We Had A Blast!

The Sheriff, Mr. Pie and I made it home safe and sound from our mini camping trip this weekend at Leadbetter Beach in Santa Barbara!  After making the trek and sitting in traffic for what seemed like FOREVER, we finally arrived and set up camp around 10:30pm on Friday night.  It was pretty windy and there was some crazy homeless man bothering us, so it was pretty interesting setting up the tent.  Ken and I practiced setting up the tent the week before, but it was a total failure cause we did it inside his very small living room and we both chose not to read the directions, thankfully Ken read the instructions and Friday night was a success.  After getting all situated inside the tent we heard the police roll up, Ken yelled at me to turn off the light and we pretended that it was way too dark for them to see us (oh ya, I forgot to mention camping was not allowed on the beach but we threw caution to the wind and camped anyway, total rebels, I know, lol).  Ha, who knows if that actually happened but they never bothered us so we were all good.  Saturday morning we woke up with the the sun and met up with all of our DOCC peeps for the Novice Graduation Day!  All of us returning paddlers got to dress the novice up in some groovy outfits for them to paddle in.  

Novice class of 2013!

Ken and his kiddo playing volleyball!

Awww, a match made in heaven!

After a busy day of playing dress-up, paddling, sunshine, drinking, eating and who knows what else we were beat, we BBQ'ed dinner and were tucked into our tent (sadly no pic of the tent, my phone died) and asleep by 8pm.  Around 11:30 pm the Harbor Patrol came a knocking to our tent and questioned why we were sleeping on the beach, but after a brief explanation they were super cool and let us stay.  We got up bright and early, packed up all of our stuff and headed to the nearest Starbucks for some much needed coffee.  We made it home and declared our first camping trip together a success!

We sooooo needed coffee this morning!

And just for kicks here is the blog post from my novice graduation.......Click here!

Outta Here!

And we are off!  The Sheriff, Mr. Pie & I are headed to Santa Barbara now for the final sprint race of the season and novice graduation.  All of the hotels were booked for this weekend so we are throwing caution to the wind and camping at Leadbetter Beach and yes, we know we are breaking the law since there is no camping allowed there.  Wish us luck that we do not get kicked off the beach or a big fat ticket!

I will keep you posted on our adventures!

OC Fair!

This time every year the Orange County Fair is held at the fairgrounds in Costa Mesa and every year I want to go but never do, so yesterday Ken took his kiddo and I to the fair!  Most of you are gonna laugh when you hear that I have only been to the fair once in my lifetime and that was when I was 16 or 17 years old, my parents were/are not "fair people" so we never went growing up.  I was actually pleasantly surprised when we got there that it was not as shady as I thought it would be, when I think of fairs all I can think of are old rickety rides that break and leave people with missing limbs or kill them (i think I have watched way to many amazing rescue videos).  Anywho, we had a great time, we went on a few rides, played a few games, watched a couple shows, ate bad for you fair food and enjoyed the rodeo at the end of the night.  I took as many pictures as my phone would allow until it died, so no pictures of the rodeo, but I got a lot of others.

Ken's son (I really need to give the kiddo an alias, maybe I will call him "Mr. Pie"because he tells us several times a day that he likes pie, I think it is an annoying 8 yr. old thing, but what can we do, so from now on I will call him "Mr. Pie"), wanted to win a goldfish, you know the kind that if it makes it through the weekend it can officially be called a pet?  Well Mr. Pie won one on his very first toss, thankfully they babysit the fish until you are ready to go home so you do not have to carry it around.  

I wanted to go to the pig races, so at 3pm I dragged everyone over to the race track to watch the piggies, it was a cheesy show, but it was very cute and we all enjoyed it.

Ken and I on the ride that takes you over the fair.

How cool is this, this guy parachuted into the arena before the rodeo with the American Flag attached to him, it was pretty awesome and I may of bossed Ken around and told him to take pictures cause my phone was dead and I so needed a picture of it. Lol!

MMM, funnel cakes, we had to have one before we left.

The ferris wheel was free to ride on, but no thank you, I do not do ferris wheels, way to scary!

We all had a great time, ate some good ole' American fair junk food and enjoyed every minute of it together and I am looking forward to going again next year!

Summer Concert #1 - The Long Run!

Last night was the first summer concert of the year, The Long Run (Eagles Tribute Band) was playing at Central Park in RSM.  This is the first year that I do not have to work the concert series (up until yesterday afternoon there was a good chance I was going to have to work), but the family still wanted to come and enjoy the music, so we came.  This was also the first concert that Kathy, Cole and Mari have been to with us, so that was an added treat!  

I love to spoil these kiddo's, so Otter Pops right before dinner it was!

Oh little Caroline, she has been coming since she was a tiny babe, I think next post should include some pics of her from every year.

The Family, it was so nice to have everyone there!

