Visiting the Enchanted Forest

The kids (and their cousin Brady) had fun visiting the Enchanted Forest near Salem, Oregon. It hasn't changed much at all since I was a kid, so it was fun for me too!

If you click on the link below, you can see Daredevil Max in action. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iv3clJ21oks

Boating in Washington

We had such a great time at my sister Marsha's house in Washington. Of course, one of the highlights was spending the day on the river in their boat. The kids especially loved innertubing.....Uncle Chuck couldn't drive fast enough.

Playing on the beach

My sister has a beautiful house on the river, and the kids had a blast playing on the beach and in the mud.

Music at the Lake

This summer in our little community, they started having Friday night music at the lake. It's a nice casual little affair where people bring out their blankets and chairs, the restaurant does up a BBQ. Max had a blast dancing to the music. As always, he put on quite a show.

More Photos from the Coast

Here's more general scenery from the coast..... I really liked this funky little painted house!

We Beat the Heat Over the 4th!

We decided to get the heck out of Dodge for the 4th of July and go some place cooler. Martin came up with the great idea to go down to Los Osos and stay with Idee and Theresa and see the fireworks at the coast. So on Thursday, we packed up the car and drove out to the beach. We spent the afternoon on the beach in Cambria, where it couldn't have been warmer than 70 degrees! Then we drove into San Luis Obispo for the Thursday Night Farmer's Market. It was SO crowded, seems everyone had the same idea, but as luck would have it, so did some old friends! We ran into Jeff and Katerina Levine (and their boys Daniel and Alec) in Bubble Gum Alley. Jeff and Martin went to Jewish Camp together when they were seven or eight years old and remained friends through high school. What was odd about running into them, is that they now live in Ohio! We spent the following evening down at Morro Bay together to watch the fireworks, and even took advantage of generous family babysitting to meet up on Saturday night without the kids to visit. It has probably been around seven years since we've seen each other, so it was really nice to catch up. Sadly, I didn't get a photo of their family (what's wrong with me!) Here's a collection of various coastal activities over the last few days. Sadly, we've come back to the Central Valley to even hotter weather! 110 degrees tomorrow! Bleck!

Morning at Bass Lake

Martin wanted to begin the month of July by running around Bass Lake (approx. 13 miles, crazy man!) So while he was off running the kids had fun playing in the water and trying their hand at bass fishing....Isaac snagged a little, tiny fish but thankfully it got off the hook before I had to take it off. We pulled out the BBQ and had lunch and made our way home just as the lake was starting to get crowded. I think we'll have to make this a regular event.

Birthday Party Fun

The boys were invited to their friend Parker's birthday party last weekend. Parker is Max's second grade teacher's son, so it was an added treat to go visit a teacher's house! It was good fun, that ended in a full on water fight.

Fishing at the Lake

We live in a community called Yosemite Lakes Park, and as the name would imply, we have some little lakes very close by. Sadly, we haven't been very good at taking advantage of them, but today I took Max and Isaac fishing before their swim lesson (this little lake is right by the swimming pool). There have been a few failed fishing attempts in the past, but today was the first "real" fishing venture. While Max had a few close calls, Isaac actually caught his very first fish! Shortly thereafter, he caught his second fish, so all in all it was fairly successful (except I have hands that smell of fish and worms, and slid on my butt into the lake trying to help a friend retrieve and hung up line. Much to Martin's amusement. Sorry, no photos of that!)

Fun With Clothes Pins

It's funny the things that will grab a kid's interest.....the other day the boys (and their friends Alani and Siena) spent a good hour playing with a package of clothes pins. Their favorite creation was the Clothes Pin Magic Top Hat.

Pollution Makes Great Sunsets!

With California ablaze with wild fires, the air has been really smokey up here. It's terrible to be out in, but the upside is it makes for great sunsets. I snapped these out in our driveway last night.....The sun was literally blood red.

Swim Lessons at the Local Pool

We're quite lucky to have a community pool just about a mile down the road from us, so every summer, we spend a good amount of our time there. In particular, the boys always take swimming lessons every summer. Here Isaac is finishing up the first two week session of level three and Max level four. Since today was the last day, there was lots of goofing around and silly noodle races (Isaac won his!)

Max Turns Eight!

For Max's birthday this year we had a little party at the local pool. Considering it's in the 100s here, that was a pretty good choice! Click on the link below to see the birthday cake video. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aPr7h0Tz8TU