W* family reunion

All of my siblings now live/work/school in California. It is a wonderful place to visit anyway, so we all went west for our family gathering. We bunked up in a beach house right on the coast at Capistrano Beach. We loved spending a little time with Uncle Jared. He is the perfect blend of fun and chill.

One of the outings we made was to the San Juan Capistrano Mission. I love going places like this. It is so fascinating to see how people lived, what life was like for them. Our darling little tour guide raised a few eye brows. ("The mission of the church was not to obliterate the civilization that was here already, but to overlay it and create a new culture that was not Catholic, nor aboriginal, but a blend of them both." I've never heard Californian history laid out quite like that before.) The tour was, none the less, very informative. And the mission is a beautiful and peaceful place to visit. Also, the children were thrilled to pieces taking turns riding in Super Grandma Bettie's chariot.

Can I just mention again how much I was missing our Nikon this whole trip. :(

Grammie brought a few projects. Gracie, of course, was overjoyed.

We enjoyed most of our meals cooking for each other at the beach house. But we went out one night to the Fisherman's Restaurant on the San Clemente pier. After dinner we strolled the pier and watched the surfers and the sunset.

After a morning bike ride...

It was a real treat staying right on the beach as we did. The children got into the sand almost every day. Cori got up on a surfboard. And Super Grandma got her toes wet.

Quality family time. Ha! Just kidding. That photo was absolutely, kind of, staged.

We were super grateful that Kevin drove down to spend one night with us. Gotta love some Phase 10.

We spent a day at Legoland. We had never been before. It is a fun place, nicely suited for younger kids. We especially enjoyed all the little shows. And we were very impressed with the mini cities and the Star Wars displays.

Our final outing was to Sea World. I had a giddy, little kid feeling in my tummy the night before we went. As a child, I was a bit obsessed with marine life. My dream was to become an oceanographer and work as a whale trainer at Sea World. We go way back, me and Sea World. Cori and the G's sat in the splash zone every single show. 

Such a great week! Thanks Mom and Dad. Definitely worth missing the first week of first grade.

still here...

So, I'm getting around to catching up on things here. We've been busy and happy. Today, I have been feeling particularly grateful for the ins and outs of my everyday and not-so-everyday life.

A few weeks ago, I took myself on a date. I couldn't remember the last time I had done something during the day, completely by myself. At the art museum, I got invited to tag along a tour that the curator was giving to a troop of docents of a new exhibit. My brain and my heart were so very happy. And then I went to In-N-Out, and the rest of me followed suit. Must do that more often...

And then there are days like today. As I went about our regular routine this morning, I was struck with some serious happiness and gratitude for my stay at home life. It is going to be a regular Monday, full of the regular things. I love that.

Amongst the highlights on the to-catch-up-on list are our family reunion trip with my family, our Labor Day weekend in St. George with some of Cori's family, and a little blue-eyed trouble maker who turned two recently.

Also, this is the last picture to come from our Nikon. I'm hoping it isn't the camera's final offering. :( Something is very wrong with it and I'm dreading taking it in. I've been thinking about saving up for an upgrade, but haven't started yet, and really didn't want things to go down like this. This camera has traveled far and wide with us. Taken thousands of photos. And it has bravely endured some serious wear and tear. Here's hoping it can be revived. In the meantime, I'm grateful for our trusty Cybershot that is still keeping the memories alive around here.

back at it

I'm a little late getting this post up. For some reason, the start of the school year has been a bit unceremonious around here. We have had a lot of other things going on, I guess. But Grace and Grant are super happy being back at school.

Grant started school two weeks ago, one week before Grace. He picked out his clothes, got himself dressed and made his bed. He confidently rode with his carpool (not his mama) to his first class. He was so happy and confident - we are so very grateful he gets this additional year in preschool.

Grace's school started last week. Earlier in the month, we went to Back to School night. Later we visited her new classroom and met with her teacher. Grace was in ecstasy. She could not wait to get back. I was glad for opportunities to meet with her teacher. Grace missed the first week of school for our final summer trip and I was pretty concerned about it turning into an ordeal. But her teacher was super great about it, and we enjoyed our extra week of vacation worry free.

