Beach vacation in Surfside

On Friday, my family of four plus Nana flew to Southern California for a much-needed beach vacation.  Our day-to-day lives are extremely busy and exhausting, so Tom and I were craving these few days from deep down in our souls.  We were so fortunate to stay with my Aunt Sheila while she housesat at the amazing Surfside house.  

 Ten year old twin girls live next door and Serafina was able to use their balance beam.

 What Serafina really wanted was to meet the girls.

Here's Friday night's sunset with the big wedding tent in the foreground.

 Friday night a big storm rolled in.  There was thunder and lightening which is rare and exciting in Southern California.  Unfortunately, it scared the crap out of Serafina.  Saturday had some glooming weather in the morning, but we made it into a good day by visiting Main Street Seal Beach and spying on the wedding two doors down.

Serafina took some pictures of Saturday's sunset along with some wedding guests.

 Saturday night, Leo joined Tom, Dillon, Zoranna (Dillon's girlfriend) and me for dinner at Taco Surf.  It was Leo's second Taco Surf burrito of the trip.

 Sunday started off a little grey but it didn't stop us from having fun.

 My cousin Ciara came over with her husband and kids.  Tom taught Zoe how to play whiffle ball.

 Dezi turned a box into a spaceship.

 My stepdad almost died this summer.  It was really bad.  But he didn't die and his amazing brother Phil was incredible during a terrible time.  Phil was in touch with me regularly and made sure I had what I needed to get info directly from the ICU nurses.  I haven't seen him in at least a decade, but he's moved back to Seal Beach.  He came over on Sunday and I was able to hug him and thank him.  Here he is catching up with my mom.

Here's the miracle man himself chatting with Zoe and Sheila.

I burst into tears when I first saw him again.  This picture makes me so happy.  

My Uncle Gene is a character. 

 Saturday afternoon Serafina got to meet the girls next door.  They became fast friends and on Sunday, she spent most of the day playing with one of the twins, Addison.  They had so much fun together.

My kids got to live the amazing life of kids in a gated beach community.  They rode around in a golf cart driven by a 12 year old.  They had their run of the beach, allies and even in and out of houses.  They were barefoot and free and so very happy.

 Mingling of family, neighbors and dogs.

 Dezi checks it all out.

 The bride and groom's sunset photo shoot inspired me to take some picture with Tom.  We celebrated 13 years of marriage on Monday.

 Sunday's sunset.

 Leo with Abigail the dog and Dezi.

 Nana hung at the kids table for Sunday night dinner.

 Picture of all the cutie pootie kids - Zoe, Dezi, Serafina and Leo.

 Cousin picture - Dillon, me and Ciara.

 Steven and Dezi.

 Dillon and Serafina.

 Monday we had a late enough flight to allow for another trip to Main Street.  Our favorite destination is Jennings and Allen, the awesome store owned by Colvin and Steven.

 Gotta visit the pier.  It's even better when we visit it with Grandpa Skip.

 Tom is the long-armed selfie king.

 Best weather of the vacation was the day we had to leave, of course.  But we didn't hesitate to throw on bathing suits and squeeze the last bit of fun out of the trip.

 Cousin Dillon came down for some final fun.

And that was a wrap on four incredible days at the beach.  I'm so glad my aunt Sheila is so generous to share the house with us.  I'm also very appreciative of Jo, the home owner.  I'm also extremely happy that we flew because it made everything easier.  

Sierra School Pumpkin Patch Field Trip

Today was the first field trip of the year for Leo's school.  Since it's a small private school, the parents drive for field trips instead of using a bus.  I packed my car with five kids and the teacher.  

 It was chilly when we got there.  Here are the fourth and fifth graders lined up before we went in to the pumpkin patch.

 We've actually visited this patch before.  The first time was when Serafina had a broken leg.  The second time was an outing so we could spend a little time with our ski housemates before our first ski season.

 Santa was the train conductor!  Seriously.  His name tag said "Santa".

 The entire kinder - 5th grade elementary school fit on one train.

 Santa didn't make the train fly.  I was disappointed.

 The entire elementary school also fit in one tent to watch a video about pumpkins.

 Leo and Lily.  She is one of the other 5th graders and is very sweet.

