97 degrees

Ok it was 97 degrees today! Boo. So wish it was cold. These photos are actually from last weekend at Avila Valley Barn. We picked pumpkins and ran through the haze maze over and over again. Such fun! So boo to today and its hotness and little kids who are melting in the heat with little red faces. But yay for Weston cuz he's such a cutie! And the only one who would pose for pics!

Kirk Creek

We decided to take a little two day camping trip up the coast. It was amazing! We stayed at Kirk Creek campground, on a bluff overlooking the ocean.

Matt and Weston on the way down the trail that lead to the creek and eventually the rocky beach below the campsite.
You can see our tent in the right hand corner in the pic above. We were laughing at it because it looked like a big circus tent compared to all the other little single hiker tents that were around.
Caleb on the rocky beach, he was the most excited about the trip and the most upset about having to come home.
Well this one speaks for itself.
Weston had a blast, he was so dirty all the time. I had to keep reminding myself that it was A. impossible to keep him clean and B. that it was ok for him to be dirty because he was having fun and we were camping. Funny how I had to keep reminding myself of that. I would start to say out loud "How did he get dirty again...oh, wait its ok".
Sea cucumber! We found a couple of these, there were tons of starfish and anenomies (sp?).
Jack making the anenomies squirt.
Smoralicious!
Ok so things I loved about this trip:

1. Not knowing what time it was.

2. Sitting around the campfire.

3. Looking up at all the thousands of stars and talking about life with Matt.

4. Falling asleep to the sound of the waves and waking up snuggled in my sleeping bag.

5. Making meals on a tiny camp stove.

6. Hiking and exploring with my kids...they're so inquisitive and interested in things that I take for granted.

7. Watching my husband set up camp and build fires, and showing his boys how to do it.

I spy someone who's 5!

So my pictures aren't in order...but oh well. On Monday, Caleb turned 5! We decided to have a secret agent birthday party. Everyone got their own secret agent id card.

Amazing 5 y r old!
Weston in a duck disguise, looking at himself in the mirror.

Everyone also got their own spy folder with a map and their mission instructions. We also practiced taking our fingerprints.

After we had our Art of Disguise race, where everyone had to race to get on their disguise, we took everyone's picture. Doesn't he have a great spy face?

Then we had some target practice. I found water balloons at Wal Mart that looked like hand grenades.
And finally our secret agent training ended with an obstacle course. Everyone took turns running it to the tune of "eye of the tiger"! It was hilarious and fun. Thanks Delmores for coming and making it a great party!

I feel like this week I'm trying to squeeze as much fun out of summer as possible. This week seems like one of the warmest weeks we've had all summer so the boys have been enjoying our little backyard pool.

We're planning on starting school on Sept. 1st. We are all getting antsy to get started and I can't wait to get back into the routine again. This summer seemed to go so fast, I've been longing for our quiet times together.

I've been thinking a lot too about my autumn resolutions (thanks to John Piper). What do I want to accomplish this fall not only for the kids schooling but also for my spiritual life. What habits do I want to form and which ones do I want to break? What new ministry dreams can I dream about with the Lord and see come to pass? Its exciting thinking about it all I must say. I've been inspired too by a friends mom's memorial service a couple of weeks ago. The woman was a Christian and had a life that so glorified Jesus. I loved it, it was really sad and yet beautiful and inspiring. Its crazy how beautiful God makes our lives when they're poured out for him.

Caleb will soon be 5! He's getting so big. He had his kindergarten checkup at the doctor today. 4 shots, ears and eyes checked, weight and height measured... after the 4 shots he was pretty upset and started crying, so not so big that he doesn't need me to comfort him once in a while, which is nice actually.

Now hopefully I can get over this cold, get my stuff together for school, make a 'spy' birthday cake and move on into fall! All by next Monday...

Avila Barn

My 3 sons...so cute. Weston loved the animals at Avila Valley Barn today. He talks really loud and points and smiles. He is changing so fast these days. The summer is flying by it seems and I'm getting excited for school to start! I love shopping for school supplies and we found a great deal on books from a school that closed, I think we got about 50 books for $6.00!

invention

I love it when the boys come up with an invention. The other night they went into their room with some masking tape and my broom and they came out with this extendo-grabber. They used it to get West's hat that he had thrown over the neighbors fence.

A simple pleasure

Yay, my tomatoes are starting to turn red! I'm so excited. I'm sure in a couple of months I'll be sick of tomatoes but for now I'm enjoying it. I've loved watching our little plants grow. We've had a few zucchini already and lettuce and green peppers. Its amazing really to look at the plants at night then the next morning seeing growth...overnight change!

goofballs

This is where I found the boys this morning...on the couch all snuggled together and cracking up at one another. Soooooo (not) glad that Jack and Caleb taught West how to stick his finger in his nose!

Joyous

New favorite game...hiding behind my bedroom curtains and being found and tickled. So cute especially the squealing laughter!

bread

Today I made my 3rd loaf of bread, it looks so nice to me. Two loaves of Hearth Bread earlier this week and today a loaf of Heart of Wheat bread. Even the names sound good don't they? I love freshly baked bread, I used to make it a lot but got out of the habit. Since summer is here and I have some free time on my hands (Jack and Caleb are at VBS this week) I decided to break out the Bread Bible and start baking. Next I think I'll try the cinnamon raisin bread.

Photos

*Jacks birthday

*Jack up to bat

*Jack pitching

*Team photo right after winning the championship

*Weston and Caleb on the play structure

Train trip

This past Tuesday me and the boys went down to Santa Barbara on the Amtrak train with our homeschool group.  The train was fun but a little shaky. 
We decided to go to the Sea Center on Stearns Wharf.  We went with two other families, our beloved Delmores and our newer friends the Pechmanns.

The Sea Center was really cool.  They have a lot of interesting animals to look at and touch.

Here is Caleb touching a Sea Cucumber.  

After the Sea Center we walked down to a big playground, had our lunch and played the rest of the afternoon.
Weston is so in love with going down the slide right now.  

It was a long day, but a fun one.  One more baseball game tomorrow, the championship game! More on that later....