Goodbye Summer!

Describes my summer perfectly

 Back to school! Our family enjoyed a fabulous summer. We used our pool a lot, had friends and family over to barbecue, and accomplished small projects around the house. As I mentioned before, it was very busy, which unfortunately seemed to make it fly by. But realistically, it seems these days summers just keep getting shorter! With the kids starting school in mid-August, summer is only 2 months long. It's not like when I was a kid and summer seemed to go on forever, and school didn't start til after Labor Day. Buddha's preschool doesn't start until then, and I am glad although it will be nice when both boys are at the same school and are on the same schedule.

Monkey turned 6 this summer, and we had a small birthday party at Chuck E. Cheese with a few of his school and baseball friends. Buddha really enjoyed the birthday party, I think Chuck E. Cheese is his favorite place to go! Even though our kids really love it there,  Chip and I hate it. The things we do for our kids!

Kick-ass Ninjago cake!

 Our summer highlight - besides my sister's wedding -  was a week of camping. First, a few days on our annual group trip to Lake Don Pedro. It was close to 100*, but we managed to stay cool by boating, jet-skiing and floating in the lake. We stayed on the water as long as possible, since once we were off it was back to the baking camp site. Fortunately we have a trailer, and even better, a generator, so we were able to run our A/C. But in order to hang out with all our friends who could not fit in our trailer, we had to be out in the heat. Really roughing it, I know. It was a wonderful time!

Buddha driving the boat

Monkey getting hauled in a tube. He loved that!

We finished out the rest of the week by taking our first family trip to Yosemite National Park. It was absolutely amazing and we cannot wait to go back! From the enormous trees to the gorgeous waterfalls, there is nothing not to like (unless you have an aversion to dirt). We had a huge camp site there, with plenty of room to run around for the boys. Tons of kids were all over the place riding their bikes. It was like a huge family summer camp. SO FUN. We went on an open air bus tour around the park to see all the sights, went horseback riding, did small walks/hikes, and played in a wide river that bordered our camp. The boys walked across huge logs that had fallen over the river, skipped rocks (their favorite), played hide-and-seek,  got very filthy, and just had good ol' fashioned boy-fun.

Loving his first horseback ride!

The boys played here every afternoon!

S'more please!

Hope to see you soon Yosemite!

We also spent two weekends at different beaches. One weekend we went to Capitola where we met up with friends who also were there for the weekend. We spent time on the beach, had some cocktails and delicious dinners. The kids enjoyed each other's company just as much as the adults. The other weekend we at Sunset State Beach which was absolutely gorgeous. We were all very relaxed and things went smoothly. Our kids LOVE the beach, truly, and they could - and did - stay all day! We ate some great meals, and played Go Fish with our competitive 6 year old card shark each night.

Breathtaking, right?

So while it is so sad that our summer has come to an end, we can honestly say we made the most of it.

Happy Hump Day Friends! Hope your transition "back to school" is a smooth one!

All Play and No Work Makes...My Butt Fat

Me and my besties. As one said, "We are wearing dirt instead of makeup."

I wish I was a kid again and had summer "vacation". Instead, I work every weekday, unless I have specified time off...a holiday or a planned trip. Last week, I had 5 straight days off of work and enjoyed every bit of it. I drank beer and ate food that wasn't the healthiest (s'mores, anyone?) but it it was nice to have no restrictions or worries except for having fun and enjoying the company of my friends and family.

Me and Buddha.

Monkey had a huge smile the whole trip

 I went back to work this past Monday, but I am having a major struggle snapping back into my routine.  I didn't even set my alarm in the morning the first two days I was back to work, so work outs didn't happen.  I really think I was subconsciously rebelling against the end of my time off. Since I wasn't up early and was trying to fit in a bit of laundry in the morning before I had to leave, I didn't have time to make my lunch either except for one day. Our office moved while I was off, so I was also a little out of sorts and have had some network problems that have interfered with my productivity.  The only truly good thing I have done since I've been back is blended up green smoothies for myself 3 mornings this week. I haven't had a true "work out" in over a week! gasp!

