2 Beach Days in 1 week--Gotta love California!

We've had quite a warm spell, and another 85 degrees at the beach couldn't be passed up! Our friends the Shemwells invited us to their favorite beach to play. We all had a great time. There were tons of treasures to collect (lots of seashells, beach glass, and neato rocks) so a few of us spent a lot of time doing that (need I name names?) Curt even got in on the treasure hunting a little too. He also boogie boarded quite a bit (have you ever seen anyone boogie board on their back!!) , and thanks to Jenny, he and I got to go out together in the deeper water on the boards. Another great day!!











Curt had to go into school on Labor Day, so we called a friend and headed to the beach! The waves were perfect for the kids and they all braved going into the deeper water with me. Thanks for a fun day Brenley, Jorgen and Shelley!

First Day of First Grade

Nicole left this morning (the second day of school) chanting she loved Ms Yama, so I guess that's a good sign she likes her class! The pictures are from her first day.

Curt's hooked!!--more old news

I just wanted to add a little more about Curt's race. This was actually his second. He ran his first in June. Not only was it his first race but a 10k trail run with a 1,500 elevation change throughout the course!! His second was about the same. After his first race he said he wanted to do one once a month!! Yeah, I have a built in running partner now!! He says he enjoys the hills, right now I'm taking his word for it. He thinks I should try a trail run, and I want him to try a regular road race. I'll let you know how that goes . . .Anyway, GREAT JOB CURT!!

Ryan plopped himself down in Daddy's lap while Curt was stretching.

* Special thanks to a really nice lady with extra rechargeable camera batteries. I had remembered to charge ours the night before but not to grab them at 7am when we left the next morning. If you know how much I like to take pictures (second only to my sister Sabrina) then you can imagine what I was kicking myself about the whole time Curt was running. Towards the end of the race when runners started coming in I got up the nerve to ask a lady if she had any extra batteries. From now on if I remember to bring the batteries, I'm bringing extra so I can help a pour battery-less soul in need.

Fourth of July --yes this is old news

Not so sure what he thinks of fireworks.
Nicole and Isaac like them!
Ryan dealing with the noise again . . . this time from a live band we were watching.
Where we watched the fireworks.
Watching the parade right after the race. Ryan dealt with the loud noises of the parade by crying and covering his face.
It was a little cold while we were waiting for the race to start.
Cheering mom on.

Another new trick

Ryan is at that age when kids pick up a new trick every other day. Here is his latest...dribbling. He has been working on this one for a couple of months, with a neurotic persistence. He gets the neurosis from me and the persistence from Heather:)

POUNDED by the mountain!

For somebody who just started running, I have to say that the satisfaction that comes from exercise is AFTER your done. During the exercise, especially trail run races, the sensations are best described as pain, agony, anguish, exhaustion, thirst, and as you can see from the photo, grimace.

Ryan has figured out the pedaling thing