Sean's Birthday Party 07-28-12

Happy 5th Birthday, Sean! We helped him celebrate at his birthday party at Adventure Playground (or Mud Park).

After starting the morning off with donuts, the kids climbed across the rope bridge, sailed on wooden pallet rafts, built things with hammers and nails, and went down the mud slide. http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8UbNGrdw3VF_Q

Beach & Smores 07-24-12

We had a fun summer beach day with our friends, then we came back to our place for dinner and smores. http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8UbNGrdw3VF7A

Cousin Katelyn 07-22-12

Cecily and Caren went to see a performance of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat that Caren's cousin, Katelyn, was dancing in.

Cecily had learned about Joseph at her VBS a couple years ago, so she was excited to see the musical.

After the show, Cecily got her picture taken with cousin Katelyn and had her autograph her program. She can't wait to go see Katelyn dance in the Nutcracker at Christmas time.

Huntington Library 07-18-12

Caren and Cecily headed up to Pasadena on Monday to spend some time with Grandma. It was funny to see the CSI Miami house and the Big Time Rush house on El Campo right next door to each other. Cecily enjoyed going to see "Ice Age Continental Drift" with Grandma and swimming in the pool. Our last day up there, Wednesday, we headed to the Huntington Library. Cecily loved seeing the koi fish, turtles, Japanese Garden, Chinese Garden, Children's Garden, Pinkie, and Blue Boy. Then we grabbed lunch at Tony's Pizza on our way back to Huntington Beach. http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8UbNGrdw3VF3w

Friends & Smores 07-14-12

We had Suzanne, Greg, Anna, and Alex over for dinner and to hang out. Anna was excited to come play with Cecily, and Cecily enjoyed teaching Anna how to drive her car as well as play Just Dance and playing with the kitchen toys. After dinner, we had a lovely bonfire and roasted smores for dessert. It was Anna's first smore, and she loved it. We had borrowed the fire pit from a friend, but we would love to get our own as it was such a nice time hanging out outside and roasting marshmallows. http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8UbNGrdw3VFzg

OC Fair 07-13-12

Cecily and Caren made their annual trip to the opening day of the Orange County Fair. They went with Isobel, Ted, Trish, Paige, and Dawn. It rained on the way there, and that kept the day from being scorching hot like usual. Since it was the first day, parking and admission was free for the first hour. The kids loved milking a fake cow (Cecily had done this a couple years ago, and she missed doing it last year), seeing the farm animals, buying their own amethysts, watching pottery being made, checking out the Girl Scout display (and finding out the new cookie for next year is Mango Coconut Cremes), tasting the fair food, and going on the rides (through a reading program, the kids got three free rides by reading two books). On the way home, we stopped by Chick-Fil-A to get the kids dinner. They each got free food for wearing something with cow print on it because Chick-Fil-A was celebrating Cow Appreciation Day. The kids had a great time in the play structure, and they each got a cute stuffed Chick-Fil-A cow and a balloon animal. http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8UbNGrdw3VFqA

Emma's Birthday Party 07-08-12

Happy 8th Birthday, Emma! We helped her celebrate at her surprise pool party. The girls loved swimming together and playing in the pool. http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8UbNGrdw3VFmw

Michelle's Birthday Party 07-07-12

Happy Birthday, Michelle! We were supposed to celebrate with a bonfire at the beach to burn her dissertation papers. But the beach was so crowded and the firepits were all taken, so we had to do a last minute back-up party at her parents' house. Cecily loved swimming in the pool, and she made a new friend named Sophie who was 4 years old. We ate sausages and made smores. Caren and Richard gave Michelle a bottle of Running with Scissors wine, and Cecily gave her sparklers that they had fun with. Now we have to plan another day to have a bonfire at the beach to burn her dissertation papers. http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8UbNGrdw3VFig

Happy Fourth 07-04-12

Happy 4th of July! Cecily made a sign, and Caren took a picture of her with it in front of Richard's newly planted red, white, and blue flowers in our front porch.

In the afternoon, we headed to Gina's house for a BBQ and fireworks. Richard carved a whale out of a watermelon, and we ate seven layer dip, brats, hot dogs, tortellini pasta salad, potato salad, and brownies.

This was the first year that "safe and sane" fireworks were legal in Huntington Beach. So Paul set off some fireworks in the street, and the kids enjoyed playing with the sparklers. We did enjoy seeing some illegal fireworks being set off around us in the neighborhood as well. http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8UbNGrdw3VFZA

Gina's Birthday 07-03-12

Happy 35th Birthday, Gina! Gina's cousin, Kristina, planned a birthday dinner at Palmilla in Hermosa Beach with Gina's friends from up there. It was a trendy Mexican restaurant, but it turned out to have delicious food and great drinks. http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8UbNGrdw3VFVw

Grandparents 07-01-12

Grandma and Papa came down to spend an afternoon with Cecily. They picked her up and took her lunch at CPK in Long Beach. Then they let her rollerskate as they walked around. Finally, they took her to Baskin Robbins for ice cream before bringing her back home. http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8UbNGrdw3VFRg