A Whole Decade

WE MADE IT! Yup. We did it. Ten years. Why did I begin this post like this? For all the haters. When Tyler and I got engaged and right on up to our wedding day and even into the early years of our marriage we were bombarded by friends and family who claimed we would never make it to ten years. Well?? I'm going to take the time to immaturely state -- HA HA HA.

Okay, immaturity aside -- ten years of marriage is a pretty awesome milestone. And it's been quite a ride. I think Tyler would agree that when we got married we had no idea what we were getting ourselves in to. But I think he would equally agree that knowing really doesn't matter and our decade of life together has been the sweetest and most wonderful. Although truthfully I thought that at ten years I'd have this whole marriage thing figured out but I'm slowly understanding that the nature of relationships change so much that there is no way anyone could possibly have it figured out. The trick to a successful marriage? Rolling with the punches. Not forgetting love. Kissing. Dating.

Deciding to spend the rest of my life and beyond with Tyler was a pretty great decision.

Last Day of School!!

I can't believe it's the last day of school! Max is so ready to be done and have some fun for the summer. I'm a little less excited only because the kids are now at that fun age where bickering and arguing and teasing have commenced. I have to admit, though, that it will be nice to not have to rush out the door every morning! Max is definitely NOT a morning person and getting him up and ready for school can be a challenge. This does not mean that he will be sleeping in during the summer, though. My guess is he'll be up and down with the sun.

Of course I had to take a few photos on the morning of his last day! He's wearing his all time favorite shirt.

And then the comparison -- first day of school and last day of school. You can not deny how much he's changed! You can even tell his little legs grew. And those shorts from the first day of school? He's FINALLY grown out of them (we've had them for 3 years)! Max has made some huge leaps this year, including becoming a pretty awesome reader. We absolutely loved his teacher, Mrs. Champlin, and are sad to say goodbye. Luckily we're already setting up playdates with his friends for the summer!

So long first grade! Hello second grade!

We picked Max up from school and handed him a giant cupcake to celebrate. He complained about the frosting but was generally grateful for it. Lia and I had also picked out a few small gifts for him, too, to help him get excited for summer -- bubbles, new comfy shorts and a new Hero Factory.

We then packed up and headed to Moonlight Beach for some fun in the sun. It was pretty perfect down there, although packed with people. We saw the lifeguards do a few rescues, too, thanks to the strong current dragging people out to sea.

We wrapped up the day with our usual Friday night pizza and movie family night. We started this a few weeks ago and we are all loving it. We've been watching classics -- "The Absent Minded Professor", "The Shaggy Dog" and tonight it was "Follow me, boys!" Lots of Fred MacMurray classics!

Such a nice family day to help us kick off summer! 

Ice Cream Social and Assembly

On the second to last day of school Max had a little patriotic assembly and an ice cream social. They all wore these adorable patriotic hats that they made and sang cute songs. Seriously, watching my kid sing songs in assemblies at school is one of the best thing about being a parent.

(He's the one in the middle on the stage with the superman shirt).

Final Stretch!

We are truly in the final countdown until summer officially starts around here! Max has two more days of school left and then he's free! He is very very ready to be done with school for a bit. I can't believe I'll have a second grader!

To help cure the still-in-school blues we let the kids ride their bikes around the cul-de-sac until someone just couldn't bounce back from a knee scrape. I brought the big camera out for these. I've been slacking big time on using it on my own family and I really need to remedy that. So this is me trying!

Pre-Father's Day Beach Walk

Since Father's Day falls on a Sunday we decided to have some family fun on Saturday to celebrate. We, of course, hit up VGs for breakfast and then headed over to Cardiff beach.

It was low tide which always makes for a great walk, but this time we got to go under the railroad tracks and explore. The kids had a blast.

Apparently it was sand crab hatching day. There were thousands of holes in the sand and tons of tiny crabs playing dead. The kids had fun disturbing them.

The estuary was really low and the water was really clear. You could see the rippled sand underneath, it was so pretty! The kids had fun wading across to the other side, too.

We found a big shell with something very large, alive and squishy up inside it. We found another similar shell that was empty. We left both of them there.

We walked underneath the train tracks and behind and down the estuary to explore. I've never been back there before and it was pretty fun. Max asked Tyler to teach him how to skip rocks.

The rest of the day we spent lots of time together, something we tend to take for granted when Tyler is around. Pretty soon he'll be starting his intern year and his first month is the night shift. Definitely not looking forward to it. We're blessed with one awesome dad though.

Racing! And 30 is old!

Tyler and I have had a Groupon for K1 Racing for over a year now and finally got to use it! We were excited to get to use our helmets again (we haven't had the chance since the scooter died a while ago) and to get our race on! Little did I know that eating a large meal and then trying to drive a go-kart around a lot of hairpin turns would make me almost throw up all over the race track. Plus, I injured my shoulder and a lot of the turns had a hard pull to the right and I was just dying. I came in dead last and was probably passed by everyone about 20 times. I was SO done.

Tyler went for one more, though! He's the blur! Regardless of me just being old and lame now, I was glad to get some alone time with him before he starts his intern year.

Random iPhone Photos

Just a few snaps from our everyday.

She said "Look, I'm grandma with the white hair," in a cranky old lady voice. She also licked her lips and said, "give me a wet kiss!" I'm not sure if she was channeling my grandmother or Aunt Mary.

How legit (and cute) does this guy look in his long white coat?