A Perfect Day in San Diego

Today we went to La Jolla Shores Beach. This is the beach we spend the day at every San Diego vacation. Usually JK is able to play hooky from work and join us, but not today. (Sorry JK! We missed you!)

As you can see the girls had a great time, running and playing on the beach and in the water. I forgot to bring sand toys, but that didn't stop our two little beach bunnies.

We sat right by the lifeguard station. I was watching the lifeguard since he opened the station that morning. They never do anything but sit in the lifeguard station. Nothing ever happens. Not that I want something bad to happen or someone to get hurt. Don't get me wrong, It would just be cool to see the lifeguard do something else. Well, I got my wish. All of a sudden the lifeguard grabbed his stuff and ran out to the water. I immediately looked to see if someone was hurt (as I grabbed for my camera). No one seemed to be hurt (thank goodness). C and I watched to see what he was going to do. He scolded a couple of girls who were boogie boarding where they weren't suppose to. That was the best reason to see the lifeguard in action. No one needed to get hurt for me to see him run down to the water.

After spending the morning and lunch at the beach we headed over to UTC (University Town Center) Mall. It's a beautiful outdoor mall. (Westfield Shopping Town, of course.) The kids play area is even outside. I told C our girls were not allowed to go to UCSD for school. We'd be broke. This is too nice of a mall for them to go to school so close.

They had this beautiful fountain that had dolphin sculptures in it. It was beautiful. I love this image of the girls with the fountain. Too bad people get in the way! I'll try to Photoshop this guy out. It'll take a little time. Just pretend you don't see that guy.

With C's blessing I bought myself a San Diego souvenir--a bikini! It's beautiful--white with flowers on it. If we go to the beach tomorrow, I'll wear it. Otherwise, I'll wear it at CC's (our next stop on our San Diego vacation). I'll post pics then. I haven't had a bikini since C and I were first married. I'm excited. Thank you Honey!

We went to The Fishery for dinner. We had a fantastic dinner. Not just because of the wonderful food, atmosphere and the fact we are on vacation, but C and I received the absolute best compliment two parents could receive! In the middle of dinner this women, who was leaving with her husband, stopped and told us they could not take their eyes off our children. They were so well behaved (as she patted C on the back). OMG, I just about cried. I hate to brag, but it just made us feel so good, SO PROUD of our girls! Validation that we are doing something right. (The yelling all day is sinking in. ) The girls were all smiles when we explained what the women said and how very proud we are of them and to say we are their parents.

A perfect ending to a perfect day. Another perfect vacation day is in store tomorrow. We will start our day with breakfast with JK, her brother (and family) and her mom. After that, who knows....

Sunny San Diego

We are on our family vacation in San Diego. We drove down and arrived at about 5:30pm. After checking into our hotel we had dinner with our friend, JK--who is lucky enough to live in this beautiful city!

Our San Diego tradition is to go down to the beach first thing. Well, we had dinner first, but we did walk down to the beach after dinner. Our favorite place on earth is the beach. All four of us! Doesn't matter what beach, what city. If there is a beach and an ocean we're a very happy family. As you can see from this picture I took of the girls running on the beach.

Tomorrow we will sit on the beach in La Jolla and then C will take us shopping. Sounds like a great day to me. The beach, La Jolla, shopping, what is there not to like about that?

4th of July

Our 4th of July celebration began on the 3rd. CK was in the Patriotic Sing. They started with a performance on the 3rd. Her cousin E and good friend K were also a part of the Patriotic Sing. The three girls did great.

We all got up bright and early on the 4th so the girls could be on a float in the parade. How fun! Not getting up early (had to find parking and be on the float by 9:15am). CK loved being in the parade. The Patriotic Sing float was #44, so CK was able to sit and watch the rest of the parade with us.

