Friends

our little trapeze artist

Our good friends are back!  Who moves away and then back?  Our friends that's who. 

Today the s family came by for some fun, and fun was had.  

sweet girl

The littles played together and the big kids played and 

spinning

then they all played and then they broke off again

look what i can do

 and then they came back together again. 

head stands

 We ended the night with pizza. 

random

So we have been busy.  Last week we went to san diego for legoland and sea world.  

then came home went to the fair.

we have been to the beach the pool and the backyard.

school starts next week, it seems so long at the beginning and so fast at the end.

i have had a great summer and i think the girls have too.

for the most part it has been mellow, local and fun.

i feel fortunate that we have a good group of friends to play with so we never have to go far for a good time.

today i got dakota all dressed up in one of her back to school dresses.

side note-the kid has a good amount of clothes but yet I feel a strong urge for the whole new school i think it is the tradition of it, my mom did it with me and i loved it, but still it is a little ridiculous.

dakota has been so funny about the camera lately,

every time she sees me with it this is the face i get

 

 

so today i said hey how about we take some pictures today of you in your dress

and we can even put a little make up on

well she was all for it.  

but of course now leela is like no mom, no pictures.

our week at a glance

still loving dads camera and experimenting a little bit more.

one of dads photos

monday feels like years ago, we went to santa barbara to play with butterflies and get dirty.

Tuesday we went to the park with a friend in dakota's class.

it was very cute i told dakota 'hey we are going to meet so&so at the park'

and dakota gets this dramatic look on her face 'why didn't you tell me,

mom he is so smart, he can do math so fast'

it was very sweet.

once we were home dakota played with her friend who lives on our street.

we have such a great street.  

three boys who are dakotas age and one other little girl

then a little boy leelas age and a little girl leelas age.

it has been a great experience in letting dakota go and not hovering

allowing the older kids to ride their bikes out front and just play.

one sunday afternoon our next door neighbor had a pool in the front lawn and we hung out all day.

i love this street.

wednesday sara and abby came over.  the girls played wash the bricks with toothbrushes

sara and i thought it was pretty funny, they didn't get it.

abby and leela working hard to get the bricks clean

then we went to moms for family dinner night.

i made a peach cobbler and i didn't like it so that was a bummer.

dont get me wrong i still ate it but it was not a cobbler

much more cake like, didn't keep the recipe.

random photo. me playing with color saturation and exposure

thursday we met up with a friend from dakota's softball team at a pool.

she and her friend hadn't seen each other sense softball ended so it was fun to watch them just fall back into friendship, i love that.

thursday night randy's cousin was in town so we went up to his grandma's for dinner 

and the cousins played.

and friday mellow morning followed by thrifting with friends.

i love thrifting but i just can't go with the girls anymore 

i was so frazzled when we left.

dakota had a sleep over with gaggi last night, leela was going to but called to let us know she had changed her mind.

this morning when she woke up the first thing she says to me is she wants chickens,

chickens that lay eggs

chickens that go baak baak.

pretty darn cute.  

 

the backyard

 

Another fun day, we went up to the santa barbara museum of natural history

what a great little treasure

we could really spend all day there

we only did two things the butterflies and the backyard and we were there for three and a half hours.

Dakota so desperately wanted a butterfly to land on her 

we have been there several times and I am not sure if one ever has 

but today she was a popular girl

as was leela

they were both thrilled.

it is always so nice to me to go there and to watch how mesmerized dakota is, how she can sit and enjoy and 

observe.

then it was off to the museum's backyard

it has a small stream

with little wooden boats that can travel down the stream

it has a mud pie making station with pie tins and a  faucet

kids are encouraged to take their shoes off and get dirty.

also back there is a little room with a volunteer or employee i am not sure which

and there are bugs, pollywags, a ringnecked snake, frogs, slugs, rolly pollies

and she was there showing the girls all of it.

and then i never knew this, but there is a bird aviary back there too

a paragon falcon that was shot in the wing. they also had two american kestrels, a great horned owl and another type of owl.

with rescued birds and we happened to be there when they were bringing them out.

a western screech owl that was blind you can see the mud pie station and the little house in the background

it was a very cool day. 

using my dads camera

The story of three friends. 

now five friends

It was the summer before i went into the fourth grade, my family lived in a condo and as luck would have it a family moved in above us with a little girl my age, sierra.

