Recipe for a Southern California Day

Recipe for a Southern California Day:

Step 1: Climb a tree at Salt Creek Beach while waiting for the trolley.

Step 2: Put on some shades.

Step 3: Gather your cousins and jump on the trolley.

Step 4: Admire the ocean view while riding up the Pacific Coast Highway.

Step 5: Don't let the wind blow you away.

Step 6: Get Laguna's best gelato and share with your brother in the back alley.

Step 7: Walk through a Laguna Beach art museum.

Step 8: Head to Laguna Beach.

Step 9: Find the beach playground equipment.

Step 10: Climb the sloped tree trunk.

Step 11: Jump!

Step 12: Ignore the tantrummer.

Step 13: Scratch that; dog pile on the tantrummer.

Step 14: Cousin pile-up.

Step 15: Convince the trantrummer to join you.

Step 16: Jump on the trolley again and take in the PCH views.

Step 17: Cap off a beautiful day at the local pool.

Step 18: Repeat this tradition every year.

Those Summer Nights

It's no secret that I'm a sucker for golden evening light. My tombstone will probably say something like, "Look at the light!" because I point it out to my kids every single day. Warm summer nights are the perfect time to round up whoever I can to come out and enjoy it with me.

Summer Shenanigans

It is good to be a kid in the summertime.

We wound up with a whole bunch of boys at our house one day so we broke out the water balloons.

It would have been smart to change into swimsuits before getting soaked, but by the time the first balloon was thrown, it was too late.

One neighbor girl was brave enough to join the crazy crowd of boys. Hundreds of water balloons were gone in 20 minutes and it took double the amount of time to pick up the broken pieces.

Some days the parties are out front and other days they gather in the backyard.

Childhood is too short.

Juicy Wiggle

Crew cracked us up with his dance moves to "Juicy Wiggle."

A Boy and His Bike

It's 2020! Time to dust off the old blog. I'm about a year and a half behind on documenting our lives and I just can't give it up or skip ahead. Too much good has happened to jump to the present. I love writing records and I'm so glad for this little corner of the Internet where I can make some semblance of all the strands of memories I want to weave into place.

I have big goals to get caught up back to present this year, so let's jump back to where I left off; summer 2018 and a boy and his bike.

It was our first summer in our new neighborhood and I was looking forward to it so much. With no house hunting or moving on the horizon, the summer felt wide open with possibilities. It's no secret how much I love our little cul-de-sac. Especially when the golden light floods in each evening and leaves long shadows. 

With newfound biking skills, Crew spent his long summer days riding around and around the circle.