Off with a Bang!

Hello again!  We’ve got a lot of catching up to do . . .

This hadn’t happened in probably a year or more, and it hasn’t happened again since then either.

                     
These sorts of things happen quite often though.  In the second picture, Naomi is observing nature—she pulled up a chair to watch a snail go by. 

We greeted Uncle Jonathan in the usual way.


We also made heavy use of his superb construction skills.

       
Monkey learned to play the piano and a work crew took over some garden space.


Then there was a medieval battle in which the enemy knight/ogre/dragon hid himself within the castle, yet he was still soundly defeated by the overwhelming power of giggles.  And yes, all princesses wear hippo pajamas.

                               
More of this and a little of that.

Oh yah, Jake was still here then!  Except he was getting ready to go to Bridgeport for a month.

    
Taking in the sights as we walk down the beach to find a nice spot to watch the fireworks.

              
Just hanging out and enjoying the SoCal scenery.

Freight train!  We don’t see these go by during the day, so this was extra-exciting (and super long)!

                                
Breaking out the glow stick toys means we’re almost there.


Happy 4th of July!  (Which just points out again how far behind I am here.  Oh well!)  The first photo gives you just an idea of how great our view was: the rockets going up on the right are our own fireworks (San Clemente), the large burst on the left is Dana Point and the faint set low on the horizon in the center are (I think) San Juan Capistrano.  The cumulative effect made it the best fireworks show I’ve ever seen and I’ve seen more than my fair share of them.