Skip to main content

cali trip: day 10

it was another scorcher! 279

the day started with laurie’s famous french toast (cut in squares, of course).283

then we (everyone except papa, who was coming down with a cold) headed out to the theater to see monsters university. everyone loved it.

after the movie, gramma laurie to shane shopping at kohl’s for his birthday present.

back at home, gramma jackie let layla pick through some of her seashells, after her tiny prized sand dollar had gotten broken the night before.285

even julie was ready for the hot day.287

a minor mishap when the hot water tap broke. dave and gary tried to fix it, with no success.289

I did my best to get all of our stuff packed up and ready to leave the next morning. then it was back in the pool, where we spent the rest of the afternoon. IMAG0396

how micah ‘dries off’.291

one last in-n-out burger for dinner. I like my double-double protein style with grilled onions, added pickles, and no sauce. yum. best burger ever.292

then layla got to open her birthday present from gramma and papa. she got the flamingo outfit she’d seen at costco (that happens to almost match the outfit she got from aunt mary and uncle joe for julie) and a cute pair of sandals.300

then we all lazed around and watched the jungle book before it was time for last stories, snuggles, and good nights.304

our last night of tent trailer accommodations.307

Comments

you may like...

first day of school

so, we started school today. this is a big deal because it is OUR first day of official homeschooling. you know, here. at home. most everyone reading this is already aware of the fact that shane has been homeschooled since first grade, but that he has spent the majority of that ‘school’ time, with my mother as his ‘teacher’. this was a fine arrangement, she was willing and more than qualified, and he was learning. but for a variety of reasons, not the least of which being my mother’s current cancer issues, it had become clear that it was time for me to take over. AND,with layla being 4 now, i really wanted to do a little bit more preschool stuff with her. being a little bit of a chicken flake, i (with much urging from my loving husband) decided the best route to go would be with a packaged curriculum. i figured it would be the most time-effective way to cover what we needed to cover, and be somewhat dummy-proof, but at the same time, having the option to supplement with as much

i have "done something"

about shane's room. if you notice over there on my BIG FAT TO DO LIST, for ages now, i've had "do something about shane's room" on the list. and it has sat there on the list, doing nothing.  well yesterday, we "did something". i couldn't put "clean shane's room".  that wouldn't really cover it.  i wasn't sure exactly how to phrase what is was that needed to be done in there, mainly because i don't really know the proper grammatical term for "set off 4 sticks of dynamite followed by much jackhammering and industrial vacuuming".  needless to say, it was a pit! every saturday, one of his chores is to clean his room.  but at this point, that was just putting clothes in the basket, books on the shelf, toys in bins, etc.  anything else was WAY too big of an undertaking for a 9 year old boy on his way out the door. sadly, i didn't think to take a 'before' picture, so i didn't bother with an '

for my not-so-american friends

i didn't have an actual roll w/ the green plaid on it, but i found a refill and an empty roll in my junk drawer (yeah, i know, that should tell me something).  but even the empty one says 'scotch' on it.  there you go!  SCOTCH TAPE!

Micah’s Birthday

This kid had the audacity to turn 13 yesterday… As was expected, I was a bit of a hot mess about the whole affair. Here’s his “last day to be 12” photo. He ran out of fingers a couple years ago, so taking a page out of Shane’s book, he borrowed a couple of feet from the cat to make 12. But, not too old to choose Lucky Charms for his birthday breakfast. He got his happy birthday facetime call first thing and got to open his gift from Gramma and Skip while they watched… He’s had a boom box on his list this year. You might remember that 2 years ago, it was a Walkman. The obsession with 80s audio continues. Gramma found this one and it seems to fit the bill. Looks totally retro, plays and records tapes but also has radio AND a USB port so he could use some modern tech with it, as well. So, he spent the morning taking advantage of the birthday allowances of not having to do his weekend chores and lifted time limits on video games… all while listening to the radio or one

project life–week 18

the three amigos… this trio of the neighbors’ poultry is always in my parents’ yard. and spark way too many “why did the chicken cross the road” jokes. these are the two lilacs I gave my mom for mother’s day two years ago. last year, only one bloomed. looks like this year, both will have some nice flowers! when I get to the bottom of a bag of chips and they’re too small to effectively scoop up salsa, I just dump them in a bowl, pour salsa over them, and eat the whole delicious mess with a spoon. not ashamed. dave got himself a new set of bike tools. everyone had to check it out. first grade music concert. micah had a solo! saturday baseball fun. pitching, homerun derby, bouncy houses, dunk the coach… and of course, eating kettle corn and horsing around.