first day of FALL

Fall in California is probably unlike fall in any other part of our beautiful country.  There is no abundance of colorful leaves falling from trees.  No cool mornings.  No sweaters.  No cups of cocoa or hot cider.  When fall arrives here we have been back to school for a short couple of weeks, still experiencing heat waves and not wearing any of the new school clothes because it is just to darn HOT!

The Mr. and I decided to take our hot selves straight to the beach.  The heatwave had become unbearable.  I think it was 111 that day......

When we arrived it was a bearable 80something and foggy.  We had the deserted beach to ourselves!

It was kind of creepy....I was NOT going out in the water!

I knew Jaws was out there waiting for me!

eventually the sun came out blazing hot and we spent the rest of the afternoon swimming!

A is for.....

August 21 - the day we celebrate all the years of our wedded bliss. Not every year has been perfect, but we have made it eleven years!

To keep with tradition (our first date was to Disneyland) we decided to spend the evening at Downtown Disney eating, strolling, listening to street music and watching fireworks.

We started off at Rainforest Cafe with a yummy dinner and free appetizer......

It's a jungle in there! Wild animals, thunderstorms & yummy food!

We walked off our dinner wandering through.....


just having fun watching people, being glad we didn't have kids in a stroller, listening to the street musicians that are so talented, admiring all the fun artwork.....

it was about time for the fireworks so we found a good spot and enjoyed the fireworks and music before heading home!

to be continued.....

next year!

San Francisco

Thanks to Katie and her amazing waterpolo team we had a mini vacation this summer.

The 18 & under girls made it to the National Junor Olympics which was held at the Stanford University Aquatic Complex the end of July/beginning of August.

On day 3 the girls had only one game which left us with a free afternoon and evening. The team decided to take the train from our hotel and the girls spent their time exploring China Town. Mike and I turned it into a date night and wound up walking along the waterfront, through the boat docks, Pier 39 and Ghiradelli Square.

It was a great day, both at their waterpolo game and exploring San Francisco. I haven't been there since I was in Junior High!!!

tradition

Every year on the last Saturday in June, since I can't remember when, we make a family day of attending the City of Murrieta Birthday party. This is an excellent day filled with fun. There are a million fun jumpy inflatable thingies for the kids to jump on. The majority of them have some sort of water since it is blazing hot. These days the kids are too cool to do any of that.....there must be little children to tempt them to be silly and make fools of themselves. This year was the first time we went kidless - weird. No sunscreen, piles of blankets, bags of snacks, umbrellas for shade, endless drinks. Just us. Two chairs. One blanket. Picinic basket. :)

the Mr.

the Mrs.

silly kids....

more silliness....

Early evening the fun starts.....some sort of band, couldn't tell you who, just that they weren't great. Then on to the main act. I seriously had issues with the name of their band. I could not remember it no matter what. Mike found this extremely funny. I still want to call them WINGS (but I know that is wrong) or FAITH (wrong again) but they were LIGHTS! Covered all Journey songs for almost two hours. FANTASTIC!

then the sparks flew......

party like it's your birthday......

Happy birthday #43 to you!

correction #44 (sorry)

For his birthday Mike wanted to head to his favorite place......

so we cleaned ourselves up and headed out on a fun birthday date!

after finally making it - apparently one of the bussiest days of the year at Disneyland (last day So. CA pass holders could go for the summer) we wandered around the grounds of the Disneyland Hotel to see what had changed since we had been there for our honeymoon. We found this fun plant sculpture of Mickey & Minnie......

then headed down to the water falls to take pictures like we did on our honeymoon (aw...)

you can't tell in the pictures, but the water was all lit up a beautiful blue...

then off for the birthday boy dinner feast!

YUMMY!

Mikes favorite - MEAT!

We finished our dinner just in time to walk thru Downtown Disney and enjoy the fireworks and all the street musicians. Another fabulous birthday for a fantastic husband, father & boyfriend!