Did I tell you we had a 90 degree day on Wednesday?? We RAN to the beach as fast as we could!! IT WAS FABULOUS!!!!! This is only the 2nd day I can say I got HOT sitting at the beach…we all got to wear our suites…the strange part was (not JUST the sun) that the beach was slim to none…the ocean had come up SO far into the shore that was only had about 10-20 feet to walk on…and even most of that had been wet sometime recent…normally the entire beach is dry as can be and we have an nice 50 yds of it! But none the less…we’ve had some pretty nice days here this week!! With only about 1-2 mornings of fog! This has got to be the Indian-summer everyone’s talked about!
The BOYS!!
What a FUN filled day we’ve had. Mark normally gets home Friday nights by 12:30-1 a.m. and because I AM a night-owl I end up staying up until he gets home. I got to sewing last night and he came in about 12:45 but I was ALMOST done with my 2 projects so we stayed up until 2:30 a.m. CRAZY!! Especially knowing our plans for that next morning…we are total geniuses, I know! The other reason I want to be far from sleeping right now is because I’ve run out of prilosec (don’t worry I’ve ordered more) I think I’ve been using more than just 1 pill here and there! THANKS BABY!! Anyway this has caused the worst case EVER of heartburn…I’ve even had to use the couch pillows with a smelly funk to help prop me up at night!! I did end up getting a small ‘hold-me-over’ box at Target…so I’m feeling better but still I REALLY almost died!
Saturday morning we jumped out of bed, Mark fixed us all a healthy breakfast (cream of wheat (MY fav.) while I jumped in the shower…we ate and took off for a day full of butterflies!! We took the kids to Pacific Grove and found a nice shaded spot to sit and rest until the 72nd Butterfly Parade passed us by. We were near the end of the parade so we had some time to kill…good thing teacher Mommy had teacher’s aide, DADDY grab a few good books!! The parade was SUPER cute and very fun!! The kids even got a handful each of candy!! Yeah, we did it…we FOUND a parade…a REAL parade with CANDY!! (Unlike the 4th of July parade!) And I’ve never seen so many butterflies and other creatures! So the history is for the past 72 years the Henry Brown Elementary school puts on the parade and throws a huge after party to welcome the Monarchs. Monarch butterflies migrate here every year starting the month of Oct. and stay in Pacific Grove throughout the winter months. We’ve been told think MILLIONS! We are going to check out the sanctuary (the same one we found empty about 2 months ago) before we head home. We saw many real butterflies today but most all of them were the first graders and Kindergartners all dressed up as butterflies! I’ll show a few pictures…it was SO cute! Our kids got a kick out of it.
A good spot to watch...
Ella's Picture...
Mark cracked up at this lady all dressed up with her kids dressed up too! Oh, I honestly think there were more people there with their dogs to watch then people with their children!!
SUPER CUTIES!!
Such a BEAUTY!
aren't they too cute...lil'butterflies!!
Now a class of Jellyfish! Creative!
U.S.A...U...S...A...Go America!
After this we walked to the elementary school and as we passed the fire station we saw that they were having a FUN open house for families…so we stopped there! Not only did the kids get to sit and pretend to drive an old fire truck, but they got to see all the equipment they use, hang on the fire pole from the 2nd floor to the big truck…they got a tour in the BIG truck, got to get in a real ambulance, and look into a real police car, and got coloring books and a badge sticker, but the fireman gave them each a COOKIE!! Keegan made that man his new best friend and we almost had to pull him away! It was super fun to have just stumbled across that!
COOKIES...
In the OLD fire truck...
on the pole...
the Ambulance...
the BIG truck...
We got to the school and it was HUGE! Not only were the kids drooling over the 3-4 play sets in the play yard, but all the bouncy houses and games to be played! We stopped long enough to grab a quick lunch…finish off with some cotton candy and hit those games!! And today was also a HOT kind of day! I think we got to 72 AND sunny with NO fog to be seen!
lunch...
then dessert...
Jumpy toys...
Ring toss...
fishing...
then play sets...
watch YOUR face...
My daughter really IS mine. She kept seeing the butterflies but called them interesting names. She’d get excited and scream, “Look! A Modern Butterflies!!” or “Hey, another Murder Butterfly!!” Then she’d just giggle at herself when we said, “Ella…Monarch…they are called Monarch Butterflies!” My poor poor child…she’s going to be just like me and have her own language…the good news is that she’ll be able to talk to me and I’ll understand just fine!
