We love field trips!! A lot of places offer a special day for homeschoolers, so if or schedule allows we try to include it into our learning. The Aquariam of the Pacific is such a great place, although the drive is long, it's worth it! This year my folks met us there, as well as my sister Holly and her boys. We spent a good 4 hours looking at all the exhibits, ate some lunch together and then I went to Aliso Viejo to pick up a soccer banner. We had a great day!!
We've gone to the beach every month of the year, but I have to say that September and October are by far the best months to go! The weather is near perfect, 75-80 with sunshine and a breeze AND the beaches are ours to enjoy, as everyone is back in school or working...knowing this, we planned a weeks vacation at our timeshare in Oceanside the 2nd week in September, months ago.
We started the week off on Sunday with a little party for Wesley's 5th birthday at the beach just south of the Oceanside Pier. We just invited a few friend and enjoyed the day in the sun, playing in both the sand and the water.
We spent the week enjoying the beach, sleeping in, swimming in the pool, playing board games, playing tennis & basketball, reading together and playing legos. We spent about 25 hours at the beach over the week and of those, I'd say the kids spent 20 of them in the ocean, jumping the waves or boogey boarding. They were born for the beach :) Jamesy and I enjoyed our morning coffee together on balcony where we could see the resort, the harbor and the ocean; it was beautiful!
My friend Jess and her kids spent Sunday night at the resort with us and we ate breakfast together and then spent the day playing and walked down to the end of the pier for milkshakes at Ruby's. My sisters and their kids joined us for a day at the beach and swimming and the kids all had a blast!
One night we walked on the beach all the way to downtown and went to the sunset market night, where we enjoyed gelato and looking at all the fun booths.
The kids and I spent a morning on a little field trip at the mission that was just a few minutes away. The history is so interesting and the mission was beautiful!
One of the nights, we walked to the harbor and enjoyed a yummy dinner at Dominic's as we watched the sun set over all the boats in the harbor.
The last day we ended up not going to the beach at all, as I was kinda over the sand, but we swam at the resort pool instead and ended up meeting a really nice family whom the kids played with & I talked with for hours. :)
We had a great week of fun in the sun!!
Every year, with each birthday that passes, I am amazed at how quickly the year has gone by and this year was no exception! I can't believe our baby boy is 5!!
It is so fun to watch him grow and come into his own. He has the sweetest personality and is so loving, funny and silly. He loves legos, riding bikes, jumping on the trampoline and imaginative play with Grady.
We asked him what he wanted for his birthday and he said "my own tooth brush and tooth paste", so he got what he wanted :)
We also enjoyed a morning treat at Starbucks, a balloon and a lunch time pizza party at home with our family.
I asked him to stop growing, so he prayed asking God if could could stay 5 :) My sweet boy!
We have some friends who own a dairy and they invited us over for lunch after church. The kids were so excited, we were too, but not for the same reasons! :) We enjoyed a great lunch, the kids played inside and explored the dairy, we got to witness the circle of life and see north and death first hand, we watched the cows get milked and all loaded up into 1 truck to go shooting. All the kids lined up and got to shoot at the targets, we have a few who have a great shot! :)
When you live on a dairy, hills of hay, milking cows, tractors, etc... it's just normal everyday life. However, when you live in a tract house in town, it's all quite new and exciting! We had a great day, great food, great friends, great fun!!
Every summer our homeschool group goes to the regional park for a day of fun! Our kids look forward to playing in the cool water and the slides are always a hit! I didn't take my camera, but did snap a few on my phone. I love that we can enjoy "the beach" without the drive.
Summer is nearly over, but we're still working on checking off items on our bucket list. The 66ers have a $2 special on Tuesday nights, so we took advantage of it. The little boys had never been to a professional baseball (I know the 66ers aren't the Padres, Angels or Dodgers, but they're closer and way cheaper) game before, so it was fun for them! The game was a little boring, but we lasted thru the 5th inning and everyone had fun!
Everyone in our family loves music!! Growing up, my parents took me to live concerts all the time, the symphony, opera, gospel, organ concerts, college choirs, folk music, you name it, we went, listened and enjoyed. My parents still love concerts and go weekly to hear something. I think their love off music inspired my love of music. James' family also loves music and their history in band runs deep. So, it only makes sense that all off our kids love music too! We all absolutely love the Redlands Bowl! Since there are 2 weekly performances, we try to make it to at least one of them. We pack dinner, games, blankets and chairs and head down to Redlands for a good 3-4 hours of fun!! Our summer is made complete with the music we hear and the fun we have!
The summer season finished with the symphony and a piano soloist followed by the 1812 overture and fireworks! It was such a fun part of our summer and I'm sad it's over! Until next year!