After C went to work the girls and I barbecued at our good friends. We then went to the park so the girls could do one last Patriotic Sing performance and watch the fireworks. Well the girls got to sing - in front of thousands of people, BTW, but there were no fireworks. They had to call them off. It was too windy. The girls were very disappointed, as you can imagine. Better to be safe, but they waited MUCH TOO LONG to decide to cancel (that's another story).

Did you miss the parade? Did your town not have one? Maybe you would like to see the parade again. Here is your chance. Our Patriotic Sing and 4th of July photos are online! I did it all by myself. Thanks to Lightroom.

Summer Fun

When we think of Summer we think of things such as; vacation, no school, the beach, 4th of July, and water sports. I also think of a family car wash. It just seems so Summer to me.

After a few days of promising the girls they could help daddy wash the car, C did have the girls help him wash his truck. They had a great time.

Riding at Sunset

As promised, I took the girls back to the spot we found last week to try and take a sunset shot. It was nothing like that one night. We were in Sacramento on Saturday and Sunday and couldn't get to taking sunset pictures until last night, however, we did get an extra treat.

We meet a cowboy. He was riding his horse in the field as we were taking sunset shots. His house and stables were across the street from the field. Great spot and just 5 minutes from our house! I just love were we live!

The girls loved seeing all the horses and watching the cowboy. When we were getting packed up to go home the cowboy was riding in. CK said to me, "I want to know the horses name. Can you ask him for me?" I told her no. "I don't care what the horses name is. If you want to know his name, you need to ask." She did not like that answer. She tells me she is shy. Well, I was not going to ask him. She needs to learn if she wants to know something, she needs to ask. I waited to see what she would do. I started to pack up my camera.

Apparently, O also wanted to know the horses name, so when the cowboy came up on the sidewalk she ran over and asked, "What is your horses name?" He told her (Gold in Spanish is all I remember.). She came running back with the name. That took care of that.

Beautiful horse (don't think I've ever seen an ugly horse actually) very nice man. He asked how my pictures of the sunset went. Okay, I told him. Not as nice as the other night would have been. I told him I am a photographer, gave him my card. He might be contacting me to take photographs of him and his horse. I would LOVE to! I already know exactly what images I want to take. I'll keep you posted.

Sunset

The girls and I saw the strangest sunset tonight. We were on our way home from dinner out with friends and saw this giant red glowing sun through the fire smokey air. A giant glowing ball low in the sky. We raced home (very safely) to grab my camera and tripod. We went up the hill behind us to try and find a good spot to take photos, but we were too late. The sun had set too fast for us. The girls were disappointed. O says "I hate missing stuff!" Poor thing.

I told them with the sunset you need to be fast to get the shot. CK says "You need to just always have your camera with you." YES, Miss Smarty Pants. She's right, but it's just not possible to always have it.

On the bright side, I did find a great spot for the future. It overlooks part of the city. We'll try again tomorrow night. With all this smoke in the air from all the fires, it should be the same tomorrow night. We'll be in Sacramento. We'll see what we get up there.

Mommy Goes To Summer School

I just got back from my annual class at Golden Gate School of Professional Photography (GGS). GGS is a wonderful way for photographers who are starting or building their businesses to learn more about our business. There are classes on every aspect of a professional photography business. It's also a great way to network.

This year I took a class on kids and families from professional photographer Jennifer Wilson. Jen is an award winning kids and family photographer. She was great. I learned a lot and can't wait for my next portrait session.

Wednesday night when I got home from class C and the girls took me out to dinner. On our way to dinner they sang to me,  "Everything" by Michael Buble. It was so sweet. I cried. It's such a beautiful song.

Today one of my new friends and fellow photographers emailed me a photo she took of me during class. I showed it to the girls.

Me: "Look this is a picture of me at my class. This is my teacher and she is taking pictures of a family."

CK: "Is she showing you what to do?"

Me: "Yes."

CK: "So, you weren't paying attention then?"