Here she is on her first day of first grade. ("Actually mom, its more like my sixth day, only I missed the first five...") We are really excited for her. Grace qualified to be in an experimental program they are doing at her school called APEX (APplication and EXploration). She will be in a class of 1st graders who were selected based on standardized test scores. Her class isn't designed to move more quickly through the curriculum, rather it is designed to cover the curriculum in greater depth. We think the challenge will be great for Gracie, as she is constantly on the look out for additional projects and things to work on.

summer wrap

School is getting started all over the place in Phoenix. Grant starts his final year of preschool next Monday, and Grace will begin after our reunion trip with my family. Some days, I'm so glad, for me and for Grace and Grant, that school and regular schedules are right around the corner. Other days, I'm so glad it is still summer break. Here is a peek at what our summer days have looked like. 

Swimming is a nearly daily occurance. Consequently, many of our other summer activities are done in our swimmies - or our pjs, as we mostly change from pjs to swim suits back into pjs during the week.

We did summer movie club this year. 10 viewings of pre-released films swimming in gloriously air conditioned theater seats for $7 a person? Yes please! We rarely go to the theater anyway, so the movies were all new to us and going to the movie theater was completely exciting for the kids. 

These three love a good project. They spent the better part of a day turning these boxes into race cars. I never did get good pictures of the final results. Many games of Mario Cart were played from these front seats afterwords. So many random things around the house were turned into art projects ...

One Saturday, Cori and I drove down south to attend the baptism of one of his cousin's children, and then to go to the Mesa Temple. We got caught in a decent haboob while on the road. The dust storms tend to blow south to north and by the time they reach our house they have lost a lot of their juice. So it was entertaining for us to be in the midst of one so strong! The raindrops were more like mud drops and the car was filthy afterwords.

We (mostly ME) have tried very hard to have quiet time everyday. It is meant to take place during the first chunk of Eden's nap time. I tried unsuccessfully to separate Grace and Grant for this. Thought they might like a break from each other. But it really ended up working better for them to be together. The G's will read for a while and then are allowed to play a game (non-video) or create quietly with items from the art cabinet. I set the kitchen timer for 40-60 minutes and they know they need to give Mommy some space until they hear the timer go off. Invariably, there are squables in need of refereeing, paper cuts in need of band-aiding, and (my favorite) poopy bums in need of assistance (seriously, every. single. day. It's like they hold it until quiet time) and my quiet time is anything but. At the very least, it has given some structure to our days at home.

Once the timer sounds, I try to wrap up whatever I'm in the middle of to go swimming with them before Eden wakes up. It is just easier to swim without that little daredevil.

One rule of summer Phoenix living is to limit the amount of cooking that gets done in the kitchen. We have made good use of the grill this year. Also, Cori got this sweet dutch oven set up for Father's day and we tried a few back yard recipes - mostly in preparation for our recent camping trip where we weren't even allowed to use them. 

We finally got a little basket ball hoop in the back yard, and Grant has worked diligently on his free throw. 

Many, many workbook pages have been completed and then transformed into other art projects. 

 Oh, this baby girl. My heart could pop.

We have had a couple of swim parties. This picture is from an FHE we had with a couple of families in our neighborhood. I was sure to delegate the lesson. :) Thanks again, Minds!

 We saw a bit more monsoon action this year. It has been incredibly refreshing. 

Every morning before the G's can do anything else, we have morning chores. Morning chores include getting neat and ready for the day (or for swimming), making beds, eating breakfast, and doing a chore as assigned by me. They've been pretty good about it.

Piano lessons have been a bit sporadic, but we've done our best to keep up with it. I love how Grace is still dripping wet with goggles on. 

We don't have to be too sad about the vacation part of summer ending as the hot weather part of summer will stick around until Halloween. Still plenty of swim time ahead. In any case, summer 2012 has been a good one! 

In our NP Passports: Bryce Canyon

Like I mentioned, we spent a day (my birthday:)) at Bryce Canyon National Park. There are some pretty spectacular things to see in there. We drove the route, took a little hike, and ate our picnic lunch just in time to run to the car. The afternoon storms rolled in right on cue. 

Looking down then up the trail on our way to Wall Street.

We hiked the hoodoos! This was the picture I was meant to show the park ranger at the visitors' center to get the kids some Jr. Ranger badges. Our camera died as I was getting the picture up. Fortunately, he took my scout's honor promise of the picture's existence and everyone got a shiny badge to take home.

The clouds rolling in made for an impressive view. They also made for a great hiking incentive.

The drive had several gorgeous lookouts. The grown ups took advantage of the scenery...

... and the cousins took advantage of the time out of the car to be silly. Papa Ray always had one or two hanging off of him.

It's okay Grace. We know you didn't do it.

The best view of all!