1980's Summer

The 1980's was filled with many Summer Memories of fun childhood wonder.  Growing up in the 80's was a different time, I collected Garbage Pail Kids not Pokemon.  I was fighting Bowser and traipsing through the Legends of Zelda, not kissing vampires and navigating through the web of Social Media.  So, this Summer..... I'm bringing back the 80's.  I'm pretty excited, we are still going to do our homeschool but with a fun twist.  

I'll be posting everything here and obviously on Instagram!!!!

Back to Reality

So much to say and so little time to say it.  That is truly the story of my life.  We just got home from 10 days of camping and softball Nationals.  It was a whirl wind of both fun and survival.  It was cold, rainy, hot, long peppered with loosing games and meltdowns.  All in all though it was a trip I will never forget.  There were lessons learned and courses in life changed.  A lot can happen in 10 days.....now I have garbage bags of clothes that are calling my name and somehow some way I have to try to get some Back to School pep in our step.  :)

Kid's Camp, Coffee and Dog Toys

Working with Mahala today one on one because Kaden is at Kid's Camp this morning.  He went last year and he did pretty good, a few meltdown moments here and there.  But, I'm expecting this year to be totally different and I'm optimistic that he will participate more this year.
Today was Glasses day....it's a Science theme this year and that makes him super excited!  When we pulled up he was jumping around just at all the balloons in the front entrance.  After we dropped him off Mahala and I enjoyed a coffee and a short trip to the neighborhood dog store for a few treats for Homer and Rocco.  I Love finding time separately with each of the kids.

We hardly ever buy anything for Homer because he tears everything up as soon as you give it to him.  I've seen him slice open Kong toys.  Yes, Kong Toys in his mouth sliced open.  And he's a service dog....Mahala said she wouldn't want to mess with him in a dark ally.  When we were at the store the lady suggested this Tuffy Toy......so we bought it, gave it to Homer.....and 20 minutes later we find this. 

Yeah, he's not getting anymore toys, an occasional bone maybe.  But, other then that we are going to be a dog toy free zone.  :)

Discovering Nature on Vacation

Oh what a fun exciting vacation we had!!!  We went to Malibu for 5 days and then spent 5 days at Disneyland.  We were greeted by familiar squirrels at the campground, it was like we had never left.  That's why Malibu is so magical to our Family.  We haven't been in about 5 years, I know sooooo sad!  But, for the 5 years before that we had went every single year.  I plan for us to continue now and to not skip another precious year. 

Since Kaden was like 3 the last time we camped there it was like a whole new world to him.  He was in his element that's for sure.  Not once did he say he wanted his tablet, computer, tv or that he was bored.  He climbed trees, played with sticks, found bugs and made friends with the squirrels.  He was on an adventure from the moment his eyes opened and he was usually the first to crawl into the tent at the end of the day.  That boy was worn out every single day!

Seeing him so engaged with nature and truly having fun with little to nothing I have been inspired.  I am going to try and bring the outdoors indoors.  It's hard, because we have no back yard at all, just a bunch of dirt, rocks and weeds.  But, that kind of describes the campsite too.  We just need to add some sort of shelter from the sun and we are going to be good to go.  I want to try and be outside more then inside, not counting night time though.  

Since Kaden has very little interest in things he tends to sit in corners and read or play on his tablet.  The tv is kind of new to him, some time late last year I was flipping through the channels and he saw Spongebob.  Life has never been the same, he can recite every single episode......oh the horror!!!  So, in order to give him another look at like I really want to bring him away from technology and back to nature and all things unplugged.  We will see how it goes....say some prayers.

Yard MakeUnder

 We are currently looking at getting our backyard done.  Basically it looks like we are living in the middle of the desert, minus the sand.  Almost a half acre of rock and weeds.  Yep, fun stuff over here and we need to get the shovel moving before the Holidays are knocking down our front door.