SMART ASS kid

Last Day In Tahoe

We are all very sad to leave, but we must re-join the real world at some point. We actually stayed one extra day.

We made one last trip to the lake today (for this trip). C and MB had to do their jump off the pier. They do it every year. This year the lake level is so low they actually couldn't jump. Not deep enough. They settled for falling back off the pier ladder instead of jumping. It was also really cold! Five 13 year old girls cheered them on from the beach. Our four girls just watched in astonishment.

Tomorrow we go home. We will be back to Tahoe before the end of Summer. At least the girls and I will be.

Hike to White Cloud Falls

For our hike this year we went to White Cloud Falls. Beautiful views, gorgeous water falls, and a great hike.

Again, all the girls did fantastic. O is still our little billy goat. She doesn't stop, doesn't complain, just keeps on hiking. Usually at the front of 

the line. TB had it made. She was able to ride the hike again this year instead of hike it.

These are some of my favorite images from the hike, including two pooped out girls at the end. There were actually 4 pooped out girls, but I only have pics of my two.

Relaxing by The Lake

We have been relaxing in Tahoe since Monday. We are here on our 5th annual Tahoe vacation with the B family. It is so much fun watching the girls grow up at the lake year after year. What wonderful memories.

The girls all play so well together. This is the first year TB is able to play with the big girls. She was scooching around on her tush last year. This year she not only walked all the way down to the lake but walked straight into the water. As you can see, O enjoyed relaxing in the beach chair. What a little beach bunny.

New Walkway

We recently had a flagstone walkway put in. I'm finally getting a chance to share the pics. We love it. It will especially be nice in the winter when the grass is wet and muddy.

We also had the strip of lawn on the left side of the garage removed. There is now a nice concrete strip there. This widens our driveway and we can fit three cars or C puts his truck there and I can get in and out of the garage easily. We love it. Our gardener did a great job on both.

Father's Day

I know, I'm a few days late. Such is life in our house. We actually celebrated Father's Day on Saturday. C had the day off. He asked for Saturday, Sunday, and Monday off, but they only gave him Saturday. What do you do with one day! You enjoy that one day. That's what you do. 

On Saturday after dinner we walked down to our "lake." It's really a percolation pond, but I call it our lake. People water ski on there. These pictures are from that walk.

Sunday morning, C made breakfast. Some people make breakfast in bed for their husbands, the father of their children. Not in our house. We were going to go out, but the girls and I needed to get ready for Tahoe.

Once C went to work the girls and I left for Sacramento. We spent the night and left for Tahoe Monday morning.

We are now in Tahoe. Our annual Tahoe vacation with the B family. The girls are all getting so big. It's great to see them together at the Lake every summer. I'll start posting those pics later.

It's Official - It's Summer Vacation!

CK has been out of school for a week, but today was O's last day of school. We are now officially on Summer vacation! YEAH!

I know by the beginning of August I'll be asking when school starts, but for now we're looking forward to lazy Summer days at home, camping, the beach, Tahoe, Girl Scout Day Camp, and getting together with family and friends.

Next week is our first Summer get-away...Tahoe! We are all looking forward to a few relaxing days by the lake!

Tell The World

Sunday afternoon the girls and I attended The Choral Project concert, Tell The World. It was a superb concert of wonderful Gospel music.

My mom is in the choir and Papa records them. I haven't been to one of their concerts since the girls were born. I miss it. I went to every concert when C was in the choir with my mom.

This was the girls first Choral Project concert and they loved it. It was such wonderful spiritual upbeat music. It really kept them entertained. All though O did fall asleep. I don't know how anyone can fall asleep during a Gospel concert, but O managed to do it wonderfully. What a talent she has.

During intermission and after the concert the girls had their programs autographed by the wonderfully talented soloists and, of course, Nonna and Papa. That was CK's favorite part. O liked the singing the best.

This concert will be released to CD. I'm going to pre-order one for us. It will be a wonderful memento for the girls. They will be able to listen to this wonderful music anytime they want.

