Morro Bay, California

Well, it's been a busy week--birthday party Saturday night and Tuesday night.  Now Thursday morning our car is loaded up and ready for a road trip.  We're driving up to San Francisco to visit with family.

 Central California coast is beautiful.  It is full of rolling hills which are golden during the summer and fall.  We saw a lot of free range, happy, non-stinky cattle.  Above is a picture as we were driving.

 Elena is a good traveler.  It doesn't always feel like we travel a lot, however talking with other parents in Elena's school they tend to travel once a year at most.  I guess that puts us in the "travel frequently" category.  I'm sure glad she travels well!

 On the way up to San Francisco, we split our trip into 2 days stopping over in Morro Bay.  These photos are from the beach near the Morro Bay rock.  The rock is an island, remnants of volcanic activity long ago.

Ahhhh!  Elena taking a deep breath, enjoying the ocean breeze and freedom to stretch.

 Loving sand between her toes...

 ...and running on the beach.

 She also had fun running in and out of the surf.  The water was much colder than in San Diego but it did not phase her, she was soaked.

 

 Ah, so much room to run and loving it!

Birthday at the Bay

 After work tonight, Elena and I drove down to Mission Bay for a birthday party.  This was by far the best idea for a party.  The party was set up on the public beach outside the Catamaran Hotel's Luau.  We were able to enjoy the music while hanging out on the beach watching the kids trek in and out of the bay.  Above Ryan and Elena marching in the bay.

Not only were we set up near the luau but the ferry doc was nearby too.  I am happy to have learned of another great and free activity to do in San Diego.  As we were leaving we watched fire dancers--amazing!  The luaus are only during the summer; next summer we will be going down to this spot to enjoy an evening together!  Above Emma and Elena testing the waters.

Green Smoothies - Yum!

In an effort to consume more green leafy veggies, I used my birthday money to upgrade our blender.  This blender is not only easy to use, can create a smoothie consistency just like Jamba, it is also a breeze to clean.  Elena and I are loving the green smoothies.  See for yourself:

 ...gulping...and hiding from the camera.

 Yummy!

 Getting every last drop...

 ...before asking for seconds!  "More smoobie please!"  (yes, Elena asks for smoobies)

We've been making them every day.  Elena prefers the green smoothie over the all fruit smoothies.  Her favorite "green" smoothies are green and purple...then she asked me to make her a brown smoothie.  I asked her how to make a brown smoothie and she responded with "just mix the green and purple smoothies".  She is always surprising us with her knowledge and understanding.

Double Trouble Friends

 Elena and Emma started school together just over a year ago. 

The girls are very cute together.  They play well together and are always talking about play dates.

We recently discovered the girls are double trouble when together.  The girls were left alone for a few minutes--they proceeded to color on the walls, carpet, mantle and couch with markers!!

 Neither of the girls have ever displayed any behavior close to that incident but together they are double trouble.

 and yet so sweet!

Blues and BBQ: An Evening at the Park

When we purchased our home, we weren't looking at this community but of course houses were inflated beyond belief and we found ourselves looking for a home east of the coastal mountains. Our street may be a bit odd (including ourselves) but the City of Santee is really growing on me.  Since we moved in, the town added a YMCA and a sports complex--which is now home to live music on Thursday nights.

 The summer concerts in the park are free and the musicians are different every week.  This is our first time since after work activities are difficult in general with Elena.  You can bring your own dinner or purchase food from select vendors.  This week Phil's BBQ, locally owned and operated, set up shop to give us a taste of their yumminess.  They don't need to drum up business because in their two current locations, lines wrap around the buildings, but they are getting ready to open a third location...this time in Santee.  We were sad to see one of our favorite restaurants close but excited for this addition to town.  Elena devoured the plate of ribs. 

 Yum, yum...finger licking good!

 Though the Blues bands were great, this three year old doesn't sit still for long.  So we took a walk around the fields--keeping her active and still allowing us to enjoy the music.

 We happened upon a mound in front of the kids' play area.  Elena wanted to roll down the hill with the kids....this is her first time rolling on a hill.  She was comical to watch--trying to go down with her head facing down and legs up but she finally caught on.  She was having a blast!

 Sad to leave the hill, Daddy distracted Elena with some dancing.

 Elena continues to eat well and is growing tall and strong.  Here's a good height comparison.

Next summer we hope to get out to more concerts in the park and maybe a Friday night movie or two at the Lakes.  Santee doesn't have a modern movie theater, though there are a few near by.  It's nice when the screen goes up at the Lakes nearby and we still have a drive in theater to enjoy too.

Hope you, too, are enjoying the summer activities!

