Catching Up

Wow a month has gone by already! Welcome to the middle of July. I remember summer going by pretty quickly while I was a kid, but this has to be the hyper-speed summer for me this year.
We have had some major fun, so here it goes.

We played with Paul and Larisa and celebrated Paul's graduation from Stanford. We ate and laughed and all the kids played hard. We will miss them so much when they move to New Jersey to take a job at Princeton.

Clark came to town for a short visit. We got to see him and have dinner at the Darringtons. Clark told us all about his new job and it was great to catch up with him.


We hit the beach in Santa Cruz one Friday with a bunch of other moms and kids. It was a bit windy and cool, but beautiful and the kids had a lot of fun. Some even ventured out into the cold water. Tanner stayed safely in the sand and had fun building castles and throwing rocks. After the beach we hit a great ice cream place called Marianne's. Tanner loved his blue lips from bubble gum ice cream.
We celebrated Darryl's 29th birthday with some cake and ice cream and he got his new iPhone. He loves the new toy and has already loaded a bunch of music and movies.


Our most wonderful trip this year was had over the 4th of July weekend in San Luis Obispo and Pismo Beach. We drove down on Friday and stayed on the Army base in San Luis. Our friends the Madsen's stayed there too. We went to a great little farm for some ice cream and to feed the animals. We also went on a hay ride and ate some of the fresh fruit from the farm. Then we hit the beach for a fun evening of Surfing. Darryl got up a few times and the water was surpisingly warm enough to stay out for a couple of hours. We had our own little house on post with a kitchen area, so we did red white and blue pancakes on Saturday morning, then met up with the Weston bunch for more fun on the beach complete with frozen yogurt and a great big sand castle. In the evening we went to a BBQ and watched the fireworks from the beach in Oceano. The fireworks there are beyond belief. Drivers are allowed to bring their 4WD vehicles right onto the beach and build bonfires. In addition to the fires people buy all kinds of illegal fireworks and shoot them right out of the fires. There are huge exploding fireworks all over the place and they are everywhere for miles up the beach. It feels a little like a war zone. We were shocked that all the kids fell asleep despite the noise. It was the most amazing fireworks extravaganza/chaos that I have ever seen. On Sunday we went to church in San Luis then all crashed out for long naps until we went to Morro Bay in the evening to watch the sunset and play at the park. We went again the next morning to Morro Bay and found a fantastic Pirate ship playground for Tanner, then we took a walk on the beach and fed the seagulls our leftover pancakes and found seashells. Then we had lunch at a great little seafood shop on the pier. We watched the seals, sea otters and pelicans playing in the bay as we ate lunch. It was almost a disappointment to come home. The central coast was wonderful!
We also had a wonderful time at the county fair. We went with the Murphy family and enjoyed an evening of yummy fair food, pig races, and riding the bull. The kids got to pick a treat and Tanner kept calling cotton candy "the blue food" and I got my fill of kettle corn. Darryl had some funnel cake and took Tanner on a couple of rides. We came home tired and happy.
Unfortunately life is not all play and no work...Darryl recently started working in Sacramento for the next little while. He's looking forward to the work he will be doing, so it is a great opportunity. I went back to working at the hospital in Hayward. I'm working on call, and very rarely. My first 2 shifts back were over Father's Day weekend, so Darryl really did his Fatherly duties! I still don't love that job, but until I find something else a bit closer to home I will continue to pick up shifts occasionally. In addition to the nursing stuff, I'm starting a new year at the dance studio teaching Jazz and Hip Hop. It's fun and very laid back. I love dancing and I am fully addicted to So You Think You Can Dance!
Tanner and Parker are growing so much. Tanner is able to do flips off the side of the pool and loves swimming as often as possible. Recently he earned a trip to the new water park in our area and he loved the lazy river and shallow pools. Parker is rolling over and laughing up a storm. He's so funny and relaxed. Both boys are loving the warm summer weather and more than once have turned on the sprinklers to cool off in the afternoon.


We are truly busy and loving it. Happy July!