Outside

CK:  "Mommy, when are we going to go outside next?"

Me:  "What do you mean? You can go outside anytime you want. We go outside all the time. We'll be outside tomorrow."

CK:  "I mean outside, so I can wear my new tennis shoes."

Me: "OH! You mean a trip to the park or something."

CK: "Yea." with a smile on her face.

Eventually I get it. Sometimes it takes me longer than others.

"I don't know how to read!"

Monday Afternoon:

O: "Mama, I'm bored."

Me: "Why don't you go and get a book to read."

O: "I don't know how to read!"

Me: "Are you kidding me? You just read every word on Super Why, before the show said the word."

O: no comment

I then printed a learning to read book from one of my favorite educational websites (www.starfall.com) "Zac the Rat." I helped O read it. I needed to help her with a few words, but she pretty much read it. I still don't think she is convinced she can read. I don't know what other proof she needs! For crying out loud!

This morning when I was dropping off O at school I was telling her teachers "You probably know this, but O can read. She doesn't think she can read, but she can."

One of her teachers, Ms M, said she was going to talk to me about that. She agreed. It happens often they said. O especially is a perfectionist and gets very upset when she can't do something (anything) perfect. I mean upset, crying, tantrum...the whole thing and not just for not reading or writing a letter.

Ms M was then telling me how they are teaching the kids (Pre-K) sight words. They put the word the on the board and asked the kids what the word was. All the children sat and looked at each other, looked at the word, the teacher. No one knows what the word is. O then pipes up "THE!" Drawing the word out very emphatically, as if to say DUH, what are you stupid.

But, she doesn't know how to read. Oh no.

Mother's Day...a little late

Sorry, I'm a little behind on my blog. I've been SO busy with the end of school. I can't wait until Summer vacation! 4 days for CK and 5 days for O! But, who's counting. 

Since I'm so behind and I have a minute I'm going to tell you all about my wonderful Mother's Day weekend.

It started on Saturday with a Girl Scout Mother-Daughter Box Social. My mom was able to join us. We did crafts, sang songs, and had a picnic lunch. There was even a talent portion and my very own CK played the piano. She did an outstanding job! Not one mistake. She played her song in front of about 30 people and she had to go first! I was so proud of her.

After the box social C was able to join us for an afternoon symphony concert in the park. Papa was playing and we didn't want to miss it. C, for some reason, had the night off. Can't remember now why, but I have learned not to ask why. You take weekend days off when you can get them! They are few and far between.

After Papa's wonderful concert we had a family dinner out. Just the four of us. We went to

 our favorite restaurant and walked around Santana Row. It was such a treat to be able to do this on a Saturday night.

On Mother's Day we had brunch at my brother and sister-in-laws house. C then went to work. The girls and I took a ride with my mom to Monterey. We had a wonderful afternoon shopping on Fisherman's Wharf. The girls even got to hold a parrot. What a treat. They both loved it, as you can see from the pictures.

Papa joined us for dinner after recording a concert. We had a wonderful dinner overlooking Monterey Bay. The girls had a dinner show watching the Seals and Seagulls from their window seat. What a beautiful day. What a special weekend.

The Spider and The Fly

Is that a children's book? If it's not, it should be. Maybe I have to write it. After this, I'll have the story.

About a week ago CK and O saw a "daddy-longleg" spider in the garage and wanted me to catch it to put in their new "bug" box. Oh the joy to have something in their new box that was alive. They had a spider in there, but it went in dead. So I got a piece of paper and got the spider in the box.

After watching the spider for a few minutes CK announced "It needs water." Great. I've gotta figure out how to get water to this spider. No, I don't....my daughter saw the cap of a water bottle and thought that would make a perfect water bowl. It did. I then put the new water bowl in the box. CK's not going to do it. She has a bug phobia. (MUCH better now, obviously. This is light years ahead of where we where a year or two ago.)

