Practicing new skills and a trip to a farm

The boys took a nunchucks workshop at Kuk Swool Won yesterday and wanted to practice their new skills and had fun playing with the new iphone app Hyperlapse.

And we also went on a field trip to Food Love Project, click here to see more photos.

Congrats Sus and Christian

Have you seen these two goofballs?  Here I am trying to get a nice photo of the two of them at Sus and Christian's wedding and it's all fun and games.  Well at least they're having fun.  It was a beautiful reception at the Harmony Ridge Resort here in Nevada City, congrats to to the newlyweds.

Welcome Nora

We are all over joyed to welcome the little Nora Eva Abrams to the family, congratulations Megan & Dan.  We're confident the little one will be tearing it up on the ski hill before long, but in the mean time enjoy these precious early days.  The boys had been rooting for a boy, but when they learned their new cousin was a girl Josh asked, "Well how long do we have to wait before we can take her to Legoland?" 

Underwater Family Reunion

The boys are back (see my grin?) and we went for a refreshing dip in Nana's pool yesterday afternoon and brought along the underwater camera.  Back to the fabulous chaos of everyday life.  Dan spent some time this morning helping Josh write a book and he said, "Summer vacation is officially over."  There's still more fun to be had, a camp out in our near future and plenty more dips in the pool!

Home Alone

The boys have been in Debra, Canada for the last 2 1/2 weeks and I've been working, playing and missing them a lot.  I thought I'd put together a few photos to prove that I did make it out of the Outside Inn's laundry room while they've been away.  

An evening trip to Purdons Crossing, basically a picturesque spot to eat some cheese with Gabrielle, Michael and Cathy.

A camp out at the campground with Tara, what a treat to sleep in the glamping tent.

A fun photo shoot with a mermaid both at mom's pool and the motel.

Ice cream by the pool, I was entering a contest on Instagram, but didn't win.

And evening full of art, music and of course a glass of wine for the First Friday Art Walk.

Some product testing at the new Three Forks Bakery and Brewery.

A trip to the local farmers market to stock up on cheese.

Nevada County Concert Band at Pioneer Park.

Nevada City Summer Nights, which was far too loud for my liking, but the fire dancing group was pretty cool.

Downtown Nevada City one morning on my walk to the gym.

I have managed to eat well (a trip to Sushi in the Raw, Jernigan's, lunch out for Megan's baby shower), I've taken a few naps, made a couple of greeting cards, watched an entire season of Project Runway, exercised, worked a lot of hours at the motel (we'll skip the various dramas and headaches and say "It's July" b/c that covers it all).   

I spent a day last week trying to figure out why I felt off and decided that with the absence of the boys (big and small) that I felt off-balance.  Peg's line is that I'm the luckiest lady in the world to be married to Dan and I happen to agree.  Now all I need are for them to come home...  48 hours and counting.

slices of life July edition

July is truly a blur in my world, between the mayhem at the motel and some fun adventures on our days off I feel like I'm going to blink and it'll be September.  So while I'd love to document all of our summer adventures, let's just cal this the slices of life July edition and know that I've missed things and life will go on.  The photo above is the boys in the 4th of July parade, for more photos click here.

These photos are from the Children's Festival, a great Renaissance Faire for kids, click here for more photos.

Taking a leap into Lake Tahoe, thanks Megan and Dan for the fun afternoon on the boat.  We all tried water skiing.

And it seems that one of the main things to do in the summer is to go swimming at Nana's house, so the boys did some fun action shots.

There are more photos and fun, but for now that'll do....  the boys are currently up in Debra and I'm either busy working or busying playing....

Backpacking in Grouse Ridge

The boys are on a river rafting trip this week with my mom, so we had a 24 hour window of freedom from work related stuffola and decided to go backpacking.  We started at the trailhead for Carr-Feeley Lakes in the Grouse Ridge area (off Bowman Lake Road off Highway 20) and walked about 2 hours.  We were headed for Penner Lake, but there was a large group ahead of us, so we ended up turning around and walking back down the trail and ended up at one of the smaller lakes off the Crooked Lakes trail.  We've been backpacking before, but the two of us had a hard time remember the last time we'd gone together (Dan went backpacking with Wes in New Zealand and I went to the Mount Aspiring Hut with Jodi), so perhaps the last time the two of us went backpacking together was our summer road trip to Alaska in 2001?  Who knows, too long.  We're already talking about taking the boys along the next time.  24 hours in the woods with no cell phone reception is just delightful, especially when your expectations are to take a hike, a nap and eat your one pot wonder out of the pot. 

I'll drink my coffee with this view any day!