Monday, July 13, 2009

Book list

This post is more just to help me keep track of my summer reading.
So far this summer I've read:
My Sister's Keeper-Jodi Picoult
Memory Keeper's Daughter-Kim Edwards
The Guardian-Nicholas Sparks
Dear John-Nicholas Sparks
Daughter of Fortune-Isabel Allendale
Three Cups of Tea-David Mortenson
Emma-Jane Austen
Bridget Jones' Diary-Helen Fielding
Bridget Jones' Edge of Reason-Helen Fielding
and currently...Madame Bovary-Gustave Flaubert

I have to say Three Cups of Tea by David Mortenson is AMAZING! It reads like a fiction novel and it is a completely true story. You have to read this novel it will not disappoint. It was so inspirational when I first got done with it I vowed that I would pledge $5, for every person I got to read the book, to David Mortenson's foundation. In a nutshell, this guy goes over to Pakistan to climb K2 in honor of his deceased sister, but his attempt to summit fails and on his way down from the mountain he runs into this tiny town and he see's the children drawing multiplication tables in the dirt and studying without a teacher and he promises to come back and build a school for them. It was a long, frustrating and frequently scary process, but he did it. Now more than 10 years later he has helped build over 90 schools in Afghanistan and Pakistan. His philosophy: Peace through education. Please read. http://www.threecupsoftea.com/
Three Cups of Tea Pictures, Images and Photos

Thursday, July 9, 2009

Camping at New Brighton

New Brighton State Beach is a campground I have been going to since I was small. It's about 15 minutes south of Santa Cruz and it's so unique because the ocean meets the forest so you have the best of both worlds. My mom has all the beach pics, so hopefully I can add those soon. Here is a slideshow of our camping trip. There are a couple extra pics that didn't fit into the slideshow format so I added them below.

Click to play this Smilebox slideshow: Camped out
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Bestest Buddies


This is what happens when the kids take the camera...


and this...


and this.


A pallet for three.

Out of commission

Our computer is whacked out and stopped working for like 10 days, but Aaron fixed it last night and I am so grateful. I feel connected to the world again!

Friday, June 26, 2009

Relaxin'

So schools out, all our routines have gone out the window. We have just been sleeping in, playing in the yard, going to the park and enjoying the lazy days.

Aaron and I just took a spur of the moment trip to Hawaii. We were just there in March, but we are trying to use his flight benefits on Hawaiian Airlines before they're gone in August. We went to Oahu this time and did it major budget style. We used priceline for our hotel, but still got a nice place thanks to brother in law Adam. We took the bus everywhere, didn't do any extra activities, like luaus or snorkel cruises. We bought a box of donuts for breakfasts, had lunch at Subway and only did dinners in actual restaurants.
The trip started out a little rocky. Aaron gets to fly for free, but it's stand by so seats aren't guaranteed. Aaron had checked availability about three days ahead of time and it looked pretty open for us so we got to the airport on 6/20 and the agents said we probably weren't going to get on, but that the next day looked fine. Such a bummer when you think you're going to hawaii, then suddenly you're not. I started worrying because we did our hotels through priceline and if you don't check in on the day you schedule, the hotel doesn't have to honor the reservation. Then we got some unexpected news: there was ONE seat left. We thought WE either wouldn't get on or WE would. We didn't imagine there would really only be one seat. Aaron said for me to go because the hotel reservation was in my name so at least we would have a place to stay, and he'd be there the next day. I went through all these emotions on the plane first I was relieved because at least I could check in at the hotel, but then I started feeling really nervous about being there alone. I also got really angry at the other stand by passengers who had suddenly filled up the plane, a couple of whom admitted they didn't need to be there that day. Then I just got sad that I was going to have to spend the first night without Aaron. I got to the hotel and the nice man there knew I was upset so he gave me a fresh flower lei and upgraded our room. That afternoon I went to the store to get snacks and headed to the beach. The next morning I got confirmation from Aaron that he got on the plane and would be there in 5 hours. We went directly to the beach and got WRECKED! I mean sunburned. Our backs were lobster red. We lathered ourselves in aloe when we got back to the hotel. Of course we managed to have fun the next couple of days-we were in Hawaii, how could we not?! Our last day we went for a walk on the beach and saw there was a huge sandbar extending from the shore, so we got to walk 300 yards into the ocean with the water never getting higher than our thighs, and most of the time it was only at our knees, Mia would have loved it. All in all, a pretty delightful time away-we hardly took any pics to prove it though.
Now I've got to get everything ready for our camping trip with my parents this weekend. Wish us luck, it's the first time we're doing actual tent camping with all three kids!


We took a scenic bus route to the other side of the island, there were jellyfish warnings at this beach so we didn't go in.


Our only picture together and the lady from Wisconsin blew it.


Giving my lei to "DUKE".


39 stories up, the view from our room was phenomenal.

Friday, June 12, 2009

Friday Night Trivia

Today was the first official day of summer (meaning school's out) and as I was preparing breakfast I looked at my kids plates and thought it would be funny if I made someone take them over and try to match the meal to the kid sooooooooooooooo, I took pics of their plates and if you want to take a guess: Which plate goes with which kid? (Hint: Do not let the plate's design influence your choices)



Wednesday, June 10, 2009

Movie Night

So Aaron and I can't even remember the last grown up movie we went to together. This weekend we were able to catch a movie that was actually in the theater with his cousins and all I can say is that it was...
totally vulgar
totally obscene
totally tasteless
and totally HILARIOUS!
We could not stop laughing, it's in the tradition of Wedding Crashers. And did I mention Bradley Cooper?! He looks so good in this movie! It was a great night at the movies :)
hangover Pictures, Images and Photos

Wednesday, June 3, 2009

Kiss my grass!

We are so happy to have this nice, new and improved outdoor living space, it makes us want to be outside all the time!

Front yard BEFORE:


Front yard AFTER:



Front yard BEFORE:


Front yard AFTER:



Front yard BEFORE:


Front yard AFTER:


To understand how our yard works you have to know; when I say front yard it actually means side yard. We don't have any neighbors on one side, it's a creek, so from our actual front yard where our driveway is you have to go through our front gate to get to our door, this is where the side/front yard is. We have a big deck with grass areas on either side and a pathway around the front of the deck. The deck looks out at the creek.
Outside the gate at the actual front of our house:

Just inside the gate, looking up toward the front door:



We don't have a before of our backyard, but just imagine dirt and weeds 3 feet high, and there was large, raised garden/planter bed 12 feet long and 6 feet wide up against the fence we tore down so the yard is all level.

Back yard AFTER: