Summer of Love: Ward Picnic

Daily Summer Life

Cal and I have had some epic vacation adventures this summer, but we've also had a lot of fun in our home town, day to day. I'll admit, I've found it difficult to keep him mentally stimulated in the absence of preschool, but I've tried my best to rise to the challenge. Here are some of the things we've been up to:

Bird Feeder -- I'm not sure where Cal got the idea in his head, but he let me know in no uncertain terms that he wanted to hang a bird feeder in the tree outside our apartment. We found a simple one at the store and sure enough, the next morning there were three little birds fighting over it. Cal had a perfect view from the living room window, and was delighted each time he saw a visitor. He'd always hush me -- "shhh! Mommy, there are birdies!" (pronounced 'boudees'  -- R's are hard.)

Achievement Days -- I'm still busy every other week with the young girls in my congregation. It's always a joy working with them, and summer is full of water balloon fights and swim parties. We have a new presidency in charge of primary, and they're making some fun changes. It's great to see new things coming down the pipeline.

 
Sewing Pioneer Outfits -- In a moment of overconfidence, I signed up to help sew shirts for the youth pioneer trek this summer.  The pattern turned out to be more complicated than I had first imagined, but after a lot of trial and error (which included Reed standing in as a substitute dress form while I pinned the sleeves and tunic to the yoke), the shirts were finished!

Play Dates with Friends -- I still organize a weekly park days for the young moms in my congregation, and we've been having a blast this summer. This photo is from the week the kids discovered a "mud-maker" in the park sand pit. A huge, sarcastic thank you to the park planner that thought it would be helpful. At least the kids had fun, right?

Here's Cal enjoying ice cream with friends at Moms' Morning Out:

Popsicles with His friend after swimming (while I waited with my friend who'd locked her keys in her car):

Camping -- Back in June, we went camping with a group of friends from the ward. Cal had a fun time roasting hot dogs and marshmallows, playing with glow sticks and sleeping in the tent. One memorable moment? Cal kept yelling "Be quiet! I'm trying to sleep" at everyone who made any noise whatsoever around the tent. 

 

 Berry Picking -- a definite perk of living in California! Back in July, we met up at Gizdich Ranch in Watsonville for some strawberry picking.

 Lunches with Mommy -- for days when I haven't felt like cooking :)

I have loved spending my days with this silly little guy, but I am so excited for preschool to start up again.

I'm pretty sure he is, too!

Birthday Party Fun!

We had a very fun weekend celebrating Cal's third birthday party. We had a big picnic with all our friends at a fantastic local park--complete with its own miniature railroad! 

 For starters, at around 9:30am Saturday, we got a knock at the door, and who should be standing on our doorstep but Reed's parents! What a tremendous and wonderful surprise! We were delighted to see them, and Cal felt very special; I could tell that he knew the visit was for him, and that made me happy.

 We spent the first part of the picnic party welcoming arriving friends, playing on the stellar playground (did I mention there's a jet to climb on?), and trying to keep Cal away from the cupcakes. After everyone had eaten, we staged a mass migration to the train station across the park. Here are a few shots of a very excited Cal waiting for the train to arrive:

 Cal insisted on holding on to his ticket the whole time.

Here comes the train!

I love this shot of the kids hanging over the railing.

 So many friends on the train!

 After the ride, the engine goes onto a turntable to flip around. Here are all the little kids watching the process with fascination:

Then it was back to the picnic site to eat cupcakes:

This was taken while we all sang "Happy Birthday" to Cal. He was so proud and excited. I love this picture so much:

After our guests left, we took one more family ride on the train with Grandma and Grandpa:

 Cal has such wonderful grandparents.

 A picture with the conductor.

Happy birthday, Cal! We love you so much!

Best Sick Day Ever

Cal and I are sick. 

As in, I've had a fever for 60 hours now. We're over the worst of it--feeling better, but not better. My coughing fits sound like an old engine trying to turn over, and I can safely ascribe about 99% of my "recovery" so far to Tylenol, Unisom, and diet coke.

I've felt emotionally sick the past day or so, too. Discouraged, I think. Regardless, in the midst of our sick week, I decided that even though we could not be around people for fear of spreading our own personal plague, we could have a better kind of sick day.

Thirty minutes later, we were a mile or so up Hwy 1 from Davenport.

There's a reason this is one of my favorite beaches. It was 75 degrees there today. Not a soul in sight.

"Cow deeg!" (Cal dig!)

 I love big bubble wands. After a few minutes of letting the wind blow the bubbles while I sat there, I noticed that the bubbles were floating all the way over that far hill. Wouldn't it be fun to be on the other side, seeing a bunch of jumbo bubbles float randomly over the top? :)

 Cal had his rash guard on, but we weren't planning on swimming today. He just stared at the waves for minutes at a time, totally hypnotized.

 And what's not hypnotizing about this? (Cal took this photo on our camera. He loves to take "peekchas".)

 We found a little eddy a ways down the beach and decided to explore a bit.

 The only footprints on the beach today.

Splashing around in a tiny current flowing out to the ocean.

A few things we thought were interesting:

We had a quick picnic lunch while Cal warmed up from so much splashing. On California's coast, the Pacific Ocean is cold!

 Look at Cal's little red nose.

After that, we packed up our sand toys and drove just down the road to another of my favorite places:

 Swanton Organic U-Pick Berry Farm! 

 (And yes, they really are that red. No color adjustments here! Just Mother Nature.)

 With his green outfit and bright red pail, Cal fit right in with the berries.

 Don't you just want to sink your teeth into those beauties?

Cal was very proud of his harvest. He found the pick surprisingly hard, yelling out "Mama, tuck!" (stuck) every time he tried to pluck a berry off its stem. I'm not sure he got the concept that our produce originally comes attached to a plant...

 Back at the store, we weighed Cal's cache: .35 pounds, not including the bucket. 

 That'll be $1.23, please.

We rounded out our purchase (in a store that is run on a hippie-ish honor code system) with baked goods, and headed to our warm, sandy car to start the drive home.

The coastline makes for good medicine.