tales from a far-land

Before the kids returned back to school, Josh and I wanted to have one last mini-vacation with them at the beach.  So, after we left Laguna Woods, we drove to Newport Beach and stayed at a vacation rental on the beach.  It was super small, but worked perfectly for us as we only stayed two days.  As a bonus, the family, the Hadleys, who was staying next door to us in the adjacent vacation rental, were the best.  They had three boys in about the same age group as our kids.  Aiden and the middle boy instantly hit it off and started trading Pokemon cards.  Madi and the oldest boy enjoyed boogie boarding in the ocean and *may* have had little crushes on each other.  Josh and I really enjoyed Tom and Stacia's lively conversation and company.  Enough so that we spent lunch and dinner together on Monday.  We have discovered that our family really enjoys the beach.  There is something about the ocean air, the cooler temperatures, your toes in...

We spent the last weekend of July in Laguna Woods visiting with Selma (GG) and Stan (GP).  Sadly, Stan had been diagnosed with stage four prostate cancer and was ailing pretty quickly.  So, the entire Price side of the family decided to make a final joint visit to see him. Sadly, with our summer camp schedule, we were not able to leave for Laguna until around five o'clock on Friday, thus arriving in Laguna Woods very late that evening.  But we were able to spend all Saturday with family eating, reminiscing, drinking beer by the Ayers Hotel pool, and laughing.  Madilyn even presented GP with her cake that she brought from home as a gift in honor of him.  Knowing that this may be the last time the entire Price side of the family would be with Stan was very difficult, but we are so glad that we were all able to do it. GG with Aiden and Madi The whole family GP with the great-grandkids GP with the grandkids and great-grandkids Stan with his daught...

Finding ways to keep the kids busy and happy in the summer can sometimes be a challenge.  So, this summer, we tried some different camps to change things up a bit.  For one of the weeks of summer, they attended Sunray's Super Camp.  At this camp, they taught the kids a multitude of things.  Everything from gymnastics, dance, yoga, different sports and allowed them to navigate their way through the Ninja Zone.  The kids really enjoyed this camp.  We may have to keep this one in rotation next year. The kids demonstrating everything that they learned For one of the other weeks of summer, we enrolled Madilyn in a Junior Bake Camp.  She absolutely loved it!  The entire week was full of baking and decorating lessons.  The culmination of the week resulted in Madilyn designing, baking and decorating her very own cake.  She made a red velvet, two tiered cake decorated with hearts and sprinkles.  She was so proud of her accomplish...

This year, our original 4th of July plans were derailed when Harley went missing on the Tuesday Josh and the kids were leaving to join me in San Diego.  We had planned enjoy the holiday week at a resort right on the beach in San Diego.  However, those plans changed.  Luckily, we did find our dog, but not after a three plus hour search for him.  To his credit, he couldn't come home because he was trapped in one of our neighbor's yard after chasing some sort of animal, we are guessing, into it.  What a racket! Luckily, we were able to spend the 3rd of July with the Raetz family.  We swam, played Pinochle, enjoyed unhealthy snacks, and ended the evening watching the MVCC fireworks show from our front patio.  It was a great way to celebrate the holiday after all of the craziness that we had experienced in the past week. Kids Swimming in the Pool The girls The boys Josh fashionably playing Pinochle Paige and I We enjoyed a ...