Cotton Candy

Danna, my little entrepreneur friend, is getting into the cotton candy business.

She brought down her serious machine and we had fun tasting and taking pictures.

 

 

Her Turn

 

 

 Before and after her first day of preschool at Leigh's house.

She was so happy afterwards.

Me, too.

No joy school this year!

This was days later...just a happy moment when quiet time turned into nap time.

That so rarely happens. 

Labor Day Weekend

 Met up with Justin's aunt Connie, who lives in San Diego,

and his brother Christian, who was visiting.

We walked and melted around San Diego.

The sand castles at the competition were amazing!

But I kind of feel like they cheated...that is totally special sand and it wasn't right on the beach.

Seaport Village had a cute, old carousel.

 

And here's the group.

 I feel so bad that it's taken us 2 years to meet up with Connie.

She's so sweet.

 Christian tried to fit in.

Then we had visitors of our own.

Jason & Candace stayed with Brent & Errin.

Derek & Loren stayed here.

Our weekend included lots of food and some beach.

 You'd be surprised how many times Jason had to redo that D on Drew's back.

Totally worth it, right?

Back to School

 Stopped for a little back to school shopping at the outlets on our way home from the tram.

The purchase they were most excited about...rash guards.

Oh, you don't need rash guards for school?

Shoot.

They got to spend the day before school started with me at the grocery store.

If we hadn't been desperate for groceries, I would've waited one more day.

 But it was good to go to remind me that going back to school has its bonuses.

That day also included swimming, hair cuts, and father's blessings.

The big day...

They both did awesome going to their new classes.

3rd grade Owen all of a sudden seems a lot more grown up.

1st grade Drew was tough, but fighting back tears.

He couldn't look at me to say bye as he sat there coloring his little balloon picture.

And then there was me full on crying at school.

They both came home happy.

Drew was relieved the long day was over and that he found his friends at recess.

(he's not so sure full-day school is a good thing)

Owen was happy to see long-lost friends and he likes his teacher.

(but neither of us was a fan of homework on the first day)

In bed that night I heard Owen say, "I liked the first day of school Drew! Did you?"

"No."

The Tramway

Justin made the mistake of telling me about this place he heard about in Palm Springs where you can ride an aerial tram high up into the mountains (Palm Springs Aerial Tramway).

He can't tell me about things like this and expect me to wait to go explore.

Sounded like the perfect pre-back to school family activity to me.

So that's how we spent our Monday.

The tram ride was cool, but a little over-rated for the price.
+ The views were awesome
+ We can now say we've ridden in "The World's Largest Rotating Tramcar"
- Too short for the price (10 minutes each way)
- No chairs
- Too many people crammed inside (is our own private tram too much to ask?)

BUT at the top, it was really cool and made up for the above minuses.

 The dreaded Angry Birds shirt he talked me in to getting him for school.

I let him wear it all he wants in hopes it'll wear out faster.

 Smells like vanilla.

She has no tennis shoes that fit and preferred being barefoot to wearing sandals.

 

 Excited to find a Christmas tree.

 His bark collection he was sad to leave behind (park rules, not mine).

A crappy picture in front of our tram.

Justin and I loved this day...Justin was happy being in nature that reminded him of the rim in Payson (AZ) where he grew up. I always love seeing new places, and loved being just our family with no distractions (I don't think that's happened all summer).

Owen loved it about half the time. He wasn't sure our little nature walk was ever going to end, and was most affected by the swaying of the tram.

Drew was so happy exploring, except every time he tripped (which was a lot) he wanted to go home. Then a minute later he'd find a new piece of bark and was happy again.

Sally did super awesome, barefoot and all. I really don't think she complained.

Baby in my belly made me tired.

Amused

This is our last full week of summer, so I wanted to do some fun things with the kids.

(Justin was on the rifle range so couldn't miss work or join us for anything..but he did shoot expert!)

Owen wasn't approving of any of my suggestions on Monday so I asked him what HE wanted to do.

Sea World.

I don't think he thought I'd really say yes.

But we still hadn't used our free military day yet this year so we went.

It was so hot that the boys wanted to be in the splash zone at the Shamu show.

Towards the end when they still hadn't been splashed, they got distracted and a little whiny.

And then when none of us were paying attention, 3 huge splashes came our way and we were all DRENCHED.

As in, it looked like we showered in our clothes.

The boys loved it.

Sally cried.

Is it sad that the highlights of our day was the disappearing ink the boys got thanks to someone giving us their tickets in the arcade?

And also, running into a huge turtle that was out for a walk (with Seaworld employees)?

Neither really fit into the "sea" category.

Still love the Monterey aquarium the best.

 Our Disney day had been planned for awhile.

Ideally I wouldn't go on in hot weather being 34 weeks pregnant,

but Sally's pass expired the next day so we had to get in our last visit.

 

The main goal of the day was to experience the new Cars Land.

It's awesome!

But we were nervous when right at 8AM there was already 1/2 hour line just to get a fast pass for the Radiator Springs Racer ride.

That was the worst of it, though.

Thanks to Annie (my friend who met us there w/her 2 kids) we got right on the Luigi ride.

And then the Mater tractor ride was a short wait after that.

But then we had time to kill.

 

Annie took the boys on Tower of Terror (Owen's first time).

While we did a kiddie ride.

 

 Little Mermaid/proof I was there.

(It might be time to retire that F21 t-shirt. I've definitely gotten my $5 worth)

Exploring Cars Land.

Then finally the big ride.

Loved waiting 15 minutes (verses 2 hours).

 And loved that ride.

And obviously, Disneyland.

Heat Survival

Yes, I'm still talking about the heat and how we survived.

I should note that outside it wasn't that bad.

But with humidity, no breeze and warm temps our house was usually around 85 inside.

Aside: Notice I used some past tense? Hoping the heat is gone!

Anyway, Owen's heat-induced frown turned upside down after jumping in a bucket of water.

And I got happy after figuring out how to make grilled brownies.

 

 They were delicious with Danna's caramel sauce on top.

After living here 2 years, we finally visited the base pool.

Don't know why I have such an aversion to going on base.

Well, kind of I do.

But I should get over it for this awesome & free pool, cheap groceries

(only gone to the commissary twice here),

and the cheap theater (where we saw "Brave" after the pool).

 

Last Sunday I was super grateful to eat dinner at Brent & Errin's.

No heating up my house and they're closer to the ocean, so it's a little bit cooler there.

Oh and Errin makes good food.

Also grateful for our after-dinner entertainment.

Olympics Viewing

We are normally fine watching our TV shows on Hulu or Netflix.

But that wasn't going to work for the Olympics.

So rather than pay for cable, Justin bought this cheapo antenna to see if it'd work.

NBC comes in totally clear!

When the antenna is positioned just like this.

Another ghetto moment for our household.

Heat Stroke

This is the one time of the year I can complain about the weather here so I'm going to do it.
It's 10 at night and my house is 82 degrees.
82 might sound like nothing, but don't forget the humidity.
And the fact that this house has no AC.

I'm a swollen, sweaty mess.

At least we've found ways to escape the heat most all week.

Like the day Danna and her kids came down for some bowling, shaved ice, and swimming (pictured above).

And the day when we met the long-lost Messervy's, who are back in town for the week, at the beach (wish I got a picture).

And today when we met some even longer-lost friends from NC at another beach.