Santa Cruzin'

It's settled. This is now our family tradition for my birthday celebration...an annual trip to Santa Cruz, an awesome little surf village in Northern California, which just so happens to be an easy drive from San Francisco (where some of our favorite people live), and boast funky restaurants, miles of seashore and a huge boardwalk with rides and treats and endless fun.

We're chalking this trip up to a recon visit and will add to it next year. It was so much fun, but not nearly long enough and frankly our hotel could have been more appealing. Next year, we'll do just a little bit better and even better the following. Etching out what will hopefully become many more family memories.

We arrived about midday on Saturday and went directly to the boardwalk, meeting Alaine, Ian, Delphine, Sophie there and even our darling Unca Stu zipcar'd down for a quick visit.

It took about three and a half seconds for the little girls to get reacquainted, all were giddy with excitement almost immediately.

But even with our good friends, Zoe did not forget her Unca Stu. She clung to him like velcro, and rode every ride she could with him.

The Dude was left out of alot of the fun - but there were a couple of little guy rides he enjoyed.

Mostly he just waited by the sidelines with me or Chris.

It was an excellent evening of junk food and whirling, flying rides that made me ill. Can someone please tell me how a little girl who gets car sick every time we go over the mountains can cry "Again again!" after the most vomit-inducing spins and stomach-churning dips and rises? Because I just don't get it.

The next day - my birthday - started with an excellent Birthday Brunch and too many Mimosas. So many that when left unattended for a minute, Alaine and I slipped into an awesome little vintage-inspired dress shop next door to the restaurant. While the husbands and kids waited impatiently outside, we tried on dress after dress and both left with a real find. There are a couple of weddings coming up, you know!

After that, the rest of the day was spent at the beach.

It was 75 degrees and beautifully sunny.


But the water was way too chilly to do anything but chase waves.

and take pictures,

and dig in the sand,

and take a few more pictures...



The kids played in the sand until almost sunset, while the grown ups enjoyed some snacks and margaritas and Coronas at a nearby Mexican cafe - the end to a lovely birthday!

Hot Summer Trip

We began our holiday weekend by heading directly into the heat. Palm Springs was just slightly cooler than the surface of the sun at 115 degrees, seriously, we found the one place on earth hotter than Bakersfield to go on vacation. But Baba and Nana had a cool, salt water pool and a well air conditioned house and lots of cold beverages.

The little ones immediately dove right into the pool - you really don't feel the 100+ degree heat when up to your neck in cool water. They did not come out until they were completely pruney and demanding hot dogs.

The next day was dubbed the "Greatest Day Ever" by Athena, after a little breakfast we "discovered" the Children's Discovery Museum of Rancho Mirage and fell in love with the place.

They had an awesome art station and science activities, a bungey chord maze and the Dude could not be torn away from the ping pong ball pipes.

Zoe found the play Vet Clinic and was completely transported to an alternate reality where she was Dr. Zoe who gave solemn diagnosis to stuffed ferrets of vague illnesses like "acuture" and pronounced they needed days in the hospital to recover.

Meanwhile the Dude and his Dad found a real live CHiPS motorcycle.
(duhn duhn da na...)

When Athena found the dress up area, well, we knew we were going to be here awhile.

Jack and Baba settled down to look at an "encyclopedia" (remember those?)

Zoe made an adorable Fireman

And Baba introduced Jack to a funny thing called a "typewriter"

(I think this museum made Baba feel old).

My girls take dress up seriously but eventually we were able to drag them out with promises of PF Changs (Athena's favorite restaurant) and Cars II followed by a wee little trip to Ben and Jerry's.

After a quick rest, we regathered the troops for dinner to celebrate Nana's birthday. She does not like birthdays, she's had enough of them she says, but we did manage to lure her out to her favorite restaurant as long as we promised not to make the waiters sing.

The restaurant was terribly popular and had a minimum 30 minute wait, so we opted for the terrace to be seated right away. It was still around 100 at 8 o'clock at night, but they had fans and misters so we were fine. Immediately following dinner, we were paid back with a fantastic fireworks display at the neighboring golf course.

We had the perfect view right from our table, it was truly and unexpected and magnificent end to the evening.

The next day, we got up bright and early (Jack was up brighter and earlier than the rest of us) and packed up to head to Aunt Barb and Uncle Ron's traditional July Fourth BBQ.

There was football...

and corn toss...

and basketball...

and a whole lot of cousins and aunts and uncles.
There is only one person who can make Chris look short,
his cousin Matt, aka "the Big Guy."

And, sparklers, of course. I love this picture. These are our girls in a nutshell. Zoe carefully examining her sparkler trying to figure out how it works and Athena dancing as if to say "Yay! It's sooo pretty!"

