Toothless in Point Lobos

Last smile with all his baby teeth/Wiggling/Toothless

He pulled out his own loose tooth
while we were visiting the Point Lobos tide pools
with Errin/Shelly/Rachel/Jones.

And was SO proud of himself.

Singing, "He's got the whole world in his hands!"

He was excited about his $1 from the tooth fairy
and wrote her a note that he left under his pillow the next day:

"Dear Tooth Fairy,
Thank you for taking my tooth."

I think McKenna told him she got $5 instead of $1
when she left a note with her tooth.

He didn't get $5 more but I left him a note back.

Cause I'm the tooth fairy, you know.

Also at Point Lobos:

Jones taking after his auntie mooning us (see the seal back there?)

7/6

Then back again with the Bohns:
Cute little picnic spot that was new to us.

with Tanner

with Denise

7/9

Marching On

Cause that's what you do on Independence day, right? March.

Anyway.

Now you are viewing pictures of our 4th of July trip to Earthbound Farms in Carmel Valley where we went on their little bug walk.

We walked through their plants to identify helpful insects.

The party didn't really start until the ladybugs came out, though.

Each kid got a handful to spread on the mustard plants.

Most of ours were played with and pinched (Sally)...hopefully they found their own way to the plants cause we weren't very helpful.

Aren't we festive?

Then we visited Earthbound's herb garden (weirdest thing...mint leaves taste like...mint!)

and their chamomile labyrinth.

That was the best.

A little sign told us to take off our shoes to enjoy.

It felt/smelt/WAS amazing.




That night since poor Monterey wasn't doing fireworks.

And they were selling them on roadside stands...yet were illegal.

We decided to do our own version.
Look...fireworks!

The fire...works!

We've gone to beach bonfires before but never been the ones providing the fire.

It was fun...thanks to my little lumberjack.



We happened to meet the Davidsons down there who Errin/Shelly know from when they lived in AZ (and were in our ward before it split). They are pro bonfirists that taught us how the dried seaweed ball things pop in the fire so we even had our own natural fireworks.

Happy Independence Day!

Finally!

I took this tourism thing a little too seriously:

a. Fleece jacket with a San Fran logo
(for those silly people like me who bring a jacket
but leave it in the car far away)
b. Camera across chest
c. Posing with inanimate objects at tourist attractions

But oh well cause I FINALLY got to go to San Francisco!

We went there on our honeymoon
but Justin doesn't love big cities so we haven't gone back.

He stayed home with our 3 little kiddies
so the girls + Jones (who did awesome) could have some fun.

Shopping
(my favorite was H&M where I discovered the return of bodysuits...Ah!)

Eating
Of course sourdough.

But Trish's mini donuts on the Pier were the best.
Thanks to Shelly for introducing us :)

I couldn't even be bothered to smile...busy eating donuts.

Watching street performers
This one man band was awesome!

And cute in a dirty/Kansas boy/street performer kind of way.

The worst was the balloon animal lady with the creepy low voice.

Rachel hoped to be scared by the bush man
Who was an imposter!

The streets of San Francisco love their MJ

And I love a good pirate.

This one let me hold his hook.

We love San Francisco!

Coastguard Pier

7/2

Took Rachel to Coastguard Pier to see the sea lions.

Then a few days later went back w/Denise and family.
7/7

The sea lions are so close,
just down on rocks behind where everyone is sitting.

Nate risked his life to get this sea star.
It was washed up on a rock down by the sea lions.

They were sleeping, otherwise he could've been their lunch.

Mystery Spot

7/1

Ever seen these bumper stickers?

At the Mystery Spot in Santa Cruz there is a 150 feet radius or something where gravity is just off. Our tour guide showed us with a level that a board going in a window was slanting down. He put a ball on the middle of the board and it rolled up...as in not down. Same with water. And Rachel's chapstick. Rachel & I (plus my kids) got to meet Cherisse, her kids, and her sister there. See her blog for more.

A little tipsy inside the mystery spot house.

Also in Santa Cruz...
A fun park and 7-11 ICEEs in crazy flavors.

Company

6/30 - Those big dinosaurs off the side of the road on the way from AZ to CA.
You know you've all stopped there.

Rachel drove home with me from Arizona.

Then 2 days later Errin (sis-in-law), her mom Shelly,
and baby Jones came.
7/2 - Ghirardelli on Cannery Row.
First place we visited after they'd been in the car all day.

And THEN...
7/7 - Downtown Monterey Farmer's Market

Aunt Denise/Uncle Mark + Nate, Tanner,
and McKenna (not pictured) came!

So we've been busy being tourists.

And I've been enjoying my summer visitors.

If you can call it a summer at 60 degrees.

It's going to be so sad when they're all gone...the last bunch leaves today.

From Safford to Payson

Reunited w/Gracie the dog and Nonnie

Lunch at the new Mackey's location

I don't normally love hamburgers but mine (the Duke) was so, so good and messy.

Visited the neighbor's farm.

Sally was the most brave of the bunch.

And playing with more cousins (Blaken and Quade)

16

That's how many grandkids my parents are up to with the latest addition of Tami's baby Suzee.

Karen, Errin, and I made a little trip up to Safford last week.

We got to swim in Tami & Jay's awesome new pool, play on their humongous playground, celebrate Tami's birthday early, eat yummy Casa Manana, and I met Suzee for the first time.

The Karen Special

Our Monterey friends just happened to be in AZ one of the days we were there so Karen did S's hair.

I love it.

And it was fun seeing them there.

6/25

On a High Note

with 2nd cousin McKennah 6/25

That's how swim lessons ended.

Drew ended up loving it and Owen got comfortable enough to start swimming later that week. Yay, my 5 year old can swim! I think they were the oldest ones in their classes...you could tell we weren't native Arizonians for sure.

Man Hater

6/21

It took a week but Jason (my brother who just got home from his mission in Tennessee) got Sally to come out of her man hating shell.

In other uncles news, Brett was nice to take Owen & Drew to see the new Night at the Museum movie. And no, Brett, they're still not allowed to see Transformers. :)

6/23