I couldn't pick just one. Allie 7 years 2 months

First day!

Because I'm a sucker

The kids all start school on Wednesday and I know our lives will go from leisurely mornings and "what should we do today" to racing to school, sports and various activities. I've spent the last few weeks trying to accommodate summer bucket-list punchlists. Today we went bouldering.  It was mostly a hot mess after an hour and of course everyone wanted to go in a different direction but hey, we tried. And hopefully they had enough fun to make it worth Peter missing a Mariners game. 

The countdown is on

Less than a week until summer and we are making the most of it. 

2016-2017

I cannot believe that summer is winding down. Wednesday the kids start school again. (Small happy dance) We recreated our annual tradition of a rainbow-colored quiz about "favorites". 

The kids wanted the water in the background but it's a bit dark so we took them again today. 

What a difference a year makes!

Stone wants to also point out that he's lots a lot of teeth. 

I'd also like to point out that allie's memory of Mexico is actually San Diego. 

San Diego...by phone

On our first full day we went to the San Diego Safari Park. We missed all of Africa but managed to log many miles and see tons of critters. 

Everywhere we turned there was an opportunity to spend money. 

The kids loved feeding the birds. 

Peter, Maddie and Dante went for a valor ride. stone and Allie preferred to keep their feet on the ground. 

After that all of the kids wanted to do the ropes course. Unfortunately Allie didn't have close-toed shoes so she couldn't go. 

Instead we went to the petting zoo

And bought an all day pass for the carousel. And we didn't get off for what seemed to be at least an hour. 

The kids loved Mission Beach. It's wide open with small waves. We had intended to rent boogie boards but the waves were a wee bit too big for me to feel comfortable with four novices out in the ocean. 

Instead we went and explored some more. 

And followed it up with more hotel pool time.