Labor Day Festivities

We had a low-key, relaxed, but very fun Labor Day this year. It was just us Rays, but we made the most of Jason's day off work and Lucy's holiday from school.

We packed a lunch and went to one of our favorite parks in the area. There's lots of grassy areas to play on and a few little playground areas. We played soccer, a little volleyball, and a little frisbee. Graham mostly played at the playground. We went for a short hike up the mountain.

Here's the view from the top. The park itself is up on the mountainside of Ventura, so it looks like we hiked farther than we did. Can you see the ocean in the distance? I love where we live.

After the park, we went home and gave the little guy a nap. Lucy and Dad headed to the pool down the street and Graham and I came later with Ben after he woke up. I didn't get any pool pictures this time around.

We finished the day off with Jason's homemade pizza and homemade ice cream cones. What a way to end a fabulous family day.

Here's some of the pictures I got when I asked the kids to smile for me. Be sure to check out Graham's expressions.

Hope you had a great Labor Day, too!

Easter with the Grunigs

April 2010 (Yes, that says April, not August)

This is my 3rd attempt at posting this event. My two prior attempts disappeared at the click of some mysterious button I must have pushed as I was trying to arrange the pictures as I wanted them. If it doesn’t work this time, our spring break with the Grunig family will be forgotten forever. Wish me luck….our posterity and the world need to know.

Disclaimer: My first post was super witty and full of cute anecdotes along with the facts. The second attempt was still cute, not so witty, but still have the facts. This attempt has the facts and only the facts. Some of the facts are a little hazy as this was in April.

The Grunigs came to visit in April. We were beyond excited to have them come and counted down the days to their arrival.

The day after they pulled in to town was Easter as well as General Conference for our church. We spent the day hanging out and trying to keep the kids entertained while we watched conference on TV. We were happy to have our friend/babysitter, Caitlin, spend the day with us, too.

We had a little egg hunt in the back yard that evening.

The hunt begins!

Cute Abby and her loot.

Grambo, mid-hunt

Cute kiddos, post hunt


The next day was a little chilly, so we took the group to The Clubhouse in Ventura. The kids played their hearts out. The only picture I got was of Lucy hula hooping. We had a great time. I really enjoyed visiting with Tanna and Jed while the kids played.

We made our way to the beach later in the week. The highlight of the day was when this little seal showed itself so close to where we were set-up. Jed was in the rocks with the kids looking for crabs and Lucy turned around and saw his heading bobbing up and down as he made his way to the beach. We were worried about him, but we were assured by the beach patrol that he’d be return to the water soon if he didn’t go himself…..or herself…..who knows.

We went over to the Seabridge community a couple times while they were here. The kids played at the little park and we walked around the harbor. The kids got crazy and started dancing around all goofy-like.
I love how hard Lucy is laughing in this one.

The kids came up with this pose on their own. Check out the face Graham is making.

The better part of another day was spent on a little hike/walk in Carpenteria. It’s right on the coast on the way to Santa Barbara. There are cliffs you can look over and see all of the seals lounging in the sun. We ventured down into the tide pools for a while, too.




That evening we went to our favorite restaurant, The Beach Grill at Padaro. We love this place! It’s right near the beach. All of the seating is outside and there’s a giant sand area for the kids to play in. The kids made a big sand pile and jumped in it over and over. I wish I would have gotten more pictures!

Here’s Ben enjoying some orange stuff.

The last day Graham developed a fever and slept most of the day. Peter, Lucy, and Abby made him get well card and pictures to cheer him up.

I love this one with the cards on top of him as he sleeps.

He woke up surrounded by their artwork and the artists were ready to explain their masterpieces.

The last two pictures of Ben-O were the only ones I got of our last day at the beach. I think he looks adorable in his little Hawaiian outfit.

After journaling that three different times, I have gained an even greater appreciation for how much fun it was!! We can't wait until they come again! Maybe next time it won’t take me 4 months to get it all down. If you’re reading this….it worked!!!!!!

Just Keep Swimming

June 2010

The kids did a round of swim lessons at the beginning of the summer. They did great!

Graham was a bit of a chicken when it came to going under water, but after a lot of coaxing and a bit of bribery, he usually toughed it out with only a few tears. He did much better once we got him wearing his "Wobble Goggles".

