finding all the external structures.

Counting legs and tentacles.

Then cutting its body to check out the interior structors. 

Examining the ink sac.

Ms. Tori pointing out some structures while Scott gets ready to paint his squid diagram with squid ink.

It was such a fun project and I was so happy to get to be a part of it.

Love our school.

While dad was away...

Brian recently returned from what seemed like the longest trip ever.  I totally get that two weeks isn't that horrible, but it felt extra long this time.  We kept busy though and held  down the fort nicely I think.

We partied with friends at their new house:

And cooled off from this super hot weather we've been having in their new pool.

We had movie night and cuddles with our cousins:

We've been coloring and crafting during the hot afternoons:

And dressing up like ninjas whenever we get the chance:

And had whole foods sushi for dinner at least 5 times.  Its just too hot to cook and the boys go nuts for it!

Loves his "smooshie"

Its book fair week so last week while Brian was gone I set up:

And of course soccer soccer and soccer!!!!

We are so happy daddy is finally home.  We enjoyed an amazing beach weekend to welcome him back which was the perfect thing to do.  We appreciate all his hard work for our family and we are so glad to have him back for a while!

Soccer Saturdays

We officially started soccer a few weeks ago and Scott is beyond loving it.  He asks every day if its a soccer day.  Unfortunately for him (but oh so fortunately for ME) there is only one practice and one game per week.

Game one was super fun and successful.  The only down side is the weather right now.  Its absolutely roasting out still which makes going to spend an hour or two at the soccer fields in the middle of the day on saturdays pretty miserable.  I'm looking forward to cooler weather where we can bundle up in sweatshirts and drink hot coffee while watching him play, ok that's a long shot, I'll just take not sweating while sitting still.

We ran into a friend from our class at school, her team played on the field next to ours.  Scott was super into taking a picture with his friend.  (They really are great friends believe it or not)

We practice for about a half an hour before the game.

Scott about to start the game at half time.

The hilarity of 5 year old soccer.  Herding cats.

Game 2 hustle.

Here's to two more months of Saturday soccer fun, hopefully not in the sun.