Celebrating the first week....

At our favorite place! Rincon!!!!

Pictures from friday right before pick up...then it was straight to the beach!

Someone is excited to be beach bound!

Favorite place.  Favorite people.

It was overcast most of the weekend but that didn't slow us down. 

Some of our favorite beach buddies came out saturday to hang for the day and swim and boogie board with us.  Not to mention swim with the dolphins...

We also made it to Ventura Harbor for ice cream one night

On our last day Scott officially turned 7&1/2.   where does the time go??

The first day of school

(So we've been in school for two months already, it is what it is.)

Back to school, here before we knew it.

And clearly we were crushing our first morning:

Kindergarten for Owen!

First grade for Scott!

We decided that another year in first grade would benefit Scott the most.  He handled it all so maturely and was so brave throughout the transition.  And since I'm not posting this til two months in  I can definitely say it was the right choice for him.  He is thriving in school this year and has truly become a different kid in this process.  We could not be happier for him or more proud!

Both babies in one school.  Heart melt!

Owen way out by the slide with his best buddy Eamon.  He clearly had zero problem leaving me on the first day, or any subsequent days since.

Cheers to a great new school year!

The rest of summer

After we got home from our big summer camping trip to Yosemite the rest of the summer just flew by.  Up first our second swim meet.

This meet was held at Daland's, which is not our normal pool.  And it didn't seem quite as organized as our first one.  Especially when it came to the starts.  Poor Scott false started almost all of his races (but since it was a novice meet he was still allowed to swim) mostly because the guy running the meet changed how he started the swimmers each time, sometimes he yelled go, sometimes a whistle - it was actually terrible and Scott got pretty bummed out.  But we learned a lot from this meet and so overall it was still a positive experience.

Right after the meet Papa took the boys back to their house for a sleep over while Brian and I headed to the Hollywood Bowl with Uncle Rob and Aunt Jenny to see Diana Krall.

The last time we saw her was the summer we got engaged - 10 years ago.

We geared up for the impending soccer season.

We got (much needed) back to school haircuts

We had dance parties

We took one final day trip to the beach with some of our buddies

Cuz there is nothing cuter than a bunch of blonde boys at the beach:

We did sun art on eclipse day.

And of course hit the pool to soak up the last minutes of summer. 

Yosemite

Our big summer trip was planned way back in February when we got up early, timed our computers and by some miracle scored reservations in Yosemite for August!!

We hit the road Saturday for our Sunday reservations in the park with plans to overnight it in Fresno and break up the drive.  Unfortunately we didn't factor in Fresno weather in August so it made for an extraordinarily hot night, but in the end it worked out and it really did make for a nice easy drive both days (or so I'm told, I'm not the driver....thanks honey!!)

Yosemite or bust!!!

We were in our site and set up by lunchtime Sunday so we hit the trails and explored first thing (and also picked up a bike tire repair kit in the village!)

Light through the trees, mid ride

We lucked out with perfect weather, especially considering the looming threat of forest fires in the weeks prior (and since!)

Campbell's camping adventure officially begins...

After some exploring we hit lower falls trail for a quick hike before dinner

Yosemite magic...

The boys wasted no time hoping right in the freezing water and had the time of their lives

This first hike taught us to bring board shorts on all our hikes from there on out.  The boys quickly mastered the art of the deck change (or the "duck" change as Owen referred to it for most of the trip)

The next morning we set out early(ish) for the Mist trail hike to vernal falls.  One of the best things we did was bring our bikes.  Staying in upper pines we were fairly close to many of the great trail heads, but still most of them were a few miles away.  Instead of waiting for and taking the park transit we were able to hop on our bikes and cruise all over the valley in no time, and the boys could still hike for miles since they didn't walk 2-3 miles just getting to the trail.

Views from Mist trail

My cutest hikers.  They did so well on these long hikes!

And finally the mist....

Top of the falls

That afternoon we scoped out a great little "beach" to play in and cool off.

The following day we hiked to mirror lake.

Snacks on logs are always a must.

Explorers

Sandwich stop and more swimming

And I brought along our latest (first!) book club book, kind of the perfect read amongst the trees if you ask me.

Perhaps a little out of order, but most mornings looked something like this.  Breakfast outside, bike rides before and after, board games and coffee.

An evening exploring adventure through over the meadow....

And through the wood...

On this adventure we discovered the coolest little beach island that we returned to several times the rest of the week.

Another day...another hike.

We pretty much started each day with a good long hike with our packed lunch and plenty of water.  We were able to get in so much great exploring before it got too hot or too crowded.

Lunch on the rocks, overlooking some falls...no place better.

He likes food, ya'll!

After this hike and lunch we biked directly to the Majestic Hotel for blood mary's with a view.  It was kind of a bucket list stop for me, not gonna lie.

Heading to the village to mail some postcards.

As is our tradition on vacation, we always try to head out for a night time exploring adventure.  This time we saw some deer, and lots of bats!!!

And just for the record, we jumped off all the things.

It was a truly spectacular vacation.  I wish I could bottle up the magic of Yosemite to bring with me everywhere!