His current potty fave is "Hand Hand Fingers Thumb"

Also, we are working on potty training the Buddha, with hit-or-miss success, so that tacks on another 15 minutes in the morning that I spend sitting with him and reading, etc. I definitely need to start getting up earlier next week!

I am all about sharing my imperfections, to balance out the times I toot my own horn for being awesome (toot toot) and rising at 5:30 a.m. to run. This morning I met up with my running buddy for a 5 miler and hope that will kick me back into gear.  I am looking ahead to a nice weekend of being home, catching up on home-related chores and important errands such as stocking up on greens and fruit at the Farmer's Market!

What do you have planned this weekend? Happy Friday!

Ocean of My Soul

It is mid-October and we are having more summer weather now than we had all summer! I'm not complaining, even though I LOVE skiing and all that goes with winter (sweaters, holiday decorations), I am truly a beach person at heart. Actually, I even love the beach in the winter. No lie.

We went on a great trip last week, and I am still on vacation high. We spent several glorious days in Malibu, CA and visited Santa Monica a couple times. It is so beautiful down there, I told my husband that even the traffic is prettier. Going to sleep and waking up to the sound of crashing waves is my idea of paradise. It was in the mid 80's and perfectly sunny. We had leisurely mornings and after breakfast headed to the beach. I love watching my 4 year-old Monkey build sand castles with the serious expression of a scientist. It was such a joyful feeling to watch him run to the small waves breaking on shore and jump over them and run back laughing. My little Buddha, who is only 23 months old, could not get enough of the sand. Literally. He didn't care to walk on it much, he just wanted to scoop it up, fill up a bucket, fling sand in the air and all over himself. The tub was full of sand during his shower. For all I know he ate some, the way he was flinging it everywhere.

What I love about the beach is the relaxed, slow pace...not much to do but sit back and people watch. You sit, you talk, you might doze (if someone else is keeping an eye on your kids), you get hot, you jump in the water, dry off, snack, repeat. The beach can be an active place too. There were plenty of people roller-blading, running, biking, playing volleyball. And when I was younger and lived at the beach I did that too. But now that I'm older (but not too old!), married with kids,  and stretched thin on most days - when I hit the beach I just want to chill.

We also spent some time at the Santa Monica Pier which I highly recommend if you have small kids. They have a few rides such as the Ferris Wheel you see in the beginning of all the TV shows that take place in Southern CA when they do an aerial pan along the coast. Plan to also visit the beach that day, as the pier will only keep you busy for so long and the beach right there is great for kids. Parking was $6, which wasn't bad considering there were lots right next to the pier and right behind the beach. No crazy traffic-filled streets to cross or anything.

The Third Street Promenade  in downtown Santa Monica is awesome. Blocks and blocks of stores and restaurants, and a nice stretch of it is closed to traffic, so you can stroll, shop, eat and hang out. We happened to be there on the day of the Farmer's Market, which was just AMAZING. I live in a small town so for me to see such a huge Farmer's Market that went for several blocks (just 2 blocks from the coast) is heavenly. The selection of items for sale was way beyond your typical fruits and vegetables that we see here where I live. Since we were out of town on the day our market usually occurs, I was having withdrawals since that is something I look forward to every weekend. I was tempted to buy many things but I stopped myself since buying hoards of vegetables, fruit and other food items I really don't need while on vacation wasn't realistic. We had lunch at this great Italian place called Locanda del Lago. We were first drawn to it because of the al fresco dining and we really wanted to eat outside since it was such a nice day and there was plenty of people watching to be had. And we were also suckers for the yummy bread on the tables with olive oil and balsamic vinegar. Our service, salads and entrees were fabulous and we would definitely eat there again.

I haven't mentioned yet that our 6th wedding anniversary fell over this weekend. We loved celebrating in our "happy place" and even toyed around with the idea of living there someday. Our last night there we took our kids to the beach at sunset, and stayed long after the sun went down and just ran around. Unexpectedly a school of dolphins started hanging out in the water in front of us, and we watched them jump out of the water by the light of the moon. It was almost unbelievable. We had the BEST time, and I can't wait to visit Malibu again. We hope to have a couple beach days over Thanksgiving weekend - here in CA we can do that - and I very much look forward to it.

Hope you all make time to relax and rejuvinate your mind, body and spirit.