Best of Both Worlds

ocean view

from a forest-y campground

This was the perfect camp site at New Brighton State Beach. The campground is up above the beach so we got our tent and fire in trees then thanks to a little path we got beach access, too.

fire popped popcorn at night

playing with fire in the morning

still tired

hot chocolate

helmet...backwards
seat...the fender

Don't let this fool you...I slept in the van w/Sally...
much less scary/more enjoyable that way.
Missed out on the mating raccoons, though.

the path to the beach

Sally fell asleep in her arms...after calling her, "mom"
and not wanting me to hold her.

beach shower

finally got up close to the cement ship at Seacliff Beach
(we were camping about a mile from it...
tried walking there from our site
but we didn't have enough time before check out
so we drove there on our way home)
Sally's face represents the stench of the sea lions.

Seacliff Beach pier and cement ship in the background.

Camping and I are friends again.
It was the best.
And so much better with friends.

P.S. We had a good group site (#3) at NBSB...but if you go w/just your family get #22...it has the best ocean view (the top 2 pics were taken from #22 before it became occupied).

Reading

She's busy reading.

And really, that's all I want to be doing right now too...finishing The Count of Monte Cristo.

It's so good (thanks Denise for leaving it here this summer).

Conference Weekend

Conference weekend makes me happy & crazy all at the same time.

Aim higher

Internet goes out
Relaxing at home/no lesson prep

Warm fuzzies

Loud/stir crazy kids
Walk by ocean between sessions

Change of heart

Internet goes out some more
Lots of family time...and some friend time

Testimony of The Book of Mormon

Overall...mostly happy.

Feed the Birds

Apparently we like feeding birds lately.

Justin found these huge pine cones on a walk with Owen & Drew yesterday.

So 2 things of peanut butter and lots of bird seed later...we have some lovely tree decor.

In "The Friend"

Owen's in the October Friend!

Bottom right corner...standing in front of our friend Aaron I.

This was our last Primary activity in Jacksonville before we moved here.

If you want an autographed copy of your magazine that can be arranged :)

Rules

At least we didn't use any foul language.

I knowingly broke the skate park rules...
but what else was I supposed to do
when we walked by and it was totally empty?

Feed some birds?

Okay.


But apparently that's not allowed either.

Drew's New Look

A bathroom break during apple picking at Gizdich Farms.

Soccer Legs

lets pretend this is a clear picture

Monday - Justin game
Tuesday - Justin game/Owen practice
Wednesday - Justin game
Thursday - Owen practice
Friday - What? No soccer?
Saturday - Owen game

Owen to Justin: I saw your butt-head in your soccer game.

I thought Justin's soccer season was done, but...play-offs! They lost tonight so now it's officially over. I'm not happy they lost but I'm happy to not have another crazy soccer week like this one.

Indian Summer

Another very cute Grosgrain giveaway.

I think I love this one even more than the last.

Owen, Bartholomew, and Sal

One of my favorite gifts for newborn Owen was the book of his same name (that I didn't know existed) from Justin's aunt Jeane Ann.

She continued the book tradition for Drew & Sally.

But for Drew we couldn't find a book whose main character had his same name. So he got one of Jeane Ann's favorites...Bartholomew and the Oobleck. We like the book and really like that we don't have a son named Bartholomew. Now if I could get a batch of oobleck to turn out! Shouldn't be that hard with 2 ingredients.

I extra love Sally's book...I had never read this one either. I love that the girl goes by Sal and I really love the illustrations (and pretty much all of Robert McCloskey's).

But back to Drew...does anyone know of any children's book that has a main character named Drew? Or even a supporting character? Nancy Drew doesn't count.

Picture of the Week

9/12

Goes to Justin!

Doesn't it give you the impression that Owen helped the Golden Sharks to their first victory?

He got the "best team player" acknowledgement at the end of the game...as in he let the rest of the team do the work :)

Had fun, though!

This week...
Justin was gone Mon-Fri doing Arabic interpreting at Fort Erwin in Barstow.
I stayed up too late.
Ate too much.
Went through old pictures and found this:

May 2007 - Owen inspecting a washed up puffer fish on Cape Lookout in NC

Do you know what this means???

That this little puffer could be what started Owen's little obsession (see here) and we had no idea!

I don't think we even knew this was a puffer at the time.

A life changing discovery.

Oh and Sally is now in nursery! Weird that Sally and Drew are in there together. Drew is so over nursery. He's been in there forever. Sally did awesome. Yay!

A Girl

Drew: I wish I had a remote controller to turn me into a girl.

Me: Why do you want to be a girl?

Drew: So I could paint my toenails.

Culture for the Week

The Monterey Museum of Art
featuring art from children's books.

I just barely read Babar for the first time in my life this week.
And I love him.

All this plus some bonding w/the older women of our ward.

I am now just a little bit smarter.

Is that a word...smarter?

Compare and Contrast

9/3
You would think we forced Owen to play soccer by these pictures.

But he asked out of the blue when it was time to play again.

And after we signed him up he asked almost daily
when his coach was going to call about the 1st practice.

1st practice came and this is what we got.

Then this morning he woke up saying how much fun soccer was.

Hmmm....

I'll just let him think he had fun and not show him these pictures.


Justin had a good soccer season w/his Marine DLI team.

His pictures above are from the final game.

They scored a goal at literally the last second.

8/31

We love soccer!

I think. :)

Slumber Party

We got to have Felicity over while she waited for her new brother to be born.

She & Sally enjoyed some Bakugan and Pokemon in the bathroom.

Don't be too jealous of our sexy linoleum...it's a rental!