Fast forward a year me and sierra are the best of friends,

then we meet sara.

fast forward

we had the girls think of words that described each other this is what the older girls think of miss leela

nine years ago sierra has a baby girl

several years later sara has a baby girl

then me (sweet dakota)

then sierra.

the me again (lovely leela)

Lots of girls.

funny us three lifelong friends all have girls.

anywho the title is using my dads camera.

well the three of us have been talking about using that awesome camera to take photos of all our girls

for almost a year now

this week we did it

and i just might have a new profession.  

but when you are working with your kids it is hard not to get a big head 

because of course they are beautiful.

it is also hard to remain sane while trying to take pictures of your children in a slightly 

controlled way.
 
All in all the day went really well and i say day because that is how long it took.
sierra lives right by this beautiful eucalyptus forest so that is where we started with the swings.
then one of the girls had a melt down
so we broke for lunch then headed down to the beach.
by that point leela was done
and it was ice cream bribery time.
so that was how we ended the day.
It was exhausting but i am super glad we did it
super glad we had dads camera
super excited to learn more about said camera.

 

Lucky

My friend's dad works for a woman who has a beautiful home

i have never been inside the home but I have been lucky enough

to be able to go there and swim

and that is a treat.

today was beautiful and hot and the perfect day for such a pool.

and as if that wasn't enough, she has fruit trees
peaches, purple plums, green plums, nectarines and a mulberry tree
yummy and we got to pick some and bring it home.

 and for that day i feel lucky.
 a couple days later
me and the girl went to the beach with some friends
the sun stayed under most of the day
but that didn't matter one bit
except when I had to go into the ocean which was very very cold
to pee.
but other than that it didn't matter
the littles stayed close digging in the sand

the big girls did a little bit of everything.
they loved the rock with the seaweed still attached

they loved the snacks
they loved the ocean and were thankful that the sand was warm to come lay on.
dakota came home with half the sand from the beach in her suit.

today more friends
a pool in the backyard
a sunshining day
just dance for a break from the sunshine.

when i think of the things I am lucky for it is all the above
but also
running water
that i can make hot or cold
a toilet that flushes
food
a bed that is soft with covers that keeps me warm
and a fan if i get too warm
the list goes on and on for all these everyday things that
don't really matter to me
but really do
To know when you have enough is to be rich beyond measure.  lao tzu



 

Not too long ago

me and my friend andi would go on all these fun outings with your girls (this back when we each had one little lady).  Andi and I both have a love of good food and while we love a good baked good any good food will put a smile on our face.  

So in our adventures food is always involved.

We are now a group of six but the fun and the food are just the same.

Today we went to some old favorites starting with a little eatery called Clementines

So yummy.

The last time we went it was national grilled cheese month this time it was not but that is okay I got one anyway.

It had sharp cheddar and a sweet tomato chutney on country white and it was tasty.

Andi got a watercress, cucumber, cream cheese and watercress that was awesome as well.

And for dessert there was a cupcake, a brownie, a blondie, a chocolate peanut butter bar, and a German chocolate cookie.  I tasted them all and was very very full and very very happy.

Next stop was LACMA 

The last time we went we just went to the boone children's gallery, 

this time we didn't even make it there but the girls enjoyed everything we saw.

Which included korean art,

 tube art, 

an exhibit called common place, 

metropolis II

 and a huge rock.

I am totally perplexed by the rock but I am sure it makes sense to some. 

Our final destination was another oldie but goodie

sweet lady janes

fruit tart 

key lime tart

princess torte

berry trifle

if i were alone in my house they would all be gone by me

i would eat them all and happily grumble over the tummy ache

but I am not home alone i have to practice some self control

otherwise people will get mad at me and say things like "hey that was supposed to be mine"

i try to teach sharing and sometimes it is harder than others to practice what I preach.  

A great great day.  Thanks Andi, cant wait to do it again.
as a side note I did blog about our first trip there and it was my second blog post, the now big girls were so cute.