Ouchy

While uploading these pictures my heart melted. Little fingers and toes are just too much.....

Yesterday we had the first pre-school casualty. Little fingers caught in some vice on the playground. I couldn't quite get the whole story except that there was a big boy, they were playing truck on the ramp, and something went CRASH!

I have to give him points for positivity

After asking Anders to pick up toys - "No, I'm o.k."

When asked if he would like some milk at Grandma's house - "Yeah, alright! They have chocolate milk? O.k!"

When he was told that we weren't going to Travel Town train museum - "Well, Maybeee, we'll see!" (said in a pleasant sing song voice)

After I told him that we would only be reading one book before bed - "O.k, how 'bout two? Just three...."

Oh Fall, Where Are You?

Today is the first day of Fall and it's 103.... I seriously can't wait for a little bit of rain or a cool puff of wind (not these horribly dry and hot bursts that keep knocking over my palm trees). I have so many memories of growing up in California and having such high hopes for Fall. The new school outfit with the knee socks and sweaters, the cute black tights and wool skirts that begged to be worn for the first day of school. Nope, not here. The sweater would be stuffed into a back pack and the tights would be regretted all day.

Soon it will be in the 80's then the 70's and then every once in a while it will rain and I'll dig out my favorite rainbow, not so flattering horizontal striped sweater with matching scarf and I'll be happy.

Pre-school has officially begun!

Sending my child off to school is such a mixed bag of emotions. I'm relieved that he's doing something fun and getting worn out, I'm a little sad that he's not home with me and of course I'm worried that he's going to catch every sickness that comes along. There's the nostalgia of my own pre-school experience at Mulberry tree where I always ran for the squeakiest tricycle, tasted green olives for the first time and saw a grown-up fall in a sand box.... I know he'll have such a good time and it is great to have the quiet time at home to get things done, read or run errands.

I took my camera when I picked Anders up. He loved the experience and didn't want to leave.

1. The walkway entering the school and all of the projects done by the kids.

2. Lunch time with the "Sea Stars"

3. Getting reminded not to climb on the railings... (my personal favorite)

4. Riding the favorite "taxi/train" tricycle.

5. Playing with friends in the sand, and yes, that is the ocean in the background!

6. The obligatory washing of the hands after school.

7. The obligatory shower after school.... we really want to make the best effort at not getting every illness passed around. Maybe it's futile but I'm going to try!

8. Anders laughing uproariously at the flash on the camera. So easily amused...

How lucky are we??

I feel so blessed to live 15 minutes from one of the most lovely beaches in the U.S. It is literally a quick drive over the Santa Monica mountains and we're in Malibu.

On Saturday we decided to check out the newly revamped Malibu pier and have dinner at the Ruby's diner at the end of the pier. What a lovely evening it was! Fall is finally in the air here and the weather was actually really cold at the beach. Luckily I brought an extra shirt for the little man but not for me or the big man. We were COLD!


Anders had fun with the 3D glasses that came with his kids meal. He was quite surprised by them and was kept busy the throughout dinner.

After a decent and not too expensive meal he had fun goofing around on the pier while we watched and doted on him. Have I mentioned that he really needs some sibling competition? That kid gets WAY too much attention. But how can we help it when he is just so much fun and pretty darn cute with no one to compete? Did I mention that the whole time we were on the pier he was a pirate? Lately he wants to pretend that everything is something different than it is. A grape is a cherry, the pier is a boat, the car is a train, his stuffed dogs are horses, grandparents, friends, airplanes etc.... and if we don't agree well watch out! It's a funny stage.

Blogger in the making

Yesterday Anders found a keyboard that Chris had stashed away amongst other computer paraphernalia. He pulled it out to the couch propped up a pillow in front of it pulled up a stool and told me that he was "going to do some blogging now". It was all very official as he typed away.

Luckily I got some video of him blogging so as soon as I figure out how to upload movies from our home camera I'll post it.

Our Summer Vacation

We stopped at Hadley's for lunch and date shakes on the way to our destination.

We dressed like dorky tourists.... oh wait I didn't, but Chris put this lovely ensemble together early in the morning when he left from Cincinnati so I really had no input on this one.... He happily posed though!

We swam, and swam and swam. So much so that Anders was begging to go to sleep at the end of the day!
We took nice long naps....
We enjoyed the White's movie collection and this fabulous reclining couch....
It really was one of the nicest vacations we've had in a long time and we were so blessed by the generosity of our friends who let us crash in their vacation home.

Palm to Pines Road

While on our trip to La Quinta we decided to take a road that goes from Palm Springs up into the mountains of Idyllwild. It's only about a 45 minute drive but the weather variance is so dramatic it's a fun experience. Sometimes you can start out in Palm Springs with a temperature of 95 and drive up the mountain to snow! The day we went it was about 105 in Palm Springs and 88 in Idyllwild. It was a nice relief from the scorching heat!

The scenery was beautiful and we even got a few rain drops on our window despite the high temps.

On the way back down the mountain we stopped at Lake Hemet and got to look around the camp ground. There was an old school playground with good old fashioned metal toys to play on. Anders loved it although I felt like I should stand behind him while he climbed the huge metal slide...