End of Summer in Tahoe - day 1

The girls and I are spending our last summer weekend, before school starts, in Tahoe. Daddy has to work. We miss him!!!!

Nonna and Papa are here too. Uncle M, Auntie A and N will be here tonight. It will be fun to hang out with them tomorrow.

This morning we went down to the lake to hang out for a little bit. The girls ran into the water. It's beautiful weather. Nonna came with us to the lake while Papa took a bike ride.

Here are a few pics from the lake this morning.

Friends, Fish, & Fun....A Day in Monterey

Friends, Fish, & Fun....A Day in Monterey

On Monday we went to Monterey for the day with our friend M and her son CM (3 yrs). CM loves the girls. The three of them are so cute together. CK was so great with CM. She holds his hand, making sure he stays with us. It was too cute!

First we went to the Monterey Bay Aquarium. Always a fun place. Even more fun with friends. M and I had gone with the kids about 2 years ago, but none of them remembered. They loved it. I like the Jellies the best. They are so relaxing. I could just sit in there for hours watching them. The kids loved it all. C was very tired....just getting home from work at 7:30am that morning, but he had a good time.

After stopping for lunch on Canery Row we found the best little beach. Full of shells, sand dollars washing up on shore and sea creatures in the water. What a fun place to explore. Too bad we left the swim suits and towels in the car. (Ooops) The girls didn't care, they just took their pants off. To be 4 and 5 years old again.....ahh....the life.

As always, O was in heaven on the beach running in the cold ocean water. CK was busy collecting sea shells and sand dollars. Mommy joined in. We found some great treasures. (when we got home we cleaned them up and preserved them) CM...well, it took him the entire time to get up enough nerve to go near the water. By the time he started going near the water it was just about time to head for home. Next time we'll go just to the beach. He didn't seem to mind leaving.

We had a nice walk back to the car and O fell asleep on the way home. (no big surprize there) It was a great day. Maybe we can sneak in one more beach day (in Monterey) before the weather turns cold. hmmm

So. Cal. Vacation - Temecula

After a great 3 days in San Diego we had a great 4 days in Temecula. We went to visit my best girl friend CC and her family. It was great for O to see her God-Parents. She hadn't seen them in about 3 years.

A bonus, for us, was to see V play flag football. Great game! They won, of course. B and CK are the same age. B, CK and O played together - 4 days solid. They had the best time. It was great for me to see me and my best friends children playing together. C went into work with R one morning. The girls and I went and picked him up at lunch. What a treat for C.

After a great visit in Temecula we stopped in LA to visit a friend of C's. He hadn't seen this guy for about 8 or 10 years. We had a great lunch visit with him. Saw his absolutly beautiful home and then headed to Santa Barbara and home.

This was a much needed vacation. We had a great time, but it's good to be home. Poor Genie (the cat), she really missed us this trip. Hasn't stopped meowing yet.

Next week the girls and I will go to Tahoe for one last horah before school starts. Look for those postings starting on the 17th.

So. Cal. Vacation - SeaWorld - Part 2

After SeaWorld we had a great Sushi dinner with J and our friend B. He happen to be in town that weekend. What a great surprize! It was a great San Diego visit. Next stop....Temecula.

So. Cal. Vacation - SeaWorld - Part 1

We went to SeaWorld on our last day in San Diego. Our friend J joined us at lunch. (Thanks for picking up lunch J!) After having a nice picnic outside the exit we went back in to see all the amazing animals. We saw everything; Penguins, Manatees, Beluga Whales, Polar Bears, Sharks, Dolphins, Killer Whales, Sea Lions, Star Fish - even the "Cirque de la Mer" acrobatic/water show. What a fantastic day. Even better because J joined us.

CK's favorite animal was Shamu, O's favorite were the Penguins. I think my favorite were the Dolphins, as was C's. I think J's favorite were the Penguins. Everyone had a great time. It was the hottest day in San Diego (of the three days we were there) so we went to see the peguins a few times (nice and cool in there).

There are just too many images to choose from. I have to do two posts for SeaWorld.