The spider seems to be okay in her new home. (Girls said it's a girl spider.) She made a web, she's hanging from it at the far end of the box and their is spider poop on the bottom of the box. We look at her every day. Yep, still in there.

CK is trying to figure out what to feed the spider so she won't die. I tell her they catch insects, such as flies, in their web. CK says she is going to ask her little friend at school (a boy, who knows about such things). "Blood" he tells her. She doesn't believe her mother, but does believe the boy at school. Nice boy, smart. I know his mother, but HELLO. It's already starting.

Anyway, so the girls saw a fly in the house this afternoon and told me I needed to catch it in the other "bug" box so the spider can eat it. "I should catch it in the same box as the spider, so she can eat it. Don't you think?" I ask the girls. "Oh, right." CK says.

After about 5 minutes or so, I was able to get the fly into the box with the spider. YEA! Everyone is excited and we sit anxiously watching to see what the spider will do. At this point I wasn't sure how the spider was doing. She looked dead to me. NOPE. Boy, that spider perked up. She bounced up and went after the fly. It was great! The fly was a little too fast. The fly did get caught in the web, but not enough for the spider to get it.

CK, O and I continued to make crepe paper flowers for Teacher Appreciation Week and checked in on the spider and fly every so often. The fly is now walking around the box trying to figure a way to get out. I was watching it and he puts his little feet through the holes. It's funny.

Check in for updates on "The Spider and The Fly."

NOTE: in the picture the fly is on the left, in the blue circle and the spider is on the right, in the blue circle.

Mommy Doesn't Share her Tape

This was my conversation with O the other day.

O: "Mommy, why do you not share your tape?"

Mommy: "Because you and CK will use it all up."

O: "Yeah" (with a little smile on her face)

Mommy: "What happened to your tape?"

O: "I used it all up." (with a big smile on her face)

There you go!

Jack

The girls and I went out to dinner and shopping for a house warming gift tonight. On our way home I was telling the girls about the house warming party and who would be there.

O asks me, "Will Nonna be there?"

"No, I don't think so." I told her.

"Oh" with a sad sigh. "What about Jack?" she asks.

"Jack? Who's Jack?!" I ask. Couldn't for the life of me think of who Jack was.

CK says, "You know the navigator."

NONNA'S GPS? O wants to know if my mother's GPS (which she refers to as Jack) will be at the party. AND, did my 6 year old daughter just use the word navigator? Wow, 10 points for her.

"No, honey, Jack will not be there." I told her, very sweetly.

"Oh" O says with another sad sigh.

The girls must have really liked that GPS when we went to my uncle's with my mother a few weeks ago. We'll have to go on another drive with Nonna so the girls can hear Jack give directions. They liked confusing him the best.

My Sweet Girls

C and I both have bad colds. Funny how we both started feeling like we were coming down with something on the same day (Thursday night). Anyway, by Friday night, I knew I needed to rest. I told the girls, "Tomorrow is Saturday. I am not going to stamp club because I don't feel well. I going to sleep in. I don't want either of you coming into my room early to wake me up. I want to sleep in, because I'm sick." They replied with a, "Yes, Mommy." I knew they understood. Whether they would comply is something else.

At about 7am on Saturday morning O comes to me and says, "Mommy, I just wanted to check and see how you were feeling." So sweet. She wanted to check on me, but also wanted to make sure I wouldn't be mad. 7am....not bad. O usually wakes up much earlier.

I was able to rest. I wasn't able to get anything done, but rested. The girls played in their room for a long time before I got up. It was so nice. Even sick, I love listening to them play.

Saturday night I told the girls we would have soup. They jumped at the chance to get the soup cans form the pantry in the garage. It was so cute. I asked if they needed help, they said no. I asked if they wanted a stool, they said they would get it. I did need to help with one can, but they were so cute. So sweet to want to help me.

