Keeping It Simple

Some time with just hubby and me: I seriously dislike this picture of us, but we had the most wonderful dining experience here. It is a little place tucked in next to a river. After dinner you can take the tram back up, or do like we did- take a magical walk through the gardens.  We also spent some time walking along the beachfront. (I like this picture of us much better!)  This was the cold before the heatwave!  Monday we spent some nice family time:  We started at this super cool surfer's museum/lighthouse.   We visited beautiful "St. Joseph of the Redeemer" church. This little shrine of St. Joseph is for all pre-born babies- especially those lost to miscarriage and abortion. It is very moving.  There is always silliness.  We ended the day at Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk.  Tuesday dawned cold and breezy, but the kids took to the ocean anyway:  Paul and Erin ha...

  Update on "Mom's Bootcamp"-   We slacked off of many of our fitness routines since May (crazy month!). But we are still getting out and about and "eating this, not that".  A major milestone- we took a walk last week that my boys (one in particular) barely made it through last November. Last week- no problem!! Didn't even break a sweat. The proof is in the improvement! :) Silly Photo Time-  It seems I used to always have a "silly photo of the week". Not so much lately- but then I looked at my camera one day and found these. Thanks, James!     Remember Erin?- She is working hard at cutting hair, and has also gotten majorly involved in youth ministry.  I sniped these pictures while she was cutting her brother's hair.  Got Slurpies? Mostly I say NO to slurpies- we drive passed 7-11 every time we come and go from our home, so I get asked a lot. This day James asked. I said "NO". He ...

It was my adorable nephew's 2nd birthday (that's him with the chocolate face ;))... we wanted a fun activity for the kids at his party, so my husband headed up to the store to purchase a sprinkler for them to run through.  Birthday boy with big sister.  I can't share pictures of that sprinkler because, in a fit of complete frustration, my husband threw it in the trash! (While it was a brand name, it was a less than quality product.)   At that point Frank said that he could make a better sprinkler and was talking about pulling out some PVC pipe. That's when I pulled up my handy-dandy Pinterest app and searched PVC pipe sprinklers.   Careful what ideas you give a building contractor!!  He was all set to go totally overboard, but this party was for a two year old and his guests, so he scaled it down bit...  And this is what he (and my boys) put together. The water coming out of the top shoots upward, so you can't see i...

·        In my life this week… Monday:  Beach time!! Yes, please. :)  Tuesday:  CA Academy of Science with Mark and James.    We had early entry this day. The top right corner picture is of the Natural History hall- it was completely empty and totally reminded us of "Night in the Museum". Kind of creepy in a fun way.  The crazy picture of Mark on the top left is him looking at butterfly fluttering just to the side of his face.  We lucked in to "free" admittance day at the art museum across the way from the academy.  There was some pretty cool stuff there too!  Mark's favorite was this portrait of Washington out of dollar bills. James and I were fascinated by the North American artifacts exhibit.  That basket in the top left picture is made out of baleen!  Another favorite of the day- we did not know that there is a viewing tower in the art...

This week's happenings... Memorial Day brought Mark's dream of being in a Civil War reenactment to life!  My daughter did such a good job with pictures that I just stole them from her blog !   Thank you, Shauna. :) Added benefits to the day-  We attended a tribute at the beginning of the day (top collage) to all those who have served our country. We have never done anything official for Memorial Day before. It was very moving. And we got to spend the day hanging out with friends and family! Our end of the year volleyball party/tournament was Wednesday: This is how it works- the "varsity" (meaning older more experienced players) were coaches. Each team had two coaches. The coaches responsibilities were to be role models, maintain a positive attitude, encourage younger players, keep track of their players, and turn in scores after each game. I volunteered to watch one of the courts and I was impressed with these coaches- e...