Pismo Beach, CA--Sun, Sand and Fun!

Here are some highlights of the trip to Pismo.

Finding decorations for our yet-to-be-made sand castle with
Mom and Great-Grandma. Mom also found a shirt.

Flying Squeeky.

Enjoying a chocolate covered treat (a marshmallow, maybe)
on the boardwalk.

Creating a magnificent sand castle using the decorations
from the beach. Which Zachy later destroyed.

Oh, so much sand.
But super cool shades!

Fun at the Fair--better late than never!

Ok, so the Evergreen State Fair ended almost a month ago. It's been busy. Now it's not so much so let's share some summer fun (when we actually had some summer). Hope you enjoy the memories with us!

I think somebody is getting a little too big to ride the pedal tractors at the fair.

This ride looks a little bit more her size. Too bad it went too fast and the camera went too slow for a better shot.

Really, it's the only reason to go to the fair.

Checking out the new digs for the dogs, chickens, rabbits and cavies (aka guinea pigs). A lot fancier than when Mom and Auntie were exhibitors at the fair.

This probably would have been more fun if she was heavy enough to get a good bounce going.

Oh, and here are some of the animals we saw:

A baby Highland cattle.

Mom pig and her 11-day-old babies.

Four very cute baby llamas (or alpacas).

Morel hunting

Zachy just loves pulling the Morels out of the ground and putting them in the bag!  His favorite ones are the big, big, big ones!
He gets creative with them too.  He put one on the end of a stick and called it a marshmallow, putting them on his fingers is fun too.  Something about the hole in the stem...
But really Zachy's favorite part of mushrooming is having his own whistle to blow.

Horses horses!

Elena is collecting Breyer horses now.  She has 15!  This is more than Auntie has and she is very proud of that.

Gardening season commences, finally!

After rain, rain, rain, rain and some more rain it was finally sunny and warm enough (for one day, so far) to get the tomato starts from Grandpa and plant them in their comfy little beds.
Gently, gently Elena removed them from their baby beds and planted them where all grown-up tomatoes need to be to spread their roots and make juicy, juicy fruits.

And, of course, there was the planting audience of Rainey "guarding" the chicks (l-r; Phantom, Black Ghost (under Phantom), Butter and Caramel).

Elena also decided to see if Whitto really will eat anything placed in front of him. I'm pretty sure the photographic evidence of a weed in his mouth is all we need to confirm that theory.

Elena@7!

Elena got a birthday surprise when she woke up - her room was full of balloons and streamers!  She has a busy day today - celebration of life with raspberries and strawberries at school, treats with her dance classmates, birthday dinner of nachos, and a dessert date with Mom and Dad to Coldstone Creamery.
HAPPY 7TH BIRTHDAY ELENA!!!

Plants vs. Zombies on XBox

Both kids just love this game!  We finally got the full version of the game thanks to funds received from the Easter Bunny.

Easter egg experiment

This year we tried making our own egg dye by boiling food items in water and vinegar.  We used blueberries, blackberries, red hots, sweet tarts, jellybeans, starburst, Tumeric, and kool-aid.  It was a fun experiment but very time consuming since each item had to boil separately and the color was weak so the eggs had to sit in the dye longer.  We also used different colored eggs - white, brown, and one of BoPeep's green eggs!

Checkerboard math

Elena loves math at school!  In the picture she is solving the problem 126,789x4.  Using the materials she solved it - 507,156.

Outdoor Adventure

Butter, Caramel, Phantom, and Black Ghost are growing up so fast!  They got their first taste of the great outdoors today thanks to the sun.  Elena and Rainey made sure they stayed safe in their pen.

A history of human shelter

Elena's class had a presentation fair on the history of humans.  Subjects included religion, clothing, nutrition, and defense.  So much information and very impressive displays.  Great job on your prehistoric shelter model and fancy labels Elena!  We are so proud of you!

Brave Elena

Elena was hard at work clearing the land so we could put up a large fenced area for the chickens to live a little more safely from predators.

When we got to the bottom of the wood we were moving we were surprised by two inhabitants of the dark, wet pile.

Elena was very brave and picked them both up and moved them to a new hiding place under the shed.




And her chickens got a beautiful new place to roam.

Jazz hands!

Elena loves jazz and will patiently dance the ballet portion of class until the switch over.  She loves the music, the moves, and it is super exciting because it's new!  Who wants to see her recital in June?

Hula girl!

Should hooping be allowed in the house?  With our new exercise hoops Elena can endlessly hoop like a pro.  And without worry of putting a dent in it!

Bo Peep is my best friend!

We made a new chicken pen today - 29'x24' of scratching heaven.  Right now it's just Bo Peep and RC inhabiting the poultry pad, but in 2 months it will also be the home of Butter, Caramel, Phantom, and Black Ghost.  Elena loves spending time with chickies of all ages!

Going out with a bang

Grandma had a lot of snow at her house and we didn’t get any at our house.  Her snow was lots of fun for sledding and making snow angels. The snow wasn’t so good for making snowballs or snowmen.  Mommy and Aunt Kiki helped Aubrie and I shovel the snow into a big pile to form into a snowman.  He has a bucket hat, carrot nose, and skis. The four of us also made a tunnel.  It was really fun when Aunt Kiki pulled me and Aubrie through it on the sled! Aubrie shared her Rudolph blanket with me when we watched movies.  I also liked playing dominoes with Grandma, Mommy, and Aunt Kiki. It was super cold outside even with the fire, so we make s’mores inside.  I love marshmallows!Everyone got s’mores and super sticky.

Happy New Year!

Love, Elena

Merry Christmas!

Winter break means staying in your pajamas all day!  And having popcorn for lunch :-)The Band Hero box was a great bed for story time.  Reading Christmas stories of course! Elena carefully laid out cookies and milk for Santa and carrots for his reindeer.  Up early on Christmas morning.  Elena’s stocking was full of stuffed animals Santa said she could have back (including Pinkie), candy, and Littlest Pet Shop animals.Dressed in holiday clothes and ready to open presents!  Let’s get the party started!  The present from Santa is always the most exciting…  Did he bring what I asked for? Not quite…  It is a Disney Prince, but not Aladdin.  It is Prince Naveen from the Princess and the Frog.  Elena already has two Tiana dolls, so she’s very happy to have Tiana’s prince.  Great movie by the way, Elena can’t wait to own it! This will forever be known as the Christmas of Barbie and Barbie clothes.  Not only did Elena get numerous new Barbies and Barbie clothes, but all the Barbie items that were in time-out were returned back to her per Santa’s instructions.  Time to reorganize the bedroom to make room for Barbie!Elena’s Barbies fully dressed and lined up to party. Merry Christmas everyone!