Summer days! Ahhh! It was long awaited around here! And it has been full of fun! Here's a quick recap so I can feel up-to-date and ready to post on Japan! We leave next week on our international adventure with some of our favorites who are featured in some of these photos since they've been here in CA for a few weeks now!
But before the Sauder clan arrived...
We found a beach playground!
Jonathan had some business a few hours away where there happen to be some gorgeous beaches! So Eddie and I tagged along and amused ourselves until Jonathan was done. We spent the following day exploring Santa Barbara, a first for me. It met expectation, I'll say that. It was lovely, beautiful, a bit crowded and certainly worth seeing!
We met up with friends!
This park play date with a moms group friend of mine and her son was the first time I saw Eddie really interact with a playmate instead of just playing along side them. These two had a blast, copying each other, jabbering back and forth, and it warmed our mother hearts!
We cooked yummy new foods!
I've started this new thing with a few long distance friends: Tuesday Aprontastique! (yes, that's apron-fantastic-in-French). We all meet up on Google Hangout to cook dinner together across several time zones. We catch up, get to try a new dish on our families, and get to glimpse a window into each other's lives. It's a blast! We always text photos of the completed meal just for fun!
More new food!
JPL had a heritage fair full of food booths from around the world. As with any JPL event, it was packed! But fun!
First skinned knee!
He
proceeded to repeat this event several times in just a few days!
Something tells me he's developing some speed! And trust me, it's not
all smiles when he goes down!
"Tea, a drink with jam and bread..."
When
these folks got to town, we kicked off their first weekend here by
going to the Sound of Music Sing-A-Long at the Hollywood Bowl. It was
AMAZING! Basically, we watched the movie on a gigantic screen with a
whole host of other Sound of Music fans, and every time a song began,
the words popped up on the screen karaoke style and everyone joined in!
People dressed up (hence, our curtain-fabric kerchiefs), we brought
props for different parts of the movie (tea with jam and bread, pink
lemonade, etc.), it was a blast!
We've done quite a bit of beach time!
He's pretty precious!
Agua!
(one of his favorite new words)
Fireworks were a bit more frightening this year.
Eddie would bury his head in my shoulder and spent the first few minutes shuddering. Then he'd do this funny thing where he'd frantically lunge for Dad, then Grammy, then on down the line, then back to me, probably looking for someone who'd take him away from the loud booms and bright lights!
Eddie LOVES the beach!
He could play in the sand all day, and he likes the waves, but has a healthy fear of the cold water (which I don't mind!).
Our big project a few weekends back--cleaning out the garage and patio!
Thanks to some great helpers/babysitters, by evening we were celebrating with our inaugural patio dinner!
Jonathan and I even made it away for a few days, just us!
We relived our honeymoon by setting off down the Pacific Coast highway in our little convertible--this time we went south, though, and stayed just a few hours away in San Diego. It was a treat to have so much "us" time after the past few months of craziness as we bought and fixed up our house! And I was happy knowing our little guy was in good hands while we were away, and he might be missing us, but mostly was soaking up some spoiling!
After our trip, we made it back into town just in time for a work event Jonathan was invited to--an evening concert at the LA Arboretum. The show was a lot of fun: a great group of guys impersonating the Beatles performed along with a full orchestra!
This isn't from the show we were at, but it was very similar!
And this past weekend...
We celebrated a very special Grammy's birthday!
Our Huntington picnic was rained out (in drought-stricken California, I know, go figure), but we had a wonderful party inside complete with fancy cake, which was delicious!
Overall, this summer has surpassed all the high hopes for good times! It's been one to remember! And as Mr. Whitaker would say, "The Best is Yet to Come!" Stay tuned for a recounting of our Japan trip!
