Museum Day

Today's adventure - Natural History Museum. So glad we went. I think its been on our "Summer To-Do List" since last summer. Happy we got Amber and her kids to tag along. Some of our favorite people to hang with.

Me and my crew.

New dinosaur wing was super cool. Way more dinosaurs than before.

Tyler loves museums. Soaks up all the information, reads signs to me, always has to show us "just one more thing".

We spent a lot of time in the Rocks and Minerals exhibit, too, which I loved because I always remember enjoying that one with my sisters when I was little (in DC). The pretty rocks and amethyst especially remind me of my Grandma Currie.

All the kiddos (minus Cole):

Picnic lunch outside. Beautiful weather today.

Ah, the Butterfly Pavilion - my favorite.

Tyler identifying each butterfly he saw.

So pretty. Butterflies everywhere.

Cole loved the butterflies, tried to touch (or grab) each one with his chubby little fingers. Luckily no casualties!

Lovely day! We saw a bunch of exhibits, but there was still so much to see - could spend all day there easily. Next time we'll try to bring Adam along.

This girl. Sheesh - she and I had a tough afternoon and evening. She fell right to sleep tonight so maybe she was exhausted? Driving home from the museum we listened to Keith Urban, then Taylor Swift. Tyler was reading in the back. Cole asleep. I was eyes on the road singing along, then looked in the rear view mirror and saw Audrey staring out the window singing along (her voice is so sweet, could listen to her all day.) We both knew every word. I saw so much of myself in her. Even though there are times we butt heads, I treasure moments like that when I see how alike we are. My sweet girl - a good night's sleep, and tomorrow is a new day.

Past Few Days

Lazy summer days around here lately. Hangin' out at home. Playing in the water and sun in the yard. Swimming with friends. Lots of reading, and toys. Slurpees. Back-to-school shoe shopping (we are 2 1/2 weeks away now!) Adam and I snuck out to see The Way, Way Back (favorite movie I've seen this summer). Best part of the date was getting a speeding ticket!!! Our $60 date probably turned into a $360 date (or more - dang California). Bad timing with Adam's haitus landing now - hope to look at the bright side, or have a good sense of humor about it eventually. Sigh. Also our washer is broken! It's only a year old, (another sigh). Went to Grandma and Grandpa Tait's Sunday night and did tons of laundry. Looking forward to putting these silly things behind us and spending a nice week together. We have some good family fun lined up, so hopefully it will all go smoothly. A few random pictures from the past weekend.

Art set-up. I think the kids painted for over an hour, they were so into it.

 Fudge pop at Grandma's. We've had popsicles pretty much every day this summer.

 The infamous date night. Oh man, we were so happy to get out of the house. 10 minutes later - the ticket. Guess we were in too much of a rush to get outta there!

Adam's teaching an acting workshop in Napa. Girlfriends came over last night to watch the train wreck that is The Bachelorette - drama! Today I spent a lovely morning at the Natural History Museum with Amber and kids. Photos to come.

Goings On

Lucky me I've seen two movies so far this week. Emily and I saw Girl Most Likely last night - it was cute. Amber, Becky, and I took the kiddos to the dollar movie. They showed Racing Stripes. Cole did great - his first movie! (Pretty lame movie, although the kids liked it.)

After a little back-to-school shopping we stopped to feed the ducks and turtles today.   

A couple typical summer shots at our house. Tyler finding a spot to read. We hit the library - last week of their summer reading program. Kids got a bunch of prizes.

Popsicles in the afternoon. Cole inherited this car from Ashton and Jonah this summer.

 Brooke dropped off a bunch of fresh basil and tomatoes, cucumbers from her garden. (Again, I am lucky). I made a big batch of spinach basil pesto in the Blendtec. So easy and so good!

If you've read this far and have another sec., please vote for Ladybug Music. We're up for Best Music Class in LA again (we won last year!) Voting is easy and fast, and in my opinion we really are the best music class in LA.

Friends!

Spent the afternoon with New York City girlfriends. Kristy is mid-road trip, taking her three kids from NYC to California and back in 8 weeks! (Follow their adventures here. I am inspired! Maybe we'll try California to New York and Virginia one day.) We swam, played, snacked, and caught up at Kelly's.

Audrey and Kelly's little girl Halle totally hit it off.

Kelly has a beautiful home and yard. Tons of animals - there's a chicken in this shot.

These girls will always have a special place in my heart. They pretty much took me under their wings when I joined the church ten years ago in Astoria, Queens. These were the girls - along with Sara, McKay, Jen, Carrie, Michelle, and others - who helped me get to the temple and told me what to expect. Who taught me what it meant to be a visiting teacher, serve in Young Womens and Primary. These girls were there when I was baptized, threw me a wedding shower, and saw me and Adam get sealed. I was lucky to have such awesome, strong women around me during that time. Grateful for these friendships, and happy to reconnect a little today.

Mid-Summer Beach Day

Hit the beach today after teaching Ladybug. Pretty overcast with a little sun here and there. Got super cold toward the end, stayed 'til dinnertime. Saw a ton of dolphins jumping, and a few sea lions - very cool. Some awesome waves, too.

Little Mermaid

A hole just his size, dug by Uncle Mikey

Brooke and Claire were there. Claire visiting from Utah - so nice to see her and her family.