Here's cute Ben-O waitin' with a smile.

Lucy was in Level 2 and she was awesome! She's our little fish! She can swim the length of the pool and dive to the bottom now. She has always loved to swim and she is so confident and happy in the pool.

The last few days they helped the preschoolers jump off the board. I thought he looked hilarious with his goggles and life jacket.

My California Girl

I love this girl! Isn't she so cute!

"It's not mini-golf, it's golf miniature."

If you can tell me where I got that quote, I'll think you're awesome.

June 2010 (yes, I am aware that was a solid two months ago.......back off)

At the beginning of the summer, we started a chore system at our house. The kids were able to earn points for completing their chores without (or at least with very little) whining. If they gave me a hard time, they didn't get the points for that day, but they still had to do the chores.

By the end of June they had earned enough points to go miniature golfing. So, we packed up the old mini-van and set our sights on Golf World (I don't really remember what it was called). Good times were had by all. I think the pictures can speak for themselves.

Back to School (and blogging)

Lucy started her first day of school today. It's hard to believe she's a 2nd grader now. We moved into a different house over the summer (same town), so she had to start at a new school. This is Lucy's 4th school in 3 years. I guess that's the life of a military child. Fortunately, Lucy is pretty out-going and has been blessed with the talent of making friends fast.

Lucy isn't a big fan of the whole school scene. Some of you may recall the first half of last year. She cried almost every night and I had to drag her to school every morning. Even after she got over the crying, we always had a hard time on Monday mornings or after any breaks from school. So, needless to say, I've been nervous about this year starting, especially because there would be very few familiar faces. Listening to her talk about the new school year has been pretty entertaining. In a matter of 2-3 minutes she'd go from excited to stressed, back to excited, mad, nervous, excited and then nervous again. She'd always say, "It's going to be fun for a couple days and then I'm going to be mad that I have to go."

This morning we walked to school and she got in line with her new class. We were so happy to have met a couple girls at our neighborhood pool a few days ago that have the same teacher, so she at least knew them (I have been so nervous for her and when we met them on Monday, I knew my prayers had been answered). Her teacher came out to get them and I said, "She looks like she'll be a nice teacher." Lucy then said, "Not really, old people are usually mean." Nice, very nice.

We said our good-byes and I proceeded to cry the whole walk home. I'm not sure why I'm so emotional about it this year. I just get sad when I think about all that time that other people are influencing her and the person she'll become. There's 6 hours of the day that I don't know what's going on with her and how she is doing. I'm sure many of you can relate. (I wasn't sad enough to consider home-schooling, though. I'm not sure Lucy would survive it.)


When I went to pick her up, I tried to get her to talk about her day. Here's most of the highlights from our conversation: 1. Recess was boring (the playground is not up to par) 2. They don't ever get to talk 3. She only got one drink during school 4. They can only go to the bathroom once a week (except for during recess and lunch, of course). When I asked her what her favorite part of the day was, she sighed and said, "Lunch, I guess." Later she told me she enjoyed language arts when they wrote about themselves.

Here's hoping this year goes a little better than last!

Documented Cuteness....

A couple of funny stories I want to remember:

On the way to a BBQ at a friend's house on Saturday, we were listening to the Hairspray soundtrack. There's a song that says, "Baby, you're timeless to me". Lucy wanted to know what timeless means. So we explained that it was something that never gets boring and is still cool, even when it gets old. (We said something to that effect.)

We got to our friend's house and Lucy noticed their kitchen sink. It's a stainless steel sink with three different tubs. She said to our friend, "Your sink is so cool!" Our friend explained that it's actually really old and very 70's-ish. Lucy then said, "It's timeless!!!" It had us all laughing.

Graham calls the missionaries, the primaries. I love it. I'm always hoping he won't pay attention when people correct him.

I was recently called as a primary teacher in our ward, so I have a front row seat to watch Graham misbehave through sharing and singing time every Sunday. Yesterday was particularly entertaining. Every time any question was asked by the instructor, Graham would yell out, "Jesus!" or "Nephi!" Regardless of what they asked. It had me laughing. The teacher asked at the end of her lesson, "Is Jesus a special person?" Graham said, "No way. No, no, no." Then he looked at her face and could see that wasn't the answer she was looking for and so he changed his vote.