Oh, Miss Mari!

A little tickle action from Auntie Erin

Self portrait, I do not recommend doing this laying down unless you want up the nose shots.

Dog Pile!

They LOVE each other so much!

There was lots of dancing going on!

We had a great time and we are looking forward to the concert next week!

Children Drown without a Sound - A Harsh Reminder!

This is my yearly rant, yes it is a little late this year but yet it is a necessary one and I will rant on until the end of time if I need too.  This past 4th of July I am sure the majority of you were out celebrating poolside and enjoying the great weather, I know I sure was, I never miss an opportunity too be out by the pool. Well, there was a family in RSM that was enjoying a day at the Beach Club (an awesome fake beach/pool that is tons of fun for families) and within an instance tragedy hit their family; their 3 year old son drowned.  I know kids are quick and they can get away from you in a blink of an eye, but this was such a preventable accident and it makes me crazy that it happened once again.  So once again I am preaching the ABC's of swimming......

A - Adult supervision, this is a must.  Never take your eyes off of your child until you have communicated to another adult that they are now in-charge of watching the child.

B- Barriers!  Fences, nets, whatever you choose, use them!

C- Classes!  CPR, First Aid & Swimming lessons, sign-up today.  Everyone in your family should know how to swim and be well educated in how to handle an emergency.  I am guessing it was no coincidence that our CPR class filled up today after such a bad thing happened down the road from us.

You can read about the accident here and just remember.... 

SAY NO TO ARM FLOATIES!

They are dangerous and should never replace adult supervision.  The provide a false sense of security for both parents and children.  If you have to use a flotation device make sure it is Coast Guard approved. 

Sweet little Caroline is only 2 years old, but has been in survival swim lessons for over a year!

Barriers!! Say "yes" to a fence around your pool!

Gracie's first swim lesson, even the dog had to be taught how to get out of the pool safely.

Cole at 4 months, never to young to start!

What would we do if we lost one of these sweet kids to a drowning?  

Life would NOT go on!

Please feel free to share this blog post with all of your people!!

Have a safe summer!

Best Day EVER!!

Our family received the BEST news ever today and we could not be happier!  

We are sooooo lucky!  

XOXO

Tuesday Chit Chat!

I am going to start this post off by saying I LOVE SUMMER!!!  It is on July 2, but seriously it has been so great so far!  This past weekend DOCC, Ken, his kiddo and I spent Saturday down in San Diego for the Outrigger Iron Champs Race and yep, that is right my coed boat brought home the gold (no pressure when you are steering the boat with your coach and fellow paddlers who have more years of experience combined than you are old) and DOCC brought home the trophy for most points earned in this series of races!  The novice team organized a great potluck with all the fixing's and everyone had a great time.  Ken brought pineapple chunks soaked in rum and vodka (mmm, so good), but lets just make this post a reminder that I do not do vodka and pineapple ever again, there may or may not of been some bowing down to the porcelain god the moment I ran walked into my house (it was not pretty) and I only had one and a half spears of fruit.  I wish I had pictures of the spread, it was really amazing and we are so lucky to have a great bunch of people to spend our weekends with. 

Let's just say we do not travel light, I think the wagon enables us a tad and we bring more stuff than we should, but I am not sure what we should leave behind and the idea of carrying it all is not appealing, so we have the trusty old wagon to schlep all of our stuff around!

This is our set-up each weekend, not a bad way to spend your day!  

I finally took the plunge and bought myself a steering blade (I think it was what got us the first place medal, hehe!).  My friend April was sooooo shocked I bought it she took a picture and posted it on Facebook!  See team, no commitment issues here!  Isn't she pretty? The paddle that is!

My cousin Katie brought her kiddo's down to hang with us at the beach, sadly there were no open parking spots so her husband could not join us.  But I did get to finally meet her new baby Ava, oh how I love me some sweet baby snuggles!

Proof we WON! Way to go team!  We were in the unlimited coed division.

Sunday I headed to the parents house cause my three favorite kiddo's were over there!  I tried to take a picture of these little ladies, but it was not working out so well especially when Mari was trying move Caroline's head to look at me.

Cole, Grammy and I played UNO all afternoon, it was turning into a cut throat game!  I love the fact that Cole is old enough to play card games and that he is good at them, it makes it even more fun.

I have had the joy of being off work this week, I am not gonna lie, I do not miss it all and I have enjoyed doing just about nothing so far!  This has been the scene for the past two mornings, we could not be happier......

I was in desperate need of a haircut, so I took care of that today, holy moly that is a lot of hair!

Much better!  Thank you Carrie McCray for sending me Mandana's way, I love her!

Tonight I have a meeting with DOCC for an upcoming race and then it is date night with the boyfriend!  Hope you are all having a good week so far, it is nice and toasty outside, so stay cool!