Yesterday, CK tells me, "Mommy, let me know if you need something. I will get it for you."

I'm feeling better today. I'm looking forward to feeling 100% again. I don't have time to be sick. I feel bad for C. He was feeling just as bad, but had to work. Poor thing. I'll let him rest on his weekend.

CK Lost Her First Tooth

FINALLY. CK has been waiting a long time for this tooth to fall out. Yesterday was the big day. I picked her up from school and she came running out of her classroom waiving a zip-lock bag yelling "My tooth fell out!"

Spring Concert for O

  O had her Pre-K Spring concert today. You can't help but laugh, smile and have a warm feeling in your heart when you see 21 five year olds singing together.

The concert was classic TV theme songs; The Monkees, The Addams Family, Mr. Roger's Neighborhood, The Partridge Family, The Flinstones, The Brady Bunch, Mickey Mouse Club, Green Acres, and The Carol Burnett Show. They did a great job (for excited 5 year olds).

C filmed the entire concert. I also filmed 4 songs on my point-and-shoot. I put them together in one movie. My first time using iMovie. You'll be seeing more of these. How fun is that program?! Anyway, enjoy O's mini concert.

CK Composes a Song

CK wrote this song for me and played it on my birthday. I love it! What a wonderful gift!

 "Mommy" by CK

Video Clips

Here are two video clips.

1. O singing Happy Birthday

2. CK singing and playing Happy Birthday

Enjoy

A Wonderful Birthday

I have the best husband and daughters. They really made my birthday, on Monday, special. I first received three "Happy Birthday" wishes in the morning. Starting at 1:30am when C came home from work. Then each when the girls woke up.

I had a breakfast date with my husband after dropping off the girls at school. He had to work Monday day and night, so that was the only time we had. I even got some quiet time in the morning before picking up O at school.

The girls and I had a simple dinner and then they sang "Happy Birthday" to me and CK played it on the piano. CK even started writing me a song and played it for me. (see three videos below in next entry)

Everything was going very well, until O broke out in hives (for the 7th time in a week). She got one on her upper lip, which made her look like she got a huge fat lip. It really scared me and I was a little stressed with C at work. It didn't seem to bother her, but I called the doctor anyway. 

While the girls and I were sitting waiting to see if O's lip would go down CK said the sweetest thing to me, "Mommy, I'm sorry it's your birthday and Daddy has to work, and O is sick." That just made my day. My girls are just the sweetest, most carrying children.

O was fine and I was much better after C came home early (11pm) to be with me on my birthday. What a wonderful surprise. I told him I didn't care about my birthday, I just was worried about O. She was better by the next day.

The girls took these pictures. 

My Little Teacher

This morning dropping off CK at school, I stopped to ask her teacher (Mrs. C) about the upcoming field trip. CK then asked me to give a note to daddy. Mrs. C tells me she hopes O doesn't mind CK collecting papers for her. I wasn't sure what she was referring.

After dinner tonight, I understood. CK was getting papers out of her backpack. She seems to collect them in there for a month. CK pulls out two packets she has made of papers she says are "to quiz O."

You should see these packets. They are extra 1st Grade worksheets CK has done in class. She has stapled them together, writing across the top, "O's Work Book." The other packet says, "O's Practice Book." This one has a cover sheet CK made. It has addition problems with a square at the bottom with instructions, "Draw a heart." Just like her math worksheets. CK even made a "finished" bin for O to put all her finished worksheets in. SO CUTE.

As I am writing this entry CK is having O do her worksheets. O doesn't seem to mind. She is excited to be doing the work her big sister has collected for her. O is going to be at the top of her Kindergarten class in the fall, if CK has anything to do with it.

They Keep Me Thinking

A day or so ago, O came to me and said, "Mommy, I want to make a book, but I can't snap it."

Snap it? It took me a second, but then I realized what she meant—staple it. Snap works. So, I helped her “snap” her book and she was off.