First Day 2019!

Off they go, my sweetie pies! Adam has the same teacher as he had last year (same teacher Ellie also had for kinder and first. It's her fourth year teaching, and I joked with her last year that I hope she'd go four for Ford) and Ellie has a teacher who is new to the school. Both kids were incredibly excited this morning, and they each have last year's school bestie back in their class again. Ellie's class looks to have fewer of the rowdy boys who drove her bonkers last year, so that's a relief. Can't wait to see what the year holds for them!

Last Week of Summer!

Well, we did it, we survived summer 2019! And had a great time doing it. Our last week was spent mostly trying to get things back in gear - we bought all of our school supplies, organized new back packs and lunch boxes, figured out first day of school outfits, the usual.

Here they are, apres swim, having some popcorn and observing the butterflies in Gigi's yard.

We also did a lot of stuff with friends - it's nice to have neighbor kids in and out having fun, and on Friday, we took it up a notch and went down to San Diego County to visit an animal sanctuary called Lions, Tigers and Bears. They have about 30 animals on the property, and all of the big animals are rescues - most of their back stories are incredibly sad, as they were part of the exotic animal trade, or bred to be used in cub photography (usually the animals are then destroyed at 12 weeks when they're no longer cuddly enough for photos) or one tiger was used as a brood mare, and had over 200 cubs before coming to the sanctuary.

They offer tours throughout the week, and it's a great way to learn about the animals and what they do for them. During the tour the animals can come over to the fence for a snack, which most of them do (they are very firm about how no one ever touches the animals or goes into their cages, but obviously, since they're not trying to release them back into the wild, it's okay if they learn to come and be friendly at the fence) and it was so awesome!

Moon Bears coming for peanut butter and jelly sandwiches

Bob cat time

This guy actually roared at us, which was amazing! And the cougar, Pumpkin (not pictured) actually meowed at the keeper when she came over with the food and meowed to get her attention.

Jaguar having some enrichment activities. She loves pinecones, and even big cats do "if I fits, I sits" with cardboard boxes.

The most amazing part? I paid into a raffle and won the chance to feed an animal of my choosing! So, I picked the tiger. This is me and Maverick.

It was SO COOL. Even though he's enormous, he still was very delicate taking the meat off the fork. I wish I could have reached through and petted him on his big, beautiful head. But I did not, because I mostly follow rules. The kids had such a fun time, well worth the extended drive. Summer fun memories for all!

Mid-August

How is it possible that next week is our last full week of summer vacation? We've had a such good one!

Last week the kids went to probably their best week of summer camp, at Camp Ford! Such nice counselors, many activities, plus matching shirts! They went to Soak City, to the Fair, and to ride a bicycle built for many people. And a scavenger hunt!

Meanwhile, Tim and I went out to various dinners, laid around our house like lazy turds, and went two stepping with friends one night. He was still at work during Thursday and Friday, so I maxed out on just enjoying the quiet of the house.

We went to the beach this week for my birthday!

It was very sweet to watch Ellie and Gigi out searching for good rocks and beach glass on the shore. And since it was my birthday, when I came to search with them, they pointed to pieces on the sand so that I could pretend that I found them. They are so kind to me in my old age.

Tim also took the kids bowling with our friends, I arrived in time to eat the last mozzarella stick

Yesterday the kids spent the day with Mimi and Poppy and then we met up with them for a performance by the Air Force band, starring an old family friend! Did not take any pictures, but I was really proud of how well the kids behaved during the show. Very nice little audience members! And then today, we continued our time of art and culture by going to the Tar Pits and LACMA.

This statue has no nails in it

This whole installation is made of human hair

This is 8,000 pieces of paper

This is Ellie walking our friend Piper down to stand under a giant boulder. Modern art is crazy, y'all.

And tomorrow we're going to a baseball game! It's so fun to pack in the end of the summer so that the kids think the entire summer was awesome.

BAD NEWS PORTION.

Despite the cuteness of this picture. our time with Sky was only three weeks. He is truly one of the most beautiful creatures I've ever seen, but it was not a good fit. Our cats hated him, HATED him, and he was acting up in bad ways. Our agreement with the rescue org was always that he would have to fit in with our family in order to stay, and they were very kind about the fact that he wasn't a good fit and took him back in hopes of finding him a place where he can be either an only cat, or have a kitten friend his same age to wrassle with. We all just wanted the cats to be happy, and Lucky and Taco weren't happy with Sky, and he wasn't happy with us. There were some initial fireworks from Ellie about Sky having to leave, which is completely understandable, but she has since come around. I have been joking - will this be a lesson about how if you love someone but it isn't working out, you can't stay together, and she'll cut loose a bad romantic partner in her future OR will she someday tell her therapist "when I was eight, we adopted the most beautiful kitten and then my mom gave it away while I was at my Grandma's house." Who can say!