Joseph and Orrin's BMX Birthday Party

After a year break of no parties. We decided to have a combined birthday party for Orrin and Joseph at a BMX rack track. Each invited equal numbers of friends. The weather was nice and cool that morning . . . just perfect.

This is the ultimate boys activity. They were having a blast! It took several runs around the course until some were daring enough to try and jump their bikes on the hills.

Joseph got some air here coming off the hill.

Orrin finally got some air on this jump.

Amara was a rose among thorns. She was very daring and enjoyed racing the course with the boys.

Orrin wiped out on this hill, just as Zach Julien got some great air! This is the best action shot I took.

Christian even enjoyed the BMX course. He got a tiny bit of air here in this picture. It is hard work to make the jumps.

The kids took breaks in between to guzzle water and eat snacks.

Orrin's taking a rest, but not for long. He was right back to riding in a matter of mintues.

More resting and eating.

The boys (and Amara) had a great time riding the course for 2 hours and we ended it all with watermelon and ice cream cupcakes (from Costco--yummo!).

I was an unforgettable party. My only regret was that I should have tried the BMX course. I just wasn't in the mood at the time. Darn it! Have I turned into a lame mother, already?

Joseph's George Washington Presentation

Joseph gave an oral presentation on George Washington at school. He looked great! I sewed his white mop hair and added some of Christian's medals to a borrowed cadet jacket. He wore his baseball pants, my blouse, and my boots. Doesn't he look great?

Memorial Day

We continued our San Diego tradition to spend Memorial Day at Fort Roscrans Cemetery at Point Loma.

The east side of the cemetery overlooks the bay and the city of San Diego. The west side overlooks the Pacific. We enjoyed watching all the sailboats out on the water.

This is the gorgeous view of San Diego Bay from the cemetery. It is a nice place to be buried, for sure . . . at least nice for your family who comes to visit your grave. The cemetery is full, though, and only cremated remains of active duty can be placed here now, if you are on the waiting list.


Amara, Joseph, and Orrin love to climb the trees at the cemetery. They have all grown into truly great climbing trees with the well-fertilized soil from all the decomposition . . . I assume.

Seeing all the graves, line with American flags, is a solemn sight to see. We like to walk around and read the graves and find out the branch of service, the wars each one fought it, and medals achieved. We always try to find the oldest serviceman and the oldest war. I think the one we found was born in 1880 and fought in the Spanish-American War, as well as WWI.

Our kids love running up and down the isles of tombstones.

They also enjoy doing acrobatics and summersaults down the isles.

After all that fun, I think I'll take a little rest . . .

Memorial Day at Cabrillo National Monument

After the cemetery, we finally decided to visit Cabrillo National Monument. This was our first time, even though we had seen it there, year after year. We waited too long, because we had a fantastic time at the tidepools.


The kids enjoyed searching for crabs and trying to catch the small ones.


Joseph finally caught one.

There were a lot of crabs in the shadowy crevices of the rocks, but they were quick and good at hiding.

It was a breezy and slightly chilly day (high 60s to low 70s), but usual for this time of year near the coast.

The kids had fun exploring every crevice and tide pool.

We also found blue sea anemones. They would suction to your finger if you touched the center.


The kids also had fun playing chicken with the waves breaking on the rocks.

My Family in Clay

Here is my family . . . in clay. I was practicing for teaching an art project to Joseph's 5th grade class. I have been their art teacher (volunteer) all year. This is our last and messiest project. I practiced by teaching Joseph how to do it at home. I learned quickly that trying to have him make more than one child was too difficult, so here is his finished product:

End of Baseball Season

Orrin catching for the Minor B Giants. Escondido National Little League.

Orrin pitching for the Minor B Giants.

Orrin did very well at pitching and had quite a few strikes.

Joseph pitching for the Minor A Dodgers. Escondido National Little League.

Joseph has become a much better pitcher than last year.

Backyard Waterpark

We just love turning our backyard into our own personal waterpark. Our slide is extra slick and the slip-n-slide works great at the bottom on the grass. This makes for hours and hours of fun.

Here goes Amara.
Splash! Zoom!
And she finally makes it to the end. The kids made a contest out of it to see who could make it to the blue semi-circle the most times. Of course, Amara won.

Orrin is our dare-devil. He had to try going head-first. You can't do this at a real waterpark!
Next, he tried sliding down on his knees.

Not to be outdone, Joseph had to try an even more dangerous move: head-first AND backwards.
I was thinking Aleya would be too scared to try . . . but NO! She loved going down the slide . . . all the way to the end . . .over and over and over.