 Here's Liel (5th grader), Alex (4th grader) and Leo.

 Here's the entire class.  Just a whopping 11 kids.

 Tractor ride.

 Gorgeous marigolds.

 Pumpkin pyramid.

 The pumpkin purchases were cash only and I only had a little bit of cash so I only got a few pumpkins.  I wish I had known and brought more money because I would have bought a lot more pumpkins.  We loved these huge pumpkins.

 My pumpkin king.

Happy 11th Birthday, Leo!

I feel like every time one of my kids has a birthday I say "it's hard to believe [kid] is already [this age].  He/she was a little baby just yesterday."  Today was no different.  I marveled that my little baby boy is 11 years old.  He is such a deep feeling, complicated, hilarious kid.  I'm very lucky to have him in my life and thankfully, he isn't too cool for me yet.  He's still my bubba.  

He didn't have school because of a teacher in-service day, which worked out perfectly.  Serafina had to go to school, but Leo slept in a little and took his time in the morning.  We headed to the best donut shop on earth for some birthday donuts.    

 We took them to Nana's and after eating, we headed to the mall.  He wanted Air Jordan shoes and his Nana said she'd get them for his birthday.  We thought he might change his mind about this request but he was steadfast and he found a pair he liked.  He was a happy kid.

The shoes are my size so I'll eventually get my kid's hand-me-downs so that a bonus.

 This evening we headed out to dinner to celebrate and Nana joined us for the meal.

He had a good day and that's all I wanted for him.

Leo's Birthday Party

 It's hard to believe my baby boy will be 11 tomorrow.  I gave him extra hugs at bedtime and told him this was the last time I would hug my 10 year old son.  He's becoming very grown up in a lot of ways, but he still my little bubba and I'm very glad he isn't too cool for me quite yet.

A while back we discussed how he wanted to celebrate his birthday.  He had a very small guest list since parties and too many people stress him out.  I know the boys he invited very well and they are all big video game enthusiasts.  I found a video game place at a nearby mall that has a ton of recliners, screens, controllers and headsets.  You pay by the hour for the kids to play games and they have a large selection of games to chose from.  It was a no brainer.  One of his invitees was out of town (they'll have a playdate together later this week), so Tom and I just took Leo and two friends to the gaming place.

Here's Leo all set up to play.

 At first they weren't sitting together but as people left, they were able to shift around and sit together.

 Here's Kyle (closest to the camera), Elouan and Leo.  The best part was that the boys were fully entertained and taken care of by the staff so Tom and I were able to wander and shop at the mall.

The boys had two hours of playtime before we headed home.  Pizza was delivered right after we arrived at the house.  And after pizza we had a tiny little ice cream cake.  It was perfect for Leo's tiny party.  

All and all, a successful party.  He had fun with his friends and it was easy on me and Tom.  We will continue to celebrate this sweet boy's birthday on his actual birthday tomorrow.

Vollyball Clinic

Serafina really enjoyed volleyball camp this summer so I signed her up for a volleyball clinic.  An old friend of mine runs the program and another mom I know is a coach.  There were lots of girls Serafina knew in the clinic with her and each week they had a dress-up theme.  She really liked it and said she prefers this program to the one she did this summer.  I think it's mostly the friend factor that's influencing her decision.

Today was the last day she attended for this clinic and they all wore their Mountain View Volleyball Club shirts.

 Every time I saw her play during clinic (which was only a handful because I was able to arrange carpool with all the friends we had there), Serafina took what she was doing seriously.  It was great to see her put in attention and effort to a sport she likes.

Hardly Strictly Bluegrass

Every year, our friends head up to Golden Gate Park in San Francisco for a free outdoor music festival called Hardly Strictly Bluegrass.  It's an all day outing and they have wanted us to join them in the past but it hasn't worked out.  Today Tom and the kids finally got to be part of the fun.  I stayed home because I'm still trying to get fully better from my extended illness. I got sick a month ago and was diagnosed with bronchitis two weeks later.  I'm still not 100% but I'm almost there.  Staying home let me catch up on cleaning and laundry and all the things that slipped away from me while I was sick.  

Tom and the kids had fun without me and I'll try to make it next year.  

 Some of the pictures are screenshots from the various photo sharing apps used to post the pictures.