It was a great weekend of concentrated family time. Ahh. When we asked Athena and Zoe what they liked best about our weekend trip, Athena said "the cereal at the hotel" (these poor children are denied Fruit Loops at home) and Zoe said "playing basketball at the hotel."

Wait a minute, we said, what about swimming in Baba's pool, or the children's museum, or the fireworks, or seeing Cars II? "Oh yea!" Zoe said, "I liked all of it, except I did not like throwing up in the car."

No, that was not a highlight, but all the rest was.

Girls in Pretty Dresses

The little girls get to be in two fast approaching weddings this year. They are beyond excited. And, its not just the weddings that are special - there are all these other little experiences leading up to the big day that they get to be actively a part of.

This weekend Stephanie and Kevin came up to Bakersfield so we could take the girls shopping and pick out flower girl dresses.

Stephanie arrived bearing gifts of little tiaras, because she "wanted the girls to feel like princesses" and off we went to David's Bridal. Isn't she just lovely?

The wedding store was a full on sensory experience - rows of luscious white dresses, mirrors everywhere and actual brides trying on gorgeous wedding gowns.

Zoe tested the spin-ability of each dress.

And lots of pictures were taken to document all the possibilities.

They were all adorable, but one special dress rose above all the others.

Athena, however, had a different idea. This was the dress she had her heart set on. I think she was confused thinking that by going dress shopping she would have the final say as to which dress was chosen. Maybe I was too hopeful that my strong-willed six year old would agree with Stephanie and I on the perfect dress. Oh well. This one was never even a contender, we just let her try it on for fun. She crossed her arms and stuck out her lip and insisted on it, but when push came to shove she chose to be in the wedding wearing the dress we chose for her, rather than this dress.

There were so many cute little dresses, but one clear winner. We took alot of pictures of both the little girls in the chosen dress, but I won't post them, instead save the surprise for the wedding....

Meanwhile...

The boys - Kevin, Chris and Jack - who had less than zero interest in dress shopping, went on to do manly things, like sporting goods shopping and golf and eating pizza and drinking beer.

Which the Dude loved, of course!

It was a fun weekend! We really enjoyed spending time with Kevin and Steph and can't wait to have the kids be a part of this wonderful couple's wedding! Just three and a half short months away!

Fairy Houses

Let me preface this post by saying I am not crafty. Far from it. I can't sew or decoupage, I don't scrapbook and I don't have any desire to start up any of those things. I do however like to buy crafts, own a glue gun and keep a whole closet full of supplies - which is good because every so often my very crafty six year old simply must create.

Last Saturday, Chris took the girls sandal shopping and came home with these cute little pink shoe boxes. "These would make great Fairy Houses!" Chris said, the idea was born and Athena was obsessed. Instead of going to the new neighborhood splash park after church on Sunday, Athena only wanted to make this idea a reality. Zoe went along for the ride, 'cause she's easy like that.

I dipped into my craft closet and found glitter pens and paint, colored popsicle sticks, fabric flowers, gems and beads. I heated up my glue gun, and when the Dude went down for a nap, the girls and I spent the better part of the afternoon creating our imaginary world of fairies.

Athena glued sticks onto the windows so she could lure and trap her fairy inside.

Furniture from princess toys we no longer play with were used to furnish the inside. Athena created a bed of sticks with a leaf blanket and cotton ball pillow. She included some refreshments she thought her fairy might want and inside the little wardrobe is a dress for her to wear. A rose petal throw rug was glued inside the front door for the fairy to wipe her feet on.

A tiny little bell was hung from a wire inside the door so that Athena would be alerted when a fairy entered.
And the little houses were placed on the play structure because "fairies fly" and they thought the houses should be high up. They stayed there untouched for the most of the afternoon. Athena checked several times to see if there were any new occupants.

When the Dude discovered the houses the delicate little roof structures were tossed aside and the contents disturbed...all very upsetting, of course. He was easily distracted with snacks while the girls put their houses back together, however, they started fighting with each other and the houses were necessarily taken away.

They got them back the following day but they were already forgotten. Right now they're collecting dust on a bookshelf, but for one afternoon they were really darling.

Some Silliness

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White Boy 'Fro

The little Dude's white boy 'fro is getting out of control.
I know Yiayia loves his curly locks but me thinks he's looking a little too...
We are overdo for a serious summer shearing.

Movies in the Park

What could be better than an outdoor movie that starts at the ambiguous hour of "dusk" and a picnic dinner with endless pretzels and cookies. You get to stay outside with sleeping bags way past bedtime and lay on blankets as the sky darkens and the movie comes into focus.

The night air is brisk once the sun goes down and the grass turns cold under our feet. If there weren't clouds we could see the stars.
The epic family movie "Open Season 3" barely holds our interest, but its not about the actual film. Its the event itself and creating visceral memories with these lovely little people.

Yea, I think we'll be doing this a few more times this summer.