2 Years, 3 Weeks

In other words, there’s been a bit of a delay between Naomi’s birthday and this post.  But she’s pretty spectacular and ought to be celebrated, even if it is a bit late. 

      We kept things super-simple for her birthday “party” this year.  All we did was bring cookies out to the cul-de-sac when everybody was running around in the afternoon.  The normal gang consists of 12 kids between 18 months and 5 years, so it was probably the biggest party we’ve thrown for either of the kids so far!

              

We went to the Legoland aquarium in the morning—that will be coming up in the next post.  Birthday hugs from Logan and a little more cheese for the camera rounded out the day.  Happy birthday Sunshine!

Trestles

A gray day in southern California and we decide to go to the beach, go figure!  But it was a spur-of-the-moment thing, just to sit and watch the surfers.  It really was quite pleasant.  And since this was our first really good view of Trestles (the beach right by our house), it will be your first view as well.

The bridge that replaced the old trestle bridge; if you look closely you can see that they’ve spelled out “Trestles”, one letter per column, on the new bridge.

                            
Two views from the beach looking back.

No idea who this girl was, but she was practicing her cartwheels in earnest for probably 20 minutes.

                         
We didn’t practice cartwheels, not this time.  In fact, Logan appears too be a bit confused by the whole thing.

Very course sand. 

But the real attraction, without question . . .


   

Inspired, Jake tries some of his own stunts on the way home.

Big Empty Box

Now that my house is something more than just a big, empty box I actually have time to go back and process the photos from the period when it was.  So here, in case you haven’t moved in a while and feel some need to remember what this kind of craziness looks like, is the more-or-less (mostly less) complete picture.

                  
An empty living room is great for large train layouts and echoing games.  In the dining room, Logan bows his head over a bowl of Cheerios and probably thanks God that he doesn’t have to live in a hotel anymore.

Since we didn’t have a second bathroom in Okinawa, the kids’ bathroom items were largely purchased after arrival and therefore this was one of the first “finished” rooms.

And then . . . the storage shipment arrived.  You see what those boxes say?  Books, books, books!  The wine was absolutely mandatory to tackling THAT project.

                  
We did have a few friends show up to help us unpack.

        
And the kids kept themselves nicely entertained while we slowly put our life back in order.  A special thanks to Aunt Chica and Uncle Pete for the train-painting project; that was a huge hit!

First Glimpse

You know that shot where Shrek is in the carriage and they are riding into Far Far Away, when suddenly they turn onto the palm-tree lined street with the exquisitely manicured lawns, the fairy tale architecture, the mountains dropping majestically into the ocean, and a perfect, vast blue sky above it all?  Yah, I live there.  Really.  How I managed to go from a beautiful tropical island paradise to . . . well, HERE, to go from blessing to blessing, is beyond my ability to comprehend or explain.

But at the point these pictures were taken, we were still living in a hotel.  Lucky for us, the property managers were nice enough to give us the code for the gate so that we could at least SEE our house and also use the playground.  So, the big reveal . . .

Home Sweet Home!  It’s a duplex and I’m perfectly happy with that.  3 bed, 2.5 bath.  (We have a master bath now, woo-hoo!)  And a MUCH nicer kitchen than the one in Oki.  

                         
There were flowers already blooming near the front door and a playground just a short walk away from the back patio.

                  
There’s a neighborhood pool and we’re on the end of a cul-de-sac (see my RAV4 in the picture?) with lots of other families-with-young-children, so there are always other playmates running around somewhere.

Oh yes, and the beach.  Google Earth tells me that my house is precisely one-quarter mile from the beach.

It really floored me in the beginning to see surfers streaming constantly (and I do mean constantly) past our neighborhood on their way down to the beach.  But apparently the surfing is pretty good here. 

I’ll take you into the heart of San Clemente for just a moment. 


We checked out a community street fair one Sunday afternoon, and made our way down to the San Clement pier.

      
At the pier, we stopped to grab a bite to eat and watch the sunset.

And there are trains!  You know Logan is a happy camper.  The train tracks run right next to the beach, past the pier, down through Trestles, and on.  If you look back up at the sign/map, “Surfing Trestles”, you can see the tracks on there.  In fact, the reason it is called Trestles is that you used to have to walk under the old trestle railway bridge to get to the beach; you still have to walk under the tracks to get to the beach but the old bridge has been replaced.

Which brings us back around to the topic of surfing, this time at the pier, riding one last wave in before the sun sets on my.  beautiful.  NEW HOME!!!     

Family Tour: Part Three

The thrilling conclusion!

                    
There were cows and digging in the dirt.

                        
And playing in the barn.

And digging in the dirt.

                            
Playing with farm toys inside and enjoying wide open spaces outside.

And, oh yes, digging in the dirt.

                                 
We rode in tractors and saw old friends with new babies.

And then we dug in the dirt with those friends.

Naomi thinks this is hilarious.
   Cora just wants to know where Naomi gets her hair done.


But eventually we get tired of digging in the dirt, or at least some of us do.

   
So we go do other things, like wrestle and roast marshmallows and go for wheelbarrow rides.

           
We go to a park and ride motorcycles, play with light and shadow, and practice big jumps.

                          
We walk to a waterfall,
    go to a wedding,

                                   
                             
and take in the sights at the zoo.

And last but not least, we take a family portrait.  Hurrah!