San Diego: Water

One of the first things we wanted to do was go sailing. Christopher just finished taking a sailing course here in Utah, as his latest hobby, and was really pumped to take us all out on a boat. So we rented one of these and headed out.



The picture didn't turn out well, but I did think it was funny when Kaitlyn decided to help Tyler get his life jacket on.



And with that done, we were off! It was a bit of a cloudy morning, but the wind was just great.





Kaitlyn liked to help Daddy steer the boat.



We sailed close to the downtown area, and got some great views.



It was a lot of fun!



And of course, you can't leave without going to the beach at least once. We went once in the early evening, and once in the morning. The kids had a lot of fun- Kaitlyn loved to walk out a bit and then she and Daddy would "run away!" when the waves came at them.



I had fun testing out beach and sunset photography.



And Tyler was in heaven, with the biggest "sandbox" he had ever seen. I think that kid would have stayed out there digging an entire day if we let him.



Kaitlyn got into the sand a bit too, and made a lovely wall.



Now, I am not usually a "trendy" photography person. I like traditional pictures, not the tilted, sunburst, over-photoshopped stuff that everyone else goes for. But I did love this look. The bright colors look great with this action!



On our second trip to the beach, Christopher rented a surfboard. He loved surfing in Maui, but found it was a bit trickier than expected here. The waves didn't break for nearly as long. But he still had fun, and we even saw some dolphins that swam right up next to the surfers!

San Diego! (Part 1)

When we were picking out a vacation for this year, we debated on if we were going as a couple or a family. Last year we went on a cruise in the Mediterranean as a couple, but since we just got a chance to go to St. Thomas alone as well we felt it was time to include the little people in this. The problem is that toddlers, in general, aren't fond of traveling. We needed a place with lots of things for them to do.

San Diego to the rescue! I have to say, we fell in love with this place after spending a week there. Did you know that the year round temperature is high 75 low 55? ALL YEAR? My family lived there for many years before I was born, and my mom said that she didn't miss the variation of Utah climate one single bit while she was there.

Anyway, we debated on staying at a beachfront resort, but the online reviews showed me that those places mostly overcharge for smelly and dingy rooms, because they have the location and don't need anything else. We stayed at a Homewood Suites right next to the airport, and (at the risk of sounding like a commercial) would never stay anywhere else! The area is much more quiet and family friendly, and our two bedroom suite meant we could give the kids their own room. Free hot breakfast, parking and internet- all things that were expensive at the beachfront places - yeah, pretty awesome.

Enough with that though. On to the pictures.



This walkway bordered the water behind the hotel, and was great for walking around on. And finding cool flowers to take pictures of. I have to admit I am madly in love with Bird of Paradise.



I don't know what this flower is, but it reminded me of a Christmas ornament.




Tyler loved the bridge, and the ship that is right next to the hotel. In the sand. I guess the Navy (including my dad, when he was stationed there) used to use it to for training. Not that I got a picture of the ship itself.






This playground, part of a very large park and only half of the playground itself, was about a five minute walk from our room. The kids LOVED that. I thought it was fun that they had sand in there for kids to dig in as well as stuff to climb on.




Kaitlyn loved spinning on this thing SO MUCH. She had to learn to wait when other kids were on it, but once she got on she wanted to go as fast as possible. I thought she was going to make herself sick. She did make Tyler very dizzy though- we laughed hysterically while he tottered off a couple of times. Is that mean?



We did a lot of things while we were there, and I will have to make seperate posts for those. But since we our first full day there was a Sunday, I thought it would be great to take the kids to the temple and have a little lesson and picnic on the grounds. And since my attempts to get family pictures taken have all fallen through lately, I decided we would get dressed up for pictures and make use of my tripod, since all temples have beautiful grounds that are perfect for family pictures.

Problem #1:
It turns out that the gates to the temple grounds are locked on Sundays.



Problem #2:
The temple is half covered in scaffolding.



I did manage to find a nice spot in the driveway for pictures, and decided we could make the best of things and try anyway. Which brings me to . . .

Problem #3:
Not only do people not smile very well for a camera with no person behind it (this is a composite of many shots to get all the smiles) but humidity makes my nice, shiny and sleek hairdo into a frizzy mess. This is also the only visual evidence I have that I was on this trip.



Sigh.

Thankfully, everything else we did turned out great.

School time

I've seen a lot of my friends blogging about sending their kids to school in the last week. Many of you are reported tears as you dropped off your Kindergardener or First Grader, and couldn't fathom being without your little one for so long.

It is a bit of a different experience for me. Tyler has been in programs and schools for years now, despite the fact that he is still a little four year old in diapers. This is the longest for us yet: four days a week, gone all day. But it isn't new to me. I wasn't upset about him being gone today. But I am quite nervous if we are doing the right thing for him.

It is a new school, once again. The wonderful school that he went to this summer didn't have enough room for him at the moment, so we are back with the school district. I have mixed feelings about this. It is nice to have free school that picks him up and drops him back off again. But this class, while only 10 kids and 3 teachers, is for Autistic kids only. And Tyler isn't actually fully Autistic. The teacher talked a lot about how she tailors everything to each kid, so hopefully that will make up for it. But I was quite concerned yesterday when the teacher was describing things they do in the classroom, and showing things that Tyler was working on two years ago. I'm not trying to say he is too advanced for this class, but . . . I just don't know if it is the right fit. He is a very high-functioning kiddo, who can talk and interact with us a lot. I just don't know how many of those in his class are the same way. He does still need a lot of help though, and it is help I am not qualified to give him all by myself.

