A Swift Visit

One of the many nice things about living in San Diego is that people enjoy vacationing here.  Our dear friends Jeremy and Carina were in town this past week.  They brought with them a true gem, their newly adopted son Christopher.  What a joy to finally meet him.  Lord bless this family!

After dinner, a walk to the beach.

Pelicans aloft.

Swifts, it was a pleasure.  We'll be out your way soon.

Clubhouse Snack

Snacktime in the clubhouse.

When I say, "Smile Luke!" this is the reaction I get.  Hmm.

Sound It Out

After sounding out the individual letters, Chris hears Isaac say, "Dad!  Dad!  I think I just spelled kite!"  You saw it here folks.  Isaac spelled a word all on his own without prompting.  Genius!  Nevermind the missing E, please.

Isaac, come on over and we'll get a picture of you with your word.

No seriously, let's get a nice picture of you next to your word.

Mama's Retreat

Leaving my little ruffians in the care of my steadfast husband and dear mother, I was able to get away for a weekend retreat with fellow women from my diocese.  We went up to Camp St. Nicholas in Frazier Park of the Los Padres National Forest. 

Peace.  Quiet.

Soda Geyser

My kids love explosions, plain and simple.  So I did what any good mother would do, I bought some diet soda, Mentos, and a tube to drop the Mentos into the soda...and went way far away and zoomed in for photos.  Luke agrees this looks like trouble.

Luke's back...

...but not for long.  Keep a safe distance Luke.

Success!  Soda geyser!

Two-Wheeler

After two months on a Strider Pre-Bike, Isaac picked up the neighbor's two-wheeler with no training wheels and rode away within five minutes.  After I picked my jaw up off the asphalt, I started snapping pictures.

He is so proud of his skid marks.

Day 2: Heck, why not try the jump?

After a wind storm blew down this branch, Chris turned it into a skate jump.  Can't blame him.  When I was a kid it would have been converted to a horse jump.

Luke's workin' it!  That's Luke's Strider, by the way.  It's a bike with no pedals.  Really teaches them their balance.

No worries Noah.  I've got 911 on speed dial.

I Carry Your Heart

Valentines for Isaac's classmates. 

I refuse to buy something from the store touting that I love you and so does Lightning McQueen.  Thus, as often as I can, for the Schmidt family, it will be handmade from the heart.

"If I know what love is, it is because of you." ~Herman Hesse

"Here is the deepest secret nobody knows.

Here is the root of the root and the bud of the bud

And the sky of the sky of a tree called life;

Which grows higher than soul can hope or mind can hide.

And this is the wonder that's keeping the stars apart.

I carry your heart.

I carry it in my heart."

~E. E. Cummings

Lincoln Log Land

OK, we didn't go to Lincoln Log Land because, well, that's just not as cool (or weather resistant and termite free) as Legoland, where nearly everything is constructed out of Legos.

Yes, Chris' legs coming out of a lego shark's mouth.  I am working under the assumption that you all know Chris poses for these types of pictures and then begs me to photograph him.

A quite literal Lego land. 

For scale, that church is about 2 1/2 ft high.

My kids are still singing the jingle from this show: "Put the wet stuff on the hot stuff!"  Well, you might as well hose down that guy in the sunglasses.  Hot Stuff!

Our new family!  Don't worry Honey...we'll break them down and put them back in the box when you get home from work.

A big THANK YOU to our friends Dave and Melissa for the day passes!  It was perfect weather, crowd free and some of the best family time I've had in a long while.