Yosemite

The four of us headed out this morning, for Yosemite. It's about 3 1/2 hours from here. We dropped Maya off at doggie daycare first. She wasn't sure she wanted to stay, but she did. It was a crowded day inside the park. We think we'll go back in the fall, when everyone else has gone back home.

I took this picture with my iPhone, with the Hipstamatic app. I feel like Ansel Adams!

We stopped at a lookout of Half Dome, and this bronze model of Half Dome was there. It was pretty cool to see all of the different looks it has, from all different sides. There is a trail that goes all the way to the top.

The boys, with Half Dome in the background. It was kind of overcast, but quite warm-hot actually.

Some tall trees.

This was taken at a scenic overlook called Tunnel View. It was jam-packed with people. I am not even sure how we didn't get any strangers in our pictures-must have been my elbows keeping them at bay. JK. We just had to take fast pictures.

Kevin at the Tunnel View.

That's Bridal Veil Falls, from Tunnel View. I zoomed in on it. Gotta love 12x zoom. I do! Plus, you can go right over people's heads!

It was a very nice day. We spent a lot of time in the car, but we really could not beat the scenery. We want to go for a night or two in the fall, so that we can hike some of the trails.

Maya had a great time at doggie daycare-she got a very good report card. Boy was she happy to see us! She's completely passed out on Kevin's lap right now.

If you want to see the rest of our pictures, CLICK HERE.

Finishing Up Summer

Sadly, our summer is coming to an end. It's such a bummer. I will be fine once the year gets going, but right now, I am dreading it. This week has been all about appointments, and school clothes/supplies shopping. The boys are all set. A few new shirts and some shorts. They both have shoes already that are fine, and I refuse to buy pants right now. It really annoys me that everything in the stores is long sleeves and pants. It's still warm enough to wear shorts until November.

I got some Stella & Dot jewelry for my back to school. I LOVE the long coiled bracelet.

I also got back to school shoes! No, I didn't need new shoes either, but MY feet aren't still growing.

Today was the end of swim classes for the boys. They LOVED them. Both are SWIMMERS now! I was very pleased with this swim club. They were awesome at teaching arm strokes. After swim, we headed out to see the optometrist. Riley failed his vision test at the doctor's office. He is nearsighted (like me), and so he's getting glasses. We picked out some very stylish black frames. He looks really good in them. He's excited to wear them too. Now all four of us wear glasses. We pick them up September 2, so stay tuned for pictures.

Cyndi Lauper Flop

Kevin and I headed back to the Mountain Winery to see Cyndi Lauper, last night.


It's such a beautiful view.


The concert was horrible. Just horrible. I really, really like Cyndi Lauper, even when she was a nutcase on the Apprentice, but this show sucked. She has a new album, a blues album. I get that. I knew she would play stuff from it. I didn't count on 90 minutes of blues, and really long stories and song intros. When people in the front began screaming out for Girls Just Want To Have Fun, she got really cranky. She said it was HER time to have fun. Alrighty then. She went out for an encore, and came back and sang Change of Heart (but she seemed pissed off to sing it). Then she sang Girls Just Wanna Have Fun. Kevin and I headed out at this time, sure that was the last song. She did sing Time After Time after that, and I believe one other song to end the show. She only played four of her hit songs! Four. I was really disappointed. I think a lot of people were. I expected her to play the new stuff, with old stuff mixed in. You know, like every other band does! The word diva comes to mind. She really can sing though, and she is passionate about blues. I guess I lack that passion.


Oh well. It was a date for us, and the views were beautiful, COLD, but beautiful.


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Manic Monday

I picked up my classroom keys today. I thought about it and thought about it, and decided to just go and get them. I didn't plan on going until next week to do anything about my classroom, but I may have changed my mind, after seeing my classroom.

Oh look! Some low life scum torched our play structure...

BOTH of them. See that blue thing? That USED to be a twisty slide. There used to be a green, double slide on the other structure. It's really annoying, and who knows how long it will sit like this before it gets replaced? I doubt we'll have a new one by the start of school, and that's just horrible for the kids.