So we had a guy come out over the weekend and I was explaining what I wanted.  He summed it up that we basically want a unique collection of organised rocks and weeds.  Hmmmmm, yep that just about sums it up.  :)  I want no mulch, no organized formation of rocks, plants and trees and I will puke if I see a concrete fountain situated straight in the middle of it all.  

You can see in the right of the photo our neighbors collection of twigs, mulch and rocks.

When I look at all my neighbors yards they are exactly the same.  Mulch galore with a massive amount of stick trees vomited up onto their slops surrounded by a circle of bricks or rocks.  
I want our yard to look like it's been there for years.  I want people to wonder is that a weed or an unusual plant.  I want a side fountain to drain through our future garden and down the side of our slope.  Unfortunately because of the slope we need concrete retaining walls for the garden area.  But I plan to cover it up with plants and our growing food.  :)

We are all so excited to get this started, it's been a year of dirt, mud, dirt and more dirt.  When the rains come the mud is crazy to try and control, especially with the dogs.  So, this winter is going to be way more enjoyable.  Now we are looking into different trees and plants to use.  Living in Northern CA and it seems like we are always on water restriction I really need drought resistant landscaping.  I was at a Friend's house not too long ago and Kaden loved her little Garden and it truly sealed the deal in us making our garden the focal point of our future yard.  After dinner we went over to see her neighbor's house....it was like Disneyland to me.  The landscaping was filled with succulents and plants that you would have found here naturally a 100 years ago.  LOVED IT!!!

  I will have to update as soon as we break ground hopefully in the next few weeks.  Green thumbs crossed!

StayCation~1

A few weeks ago we decided to have a StayCation.  Sometimes you just want to skip over all the traveling, reserving and packing to just head straight for the super fun part!  That was us this year, we knew we needed to get away and reboot our Family connection.  But, we wanted to spend all that time and money on the actual act of doing it not the place we were sleeping and gas in the van.  It was so much Fun that we decided to do it twice a year every year!


 

So, we kicked off our week with a trip to Our Kiddo's Favorite place to play...Dave and Busters.  It's like a Chuck-e-cheese for older Kiddos and adults.  I decided to have our first activity to be a Big deal, to create excitement for the week.  

Looking back now, I would probably used this as a midweek outing.  Just to break things up.  I had only planned 2 bigger outings for this StayCation, so I guess it still worked out fairly well.  

Grilling Lanes

We went Bowling the other day and had so much fun.  It's amazing how slipping on a pair of Ugly shoes that hundreds of people have warn before can be son darn Fun!!  :)  But, it is and I can't wait till we go again.

Sparks & Fire!!!

Sparks were flying over the 4th of July Holiday.  We had a Lazzzy 4th this year.  I usually have tons of things planned like food, crafts and games.  Not this year......We didn't even get our fireworks until 6 pm on the 4th.  Talk about last minute!!  HAHAHAHAHA  

Since we are Gluten Free now, food options have changed slightly. :)  Instead of the huge feast that I normally prepare.  We had a more simple menu.....Steak, Grilled Veggies and a wonderful Salad.  

We spent most of the day shopping and watching old movies.  And when the sun started going down Kaden eagerly brought out the loot we had just purchased.  

Usually Skylar is the one that lights all the fireworks.  But, after years of begging Dad let Mahala light a few this year.  I don't know why she wants to mess with all that, actually I do.  She is such a daredevil.  Not afraid of anything and most of the time she surprises me with her "ideas" of fun.  Examples....let's build a robot out of an old cooler.  What about the time she wanted to make a hot air balloon with a bucket, some tarp and kitchen torch.  Yes, this is what I live with on a daily basis.  HAHAHAHAHAHA

What Was On Our Table Last Week

Some of our favorites this week have actually been sides.  And that's different, usually sides are bland or just average.  But, the Fam is embarrassing the Summer and all the veggies that come with the Season!  Good for Me and Good for Them.