Pirate-y Inflatable Bats

Last Saturday was the Feast of Lanterns festivities at Lover's Point.

Those festivities ended up being a couple of food vendors that are normally at farmers markets.

And some over-priced rides/activities.

The kids got to choose one thing to do and they all chose to throw a couple bean bags at some fat cats.

And they all (even Sally who didn't hit her target) got an inflatable bat.

With pirates on it (no relativity to the Feast of Lanterns whatsoever).

But they were happy.

And immediately started battling.

Insert way too many battling pictures here:

Took a break from the action for the Lover's Point beach.

Sally hit the sea glass jackpot.

 And by jackpot, I mean she found like 7 pieces.

 Twins by accident.

 The potato tornado looks better than it tasted.

The day festivities were fine to do once.

The night festivities however were awesome.

We ended up sitting by a family from church who are the loudest sober people I've ever met.

Very entertaining.

Everyone sits on the beach and watches a cultural show about 2 lovers who were forbidden to marry,

so they escaped and turned into butterflies.

Or something like that.

 The sea dragon was awesome.

Totally worth those people treading water forever in freezing water.

The night ended with a great (privately funded) fireworks show over the beach.

I have to say privately funded, since the city doesn't have 4th of July fireworks (still bitter).

A local realtor foots most of the bill for this celebration of Pacific Grove history.

We'll take it.

Dumped

6/4

Justin's phone photos (and a few of mine are about to get documented).

I apologize that we have to start with this one.

6/12

This was a couple days before we left Carlsbad.

Justin had one last court of honor as 11-year-old scout leader.

Leland earned his Tenderfoot and was SO excited.

We ran his awards to his house after the meeting.

From where I was waiting in the van I could hear him hollering, "Yes! Yes! Yes!"

Justin said he was just the same during the court of honor.

If only we were all so excited about scouting.

6/21

Justin rode August down to Lover's Point on my bike.

One of my favorite things to do is take that baby on bike rides.

He needs to stay small enough to fit in that seat forever.

 6/28

Tide pooling at Asilomar.

7/10

Those were clean dishes.

7/13

We live near a high school again.

Thank goodness, because where else would Auggie practice his headstands and wheel-barrows?

 7/14

No, these are not soccer uniforms.

This is what we ended up with after a little back-to-school shopping.

Remind me to not bring them next time.

7/19

This really happened.

(reading peacefully and not pestering each-other)

And it lasted 5 minutes.

Notice Sally's skirt layering and mis-matched shirt.

7/19

From when we met Justin for lunch the other day.

7/19

Probably the most appetizing picture you've ever seen.

If you look closely you will see a random bow-tie pasta mixed in with the penne.

Silly Trader Joe's.

7/20

He woke up too early.

So I made him make me breakfast.

 7/20

From the Feast of Lanterns family day last weekend.

7/20

You will never guess that whale's name, so I'll tell you.

It's Sandy.

7/24

Sally: I don't need any hangers. My shirts just poofed away!

Me: Oh really, they're not hiding in your closet or shopping cart?

S: How do you know all my secrets?

7/24

We were all happy when I finished my 2nd week of work and got to leave the house.

That kid is fearless and loves the ocean.

7/24

Sally and Tes, the queen of poses.

Yay for built-in friends.

7/25

Minutes before, he was shrieking and laughing.

I don't know how this happened, but it made me happy.

7/26

We were supposed to go to Santa Cruz, but then Owen threw up.

So...Pavel's for us, ginger ale and saltines for him.

That fork was meant to show how huge those donuts were.

They were as big as Sally's face.

That berry cream cheese croissant was worth every pound I gained eating it.

7/26

The only bibs I own are girly.

Sorry dude.

Feast of Lanterns Family Day

Saturday afternoon we stopped by the Feast of Lanterns family day at the

PG Museum of Natural History.

Last time we went to that place I was not impressed.

But it's gotten a face lift, and although it's still full of taxidermy, I (actually all of us) liked it.

It's not every day we get to see a bottled whale's eye.

Back to Work

 Wait these beach pictures don't give the impression of work?

They were taken by Justin, who randomly had the day off from school on Tuesday.

While I was home working.

The tables have turned.

I'm doing media buying for Larry John Wright Advertising again.

(I worked for them before I was married until Owen turned 1).

But this time I'm doing job-share w/my friend Becky.

So it's 20 hours/2.5 days a week.

It's a little bit nuts working with 4 kids around,

but I'm grateful for the job (that practically fell in my lap thanks to Becky).

The above pictures were from Garrapata Beach.

We randomly stopped there when we were first here in 2008 (middle of nowhere).

Justin took them back to give me some quiet working time (it was nice).

Today, I had to get out of the house (not used to being so cooped up).

We met Justin downtown near his school for lunch.

 Notice Sally in the background mid-Pokemon battle with Owen and Drew.

Free Time

No school or sports for the kids.

Justin and I don't have church callings (those come Sunday).

Justin's school is going good (not too stressful yet).

And I'm not working (that starts Monday).

So before all the craziness sets in, we're enjoying the free time.

Today Justin met us at the library after school.

After getting stamps for the summer reading program,

we got on the free downtown trolley and rode it until we felt like getting off.

Our stop was by Old Fisherman's Wharf where we tried to spy jellyfish

and bought some overpriced taffy.

It was a good way to spend a day.

Sally & Bach

I don't think Sally knew what she was getting into when she said

she wanted to go to a concert with me.

But I was happy to have her as my date to an open rehearsal of the Bach Festival.

The Sunset Center is such a cool, old building.

I loved the feeling inside.

And the musicians were amazing.

Sally was interested in it for about 10 minutes...had lots of questions about the people and instruments.

But then it was "getting boring" and she had to go to the bathroom.

And after her whispers (which were quiet by the way) got shushed by the lady in front of us,

I was done, too.

So during a stage change we snuck out and explored the nearby art exhibit.

It mostly featured art influenced by Bach and the nearby coast.

We pretty much had the place to ourselves and Sally started dancing

(she would never do that in front of an audience).

Then we needed dessert.

Her request was chocolate cake (specifically from a Chinese restaurant).

But I talked her into the fondue dessert at Lalla Grill.

It was so good.

Housemade marshmallows were my favorite.

Sally said it was the best day ever.

And also, "Just so you know my bootie loves to dance."