Sand sculpture this guy was making next to us. Amazing!

Cole's awesome beach tantrum. How can a kid be this cute while throwing a tantrum!?

Face in sand proved not his best idea. Poor little guy.

Mama's in her zen place on the beach with Diet Coke in hand.

Cute threesome. Danny and Uncle Mikey tagged along with us for the day. Tan California kids!

Smoothie Lunch

Some orange juice

Frozen banana and mango

Half an avocado

Non-fat plain Greek yogurt

Couple spoonfuls chia seeds

A ton of fresh spinach

Handful ice cubes

Agave or honey if you want, but if I use juice I usually don't sweeten it. Blend and yum. Makes a smoothie for me, the kiddos, and I freeze the rest in popsicle molds for later. We've had this for several meals this week while our tummies get back to normal, post-flu. Today I added a little coconut oil.

This Week Has Been...

Flu recovery

Lots of chicken soup

Family movie night - Jack the Giant Slayer 

Library

Pedicure for me!

Back at Ladybug Music with my cute families

Kids picked 2nd grade and Kindergarten back packs

Tooth Fairy left a gold dollar
Sharknado date!
Back in the swimming pool

Audrey + Sydney play date this morning. Here are some photos:

Best girls

 As seen on pinterest we made a car wash to keep Tyler and Cole busy while the girls played and swam. Of course everybody ended up wanting to do the car wash.

Drying station

 Cole and the princesses. They also made it through the car wash.

 Picnic lunch, followed by popsicles.

Tooth!

Woke up this morning to Audrey yelling, "I lost my tooth! I lost my tooth!"

Finally get to use this little "First Tooth" box someone gifted Audrey at her baby shower over five years ago. She's so excited it's finally her turn to be visited by the Tooth Fairy.

In other news, Adam now has the stomach flu (sigh), and Audrey got her finger stuck in a Thomas the Train track this morning - it took lotion, a hammer, drill, and pliers to get it out! Sheesh!

Sick

Summer fun has been interrupted over here by the stomach flu! Boo - stomach flu should be outlawed in the summer! I had it yesterday, Tyler today. It's a quick bug - I was healthy enough to teach Ladybug Music this morning. Super grateful for a brother-in-law willing to stay with my sick boy this morning. Fingers crossed no one else gets it so we can go back to enjoying ourselves. Laying low for now.

Can't believe we only have 4 1/2 weeks of summer left! It's going fast.

Temple Day

Spent the afternoon with our primary at the Los Angeles Temple. Perfect timing because I've been wanting to take the kids there this summer. We toured the grounds and Visitors' Center with the sister missionaries, and watched a couple short movies. (Reminder next time bring tissues because I was borderline ugly cry with those temple family movies - sheesh). It was a lovely afternoon. Love, love any time we spend at the temple! Afterward we hit Diddy Riese - our first time, and it lived up to the hype. Deeeelish! On the way home my phone died and I'm trying to get over the photos I lost today - some great ones! Here are the few I managed to save. New phone coming Monday.

My baby!

Our awesome primary kids. Love serving with these kiddos, and the other primary leaders.

Our Week

Felt like staying close to home this week so I declared it Friends Week and found some friend fun.
Swam with Jonah and Ashton.
Play date at Brooke's with Sarah, Rachel, Emily and all their kiddos.
Swimming with Amber and kids.
Played and swam with Tyler's first grade buddy, Dominic.

We also:
Planned a little family trip to San Diego in a few weeks!
Did some school work. We occasionally play summer school, and the kids love it - especially when it ends with show-n-tell.
Grandma and Grandpa Tait came and we picnicked at the park.
Library trip. Summer reading program at our local library gives a prize each week for coming in. The kids always want to know what the prize is so we try to go once a week.
Audrey has her first wiggly tooth! She's soooo excited and wiggles it all the time.
Ladybug Music training for summer session. Session starts Monday.
I'm actually summer reading instead of watching too much TV. 

 This week's photo dump:

Slip-n-Slide at Brooke's

Once a week Becky teaches boot camp and the kids play while the mamas exercise. This is how the kids entertained themselves this week. Kid train:

Swim time with Carter and Brandon.

Funny girl

A new summer tradition - the kids get in pjs right before bed and head out to swing before dark. They call it "family swing time". The weather has cooled by then, and it's nice to hang and talk with them while they swing.

We had a few rough moments this week, too. Tyler got nervous to swim again, but we worked it out and he's doing great. At this point I've got my swimming pep talks down! Audrey's been rough on Cole. Cole throws quite a few tantrums these days and is super mad when he can't communicate what he wants, or when I don't let him do whatever he wants (like dump a bag of pretzels on the floor, or take his favorite blankie outside in the sand box).

Summer fun continues...

Tiny Dancer(s)

Audrey's taking a ballet/tap/jazz class this summer, and so far she's loving it. I'm loving her new teacher. A nice step toward a more "serious" dance class, she loves these little girls, but expects a lot from them, too.

Love these two shots - little ballerina.

This morning Audrey busted out her tap shoes to practice, and Cole ran over, grabbed his sandals, urging me to put them on his feet so he could dance with her. Sadly his sandals didn't make as cool a sound as Audrey's tap shoes, but so cute nonetheless.