Time Flies When Your Having Fun

Could it really be almost over? (can you see the glimmer in my eyes?) Summer vacations has come to a close and I am finally taking a moment to post some pictures of what we have been up to.

Bumper boats at Boomers. WET FUN!

Our 4th of July tradition.......Mohawks!

a sleepy summer morning.... I wonder how long this will last?

Our new kitten Sylvia. I had a moment of psychosis at the farmers market. In incendences like this I can not be held accountable for my actions.

Butterflies Alive an the Santa Barbara Natural History Museum.

We had a great time with Grandma and Uncle Craig checking out all the beautiful butterflies but all John could talk about was the owl vomit that we found at the gift shop!

Bull Riding at the Mid State Fair! Fun but HOT!

I have to say that the one thing that I did not think that I would enjoy that much was my favorite adventure of the summer. The boys and I went out for a fishing trip on our friend charter boat. We had a blast, the boys caught 14 Rock Cod and 2 Sand Dabs. We even saw a whale. That's the rock you can see in the background as we were leaving the harbor.

Santa Maria Raceway

We met Becca and family down there. It was so much fun watching the boys enjoy it as much as I do. Blake (Becca's 1 year old) was in heaven until he lost his race car under the bleachers just before the National Anthem! Let's just say that he is very patriotic. He could be heard by all singing his own rendition. All the boys had a great time messing with their earplugs and waiting for the next crash. It brought back lots of fun memories when by brother Rick brought us as kids.

Peace and Quiet

We set up an old tent in the back yard for a camp out of sorts. The boys stayed in it and played for two days. They ate in the tent, read in the tent, fought in the tent and roughed it (note the orange extension cord no need to be uncivilized) all out of ear shot. They liked it out there so much I might turn their room into the office/guest room that I have always dreamed of. Happy Summer to me!

Ahhhhhh Summer!

We are in the third week of summer vacation and nearly every day seems to involve water either at the beach, tide pools or the pool somehow. Today we learned that lulu can swim! She miss-judged the depth of a tide pool and jumped right as a wave hit. She did not seem to hate it as bad as I expected. She surfaced tail wagging an ready for the next one. She also dug a lovely hole and did a little sun bathing while the boys checked out the tide pools and caves under the jetty. I sat in my beach chair, ate a whole bag of yummy cherries and read a magazine. Fun was had by all.

Yesterday we met my friend and her boys at the beach for a little boogie boarding. I had planned to just help the boys out in the waves but quickly found my self begging for a turn from the boys. I forget how fun it is to be out in the water. I may be sitting on the beach a little less and in the water a little more now.

I Fired the Tooth Fairy

Last week John Jr lost one of his last molars. This molar came out with quite a commotion. The school called me to tell me that John had a broken tooth and that I needed to pick him up. I checked him over as thoroughly as I could stand ( I am extremely dentally sensitive) and decided to call his dentist. After much unneeded distress (mostly mine) we were told he had just lost a molar and that it was totally normal. John then went on and on about how the tooth fairy should really pay out good for this one and so on. All this talk from a 9 1/2 year old boy about fairies and tooth money left a bad taste in my mouth. So when John went to bed with tooth tucked safely under the pillow and ready to count his loot in the morning I lay awake agonizing over how old was too old to believe in the tooth fairy and if we were to let tooth fairies go do we have to let Santa go as well? Am I forcing him to grow up before he is ready, Am I keeping him to young for my own selfishness, How would Ben take it, and why the heck I am I laying awake thinking about the tooth fairy when I could be sound asleep.

As morning came I resisted to desire to abandon my plan and let him go to school and tell all his friends that the tooth fairy came to visit him last night or.....end this chapter of innocent bliss in the lives of my little babies, somehow sending them into manhood with this new knowledge of the deceit and that I have led them to believe in a tiny being that collects teeth while they sleep.

I braced myself for a mutiny of sorts

I went to my wallet where I store the 2 dollar bills that the tooth fairy brings and told the boys that I was the one sneaking the money under their pillows and that I saved the 2 dollar bills from when I worked at the bank and that I thought they were getting old enough to not need the tooth fairy anymore and so on.... while they just looked at me in a blank stair of discomfort. I sighed and braced myself for tears, disbelief and sheer distrust but their response was not at all what I expected...hours of lost sleep and distress of how this could affect their delicate physiques and it all went down like this...

