Mariposa with the Fam

 In my continuous effort to backtrack our memories from this Fall, here are some pics from a weekend trip to meet Travis's parents in Mariposa in early October.  We stayed in the super cute KOA cabins and enjoyed some lovely fall weather and R&R.  We didn't have a busy agenda, just pizza and hanging out, which was just   what we needed.

 We hit up the town park.

 Davey's shirt came off.  I honestly don't know what I would do if Davey's shirt didn't come off on vacation.

 One of Davey's last gap toothed smile pics.  Sigh.  His grown up teeth have come in quite quickly these last few months:(

 Pizza for lunch, our one agenda item.  Check. 

 I loved having an easy agenda after our crazy soccer season.

 We did lots of reading and mad dangerous swinging on the porch.

 We caught it folks.  Payton with her hair down.  Get a good look b/c you won't be seeing that again for awhile.

One final goodbye pic for the road.  It went all too fast, but we definitely enjoyed every minute!

How we roll at Target

This is my new shopping experience at Target.  I drop the kids off at the books and they read quietly while I shop.  I've reached the sweet spot of parenting.

Halloween

I've decided I'm going in reverse in sharing pics on recent events.  I've read that whenever you're behind on something like scrap booking, blogging, etc.  Start from where you're at and work backwards because you'll be more inspired than trying to write on something that happened three years ago.  So true.

The kids tricked me into carving their pumpkins the day before Halloween.  You can read the story on-line at the Record Searchlight.  They're smart kids, their plan worked.

Payton's enthusiasm was infectious.  She kept exclaiming how fun it was to scoop out all the gooey insides.

I even look like I'm having fun.  

Jonah had elected to not go to the pumpkin patch and get his own pumpkin because it "was way too hot" that day.  He was regretting his decision while Davey and Payton were carving theirs.  Here Davey is comforting him.

Payton's friend Claire and her family joined us for trick-o-treating again this year.  Halloween is always more festive with friends.  Jonah is Obi-Wan, again, Davey Optimus Prime, Claire is a Redwall character, and Payton was also supposed to be a hare (not a rabbit people!) from Redwall.  She was not pleased with how her costume was turning out and decided to become the Redwall itself.  Alas, most people thought she was a chimney.  But WE knew she was Redwall.

The great booty exchange post trick-o-treating.  There was a lot of wheelin' and dealin' going on.  Another fun Halloween under our belts!

One tree limb, endless amounts of fun

 We went home to Santa Cruz for a quick weekend to visit my Dad, Vicki, and Andy.  Mum was at a hula convention.  You know how it is.  It was beautiful weather and we spent a lovely afternoon at the beach.  

The kids found a bendy tree limb they could bounce on.  We then had contests who could stay on the longest while Travis bounced it.

 Never to pass on a little competition, I joined in.  The boys kept cheating and pushing me off.  I can't stand cheaters.

 Vicki didn't make it.

 Celebrating a sweet victory.  I outlasted everyone that round.

 Then we had to take 25 pictures of us jumping off the log to get it just right.

 Dad is never one to miss a good time when he sees it.

 How cute are those newlyweds?  

My favorite shot of the day.  Jonah was quite pleased.  We love you Felton, Santa Cruz family.  Until Christmas...

School Days

We took advantage of the beautiful fall weather and walked home from school yesterday.  I got a quiet ten minutes alone on my way to meet the kids, and a lovely recap of their day on the walk back home together.

I keep reading about the importance of having margin in our lives, space to breathe and connect with one another.  I could have just as easily driven to school in my car in less than a minute, gather the kids in, and have us all tumble out into the garage just another minute later.  But then I would've missed the quiet reflection on my walk over and the connection with my kids on the way back.

Margin.

Youth in a bottle

I've always thought I would handle aging well, at least that was my intent, as "aging" was somewhere off in the far future.  I have a TON of gray hair, and I've been rolling with that, I take the edge off with a few highlights, but the gray is still significant.  I'm cool with it.
But then I woke up one day last month and my left hand was COVERED in age spots.  I had the hand of an old woman.  It was like night and day holding it against my right hand.  I was incredulous.  Isn't stuff like this supposed to be a slow transition?  It was such a big change in literally a matter of days.  I assume it was only my left hand b/c of driving and it must get more sun exposure?
Anyhoo, I was very upset.  I wanted to take it in stride, but it was so noticeable.  I'm embarrassed to admit it, but I started trying to hide my hand it looked so bad, to me.  Ridiculous I know.
And then I remembered Total Effects.  I haven't used it in years, but I remember it faded a sun spot I had below my eye.  If it works on your face, then why not the hands?  I didn't get my hopes up too much, but I thought I'd give it a shot...
Sure enough, within a week I had my old hand back.  It looks just like my right hand, a smattering of tiny freckles, but no big age spots to be found anywhere.  I put on Total Effects before I go to bed each night so it will stay on my hands for at least 8-9 hours.  It's my miracle cream.
I am almost always the oldest friend in all my friendship groups, and I feel like I'm forging ahead on my own in this aging process.  But we gotta share what works when we find it.
So if you wake up to old lady hands one day in the future, don't panic as I did.  Just invest in a bottle of Total Effects and give it a week.  Meanwhile, wear sunscreen people!

Link to my Newspaper Column

Hey dudes, I've been wrestling with my blog for the last year and a half since I started writing my Family Life column for my local newspaper.  What energies I have for writing get poured into the column, and my blog has suffered.
I thought maybe I'd link my column each week, but then I never really did it consistently.  I hate being unreliable.

I'd like to get back to posting fun pics, or anecdotes (that might not be appropriate for the newspaper:) here on my blog.  But if you are in the mood for a fuller story on our fam each week.  You may go here each Sunday and find my column.

Otherwise, stay tuned here for pics and tidbits, and I hope to be more reliable!