New Brighton State Beach Camping Trip

My moms group planned another camping adventure to New Brighton State Beach. We loved it last time and decided to come back for tent camping again. We arrived on Friday. After we set up camp we went into Capitola for some pizza. They took forever to make it, but the delicious pizza was worth the wait! We had lots extra and I put it in the cooler in a Ziplock bag. We didn't put the cooler in the Suburban fast enough and the racoons opened our cooler and stole all of our left over pizza! There went my lunch for the next day! Darn!

Saturday morning we headed down to the beach. We lucked out with the weather. It was a perfect beach day! Sun shining and a cool, occasional breeze made for a great time!

Emma loves the ocean! She can't get enough of running and splashing in the waves! Wes looks on as Emma is full of smiles.

Layla runs from the waves right along the side of Emma. Regan takes a look to see when the next big one is rollin' in!


Check out the sea foam! I love the smiles here!

Allison prefers to spend her time at the beach far back from the water. She did go in the waves when we first arrived but a big one got her all wet and that was the end of that!

Emma, Jia and Ava a covered it sand!

Layla and Allison, partners in crime!

To celebrate all the August Birthday Kiddos' birthdays, the kids all played a fun game of Limbo! Emma looked pretty flexible here!

Cute hugs from Emma for Jia!

Back at camp, the girls had so much fun climbing on logs and exploring the forest. They even asked me to create a scavenger hunt for them. What fun! Ava, Emma, Layla and Allison were definitely outnumbered by the boys this weekend!

August 26-28, 2010

A Butterfly Sandwich Party

Allison requested a "butterfly sandwich" birthday party this year. When she first said it, I thought she was crazy! It turned out to be a really cute theme for her 4th birthday!

Decorations for the party were really inexpensive and easy to make. I used the Ellison dye cut machine at school to cut out lots of colorful butterflies to hang from the EZ-Up tents. I also made colorful butterfly houses from tulle for each family because each child took home two caterpillars to watch them change into butterflies.

This year we had the party at Mom and Dad's house. Allison learned to swim with Grandpa Rex this summer while I was at work one day. She now loves it and I thought it would be the perfect place to celebrate. (Thanks, Mom and Dad!) Dad made a welcome sign, complete with butterfly clip art and all, to hang on the door so people would just come on into the back yard.

Allison loved jumping into the water with her friends, sister and cousin. That crazy girl no longer fears the water, thanks to Grandpa!

She loved bobbing up and down in the water.

Camden became her bobbing partner.

More jumps! This time she goes in the deep end with Sydney!

Oh, and how about jumping in with 3 tubes on!

Sydney, Allison, Camden and Danielle give me goggle-smiles!

Lora and the butterfly sandwich princess!

Allison's friend, Nikki. I run with Nikki's mom each week. The girls love to play while we're running and one of stays back to watch the girls.

Emma and Danielley

Allison announced to all her guests, including Auntie Amy, that the butterfly sandwiches were ready!

Uncle Danny and Dad got to hear the announcement too!

The butterfly sandwich bread!

It wouldn't be a complete party without lots of fruit for the butterfly sandwich princess!

Brynn enjoyed her butterfly sandwich.

Allison loves her sami too!

Dad takes Brayden and Jaylen for a ride on the swing. They are his past teaching partner's kids.

Time for the pinata! Of course you can't buy a butterfly sandwich pinata, so I made one. It was a bit funny looking, but it worked! I filled it with Allison's favorite Annie's bunny fruit snacks, markers, glue sticks, crayons, colored pencils, our favorite organic lollipops and a little bit of chocolate. It was a great time of year to purchase school supplies for the pinata!

The kiddos stuffed their pinata goodies into little bug catchers...perfect for a butterfly sandwich party!

Time to sing, "Happy Birthday!" after a family picture pose.

Emma joined the 2nd picture to make the family complete.

All the kids gathered around Allison to sing and enjoy the butterfly birthday cake! Thank you Parents magazine for the fun cake idea!

Allison made a big wish when blowing out those candles!

Present time...all the kids had a chance to sit next to Allison on the butterfly towel when she opened their gift. Layla was first!

I happened to find a Sandwich Game at Miss Millie's Learning Loft when I went in for some school supplies. How perfect can a gift get?!

Allison loves Sydney!

Allison was so excited for the princess nightgown and book from Ella and Adrienne.

It was such a fun party. Allison loved having all of her friends there to swim with her. The sandwiches were super cute and I later learned that everyone had success in watching their caterpillar favors turn into beautiful butterflies! We sent the kids on their way with more special treat...Mom made chocolate covered butterfly shaped pretzels! How fun...and yummy too!

Thanks, Mom and Dad for letting us take over your house for the afternoon!

August 21, 2010

Tri For Fun

A spur of the moment race! Amy asked if I wanted to do the Tri For Fun triathlon at Shadowcliffs in Pleasanton. I checked with Jeff and I was in! Jen joined the fun too! We got up bright and early to head to the race for a 7:00 am start time. We didn't get there early enough though! All the bike racks were full and we had to set up our transition area in the trees and bushes next to all the racks!

In the water and ready to go! Jen was brave to go without a wet suit. I think the water was warm enough, but I like the extra buoyancy of the suit :)

Amy was the first out of the water on the 400 yard swim!

I followed shortly behind her..in the blue cap and shortie wet suit. A super ugly picture of me though!

Jen was next out of the water. That crazy girl hadn't swam laps since the last tri she did last summer!

Amy returned from her 13 mile bike ride around the streets of Livermore and Pleasanton.

I forgot to put the slicks back on my bike, so I had to ride the road race with my mountain bike tires. It was wearing on me! Oh, how I would love a road bike!

Jen was full of smiles after every leg of her triathlon.

Amy and I were done! We finished the 3 mile running leg with a smile. Amy finished in 1 hour 21 minutes. I finished in 1 hour 25 minutes. Jen was right behind us with a great time of 1 hour 38 minutes.

It was a fun race and so glad Amy asked us to join her! When's the next one???

August 21, 2010