The Little Black Dress

We've had a fantastic vacation. I still need to write part 2 and 3 of our vacation. I haven't had time. As of this writing we are in our hotel room in Santa Barbara on our last day of vacation (sigh). I just have to tell you the story of the beautiful black dress in a downtown Santa Barbara store window.

My story starts on our first day of vacation, a week ago, when we were in Santa Barbara. We were walking downtown in the evening and C noticed this beautiful black dress in a store window. Just below the knee, sleeveless with a low v neck. Just beautiful.

C tells me, "You should get it." I say, "It's beautiful, but it's probably too much and I shouldn't spend too much money now." So we leave it at that and continue on our wonderful vacation.

Last night we stay in Santa Barbara again on our way home. First thing C say's, "I want to get you that black dress." Are you kidding?! We just spent a lot of money (for us right now) on hotel rooms and you want to buy me a black dress. I love it! It's a beautiful dress. Of course, I would LOVE to have it, but it's gonna be too expensive, but he's insistent we look at it so, who am I to say no?

We go to the store, Blue Bee Luxury (there is a series of Blue Bee stores in SB). We walk in and find the dress. It's beautiful, but walking into this store, I could tell (without looking at ANY prices) that there was not going to be anything in this place lower than $100! I hold up the dress (the girls are with us-very well behaved). I ask the sales lady if this is the dress in the window. She says, with a big smile, "Yes, IT is." C's face, lights up. He wants me to try it on, I can tell, but he doesn't say anything. I look at the front and back of the dress. The perfect little black dress. I could wear it for everything! I, very smoothly, look for the price tag (the sales lady is still standing right there). I'm not sure I read the price correctly, I look the dress over again and look at the price tag again. Yep, I read it right. OH - MY - GOSH!!!!!! I start to put the dress back and thank the sales lady, take the girls hands and walk out the store.

C at this point can't figure out what happened. I didn't try the dress on. He wanted me to try the dress on and gives me the sad puppy eyes. Once we are outside the store I say, "Do you know how much that dress cost?!" "No, how much?", he says. $935.00!!!!!!!!! His eyes just about POPPED out of his head. "Are you KIDDING?!" "NO"

I told him I didn't want to try it on, have it fit perfect, fall in love with it and then not be able to buy it. There is just NO way we could afford that dress. I told him if it was $150 even $200, I would, at least, try it on. But $935....NO WAY! So, the beautiful little black dress stayed in the window at Blue Bee Luxury. It might be there a very long time.

We continued walking downtown to find a place for dinner. CK asks "Mommy, when we get home can we count all my money in both my piggy banks?" I tell her, "Sure, why?" My sweet, sweet girl tells me, "Because I want to see if I have enough money to buy you that dress." This has been the best vacation ever!

Our So. Cal. Vacation....part 1

On Monday we packed up the Suburban and headed for Southern California. Our trip will last 10 days and we will have several stops.

We start by just driving to Santa Barbara. We normally stop here for lunch when we go to So. Cal., but this time we thought we would spend the night. We arrived in Santa Barbara about 4pm. After checking into our hotel, we headed downtown to walk around and have dinner. We love this town. Someday we'll have to spend more time here.

The next day we headed for sunny San Diego. Another favorite city!!!! C has history here with UCSD and we still have a very good friend who lives here. We arrived at about 3pm and then met J for dinner. Wednesday, we promised the girls we would spend the day at the beach. Their absolute FAVORITE place in the world to be! We had a great breakfast at Brockton Villa Inn. Now this is the life! You sit outside at this tiny place. I guess they have seating inside. I have NO idea--never been inside. You sit overlooking the ocean in La Jolla!!! After our wonderful breakfast (Coast Toast!!) we drove down a few blocks and went to La Jolla Shores and spent the day on the beach....just like we promised. The girls were in heaven. They played in the sand, ran in the water, even jumped waves with daddy. J joined us at the beach until lunch then she had to get to work.

Today we went to Sea World. What a fun place! J joined us. We had a great time. Saw the Dolphins, Killer Whales, Penguins, Sea Lions, Polar Bears, Beluga Whales.....and much more. I'll write more about our Sea World visit next entry--once I download those pics. Just too tired to do that all now.

