One Big Happy

9/4

Nolan's birthday party.

9/6

I meant to tell Owen to get in the kitchen to do the dishes.

But accidentally said to get in the sink.

Amelia Bedelia was very obedient.

9/7

No laboring on Labor Day.

9/10

9/12

Owen's first cross country meet.

This was my first, too and it was kind of emotional.

These kids looked so pained at the finish line it made me choke up.

9/14

Whale watching.

9/16

He thought those lemons were ripe for picking.

9/18

 Happy day for Drew.

He won the school drawing to be the ball boy at that night's high school football game.

The ball boy himself:

 9/18

When they announced his name, he waved to the crowd like a celebrity.

9/18

The girls at the game.

9/19

After almost 3 hours at Costco (waiting for a tire change) I just stopped caring.

9/20

He enjoyed Auggie's birthday cake.

9/20

Auggie's birthday.

9/21

Birthday $ from Great Grandpa.

9/21

Not a new bike, but a new birthday helmet.

9/21

Birthday haul from the neighbors.

Off to Science Camp:

9/29

9/30

Sally inherited that "Sally doll" from her teacher.

It is almost 90 years old and was her mom's that both she and and her mom played with.

Sally loves it.

It was so sweet of her teacher.

But the doll is a little scary.

10/1

We never get rain and the forecast only had a 10% change.

So I didn't bother sending Owen to camp with rain gear.

And of course it rained.

10/1

Drew's super dog cape at scouts.

10/2

Owen's welcome home committee.

Was seriously so happy to see that stinker.

Missed him.

 Auggie missed him, too.

10/3

One of my more stressful shopping Trader Joe's trips.

Had to stop right where he was to apply every single TJ's sticker.

10/4

Pre-conference trip to Lover's Point.

10/4

In-between conference sessions, Owen finished reading The Book of Mormon for the first time.

I was bribed to read it when I was 11, before turning 12 (with a new bike).

Carried on the bribing tradition and Owen chose an iPad Mini 2.

10/5

That's my child climbing through a hole in the fence at Sally's practice.

Speaking of Sally's practice...

10/5

She loved her first exposure to softball during a fall clinic.

10/6

Sally's class field trip to Earthbound Farms.

The kids were maybe not so interested in their organic farming practices, but I loved it.

10/7

Yet another trip to the "whale museum."

10/9

Took birthday pictures for a friend's daughter and got this one of Sally that I love.

10/9

Daddy-daughter dance at church.

At the dance:

I have a thing for beach silhouettes.

10/10

Auggie Turns 3

The Cake

Every time we go to Costco August has to look at the cakes.

Taking one home might have been the happiest day of his life.

He would open the fridge, say, "Ta da!" and just stare at it.

Last Sleep as a 2-Year Old

I get sentimental about that for some reason.

Birthday Breakfast

Donuts with sprinkles, of course.

He had a Sunday birthday so we bought them the day before.

Red's Donuts are the best here, but all his beloved sprinkle ones were gone by the time we got there.

So I added some at home.

And they just fell all over the plate.

But 3-year olds don't care.

And they don't mind that day-old donuts aren't that great.

You're welcome for that attractive picture.

Birthday Greetings

He watched the video from Sarah, Tes, and Meg at least 10 times.

My favorite is when he sang along with anyone that called

and added, "Cha cha cha" to the birthday song.

Presents

Drew and Sally asked if they could wrap presents.

I fell asleep laying with Auggie and woke up to this.

And loved it.

These two aren't always best friends, but they worked together great.

    

Auggie knew exactly what he wanted for his birthday.

And most of what he wanted were crap toys (a slingshot and a sword) that broke within hours.

This mini golf set was my favorite.

Happy Birthday

He had that cheesy grin on his face the whole time we were singing.

The Barrs and Hansens came over to share the massive cake with way too much frosting.

Owen told me he wouldn't have been happy if that was his birthday.

Between church, having to wait for Justin to get home after meetings to open presents,

to just staying home the rest of the day... not ideal for an 11 year old.

But for Auggie, the low key day was just fine.

San Francisco with Sally

It was the last free Saturday we'd have in awhile before fall sports started up.

It was Labor Day weekend.

Justin had schoolwork.

Owen and Drew just wanted to be with their friends.

And I needed an adventure.

So Sally happily joined me for a day in San Francisco.

The number one thing she wanted to do was to play at the Fan Lot at the Giants' stadium.

It's open to the public when the stadium isn't in use.

The Giants were playing in Colorado so I thought it'd be all clear.

But Billy Joel had to go and have a concert there that night,

which meant there would be no Coke sliding for Sal.

So we got Subway.

And I wondered why I drove all the way to SF for Subway.

And we maneuvered our way through the local street dwellers to use the closest restaurant at McD's.

Where Sally requested a picture with the "M" made out of flowers.

Then we proceeded to my number one pick for the day: The San Francisco Public Library.

It is best library I've ever seen.

And it can probably hold 15 Pacific Grove libraries inside.

It has 6 stories. As in levels (Sally wanted to climb all the stairs to the top).

And it has infinity stories, as in the ones you find in books.

Just for fun I looked up the book, "The Day the Crayons Came Home."

There were 116 copies.

And they were all checked out.

The main reason I wanted to go the library was to see Clare Cassidy's photography exhibit.

Love her pictures.

Next stop was paddle boating Stow Lake in Golden Gate Park.

 This was our favorite part of the day.

We went one time around the lake, but Sally wasn't ready to go back.

So we reversed and went all the way around again.

She would've kept going if our pre-paid time wasn't up.

Our last destination was China Town.

Another Sally request because she wanted to find a fan.

On the elevator up from the parking lot she got pinned in the corner opposite me.

It felt like 15 people were between us, but according to this picture there was only 1.

Either way, it was funny.

And then we entered another world.

The park in China Town feels like going back in time.

Clusters of (mostly) elderly Chinese people playing cards and no electronics in sight.

We proceeded to search through tourist shop after tourist shop for the perfect fan.

After way too long, Sally finally found what she was looking for:

a white, lacy, pigeon-painted fan.

We ended our day at Hunan Home's for Chinese Food.

The decor was tacky and the service was s l o w (the long wait had exhausted Sally in tears).

But the food was delicious.

Day by Day

8/21

The grand prize of completing the summer reading program from the library: frozen yogurt.

She was the only one of our bunch to finish the whole thing.

8/21

Sarah was wiped out after her last chemo treatment.

We visited her in the hospital and she gave us a tour of her home for the last week.

There is awesome local art all over the hospital.

8/22

Took Auggie to the park in Oakland while Justin was in the temple.

All the rest of the kids stayed home with friends.

So nice to just have one for the day.

8/23

Sunday walk at Coastguard Pier and copy cats.

8/24

The 3-story slide at Fort Ord.

8/25

He thought they were hard boiled.

8/26

Went on Sally's first class field trip of the year, which was a walking tour of Pacific Grove.

Ms. D, Sally's teacher, knows EVERYONE.

Seriously felt like Mr. Rogers' neighborhood as store owners popped out to say hi,

friends ran up with tea.

 and we visited with the mayor. 

We stopped by the library, a book store, a park, the chamber of commerce, and city hall.

8/28

Drive in movie night at church.

8/29

Went to the museum for Science Saturday.

Everyone here is excited for "Big Blue Live" on PBS this week.

8/30

 Slingshot success.

9/1

He wouldn't go near this pirate in Moss Landing.

Went up for a few hours to try and find sand dollars.

And command the ocean.

Found 3 sand dollars.

He broke 2.

And a wave took him down.