Happy Birthday Ben

Happy 8th Birthday Ben.

His enthusiasm for his birthday was contagious, as he's been planning his day for quite some time, clearly informing certain family members which Lego sets he wants, giving us a detailed menu list (pancakes with extra bacon and pepperoni pizza) and generally bouncing up and down with glee in anticipation.  He woke up at 5:40am this morning unable to contain his excitement and was bouncing on the sidewalk in his underwear waiting for me to return from the gym at 7:15 so he could open his presents.  He was delighted at the treasure hunt Dan created for him with clues to find his new remote control car.  At the dinner table he happily told us his favorite thing was, "the whole day" (as you're only allowed to use that line on birthdays and Christmas) and he finished the day with a skinny dip in Nana's pool, some chocolate cake and some chapters of Harry Potter with Dan on the couch.  Life is pretty fabulous at 8.

A few photos from his small birthday party on Sunday.

Kiwi friends, be proud, the institution of fairy bread and pass the parcel is going strong in our family.

Tree Top Adventure

We went camping, which I'll add some photos of later (maybe), and on our way home we stopped in Tahoe.  Auntie Megan decided that for Ben's birthday she wanted to give him an activity, not a materialistic item, so she sent us off to the Granlibakken Adventure Camp, "Treetop Adventure Parks and Ropes."  Let's just say they had a blast....  Thanks Megan, Dan is very jealous he didn't get to join the fun, so I'm thinking this may not be our last time to the ropes course.  

And since I didn't want to upload all the photos and videos separately, here's a video of some of the fun.

Camping at Lakes Basin

A few photos from camping last week at Lakes Basin campground outside of Bassets.  The boys went for a great hike on Thursday morning up to Long Lake and Friday morning we spent some time at Gold Lake paddling around and fishing.  It was great to dust off the vintage camping trailer and be out of cell phone range for 24 hours!  

Sydney & Skyler's Wedding

Congrats to Sydney & Skyler for a beautiful wedding.  (Love the venue, chuckle chuckle, thanks Mom for offering up your yard to these love birds).  

Gingerbread Kiwis

So the boys and I decided to make gingerbread cookies the other morning, something we used to do in New Zealand a bit, but not so much in California.  In a nod to our Kiwi days we made gingerbread Kiwis, with a special New Zealand shaped cookie with a blue m&m in the spot of Wanaka.  My bakers were excellent helpers, even if it meant licking the spoon and trying to spill as much brown sugar and molasses as possible.  For a visit down memory lane click here for a very similar post of Ben making these same cookies 3 years ago.

Southern California tour

So we went on a tour of Southern California to celebrate life.  The first pit stop with a quick visit with Peg at the Gardens, then over to Arcadia to toast our friend Noah on his recent marriage to Sarah.  (They eloped to Hawaii, but threw a fabulous backyard bash to celebrate with friends and family).  Any party that has In 'N Out catering is a winner in my book.

And then we traveled farther south to honor the life of Gramps with a delightful service in the courtyard at his house.  I feel like Gramps lived a full and meaningful life, so was honored to be able to spend some time with family.  My favorite quote of the weekend was Ici's comment about how much it meant to her and her family to have Gramps and Liz's support when her dad died and how she can just imagine the two of them causing some serious trouble up there in heaven together.  The photo from above is from the La Jolla Beach & Tennis Club where we grabbed some lunch before the service.  Might as well soak up the Southern California living while you can right?

And lastly, our celebration of life took a detour to the San Diego Zoo.  Yes, I'm sure there are plenty of you who would say that animals in captivity is not a celebration of life, but... we'll skip that debate and say that the boys enjoyed the opportunity to see the animals up close. 

School Work

The many faces of doing school work...  I think it's fun to capture the boys deep in thought.  Ben got so excited yesterday when his math book had the following problem.  "Mom, you're going to love this problem!"

"June has 36 fancy stamps used to decorate greeting cards.  If she uses four different stamps for each card, how many cards can she make?"