Dance Recital

Last weekend was the Dance Recital. These are the best pics I have on hand, but I have better ones coming. And really, for something like this I need to figure out how to post video clips. Anyway, they had a great time, hamming it up in front of the bright lights. They really do a good job putting on this show, it's really well produced.

Point Lobos

Last in our California June 2009 series is this picture of us exploring the tidepools at Point Lobos. The kids were enchanted by the crabs (hermit and otherwise), fishes, snails and such. We were enchanted by the kids --- I've been disappointed in the past at the lack of interest in tidepools, 'cause I think it's one of the neatest things to do, but this time they were much more interested. For the most part, the day went pretty well, and I'm sure the unpleasant parts will fade with time since I didn't get any pictures ....

Natural Bridges Park

After the Boardwalk, we went to Natural Bridges park and played on the beach for a while. Sydney romped at the edges of the waves...

... while Isaac enjoyed playing in the sand. We enjoyed watching them have fun!

Boardwalk!

Arriving at the Boardwalk the traditional way: over the railroad trestle.

For Sydney, no amusement park trip is complete without winning a prize in a game of "skill". Maybe this will change when she's playing with her own money? These whales set us back $3 each at the "everyone's a winner" fishing game.

Makes Daddy happy to see them enjoying the boats. Real ones in the future, I hope.

Check out that smile!

Many many more pictures were taken. I'll try to get some more up in the following days.

First Camping Trip

We've been talking about how fun it will be to take the kids camping. I think both of us have fond memories of camping as we grew up. But we thought we'd start simple, with a little backyard camping, so we finally broke down, got out the tent and set it up. We had a blast! I'd planned on firing up the grill but Sydney said "I thought we were going to cook over the fire!" so with a little quick thinking we got some sausages and long forks. I love the pic of Sydney roasting her sausage over the fire. We all squeezed into the tent at night, and except for how hard ground has become since the last time we went camping dozens of years ago, everyone slept pretty well. We agreed that this was one of the best campsites we've ever used, and we're going to this again!

Becoming Five

We celebrated Isaac's fifth birthday at this great place called Out of This World. He only had a few friends he wanted to invite, which kept it small and intimate (for a brief time we worried that no one would show up, but finally people did start to arrive). Everyone had great fun zooming this way and that around the play areas, though Isaac did stoutly decline to follow his friends onto the inflatable jump area, choosing instead to head over to the scooter cars. Pizza, cake and ice cream, followed by a blizzard of wrapping paper followed. Check out the arc of cars, he does like to have them in lines! I think everyone had a good time.