Garner Visit

Matt, Karen and family stayed with us a few days on their way from Hawaii as they move to Utah.  It was fun to hang out with them.  The three older kids ran with the high school cross country team on some trails and also with Matt on a trail that goes down a canyon and ends at the beach.  We also went to Hurricane Harbor water park and learned that none of us are very excited about the big scary slides.  The wave pool, lazy river, and racing slides were more our speed.

Shuttle bus to Hurricane Harbor water park

Matt rides the bike along with the kids on an 8 mile trail to the beach.

Running down Sycamore Canyon toward the beach.



Boys plug their ears as the girls sing along to the radio.



Sydney, Courtney and Nathaniel in the wave pool at Hurricane Harbor.

The water slide races were the most favorite activity.

Matt, Carson, Davis, Sydney and Nathaniel in order of speed (and weight).

The kids don't stand a chance against "fat" Matt.

Sydney and Nathaniel create a "wind tunnel" to sleep in.

Thanks for visiting guys - come back anytime. 

Johansens visit in June

We are glad that two of my brothers have in-laws in California.  That means we get to see them when they come into town for other family events.   Mike and Mary Ann spent the afternoon with us on Friday.  I was suggesting some things we could do and I mentioned the Reagan Presidential Library as a joke - because kids love presidential libraries.  Well, that's the activity they chose.

Wes, Sammy, Davis, and Nathaniel cozy up to Ronnie and Nancy.

Chris took the afternoon off to come with us.

Air Force One is pretty neat.

It helps that the gift shop sells jelly beans.

See, edutainment can be fun (but I think Wes and Sammy had to write a report on it the next day.)

Dinner after the museum.

 After breaking down in Nevada and then camping for 4 days at a family reunion, Mark and Nanette came to our place for dinner and some play time in the spool (and a shower for Nanette because she didn't think the trickle from the campground shower was adequate.)

The sun came out after a cloudy morning.

The fountain part of the spa makes a fun kiddy pool.

One of the rare occasions when they were holding still.

Even Davis got in with the kids.

Thanks for visiting everyone!

End of Elementary School

Fifth grade is over and Nathaniel will go to middle school next year.  The whole family is done with elementary school now.  Hmmmm.  Anyway, Nathaniel has really enjoyed the activities at the end of the school year.  First was open house where he displayed the projects he completed over the year in school

Nathaniel in his classroom.

Playing with pals on the playground.

They loved playing tag on the structure. 

 I think Nathaniel will miss recess next year in middle school.  But, I won't miss the 1/2 cup of sand that came home in his shoes every day.  The weekend before school let out, Nathaniel's buddy Ethan came for a visit before his family moves out of state.

Nathaniel and Ethan with their gel-bead shooters.

Hey guys!  Look at us (way up on the rocks).

 During the last week of school the fifth graders had an activity day where they played games on the lawn and had a picnic.

Nathaniel and Riley compete in the tire race.

Getting ready for the water balloon fight.

Fun day.

 A culmination ceremony was held on the last day of school to recognize the achievements of the fifth graders.

Fifth grade culmination under an arch of earth balloons.



Why did this picture show up in this orientation and why can't I rotate it?



Refreshments with Willey and Riley.

Add caption



Nathaniel with buddy Derek.



 That night Nathaniel attended an 11 year old scout camp with his old patrol from S. Pas.  It was pretty exciting for him to finish elementary school.  He enjoyed being with so many friends, old and new.  We are proud of the great kid he has grown into.

Long Beach with Babies

Mark, Nathaniel, and Chris

Mark and Annie came through LA on a cruise trip so we drove down to Long Beach to see them before they flew home.  We brought a picnic lunch and went down to the beach.

The seagulls would follow the boys up and down the beach because they fed them some of their sandwiches.

It was a mostly sunny day, but windy and a little chilly.

The sandwiches were on very chewy bread.

Mark watches as Ayla tries to step over the bits of bamboo in the surfline on the sand.

The babies weren't quite convinced that a cold windy beach was fun for them.

Jane plays with a placecard while Davis stacks and restacks pillows on her back.

It was fun to see them for a little while.  Jane has changed since we saw them at Christmas.  She is almost crawling so Davis helped her work on her skills by providing "resistance training", using pillows that Jane had to try to crawl out from under.  Jane thought it was fun and Mark and Annie didn't object, so I guess it wasn't baby abuse.

Thanksgiving 2010

Where were you on black Friday? Up at 4am? In line with a bunch of other early shoppers suffering from over-indulgence from the previous day's feast? I was here.
So, I didn't save 40% off linens, or toys, or electronics. I think most everyone else did because it was quiet, peaceful, and oh yeah, SUNNY! I love Santa Barbara in the winter, and did I tell you it's less than an hour from my house now? (Santa Barbara hasn't moved. We did.)

Nathaniel loves it too. We were overdressed for the weather, but he loves his snow-hat, even at the beach.

He did manage to hit himself in the eye with the rapier-like stick he is swinging. But, no one else was hurt.

After proving that he could jump over a water inlet on the beach, Davis set about building a bridge with driftwood found nearby.

It was a pretty good bridge. It was even used by other beach goers who found themselves trapped by the inlet as they walked from the parking lot to the ocean. I think they said 12 adults crossed (and one selkie - a girl just transformed from a seal and came out of the ocean, or maybe she was wearing a wetsuit and just got out of a sea kayak) before it broke when a man in cowboy boots crossed while carrying his daughter on his shoulders. Oh well. Just the boots got wet.

Afterwards we had lunch at Stearns' Wharf.

We were very pleased to have visitors for Thanksgiving. Chris' folks came down for the whole weekend and feasted, hiked, and beached with us. My brother Mark and his family came over Friday to see our new place. The kids had a great time in the spa and then playing horsey in the loft. I'm surprised no one was trampled by the big teenage boy horsies. The horsies were very good sports.

Hmmm. In this picture it looks like one of the big horsies is getting a ride from his little sister. She was a really good sport.

We discovered a lovely arboretum about a mile from our place. We went there to get ideas of plants we want to put in our own yard.

It was a pretty, sunny day; just a little on the cool side (60's... Brrrrrrr). Yeah, I've lived in S. Cal. too long.