T-minus FOURTEEN!

I'll have a kindergartener in 14 days. EEEEEEEK!

I'm SO ready for Kaleb to start school - and I'm SO not! 

Our summer has been AMAZING! Not a dull moment around here. So many new things to experience and fun to be had. I'll miss these carefree sunny California days. 

For instance: Wednesday is "Lake Day," as the kids call it, where we meet up with our friends and spend the entire day on the lake playing and chatting and swimming and then top it off by getting frozen yogurt. Kaleb and Jaxon love these days because they know they can get up, put their swim trunks on and we head off to the lake to play with their new friends. You can't imagine how fun it's been and how awesome my new friends are. Really. These ladies are great and I'm considering myself one lucky girl to have gotten involved with such a fine group of moms. 

And speaking of which, we moms enjoyed our first "Girl's night out" away from our children. We spent a few hours on the terrace of a fine Italian restaurant getting to know each other over an adult beverage and 6 different desserts. It was absurdly fun! 

There's also pool days. 

Lake Wildwood has an incredible pool with the addition of this nifty 1.5 foot kiddie pool which I love because I can take a break from the water and the kids don't have to. 

This is Little Nemo (Jaxon). He swims entirely underwater with his goggles on and hasn't taken one single swimming lesson. He's very comfortable in water and has been keeping up with Kaleb and the other kids all summer. I'm very proud of his ability and his confidence. 

I've been teaching Kaleb arm strokes this summer. He's a very strong swimmer underwater but hasn't evolved much with his arm strokes. We were in the lake a few days ago practicing and he asked "Mom, were you in the Olympics?" I nearly died laughing. 

And then, there's my newly found beach volleyball. Just so happened there's a dad at our Wednesday Lake Day that just happens to organize 2 on 2 and 3 on 3 games. So my old love of this sport has been reborn. I played my first game on Friday night and haven't felt so alive in a long time! My body is still letting me know about it. :) 

There's also just plain old lake days. HA! 

We spent Saturday afternoon enjoying the water and the breeze in our face. Kaleb took his sandwich out on the tube and ate it on the lake. Made me grin.

Applying sunscreen. Note to self: buy stock in sunscreen if you plan to live here. And swim shirts are essential.

Buckets and shovels will keep a boy busy for several hours and I can lay under the umbrella reading a juicy romance novel - just because my muscles hurt too bad to do much else. 

We never forget to throw a few crackers for the ducks. 

Apparently Bocci Balls are a popular sport in these parts. 

We located a disc golf course today but opted to throw our frisbees on the baseball field. Eric bought a putter frisbee and has future plans of becoming a dis golfer. 

Back to school. 

We will need to go school shopping very soon. I'm super excited for this event and I know Kaleb will care very much about his wardrobe. We've purchased a new Mario lunch box and have a few school supplies courtesy of Grandma Bonnie!

I've also been baking a few goodies here and there and popping them in the freezer. With fresh veggies always at my fingertips, I can whip up some fantastic muffins or donuts.

Yes, I did say donuts.....

I'm pretty sure Kaleb will be super pumped to find these mini donuts in his lunch box. The beautiful thing: they're pretty good for you too. I have a donut maker which bakes them so no frying and I throw in all kinds of goodness like wheat germ, oat flour, ground flax and homemade applesauce to keep them moist and semi-sweet. I glaze them with a thin layer of maple icing and they're a hit. My picky eater ate THREE of them the other night. No one bothered to tell him they're healthy. Next on my list are zucchini donuts. 

As of August 4thish, we will be knuckling down and getting on school time schedule. Up at 7:15, breakfast, learning, playtime, lunch.....you get the idea, in hopes of making the first day a little bit easier for us all. Kaleb's school goes from 8:10 to 2:20 so I'm sure the first few weeks will be tiring for everyone until we get on the schedule. 

My little red head is starting school. He tells me he's going to be the smartest in his class. 

When they're not squabbling, they're really good friends. Will Jaxon miss Kaleb once he starts school.

 I think YES! 

Our First Visitors

We had our first visitors. It was so good to see my dad Garry and my stepmom Bonnie, pull into our driveway on Saturday. We had excited butterflies and the kids watched the clock like hawks. Time seemed to be passing slowly, but then suddenly they were here and our time together started off with a bang. 

On Sunday we decided to visit Lake Tahoe. It took us under 2 hours to arrive to mountains and the most beautiful lake I've ever seen. We drove through the Squaw Valley where the Winter Olympics were held in 1960.

We drove through Tahoe City in search of a nice beach to have lunch at. 

We found this. It was packed with people (of course), this is Lake Tahoe after all! But we decided to setup camp for a while and take in the view.

Picnic on the lake. Not soon after we ate Bonnie disappeared. I had laid back on my beach towel to rest my eyes and assumed she was using the restroom. But I should have known she was up to something.

Yep, she was off at the marina renting a boat. So our day at Lake Tahoe turned more interesting and even more fun because we actually were going to be out on the water with the wind in our hair! 

And we set off on the expansive Lake Tahoe. Breathtakingly beautiful. 

The boat traffic was crazy! 

Family photo.

The driver :)

Emerald Bay!

Kaleb wanted to climb up this island and check out the rock castle people have built on top. :) 

Perhaps next year?

We also got a tube so Eric decided to jump on but first he had to put on his extra small life vest. 

I was laughing so hard. The rental place forgot to throw in an adult size vest but that didn't detour him.

And Kaleb jumped in too thinking tubing would be awesome. But then he changed his mind because the tube was too small and he couldn't ride double with dad. 

Jaxon jumped in too for a minute but said it was too cold. 

A happy big boy on his boy toy.

Cruising around the lake. I think I had the best spot!

The water was turquoise...... Absolutely beautiful.

We had to be tourists at Tahoe City after and find some ice cream. 

I forgot to mention we adopted these two on Friday night. Our friend Meribeth gave Kaleb his belated birthday gift and Jaxon his early birthday gift. So we have Dave and Stuart in our home now and they came along on many of our adventures. "Beee-doh."

On Monday we headed north of our house about 6 miles. No joke. 

To the Yuba River. It is notorious for its swimming holes and big rocks and sandy beaches. I had been told about it but hadn't checked it out yet. Not sure why I was waiting. 

So we hung out here Monday. Kaleb and Eric jumped off the rocks into the water. I am realizing that though Kaleb is a rather timid child, he's got a daredevil side. His first remark to me when he saw other people jumping from rocks was that we wanted to do that. <Heavy sigh> 

Grey hair is in my near future. 

Kaleb jumped and jumped and jumped some more.

After he had conquered this small feat, he moved to the bigger rock. 

Eric doing a backflip. He pretty much freaked me out with his daredevil moves. 

Jaxon thought he might be able to jump and almost did it and backed out at the last minute....but I know he really wanted to deep down inside!

But he did swim like little Nemo. He won't wear a life vest and his water wings nearly shame him. He also hates being able to be in a spot where he can touch. This kid is a water baby! (Guess we're living in the right place for him)

Jax finally took a break from the water to dig in the sand. 

On Tuesday we headed west to Yuba City to check that out and show them where Eric works and have lunch and tour the heart of Yuba City. Eric's office is located right in downtown Yuba City and it has lovely shops and a fun pet store. 

And we had to feed the fish. 

Grandma Bonnie got a little carried away when the food dispenser had a malfunction. 

The fish were really happy I'm sure. 

I think if you asked our visitors what they thought of Northern California they would unanimously say, "pleasantly surprised." I'm pretty positive it was not at all what they expected, it was much better! 

On Wednesday morning, they departed. My eyes were leaking all morning.

Good memories were made and will not be soon forgotten!