This is the reason I may have to work in my classroom sooner than expected. Was there a poltergeist here? How am I going to get all of those desks off my desk? I especially like the hula hoop bag at the very top.

Oh look, more desks up high. I have never returned to school with my furniture this way. My crap is all over the place. It does not make me happy.

This makes me happy though. Quinn and I got ice cream while we waited for Riley to finish his Scout meeting. Quinn actually had two scoops!

I am still madly cleaning things out around here. Working on Quinn's room. He got a new shelf. I actually bought this for my classroom, but it's too tall, so I swapped it for Quinn's lower shelf. See those blue baskets on the bottom shelves? Those were the BIGGEST pain in the ass to build. I uttered all kinds of colorful words trying to put those damn things together. I got it though. I won.

Muir Beach and Sausalito

We were going to do a day trip to Yosemite today, but then we remembered the dog. We can't really leave her for that long. It's a 3+ drive there and back, plus the time we would spend there. We think we'll drop her off at doggie daycare next weekend, and go then. Instead, we slept late, and then headed out for Muir Woods, in Mill Valley, after lunch. We got there, but there was NO place to park. Today was a "free" day, so everyone and their uncle, was there. We kept going, and ended up at Muir Beach instead. It was beautiful. A little chilly, but really clear.

Muir Beach.

What a great catch! We didn't catch this fish. It was washed up on the beach. It was HUGE. It was also missing its eyeballs. Ew.

I just love big rocks in the ocean.

Riley, throwing rocks.

Quinn, running from the cold water. For those of you that don't know, the Pacific Ocean is very cold-at least it is here in CA. Hawaii is another story, but here, it's COLD. 56 degrees or so. COLD.

Posing for a picture in a little stream.

When we left Muir Beach, we were headed toward San Francisco, and decided to stop in Sausalito. There were TONS of European tourists. It was crowded, but it was such a beautiful day, and so clear! There are spectacular views of SF. We had ice cream while we were there, too!

Aren't these boys cute?

We passed a guy who was balancing rocks. Can you see how they are balanced? Really cool.

Quinn gave the man a tip, and the he got to practice balancing rocks with the rock man.

If you want to see the rest of our pictures, CLICK HERE.

Ice Cream!

We finally made a trip to Fentons Creamery. Fentons has been in business for 115 years! They are famous for their ice cream. Fentons was the inspiration for the ice cream parlor in UP!


This Fentons is in Oakland, although I think it's technically in Piedmont, CA.


Riley had chocolate peanut butter crunch, on a cone.


Quinn had cookie dough, on a cone.


Kevin had mud pie.


I had a small chocolate peanut butter crunch sundae, with jersey topping.

We had dinner too, but the ice cream was the highlight.

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Cleaning Spree

I am on a cleaning spree roll! I am going through every room in my house, cleaning out closets and drawers. I've done my room and bathroom so far. Yesterday I did Riley's room (OH what a mess that was!) I started out in Quinn's room, but I lost some of my cleaning mojo. I was distracted with Facebook and my virtual worlds on my phone. I've also had a headache all day. I am going to get in there and finish his room tomorrow. I am saving our office for last of all.

Riley's super clean, dusted and vacuumed room. I didn't take a picture of the before, and I really should have. You would not believe the mess. This boy does not believe in a garbage can either.

Everything is in its place. I am going to bother him every day to keep his room clean.

His desk area. I think I will make an Ikea run for a desk lamp. Riley's room is the darkest in the house. It's an inside room, with a small window that looks out into the backyard.

Oh, and before the next picture, I must confess that I had one major distraction today, for just about two hours...

BABIES! I got to play with babies! A Friend had TWINS! That's Lydia and Finn, born July 31. Aren't they so cute???? Who can blame this kind of distraction? I'll take babies over cleaning any old day. I got to hold both of them. It's so strange to me how you can forget how tiny we all start out. It seems forever ago that mine were this size, and now they are giant.