Backyard picnic with my girl!

Now that the Ella and Luke are back in school, AB and I are getting back into our routine. Today we had a fun picnic on the deck. The sun felt great! I can't tell you how much I love this little girl! She is growing so fast and learning so much! Next year she will leave me and start preschool!!

Passing down the Duke shirt!

Lyle and I first got this shirt when we visited Duke for a wedding. We didn't even have kids yet. So Ella was the first to wear it and then of course Luke. So it was a big deal when little AB was big enough to finally wear it! Go Blue Devils!

First Day of School! 5th and 2nd grade!

Here they are all ready to go!! Geez, I love these kids!! This year Luke has Mrs. Ino and Ella has Mrs. Tenhoff. They were so less nervous than last year...momma too!! How cute is AB? She always has to be included!!

One last late night before school

One of the things the kids love to do the most is blow up the air mattress in the living room, pop popcorn, and watch a movie. So, we summer quickly coming to an end we squeezed in one more night.

Wrapping up summer 2016

Summer is quickly coming to an end. The kids start school August 24th...5th and 2nd Ouch! We had a couple days left and the weather was beautiful so I packed up a quick lunch and we headed to Botanical Gardens in Golden Gate Park for a picnic. And the best part....Daddy got to come with us!!!
It was perfect!
I can't get enough of this little cutie!!

 I wonder what these two are talking about??

I love that family!!

Just a daddy and his little girl!

We went out for pizza at one of our favorite places in Inner Sunset (Pasquales) the other night and I couldn't resist snapping this pic of AB and Lyle walking back. It was too cute!

A visit from Grandma and Papa before summer ends

I was so super excited when Grandma told me that her and dad wanted to come out for a visit before the kids started back to school. I was already feeling homesick after leaving them in July so it was great news!
We had lots of great adventures while they were in town. We started by taking them to Muir Woods. One of our favorite giant redwood forests.

 This little girl loves it there and is always in her own little world. I wonder what she is thinking about?

Papa LOVES the beach so we took him to one of our favorite beaches, China Beach.

We also took my dad to Ocean beach one morning so he could collect sand dollars. I washed and bleached them for him before he took them back home. He really loves the ocean.

We also went to the zoo where Grandma spoiled AB with some popcorn!

Lyle came with us for a trip to Fort Funston. You can see them (Luke, Papa, and Lyle) in the distance as they walked over the sand dunes. We saw dolphins swimming in the ocean that day!

The Sunday before they left we drove them over the Bay bridge toward Oakland and stopped at Treasure Island for a quick pic of the city. We are going to miss this city!

 We love exploring new places with Papa and Grandma but the best is just hanging out at home with them! We played so many games and laughed so much! It was a great trip! Thank you guys for coming out!!

Go USA! Summer Olympics 2016 Rio

We had a little Opening Ceremony party for the summer Olympics. The kids were so into it this year! It was fun!

Passing the time while Ella was away

We all missed Ella while she was gone. So I tried to keep the other two busy. I took Luke to watch a movie...A pet's life...just the two of us which he really liked and we did some fun exploring around GGPark. This was the gnome's house.

 And fed some goats that were hired to eat the weeds in the park near our house! Such a big hit! We see them all over the city.

 But what was really special was to watch Luke become the responsible one in the house with Ella not to rely on. He really stepped up and took care of AB. It was so special seeing their little relationship grow. Love these two so much!

Ella's first sleep away camp to Two Sentinels

At the end of July, Ella did her first week long sleep away camp with a group of girls. They attended the Two Sentinels Girl Scout camp in Kirkwood, CA which was about 4 hours away from SF up in the mountains. She was thrilled! I was nervous!
It took a lot of planning and packing but soon the day arrived for us to drive over to Concord, CA to drop her off. The big buses were the first clue that she was going to have a great time! It was harder than I thought it would be to let her go but I knew she would have a great time and she was so excited!

We wrote letters to her and I kept checking the website for updates on her group....Waterbugs. How excited were we when it was time to get her home! So great to have this smiling little face back home! Boy did she have a million stories to tell! She is already planning next year's camp!