We made the brave choice to go to the coast today. There was the potential for lots of traffic, difficult parking and crowded beaches. But after a little bit of traffic to start, the rest of the drive was smooth, there was a spot right on the street near the beach and we picked a beach that didn't have tons of people.
As soon as we got there, everyone was excited to get in the water. Right after this picture was taken, the boogie boarders in this picture told us there was a shark out there. The lifeguard came shortly after that to confirm there was a "positive shark sighting". Another surfer told us it was 8 - 10 feet.
We didn't worry too much about the shark. It's part of the Pacific Ocean playground. Of course we didn't let the kids go too far out.
Here's Mike, Lynz, Tom and the kids.
Mike, Tom, me and the kids
The kids made these cool looking handfuls of sand.
After a fun time at the beach, we had to have some Marianne's before heading home. It also wasn't too crowded.
Mike and Leo had a deep conversation about ice cream.
I can't believe my little baby girl is eight. She has been so excited about her birthday. She woke up early this morning...too early. I had to send her back to bed twice but then we let her open the present I left outside her door.
We quickly followed it up with the real present.
This is Josefina Montoya. Her back story is that she is from Mexico in 1824. My paternal family is full of Josefinas - my grandmother, aunt and cousins - so this doll was the obvious choice. I even suggested that Serafina be named Josefina.
She's so thrilled to have two now. She even let her brother play with her original doll today.
We planned a pool party starting at noon today. Of course, there was no way we could know there would be a record-breaking heat wave. The only choices for today was being in the pool or being in the air-conditioned house. Thankfully, all the kids chose pool.
Kid soup!
Tom and Uncle Mike hung in the pool.
Yesterday, it was 105 degrees out and I baked two cakes to make this double layer birthday cake. It wasn't the most fun, but it was worth it to make this cake for my girl. She helped with assembling and decorating it today.
All the kids gathered around so we could sing.
The cake was chocolate with a rich chocolate frosting in between the layers with vanilla frosting on top and cookie crumb "sand".
After cake, there was more pool time and then the kids huddled together while Serafina opened presents. Not all the kids were willing to get out of the pool for this part.
At some point, the dads took over the pool.
Everyone seemed to have a good time and no one died of heat stroke, so I'd say it was a success. Serafina went outside to bid farewell to some guests and I made her pose with Fred who was all dressed up for her party.
So Uncle Mike and Aunt Lynz arrived last night to the most ridiculous weather we've ever had. But they were here for the birthday fun. Tonight we went out to dinner. Here's Serafina and Mike relaxing while waiting for our table.
Ten years ago today I started this blog as an easy way to share photos and cute stories about my kids. In 2007, lots of people were blogging. My cousins and friends had blogs. The format allowed for bragging and confession and self-involvement that was kind of new to the social fabric. Ten years ago, smart phones were not wide spread, Facebook was just gaining traction outside of college campuses and Instagram, Snapchat, Twitter hadn't even launched yet. Over the years, over-sharing has become the norm and it's all at your fingertips. Blogging has gone the way of the dodo bird. People connect and share in bite-sized tidbits. I don't know anyone who still blogs, and I can only think of about three people that still read this blog. Don't worry, my three readers, this isn't my swan song. I plan to keep blogging. Of course, the posts are getting fewer and further between, but I will still chronicle our adventures and milestones. This blog has become an incredible record of my kids' lives. If I can't recall what one dressed up for Halloween when he/she was three, I can "check the blog". Which beach did we visit when Uncle Mike came to town? "Check the blog". Need to relive some vacation fun during the dull days? "Check the blog". This blog serves me probably more than anyone else. Over the 10 years, I haven't been consistently writing fiction or keeping a journal, but I've been keeping up the blog. I'm pretty proud of this 10 year writing project.
We've had some ups and downs, and plenty of sillinessin between.
In the spirit of silliness, here are the two most recent videos of my kids on my phone.
Woo-wee! Today was super cool. I was excited about the eclipse and looking forward to it, but I had no idea how awesome it would be.
Yesterday afternoon, we made a bunch of pinhole projectors to bring to school. They were pretty easy to make, though it was a bit unsettling to realize how much cereal we currently have in our pantry.
I gave three projectors to Serafina's class and four to Leo's. They didn't work as well as I hoped but the kids were good sports about trying them out.
Fortunately, there were lots of glasses floating around. The fourth grade had a complete class set that was passed from room to room. Leo's class had their turn during some of the best viewing time. The teacher emphasized not looking up without the glasses on and Leo took her very seriously.
And then it was time to check it out.
It was quite a show.
Leo was nice enough to let me look through his glasses and the eclipse was stunning. Even better than I imagined. The kids went back inside to watch the NASA live feed and pass the glasses onto the next class.
I went to check on second grade. They also had lots of glasses to pass around.
Serafina and her classmates were very generous about sharing glasses with me. It was a great experience. There were more parents than usual at school - helping out and admiring the eclipse with the kids - but everyone should have been there. It was such a cool sight and very special to experience with the kids.
Last night Serafina's friend Sunny came over for a sleepover. They played in the pool and then we went to dinner.
Over the course of the evening there were lots of animated conversations.
And lots of eating.
Serafina has a trundle bed, but the girls decided to sleep in the living room. They settled in for a movie marathon, but didn't stay in their sleeping bags for long.
Of course we had to have a special dessert. I set up an ice cream sundae bar.
And this happened.
I love Sunny's face in this shot.
They went to sleep late, but still woke up early. They played a game while they waited for Tom to finish making pancakes.
Pancake time.
They had a great time and got along really well. They've decided they need a lot more sleepovers.
