Last Days of Vacation

We are actually home now, but I wanted to post the last four days of our vacation. We stayed with our good friends CC, R, and boys V and B. They live 1 hour North-East of San Diego. 

We arrived on Saturday morning. Just in time to go and see V's flag football games. Daddy R is coach of course. We didn't expect to see him this trip. He was away on business, but he surprised us and was able to come home just for Saturday for the football games. We were all excited to see him, but O was the most surprised. Especially when he came out of the garage and she didn't expect to see him at all.

O was so excited about this trip to see her God-parents! She told everyone "Auntie CC is my God-mother!" It was extra special that she also got to see her God-father, even if it was only for an afternoon.

O usually starts saying she wants to go home or that she misses the cat after the first day of being away. Not this trip! She did not say it once! As a matter of fact she cried because she didn't want to go home. She wanted to stay with her God-mother. It was so cute. I felt bad. This was a good visit for her. She was really able to connect with CC and have some quality time with her God-mother. Next visit we'll make sure Uncle R is there for longer than one afternoon.

I took an idea from my friends blog (thanks MM!) and put together a little collage of images from our four days with CC and the boys.

They put in a pool last year. It's beautiful and the girls loved it! They really did a fantastic job on this pool. The heart shaped pool has a medium grey bottom. On all the steps and seats around the inside of the pool there is a square tile boarder. It's a great way to help see that there is a step/seat there. The flagstone edge around the pool is beautiful and along with the rock seat, diving rock and waterfall, it really makes you feel like you are in your own little pond. I love the addition of an umbrella in the top step of the shallow end of the pool. Right in the step. I love it.

Yes, that is me you see in a bikini. That was my San Diego souvenir. I've been wanting to get a bikini again. I haven't had one since before the girls were born. C has been asking me to get one, so when we were shopping at UTC I found this one. C told me to get it. Who am I to argue?

We also were lucky enough to be able to help B celebrate his 7th birthday. We took him out to lunch and we all ate his HUGE slice of chocolate cake. YUM!

We had a great vacation. It's good to be home. Huge thanks to the B family for having us in their home. We had a great time.  The only picture we didn't get was me and CC. (Can you believe that CC?) Bummer! 

San Diego; Crepe Breakfast, Museum, & Mall

Our day started with a wonderful Crepe breakfast with JK and her family (brother, sister-in-law, & Mom). CK and O enjoyed a banana and Nutella crepe. What better way to start the morning! I was able to take some shots of cutie pie little R. She is 8 months old and just started crawling. She is a very good baby. She let mommy and daddy eat breakfast and everything.

After breakfast we headed to Balboa Park and went to the San Diego Air & Space Museum. What a fun place. We thought of Papa the entire time. He would love it!

We saw the Apollo 9 Command Module. HOW COOL! Amazing those three astronauts fit in that tiny little thing. We also saw many aircraft from WWI, WWII and much more. The girls loved it. They wanted to go into every plane and cockpit they could. 

For lunch we went to Horton Plaza Mall in downtown San Diego. OMG, what a cool mall. Full of color. It's about five levels. So confusing! Mom: never go there alone! Seriously, I don't think I want to go there alone. It has so many paths this way and that. It's smack in the middle of downtown, so it's really a neat place and great to photograph. I could have been there all day photographing so many different aspects of it.

After walking around the mall for a while we went back to the hotel to rest. O and I took a nap and then we all jumped in the pool and hot tub for a few minutes. We had a wonderful dinner in our hotel room; french bread, salami, provolone cheese, and wine (well, C and I had wine). It was nice to sit and have some non-restaurant food. Nonna and Papa; the girls are ready for a trip to Europe. They loved sitting on the floor eating a picnic dinner. 

Tomorrow it's off to Temecula to visit CC and the boys. We can't wait. O is very excited to see her God-Mother! I'm not sure I'll get to update the blog there. I might only be able to enter text and not pics. I don't think they have wireless. We'll see.

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!