La Jolla

A couple weeks ago I was able to play with my camera on the beach in La Jolla. It's been a while since I've done much picture taking and this morning reminded me how much I love the weight of the camera in my hand, the sound of the shutter clicking and seeing only a slice of the world at a time through the viewfinder. The mist was barely lifting as I began and it gave those first pictures such a mysterious/melancholy feel.

I loved how the waves would rush into this crevice, then shoot powerfully into the air.

The water in the tide pools was so clean and clear, you could easily see the tiny crabs swimming around.

Somebody forgot to tell the seagulls they are supposed to be afraid of people. This guy was happy to pose for a portrait.

I was amazed when I came to an area with a ton of sea lions lounging on the shoreline. There was one in particular that caught my attention. Every time the wave would rush toward him, he would lift his head high in the air so his head wouldn't get wet.

Then I came upon these strange creatures who were also lounging around. Group nap? Nope, they were actually doing yoga.

Happy Birthday Austin!

He's Such a Young Man Now!

Today was Austin's 14th birthday. We celebrated very low key this year. We took him for dinner at Red Robin last night so he could get sung to by the servers and tonight he enjoyed peach cobbler and cards stuffed with money from family members. Food and money, two things boys this age can't get enough of. I made Austin a slide show video of his life but I'm having a few difficulties getting it posted here. Hopefully I can get it posted tomorrow.

Back-2-School

Every year on the first day of school, I take out my camera and snap a few pictures of each of the kids. I love documenting these momentous days but as they have grown older, they've also grown more and more annoyed with this little tradition. Since last year's pictures were full of rolling eyes and impatient frowns I actually considered giving them a break this year. Boy was I surprised when the evening before the first day of school they all said, "You're taking pictures in the morning, right?". It's a nice feeling when someone asks you to take their picture instead of groaning when the camera comes out! Here is Lauren on her first day as President of a large Corporation. Oops, I mean the first day of 3rd grade. When I look at this picture I get a little flash of her future. Anyway, her day went great. She loved her teacher, she was excited about the three thick text books she gets to use this year and she was relieved to find that the little boys who made last year miserable were NOT in her class.

For the first time ever, Amanda loves her teacher! I can't even tell you how happy this makes me. She always seems to get the one teacher that should have retired already. She has made friends with a couple of girls who like to avoid the girl drama that Amanda seems to get sucked into, against her will,every year. Thank goodness for that. I think the 6th grade is going to be a great year for her.

These next few words come out with a sniff and damp eyes...Austin started HIGH SCHOOL this year! Can that really be right? Wasn't I just IN high school? I'm not sure what is more upsetting, that he's growing up or I'm growing old! So far Austin loves the 9th grade. I hear the most about French (I guess Spanish was full) and Geography class. I love that he comes home excited about the things he's learning and tells me all about it. It makes me want to do High School all over again, minus the teen angst.

Papa Pulls Through!

Tonight my gratitude is overflowing. When I heard that my Dad would be released from the hospital this afternoon, I was finally able to exhale the breath I'd been holding for two weeks. Two weeks ago he went in for some tests and before he knew it they were performing major emergency surgery that he was not really expected to live through. The Dr. warned that if he did live through it, he may not have use of his legs. It was agony for me to be so far away and to not know if I would ever see him again or have one more of our "solve the world's problems" conversations. All I knew was that this could not be it because I still really need him in my life. My dad spent most of the past two weeks in ICU getting some major kinks worked out, then got transferred to a regular room a few days ago. He had VERY limited use of his legs until yesterday when he pulled himself out of bed and took himself for a walk down the hallway. With a walker, of course. I sure wish I had been there to see that, and I'm sure you could have heard the faint sound of angels sing Alleluia in the background. I'm so glad that he is able to come back home to recuperate. I love you Dad and wish so much that I could come be with you! When I told Janet what had happened to you she said, "I swear Kase, your dad has like 9,000 lives!" That cracked me up and I hope she is right!

Ouch!

Tuesday morning I went running with a friend and by Tuesday afternoon I was in horrible pain every time I took a step. The Dr. suspects a stress fracture. There wasn't anything obvious on the x-ray but the Dr. says it often takes 1-2 weeks to actually show up. In one week I get it re-evaluated. In the mean time I get to wear some ultra fashionable footwear!

