First Day of School

 Waiting in line. It was a long wait that first day, she got kind of impatient! 

We got the bus pass a few days later. Riding the bus was the thing she was most excited about with the onset of kindergarten. When I picked her up from school on the first day, I got an earful and then some from her sweet little mouth. She thought for sure she belonged in the "bus line" when it was time to go home, not the "pick-up" line, and when her teacher told her to get in the "pick-up" line, she was hopping mad. It will be a funny story for me to remember when she's older. 

"I'm meellltiiiinnng..."

Between my last post and this one, it has been very nice and comfortable weather-wise, luring me to think that fall was on it's way. Ha. Mother Nature is cruel. 108 degrees today, and no A/C. The hottest weather of  our entire time in California, which is just over a year. Yesterday was hot too. What do you do on a super-duper hot Sunday afternoon?

Close all the windows at 10am.
Go to church in a air-conditioned building for 3 hours.
Run every fan you own. (We have 5).

 Eat cold fruit while sitting on Dad.

Dad will shave off his beard and later trim his hair really short to keep his cool. And apparently Evelyn will continue to master the art of making funny faces in pictures.

Eat ice cream cones. Gordon is still trying to figure out what to do with his. He's actually crushing the bottom of the cone in this picture. I had to rescue the poor cone and eat it. What a shame.

Go snuggle with Dad. In the 85 degree upstairs.

We spent 3 hours at a pool today. It's a good plan for tomorrow too. I just need to find a pool to crash.

Hot August....Days

Where I grew up there was a car show titled, "Hot August Nights." But nothing in this post happens at night. So there's my little pun. 

Here's my attempt at recording our last few weeks of summer break. I can't say it was the end of summer, because it's summer for at least 10 months out of the year here. We just can't be as spontaneous about doing stuff now.

Our favorite beach, on a busy day. 

Sand is starting to taste gross to this kid (finally). I think most normal people find the texture a little hard to swallow. 

Going to the surf with my two water babies. 

The 'not a beach' girl. Happily collecting shells within the two foot perimeter around the beach blanket. 

I love, love, love hydrangeas. I bought this one in Trader Joe's because it screamed at me to take it home. I had never seen a hydrangea of this type before. I love the color, and hopefully the love I have for it means it will live for a few months on my front porch. 

Harry Potter.....actually just the doctor kit glasses that Gordon wears to imitate Mom and Dad's sunglasses. 

Our good friends Jared and Emily have parents that live not too far from our homes, and have this awesome pool set-up in the backyard. We also had grilled burgers and garden-fresh tomatoes. Loved the tomatoes so much. Thanks for the invite guys!

On the way back home from the pool excursion. I don't think Harry Potter would approve of this. Maybe he would. 

Ben's birthday was toward the end of August, and for the first time in Ben and I's existence together, we had a planned birthday party. (We've always been driving while vacationing on his birthday for the last 7 years). We had éclair torte and apple pie, and the kids tore apart all the common room sofas in grand fashion. A very appropriate Sunday activity. 

Not pictured: Ben giving surfing a try (fun but he hurt his shoulder), joining a softball league, kids playing in a sprinkler on the lawn (I'm not entirely sure this is legal in our apartment complex, but they didn't say 'no' in the lease, so...), Evelyn starting kindergarten (this will be pictured, eventually), Gordon taking spectacular falls (two chipped teeth, super bruised gums, bitten tongue, etc.), going to swim at more swimming pools (so grateful for nice friends in our no A/C situation), etc. Life is just not slowing down!  

A post in under 30 minutes. Amazing!