Tonight we had dinner with J and another friend who happened to be in town this weekend. It's been a very long day. O tells me during dinner, "Mommy, I'm sorry, I can't do it anymore." Meaning, she couldn't stay awake any longer. I had her sit on my lap and within 2 minutes she was sound asleep. Poor thing. Both girls were SO good today. O got cranky at Sea World, but who could blame her. It was so hot and she was so tired. We have had a great time in San Diego. Tomorrow we'll go to Temecula. We can't wait!

I'll try and add Sea World pics tomorrow. Can't promise anything. So many pictures.....so little time. I'll send out pics, for sure, when I get back. Here are a few from our first few days. C helped me choose them. I think I would have chosen other pics of me, but he liked this one.

Watching Our Garden Grow

The girls and I planted a vegetable garden again this year. This year we started earlier and it's doing wonderfully! We planted Corn, Sunflowers (with seeds), Japanese Cucumber, Cherry Tomatoes, regular Tomatoes, Green Bell Pepper, Yellow Onion, Pumpkin, Watermellon, Basil, Italian Parsley, and Chamomile. I always have Thyme, Rosemary, and Sage. We had also planted a whole Pumpkin, from last Halloween, and IT GREW. We have so many baby Pumpkins. It's so much fun. I've done Pumpkins once before, but I don't remember it doing this well. I can't wait to see how many we get. I'm hoping enough for a pumpkin picking party.

We're having a blast picking and eating all the wonderful things from our garden. There is nothing like a fresh Cucumber and Tomato salad straight from the garden!

2nd Annual Camping Trip

O's year long wish finally came true. We took our annual camping trip.

We had a wonderful time. We really need this time together as a family....away from cell phones, TV, and the computer. It was our second in a row, but third camping trip. We went camping in 2004 with several friends (6 other adults and 4 other kids). We really want to go camping, at least, once a year. It would be fun to go more.

This year we went to Big Basin Redwood State Park. My second time in Big Basin. What a beautiful place. All the redwoods. Pefect weather - not too hot during the day. It got cold at night, but we planned for that. It was beautiful.

I have become quite the camper. The best part is setting up camp. I just love setting everything up. Washing dishes in a bucket after every meal becomes a family affair. The girls loved "helping" me.

My favorite part about camping is when C comes into the tent in the morning with a warm wash cloth to wash my face (now me and the girls). This trip I was able to surprise him one morning. He was so tired from work, he couldn't get up early to heat up the water. The girls and I got up, while C slept. I heated up the water on our camp stove, washed the girls faces and then woke up C for his turn. He loved it.

We took a day hike (3.5 miles total) to Sempervirens Falls. Nothing like the hike in Tahoe - much easier. It was wonderful hiking through the redwoods. The water fall wasn't very big....still beautiful, but small. We saw lots of butterflies, Steller Jays, squirrels, even a Rattle Snake. Now that was a treat! The girls were a little nervous, but wanted to see it go into its den.

Right after breakfast we were able to see a Banana Slug. Another treat. I havent' seen one of those since 6th Grade Science Camp. The girls loved seeing that as well.

BESTS: O-squirrel, CK-Rattlesnake, C-Watching O fall asleep in her chair after hiking, T-All of the above and spending time with my family....camping. Oh...CK has a P.S. - loved roasting marshmallows.

Camping with my husband is always the best! We are a great team. Now with our girls it's even better.

(don't forget - you can click on an image to see it larger)

Daddy's New Scar

Here is a pic of C's burn mark from an ejected shell casing that landed on him during recent rifle training. He couldn't brush it off since he was under time pressure to make his own hits. He thinks it has a CDI (Chicks Dig It) factor of 8. It looks better now than it did the day he got it.

Happy Birthday America!

I hope everyone had a wonderful 4th of July. I know we did. We had a small BBQ at our home and then went to the park to watch fireworks with friends and neighbors. I brought dessert and coffee to the park. The kids played on the playground. A fun time was had by all. Now this is great way to celebrate America's birthday!

I've always wanted to take photographs of fireworks and for one reason or another (CK and O) I haven't been able to. I finally got my chance! Here are a few images from our evening at the park.