Nothing Better ...

Spending an evening enjoying some S'mores by the fire.  Is there anything better?

Go Away Birds!

Since our backyard has been finished, we've dealt with raccoons rolling back our sod, squirrels digging in the bark and the grass, and now birds making a mess of the bark and digging it out around the base of the trees, plants, and rocks.  Someone gave me the suggestion of putting balloons around the yard to see if that would deter them.

After placing little balloons all over the yard on candy sticks, we've decided that it helped a little, but not much.  I'm OK with birds in general ... just wish they would stop messing up our yard!!

Soccer has begun

Calissa and Conner had their first games this week.

 Calissa is on the "Sonic Boom,"

and Conner is on the "Real Madrid."

Looks like it will be a fun season.  (Is it bad that I'm looking forward to it ending though when we've only just started?)  Good luck guys!

Cream

We tried out this yummy new ice cream place last week in Walnut Creek called Cream.  Only had to wait in line about 20 minutes.  It was yummy, but messy!

First Day of School

 Calissa

6th grade at SMS

Best part of the day - meeting all my teachers

Worst part of the day - going to lunch, because there are too many people

Conner

8th grade at SMS

Best part of the day - not having homework

Worst part of the day - not having Mr. Gregory for history

 Parker

11th grade at CHS

Best part of the day - seeing all the great classes that he has 

Worst part of the day - having to write a paper for history  

 I can't believe how fast they are growing up!

Hope you have a fantastic year!

Fun in Monterey

We decided to take one last quick trip before school started and decided to go to Monterey.  The kid had been asking to go to the aquarium there, so we decided to leave on a Sunday afternoon and spend the night so we wouldn't have to fight the traffic on a Monday morning.

 We got to our hotel and checked in and then went exploring down at the water.

 Here we are at the lighthouse ...

and here we are at the beach.  It was a beautiful walk and we were having fun as a family!  We saw quite a few deer, a sign for mountain lions (Conner's says ... "we're not in the mountains!"), Trav pretty much fell in the water after trying to catch himself on the rocks, a very small golf course, a cemetery, and might have gotten a little lost on our way back to the hotel.

After a quick swim in the pool (by Calissa) and a toe dip in the hot tub (it was gross ... not to mention the chain smoking alcoholic), we decided to head out for ice cream.

Here are some weird family photos in honor of the weirdest ice cream shop we had ever been in. They did have good ice cream though.  (Even if they didn't have enough spoons!)

Trav looks a little creepy in this picture.

After ice cream and almost getting run over by a drunk driver (who's passenger rolled down the window and yelled out, "drunk driver") we went back and sat at the huge outdoor fire pit they had at the hotel.  It was HUGE and putting off a ton of heat!  We visited with a couple celebrating their anniversary and the chain smoking alcoholic again, while trying to not get attacked by the raccoons that were circling, all while the fog was rolling in and we were getting wet.

When we were checking in they said since we had five people that they were upgrading us to a bigger room.  It had a king and two queens.  It was really a weird room and not updated.  The hotel had tons of reviews on travelocity and they were averaged 4.5 stars. We got almost a half price deal so we decided to go for it.  Evidently the hotel is being upgraded and we were staying in the part that hadn't been upgraded yet.  Even with two queen beds, Parker decided to sleep on the floor.  This room with the two beds was SO SMALL!

It was an adventure for sure!

It had this chandelier hanging over the TV that you would hit your head on each time you walked by.

We did have a nice big bed and a big space for the night.

We also had this enclosed patio off our room. For the money we paid, it was a great space ... it was just a really odd experience!

The next morning we checked out of the hotel and went out to breakfast before getting to the aquarium.  It is such a great place!  The kids had never been before.  Outside there was this huge crab on the wall!  At first we weren't sure if it was real or not, but we asked and then saw it move.  Calissa was a little freaked out.

Pretty star fish.  They look different from the ones we see all the time in Pismo.

Family shot outside!  I love the ocean and could spend all day just sitting there watching it and relaxing!

We watched them feed the penguins.

Then, our kids hatched out of a penguin egg.

Beautiful fish!

The jelly fish were so beautiful as well!

We saw some otters out in the bay

and some seals.

Calissa designed and drew her own jelly fish that took off once she was done.  (Hers is next to the submarine).

We saw sea horses,

and octopus, and by the end of the day we were all tired!

We stopped at a pizza place for lunch.  Conner was DONE with pictures,

but Calissa is always willing to snap another shot!

We stopped and had cookies and did a little window shopping on the way back to the car.  I tried to convince everyone that we should rent bikes and go on a bike ride, or rent kayaks to go out in the bay.  I was voted down ... 

so we took one last picture and then headed for home!