Farmer's Market Cherries

Today we headed over to Sea Grove Park (our wedding location) for a picnic with Elena.  We had a relaxing time overlooking the ocean.  Elena loved waving at the people on the train and chasing the birds.  She even made a friend who let her try his balance bike.  The kids were very cute playing together, though maybe a bit too close to the cliff edge for my comfort.  On our walk back to the car, we stopped at the local farmer's market for cherries.  Yes, Elena and I were craving fresh cherries.  Just as luck would have it, Carl had just enough cash for us to splurge on an after lunch sweet dessert.  Elena and I had a few at the market, they were so good we had more when we got home.  This is Elena enjoying the cherries:

Hope you are enjoying the amazing summer fruit too!

Visit from Grandparents, Rachel's Birthday & 4th of July

We just wrapped up a visit from Gramazona and Grandpa Pat.  Carl took some time off to clean up the garage.  Then he and Pat focused on one wall.  They tore down the dilapidated shelving haphazardly installed by the previous owners installed drywall on the wall.  It is completely amazing what a white wall can do for the garage!  We still have more work to do in the garage and it has taken us 5 years but I think we can finally fit one car in the garage :)  5 years in the house, wow, that went fast!


Here are some snapshots from the visit:

 No visit is ever complete without a beach day and no beach day is complete without sandcastles!

 This just also happens to be my birthday.  Carl and I took off for dinner and had a lovely meal over-looking the Pacific.  Here is a picture of us cleaned up after hours at the beach.  We came home to chocolate cupcakes with sprinkles...and a request to have 2 cupcakes :)  2 cupcakes are okay in my book when they are baby cakes :)

 Happy 4th of July!

We hiked Mission Trails Park...from the entrance near our neighborhood to the old dam.  Elena did great and walked nearly the entire way, about 2 miles.  She was fascinated with all the scat we found--calling attention to it, trying to figure out what was eaten and by which animal.  As Gramazona said, we have a naturalist on our hands.  We also saw a coyote a few times, Elena was very excited!

 It took a year for Elena to overcome her fear of her helmet but now she's loving her bike and always asking for a bike ride.  She's always excited to go and is getting really good at pedaling all by herself.

Also wishing Grandpa Newman a very happy birthday!

Happy Fodder's Day

Wishing all our Dads a wonderful day...as Elena says "Happy Fodder's Day!"

 Since it was Father's Day, Carl took us to the beach...Coronado Beach to be exact.  This was the first time Elena did not destroy all of Carl's castles...what a great gift!  The city was much more extensive but I only pictures from the half way point (potty emergency!).  Carl had a complete circle of towers, walls connecting the towers and people too.

 Drippy sand!!  The best kind of sand to make castles :)

 Elena was quite content in her hold...I mean hole :)

 Pop and Lorraine came over for dinner.  Elena had a blast showing them her new room (she's now the proud owner of the large green guest room.  All future guests be forewarned: we still have a guest room it's just a bit cramped).  They also played Food Toss, cardboard boat, sidewalk chalk...and there might have been a little bit of wrestling between Elena and Pop.

Hope you had a wonderful weekend!

Parties, Parties, Parties!

 It seems from mid-May until this weekend we have been in party overload.  Our parties started with the end of the semester celebration at Elena's school.  Can you believe she's about to start pre-school?  You know time is flying when it's just another two short years and she'll be starting kindergarten.  They really do grow fast.  The above picture is Elena with her friend Tevin at the school play yard.

At Ryan's birthday party (green flip-flops) the kids had ice cream cones instead of cake/cupcakes.  Adults put a scoop of ice cream in the cone, then the kids rolled the cones in toppings.  The kids loved telling us what toppings they had.  Can you see the tunnel in the background?  Kids and parents assembled boxes into tunnels.  It was complete with turns, sky lights and kids painting/decorating the exterior.

 Elena with her boy friends: Jonah, Bennett, Ryan and Eammon.  Her friends are primarily these boys though she has two girl friends: Selah and Maral.

 Last weekend we went to Jacob's 1st birthday party (no pics) and Arthur's 3rd / Oliver's 5th birthday party.  It was located in a great neighborhood park.  This structure is like an inch worm, it moved up and down as the kids moved.  Not a very good picture of the kids but from left to right: Reagan, Claire, Matthew, Norah, Elena.

Elena and Norah checking out the Jeep someone brought.  It was a great time had by all!

We're a bit worn out from the last 3 weekends: 1) traveling to Arizona, then 2) a wedding and birthday party and 3) last weekend two more birthday parties.  This weekend we're just enjoying some time at the house with each other and maybe an outing to the beach tomorrow, if the weather warms up.  It has been unseasonable cool here lately which is great for the garden but chilly for the beach.  Wishing all the fathers out there a great weekend and a wonderful father's day!