Father's Day Campout

One thing Aaron really loves to do is go camping so we thought this would be a great way to celebrate Father's Day. We packed everything up Sunday morning and headed up to SouthFork campground in the San Gorgonio Mountains. We'd been told this was a nice campground along the Santa Ana River and we were really excited that we'd get to play in the water. Well, the river turned out to be a stream two feet wide. That was a bit disappointing but the campground was still beautiful. We hung out and relaxed, then went on a short hike. Then we drove over to Jenks Lake just a couple miles away. The lake was so incredibly clean, you could actually see the fish swimming around in it! After hanging out there for a while we headed back to camp for dinner and smores. We left early the next morning, so it was just a quick little camping trip. We are hoping to do many more this summer.

Family Photo

For years we've been saying that we need to have a family photo taken. Here I am, hoping to someday be a professional photographer and I haven't even had my own family's picture taken in 5 years! A couple nights ago, the kids surprised me and Aaron with this near life-sized chalk rendering of our family. "Take a picture," they said. "It can be our new family photo!"

Miss Manda

Me: Okay Manda, pretend you're a Supermodel!
Amanda: .........................................

New York Fashion Week, here she comes.

Run!

Several weeks ago, Austin and I decided that we really wanted to get in shape. We began getting up early to work out before school and we've also been running in the evenings when the temperatures cool down. I am enjoying the results I am seeing in my body but more than that I have enjoyed spending this time with my son. Our evening runs have become one of my favorite parts of the day. We encourage each other to keep going when we want to quit and we have pushed ourselves to go farther and farther each time. We started with about a half of a mile and tonight we ran 3.5 miles. We feel so accomplished! Austin makes me feel old when I watch him run. He bounces along like he has springs in his legs and just when I am about to keel over, he will break into a sprint. I spend a lot of time laughing at him because he will do things like race dogs along a fence line while barking back at them. I beg him not to do these things because laughing while running cuts my power in half but the kid is merciless and keeps it up.

Unfortunately, tonight our run ended with a terrifying event. We were worn out and struggling up our last hill when all of a sudden a beat up brown van flew up to the curb right behind us. We heard it coming and as I turned to see what was going on I saw that the passenger door had flung open and a man was jumping out before the van had even fully stopped. My heart jumped into my throat as I heard Austin yell back to me, "Run Mom! Run!" and deep in my soul, I knew he was right. I was literally sick as we ran for our lives, believing we would be thrown in that van and whisked away. Luckily, we happened to be not too far from the back side of our house. From the sidewalk we had to climb up a weedy, stickery hill and then climb over the back fence. I was so exhausted and frantic I could barely make it over. I was so, so relieved when we were finally safe! When we told Aaron what had happened, he tried to calm our fears by suggesting other possible reasons the van had pulled over. Austin and I are both very familiar with "promptings" and I have no doubt that we were prompted to run for our lives with every ounce of strength we could muster.

Now that my fear has subsided I am so angry that Austin and I will not be able to run, be silly and enjoy our time the way we have been. Now if we run, we will looking for threatening brown vans and wondering what could happen next time if we don't happen to be close to home. Aaron offered to follow us in the car for now on and I'm sure we will be taking him up on that. I know that our runs won't be the same, being shadowed by our own personal security guard, but I am determined to not give up something I love because of the evil lurking in the world. I will not let evil win.

Amanda's Adventure

Monday morning Amanda headed off to Science camp with her 5th grade class and we were so sad to see her go. Aaron and I were fighting tears as we dropped her off at school. We just really didn't like the thought of spending the next four days without her. We had a heck of a time deciding whether she could go in the first place because we are pretty protective parents. Sending her off to a place we've never seen with people we've never met was just plain scary. It took a lot of faith to let her go and you can bet we were praying for her every day. I'm so glad we allowed her to go because she had such a great time! They did lots of hiking, fun activities and were fed really well (leave it to a Mom to ask her what she ate while she was gone!). Being the social and adventurous kid she is, she loved being there and didn't get home sick at all. We're happy she had so much fun and made some great memories but we are even happier that she's back home with us now!

