Whale Watching!

We got a fantastic deal on Living Social or Groupon - one of those conglomerate coupon sites.  It was SOOOO much fun.  We got to see a plethora of whales and tail flukes.  It was one of the best whale watching trips I've ever been on, and I really attribute it to the captain of the ship.  Seemed like he'd been doing it forever and he really know his stuff!  For those of you interested, it was the Hornblower Events line here in San Diego.  Highly recommended!  Here are some photos.

Natural History Museum

We are now proud members.  You know your kids are getting older when you trade in the Children's Museum pass for the Natural History Museum pass.  Here's a pic from today.

And Estelle with a gaggle of fowl today in our back yard.

The time has come

 It has been many months since I have so much as looked at this blog.  I had written it off as a dead thing, a project of the past.  Yesterday I was looking at my dashboard, enjoying the concept of blogging and revisiting old projects.  During this reflection, it occurred to me that this blog was worth revival!  I was surprised to find that I had started it in 2006, a good 4 years ago!  Another surprise to me was the fact that I had consistently put up a decent number of blogs each year.  I mean, nothing like some people who post multiple blogs a month, but a good amount of pictures and dialogue to reflect upon.  I started this blog to be a journal of things in life as my children grew, and that really and truly is what it has morphed into.  I can look back at pictures of my babies from 2006 and watch them grow to now.  This blog has succeeded in being what I initially hoped it would be, and revisiting it has made me realize that I don't need to blog daily or even monthly to give me something beautiful and fantastic to reflect upon for many years to come.  Here are some pictures of our life over the past year, and also a shout out to our other (more current) collaborative blog and metaphoric picture into our life at www.radioacresfarm.blogspot.com.

hiking mission trails with friends

Summer mudpies

we did a silk worm summer project

and found the cutest princess hair cut place- making heart braids is part of their deal!

late fall camping trip - 2009

Bang Bang!

The ladybugs in our yard are mating like crazy this week.

My cousing Ernie got married this weekend. Yeah, we got a text message on Wednesday asking if we could come up on Saturday morning for his wedding. On friday he finalized details and married Tanya on Saturday morning at 10 am. I think that may be the quickest wedding planning I've ever experienced.

And I got new hair, thanks to my sister.

I haven't blogged since Disneyland!

And so much stuff has happened! Isn't that the way it always goes? Since then, 1) Camille has started a preschool class at the La Mesa Rec Center that she absolutely LOVES 2) we have officially gotten rid of our car 3) My sister's house closed escrow (yay!) 4) I got certified to teach Group Cycling classes at the gym 5) Valentines Day has come and gone 6) well, I always forget something...


As stated above, Camille LOVES her preschool class and I am so happy about that! I was worried, and especially apprehensive since she asked to be pulled out of the last preschool she was going to. Also, she is supposed to start Kindergarten in the fall so I was worried that she would just hate preschool so much that I wouldn't know what to do about kindergarten. Now, I really think that homeschooling is the way to go IF YOU CAN KEEP YOUR SANITY and be a great teacher for your children. I am not sure that I have it in me to do that. This whole kindergarten thing has been a real struggle for me and I am still not sure what the answer will be or what the future will hold for that. Currently, I have applications in for the Innovations Academy (part time school, great idea for me), Liberty First Charter (also half-day kindergarten, which is a biggie for me), San Diego Language Academy (Spanish language immersion program) and Hardy Elementary (just a normal school, close to my house). I am not sure which, if any, of these schools she'll get into. I initially also had an application in to the San Diego Cooperative Charter, but since selling our car and thinking about the reality of going to a school so far away we've decided it's not such a hot idea. We'd be better off to stay somewhere close and walkable, or at the very least bikeable.

So, yeah, kindergarten. Fun times. We'll just have to see what happens in the fall!

we went to Disneyland on Friday

My kids are so spoiled. This is the 3rd time since September. We also have SeaWorld passes, Zoo passes, Childrens Museum passes, (thanks, grandparents, for all of these by the way!)the beach a stone's throw away... How lucky are kids growing up in Southern California with all of this stuff within an easy drive? They have no idea. Sometimes I think we should just not ever go so it could be more of a treat than "the norm." Here are some pictures.

My lovely #2 with her hand in the Swiss Family Robinson tree (now Tarzan - WTF?!)


# 1 and her daddy, my beautiful husband

My kids with my mom

My sister and her baby-daddy in the honeycomb from Winnie the Pooh

Our car hit 100,000 on the way home!

We went to Trolley Barn park today

At C.'s request. I am savoring driving places for the last few days. I measured the mileage on the way home - about a 5 mile bike ride! Yikes =) I know it's do-able, but I am not looking forward to that pain just to take my girls to some of their more favorite, farther-away parks. I talked to insurance lady today and we are not renewing our auto insurance for the month of Feb. It will expire about half way through the month, and then we are done! Anyone want a nice, cozy, family-style CR-V?

Here are some flicks from the park picnic we had today! Thanks, friends, for meeting up with us. It was really nice to see you there and catch up.

E. enjoying some lunch

the # 1 reason why C. loves this park