The upside is that by the time the wonderful (and expensive) school has room for him again, I will have checked out all the options available to me. I won't have to wonder what this other school might be like, or if there is something we haven't tried yet. I will have spent time in each option, and so I can make a good decision.

I hope.

Visitors!

My parents and I had been looking forward to this for a long time. My dad doesn't get much time off from his job, but they claimed two weeks off in August and flew out to Las Vegas. They visited my brothers down there for a week before driving north to visit us for a week.

We didn't take as many pictures as we should have, but it was a good week. Kaitlyn loved showing off her dress up skills. And perhaps casting spells on people, or whatever she is doing in this picture.



In fact, that is what prompted us to make the wings and cape I mentioned in the last post.

They also loved showing Grandma and Grandpa their new swingset.



We spent most of the week just hanging out, eating my mom's favorite donuts she can only get here, and shopping at the stores she can only find here. But their favorite part of the week was heading to the cabin. Saturday morning Christopher ran the Hobble Creek half marathon, which luckily enough was the same canyon our cabin is in! So I drove him down to the start in the morning, and then went back and picked up Grandpa and Kaitlyn to come watch him run.



Kaitlyn liked hanging out on Grandpa's shoulders. She also liked pointing at every runner that wasn't wearing a shirt and saying "Look, Mommy! Naked!" quite loudly.



Good thing daddy wasn't "naked". Daddy had a great time, actually! 1:32 was his official time. He was the most excited that he got a medal. Apparently they only give medals to the first 100 men that cross the finish line- and he was the 95th PERSON. Way to go babe!



Well, back to the cabin for food and family.






My mom's three siblings all live in Utah, and were able to come down to visit her with us. They are fun.



And Christopher loves to show off on his dirt bike.



My Uncle Bob took over the four wheeler, and started running around the track with Cydney (my older cousin's daughter). They had a blast - minus the time she fell off.



He also loved taking his older sister (Aunt Betty) on a spin. She spent most of the time shrieking, but I think she liked it.



It was nice for them to have their whole family together! My grandpa is 96 years old, and has only lately started to have health problems. I was so glad he was well enough to make the trip down to see us.

Gettin' crafty

I've been rather bitten with the craft bug for the last couple of weeks. First of all, I wanted to make little scripture cases. Our Primary has asked each kid to bring their own Book of Mormon each week, and Tyler is so young that I thought a little case would help the book survive.

But in order to do that, I needed to borrow a tool from a neighbor. I went over to borrow it for five minutes, and she was telling me about a project she wanted to work on. My husband was away at scout camp, and our kids were busy playing, so I stuck around to give her advice.

And then I did the whole project.



Well, it was a fun project. We turned a black sheet set into a cover for this little couch. Her girls (who were away at camp that week) had that couch in their room, and it needed a face lift.



Yup, ugly couch underneath. Nice black cover to match their "black and lime and blue" room.

Ta-da!

So, with that done, I could turn back to my cases.



I used her letter-cutter to make their names in leather, and then made the case. I especially liked having a fun lining.



But the best part was that all of this was from stuff I had in my basement. Total cost was $1 for the handles. That is what makes them awesome.



And the kids like them. What kid doesn't like having a little bag for treasures to carry around?



This picture is here just so I can laugh at the boots. I found these snow boots for Kaitlyn, who didn't have any last year. Not only are they second hand and a couple sizes big, the tags were still on, they had princesses on them, and they light up. I couldn't have designed them better if I tried. Kaitlyn decided she needed to wear them every chance she got.

Next, I turned to the play house I bought almost a year ago. It still isn't quite done, but it is almost there now. I found out that the frame is actually Pottery Barn, which means getting the official cover for it is out of anyone's price range. Boo.


And then, last week, I was getting fabric for curtains and decided to make Kaitlyn some wings. She had taken a blanket that I stiched around the edges of, pulled two parts of the stitching out, and then would put those loops around her wrists and declare herself a butterfly. Not happy with the cutting-off-circulation part of that, I figured I should make her some wings. I loved that the fabric had a scalloped edge (for curtains), because that made a fun bottom edge.



But then, I made it while she was napping, and used Tyler as my model so she could grow into them a bit. And he LOVED the girly wings, running all around the room and shouting "Super to the rescue!". So then my dad made him a cape as well. Oh, and he never takes that construction hat off. So it's Super Bob the Builder.

Oh, and I also made a curtain for the cabin. And the rod to hang it on. And a vinyl quote on a board for the cabin. None of which I took pictures of while I was there.

I really do like these little projects! Making them without patterns or guidance helps keep my brain alive a tiny bit.

New swingset

Where has this month gone? A lot of things have happened, so I guess I need to catch up on here. First of all, we had a recent addition to our family.



We have been thinking about getting one for a long time, and our kids love it so much! We were going to get a wood set, but it turns out that you need to restain those every year and most people complain about splinters. Yikes. This one is made by the same company that makes the nice folding tables at Costco, and the 10 year warranty covers even fading. Nice.







Yeah, I think it is safe to say the kids are in love. Especially Tyler. Most kids lose interest in things like that quickly, but he will stay out there for hours if we let him. And we actually had a lot of fun building it as well. It took a whole Saturday, but it was like a giant tinker toys set or something.

So with the new deck, things are really looking great in our backyard.



I know, the new deck looks exactly like the old one. But trust me, it feels better. The old one had reportedly not been used in a decade because it was so unstable that you thought it was going to collapse under you. I was pretty sure that a good shove would kick off the railings. But this new deck is solid as a rock. And I love the trex!