Welcome Addi, You're Here At Last!

My friend Janet and I met when we were twelve years old. We were instant friends and did all those things twelve year olds do. We tied up the phone lines for hours at a time, slept over every chance we got, and most of all talked about BOYS. We were great friends through Jr. High then got a bit separated in High School. I think we had only one class together out of all four years and yet we stayed close through constant phone conversations. Those conversations have been going on for 21 years now. As far back as I can remember, Janet has always looked forward to being a mom. She was deciding the names of her three children in Jr. High and knew that of course, she would have a girl first. She absolutely had to have a girl. After High School, Janet became a Labor and Delivery nurse and has probably helped deliver hundreds of babies over the years but it wasn't until the evening of May 9th that she delivered one of her own. I can't even put into words how honored I was to be present when little Addison Elizabeth came into the world and made her mother's greatest dream come true. Janet looked like she was bursting with joy and I was bursting with joy right along with her.

Go Manda!!!!

I was so proud when a few months ago Amanda was voted Most Athletic Girl for her school yearbook. She has won the admiration of her classmates because she can run like the wind. I think her new title inspired her because she decided to try out all the team sports, starting with Spring soccer. She hasn't played soccer since she was four years old and used to stand around trying to chat with other players during the games. She's over that now and she gets down to business.

Practices and games always start with a warm up run. It's supposed to be a slow jog but Amanda can't stand to be beat so she kicks into turbo and runs flat out. This little guy got close but she still smoked him.

A little bit of stretching (Amanda's someone you can always lean on),

A pep talk from the coaches...

...and then it's on! Amanda has worked so hard this season and has gotten better and better with every practice and game. At Saturday's game she was awesome and everyone was cheering for her. It's got to feel great to hear everyone calling your name.

The Rescue

When we moved into our current house six months ago, the kids were super excited that they were going to have their own built in swimming pool. Their excitement faded quickly as all the water began to leek out through cracks in the walls and the water began to turn green. Month after month we contacted the owners to take care of this problem but they never got around to it. As the weather began to warm up, the pool/pond became infested with mosquito larvae and we dreaded the day they would hatch. In an attempt to deal with this, Aaron went and bought 30 tiny goldfish and tossed them into the pool to eat the larvae and hold off the swarms of mosquitoes. Last week the pool guy FINALLY arrived to restore our pool to working order. He hooked up a pump to drain the green water and said he would be back the next day to repair it. By early evening the pool was empty except for a small puddle of sludge and about 20 goldfish who'd tripled in size. They lay there flopping in about and inch and a half of yuck, gasping for breath. I was horrified that they would just lay there suffocating and asked Aaron to please save their lives. He looked at me incredulously for a minute and then went to work. He carefully walked down the length of the slippery, slimy pool, squatted down and began "fishing" around the muck for the goldfish.

Austin watched as Aaron demonstrated the lengths a man will go to for the woman he loves. I'm not quite sure what he thought of that...

After Aaron rescued the fishies he gave them a little bath on the driveway, then put them into a nice clean fish bowl.

I was so grateful that Aaron saved their lives and didn't make me watch them flip and flop 'til they took their last breaths. That evening we went out to dinner and when we returned we discovered that every one of those goldfish had croaked in our absence! We were shocked that after Aaron's efforts, they ended up dying anyway. Oh well, at least he tried.

Hello Again

It's been a while, hasn't it? For a while there, I thought my blogging days were over. I've recovered now from my bout of blogging burn out and plan to continue chronicling the events of our lives. This Mother's Day I am feeling so grateful. Grateful to be a mother to these three awesome kids and grateful to have a mother who has been such a wonderful example to me. I couldn't ask for a better mother or better children. How did I get so lucky?

Happy Birthday Amanda!

Darling Daughter

Lately, Amanda has been the kid who is least likely to let me take her picture. That is, until yesterday when she got her new hairdo and she suddenly felt inspired to pose for the camera. I love that I was able to catch the many sides of Manda: beautiful, sweet, fun, zany and as you see in the last picture, full of suprises!