Chasing Bluebirds

wanderlust

on a strange house search...










so i am dreaming of crazy modern mountain homes and hard core beach houses. obsessed is all i can say. :)

Good Neighbor Festival (sneak peek Matt's wedding)

I never knew who my local council member was (or even WHAT a local city council member was) until i got involved with saving the wetlands and let me tell you. we have a wonderful representative in our district, she gets some flack of course, but she is spot on for what we need in this neighborhood. she is all for saving ALL of the wetlands, she is pro solar power (she organized a solar power group that tours houses with solar power units) she is pro camp fire (my girls sent her letters and she invited us to start the "duck patrol" as part of the lakes, ponds and wetlands taskforce she created) and finally, she started a "good neighbor festival" that promotes local organizations to get together and have fun. we have come every year since it started and for the last two years i have hosted a table for the wetlands and camp fire.

i got a lot of camp fire alumni with those ceremonial gowns!

always clowning around

(i like these squishy photos from the phone!!) and then sunday was matts wedding... here is a peek and more to follow on that BIG event!

someone didnt get a nap...

more photos later! happy thursday!

summer in full swing

yesterday we spent the day at the beach, here in so cal the beaches are packed on the weekends. most of us go during the week if we go at all, funny how the beach just isn't in the plans most days. for me, i love the beach but i hate the packing of the gear, the sunscreen, the crowds of people, sunburns, the clean up... i just feel lazy about it all. chris had planned a reunion (thanks facebook!) for his elementary school and because of the weekend crowds, had to go at 530am to secure a fire ring. the girls and i arrived about 11am to almost zero parking (people in large campers hog up two or three spots each!) but managed to squeeze into a spot. we did enjoy the waves and lunch over the camp fire but it became evident that the parking lot was full and his classmates weren't going to be able to park. the event was a bust and had to be rescheduled. so what did we do?

 

i would say it worked out well. please forgive my horrid phone photos lately, i haven't had my camera out in months. the quality of this bunch really aren't so hot so i will be packing the camera more often. we will be off to colorado next week, can't wait! :)

living in the moment

impromptu stop at the wetlands hanging on to summer

adventure playground

nature in the oc

rafting, tree house building, mud slide, tire swing...perfection a new dog, oh how lovely she is! (not ours!) concert in the park

summer zooms by

everyone says summer is passing fast, but seriously, i feel like i am in one of those movies with a zillion cameos flashing on the screen as life skips from one thing to the next. even at the cabin, where time slows down some, i felt the rush. i wish i could just wake up to nothing on the schedule, day after day but i guess thats retirement and i am no where near that. besides i dont know how to turn of my ever planning mind, oh well! the garden is in full swing, bursting with tomatoes:

the girls still complain about visiting the garden, but picking veggies and finding bugs still entertains them enough to get some chores done. i am finally able to get emily to try a few new fruits and vegetables (watermelon has been the latest attempt with some success) a kid who doesnt like watermelon??? crazy! as much crap as i ate growing up, fruit was always a treat. i remember eating carrot sticks straight from the fridge, neither of my kids will do that. but i am working on it! a few cabin photos, i am getting lazy with the photo taking. i am thinking of getting a new camera... we took the truck back behind our cabin and drove some of the off road trails. a jeep would be awesome! but a car payment would suck! what to do? since it is fire season again, we had a fix it ticket to clean up around our house. a new address sign was needed so i knocked this out, turned out ok but i know where a to get a great sign! someday. happy tuesday!

beach

i promise i will go to the beach this summer

and put my chunky self in the water even though i hate being in a bathing suit

let summer begin!!!

glad to have a completely errand free day! now if i could just stop my mind from spinning on to new projects, stop it already! happy sunday!

mish mash

a few bags made for the preschool teachers

and a bag made for a future camp fire girl (lizzies group starts soon) a little something from the thrift store (my dad of course) breakfast at a favorite hang out love this hammock, it was just taken up to the cabin but i think we need another here at the beach! lots of tomatoes coming in, couldnt find the juliets this year so i planted some strange ones: pineapple, plum and two different kinds of roma hanging at the skate park, liz was fascinated by it. i see a skateboard in her future, she is such an interesting kid. you never know what your kid will be attracted to, just gotta go with the flow i guess. since i have been facebook obsessed, i thought a little update was in order, i think we are pretty caught up now. happy weekend!

spring camp out

three years and still going strong, the spring camp out is one of my favorite events. we can have tents and families are all welcome... it is casual and a real treat in this urban cement jungle we live in.

we always end spring camp out with a pancake breakfast, good stuff! my new group for lizzie will start up soon, so expect a lot more camp fire coming your way (hope its not too much!) i have been buried in saving the wetlands, planning an upcoming wetlands benefit garage sale and linking up with some other local wetlands groups. i wish i could do this kind of thing full time, so rewarding and actually quite addicting. a real thrill to find new interested people and plan events to get the community involved. maybe a future career? we'll see! oh we just had a pretty big earthquake while i was writing this, big enough to get us all running for tables. i actually thought a bear was tramping over our roof, strange but what can you do? we live in so cal after all!