Ben :" cool, can I have my teeth back !"

John " are we still going to have breakfast?"

They sure don't get their mental stability from me!

Road Trip To Arizona

1550 miles

100+ Degrees

35 family members

23 bug bites

20 minutes in traffic

10 thrift stores

6 pieces of luggage

5 days

4 bloody noses

3 divorce threats (2 from me 1 from John)

2 heat rashes

1 bottle of Ibuprofen

0 bathrooms

= a Family Reunion never to be forgotten!

12 years of ........

It seems that every year as our anniversary grows close John and I start this little drill. It goes something like this, "I can't believe that I have put up with this (what ever is pertinent)for 12 years. " 12 years of forgetting his pajamas in the washing machine at 9pm, 12 years of cover stealing, 12 years of my hair all over everything, 12 years of watching Cops every Saturday night....I'm sure you get the idea. So its that time again...the best 12 years of my life!

I would not say that we are lucky, I don't think that luck has anything do do with it. We are both very different people from very different backgrounds. What we do have in common is a very serious stubborn streak. In 12 years we have both grown a lot (both physically and emotionally) and have learned to respect each other even in the most trying times. John has known me when I was at my best(sometime before pregnancy) and at my worst (pretty much everything after pregnancy) He stopped asking me if I have PMS after an argument and just getting me a bucket ice cream instead, has lovingly looked the other way when I threatened all things horrible to the boys for getting orange Cheetos goo all over the couch, and he tells me I look nice in the first outfit I try on even though he knows that I will try on many more before I am ready. I barely notice that he makes pig noises when I eat, accept that if the world ends when he is napping it is in every ones best interest to just leave him behind and he will wake up when he is ready, and that he likes dry pajamas (preferably ones that he did not dry himself).

We did not learn all this wisdom the first year we were together, nor do we have it all figured out yet. Luckily we get lots of practice hashing out the little stuff, like that it is not if, but how many thrift stores we will go to when on vacation or if we should eat at Taco de Mexico or The Hofbrou for dinner. We even argue over who gets to be institutionalized first (the first one to go actually wins that one). No one has ever accused us of being the most mature or adoring couple but where we lack in affection we make up in commitment and sarcasm.

John is my best friend, he knows me better than I know myself and I would never trade his bad attitude or love of Jerry Springer for mushy romance and candle lit dinners. I know that he must feel the same about me when he comes home from a long day at work to the ground zero we call our happy home of unfinished housework, children at the brink of meltdown, delusional wife and no sign of dinner, he still pulls in the driveway and comes inside with a smile even though he should just keep on driving.

Happy Anniversary John, I cant wait until we are complaining about 50 years of .........

One Big Backyard

Time after time friends and relatives try to convince us to leave the Central Coast to make roots in areas that have better opportunities and the cost of living is less. I admit that at times it is discouraging to live in a place where we may never afford a house of our own, have a top paying job or even be in close proximity to a department store. With all of the negatives that staying here offers, the positives are absolutely, by far, more important to me.

Where else can run into friends and neighbors around every corner, send my kids to a school where the teachers taught me, be able to walk just about anywhere I need to go, never get stuck in traffic (especially important if I am the passenger), wear flip flops in December, a hoodie in June, and see the ocean every day.

I am far to committed to my Morro Bay ways to change without resistance. I don't like warm, stagnant water (anything over 50 degrees), any temperature fluctuation that is not in the 60's, strawberries and barbecue that are from anywhere other than Santa Maria, and 3,4,or more lane freeways. I do like tri-tip, thick wet foggy days, leaving my front door open, and long walks on the beach.

Today, after the boys finished their homework, we went down the the beach to get out of the house. I regret not doing it everyday. This has to be one of the most beautiful places on earth and it is so easy to get caught up in the day to day grind and not get out and enjoy it. I do not mind living in a house that is only slightly larger than most garages, camping instead of going on lavish vacations, and doing with out the latest cell phone on the market. Just living here is worth it!

I guess that I am just a small town, California kind of girl. Not such a bad deal if you ask me.