SO because of the nice hot sun we decided to skip nap…which is mostly normal for the weekends, and head to…THE BEACH! This time we went back to Ft. Ord to play. And boy did they play! Daddy even climbed up to the tip top of the highest sand dune! I got to go back to my Bitter Sweet book and read it (no Carlie…I’m not done…I don’t get much time to read…and I have to choose to do it over other fun things like sewing!!) But I’m still very much thinking this gal IS me in a different setting! We got some nice sun today! We decided to leave and get some dinner out. As we left the beach I noticed something very peculiar…I SHOULD HAVE WALKED BY AND SAID NOTHING!!!! But silly me thought it was a moment to ‘teach’ SO…I stopped long enough to show the kids (all 4 of mine (Mark included) the dead animal…thinking seal or sea lion that had most of the decomposing finished and most of the bone structure showing. Once we looked closer you could still see a little skin at the bottom half still hanging on, but the whole thing was pretty much intact. Mark got WAY too excited…and before I knew it I’d OK-ed him cutting off the skull and taking it back with us. The part I want to PUKE to tell you is as we walked out to the car Mark tipped it the wrong way and…’STUFF’ started falling out!! I turned around only when I hear Mark gag out loud! THEN I SMELLED IT!! Let’s just say Mark almost had to choose between a nasty skull and his ONLY wife! One thing was for sure…it was NOT going in the van!! I have to admit I found it very entertaining that he almost did leave it! See this is the very reason we even have family adventures…cause I let the Nana come out in me…thinking fun and creative and it gets blown into crazy ideas by my husband and sometimes my kids! We got to the van…I had to consider the wind at all times and which way it was blowing to make sure I wasn’t downwind because I would just start gagging uncontrollably if I got even the slightest scent. OK, so back at the van I had the kids changing back into their clothes for dinner while Mark’s running around trying to figure out a way to take this home with us without putting it into the van…but he had strict orders to stay behind the van or else! Grissom was pretty much naked and told me he had to go potty outside like Keegan does. I laughed and set him next to the van wheel thinking there’s NO way he’ll really go…totally naked he stood there and he went! It was so funny! We were shocked! He ran over to me and said, “See, Ma…I goed potty!” As I tried to put him back into the van he kept yelling, “I have to go again!! Potty on the car!!” (I'll post pictures of the skull when it's completely cleaned/bleached).
Ok…so now Mark’s up on top of the van…I’m giving him NO thought cause now he’s just crazy! The rest of us are in the van ready for dinner and we had to close the van windows to combat the now hovering stench of rotted death! Mark gets into the van and looks very satisfied with himself. I simply asked, “Where?” And he said, “Oh, I found my duct tape…I taped it to the top of the van!” I about fell over laughing! Hillbillies ALL THE WAY BABY!! I told him I just to drive to give us some fresh air. We hit a stop sign near the shoreline and I noticed way too many seagulls flying over the cars and about freaked out, “Mark!! We are CALLING all the birds to come swooping down to this thing as we dive around town!! You’ve got to let it go!!” He laughed and explained that he found a bag in which he put the skull in and THEN taped it to the van! Now I was just super proud of him! That’s my man!!
We went to a new restraint just so the regular places we go to wouldn’t see our stink. It was called Henry’s BBQ…plain and simple, a little hole in the wall place. We’d totally discredited this place when I was told that they served dogs too…I was NOT going to sit at a table next to a dog eating with its owner. This is gross…but not surprising out here. BUT we found out that they only allow dogs to be on a leash under the tables on the patio, so we decided to give it a go! And OH, boy…it was awesome! They kept bringing us free food! Mark had these ribs…I got Hawaiian BBQ…Keegan got the GIRL-cheese, Ella a huge bowl of Clam Chowder…and Grissom got a ¼ of a BBQ Chicken. They brought us out these BBQ tip things (on the house) Mark went nuts…you would have thought we hadn’t eaten in a month! After our meal they also brought us out 2 small portions of their bread pudding. I’m not so much a bread pudding kind of gal…but holy yum! IT WAS GOOD!! So this is a place we are glad we didn’t find earlier cause we’d have been eating there WAY too much. I had to hold my breath as we RAN to the van, jumped in and headed home.
The assignments when we got home, the kids = Jammies and teeth…Mommy = get the kid in bed and pick up after our mad rush out the door earlier that morning…Daddy = boil that stupid head!
So now the kids are in bed…the apartment’s pick up ready for tomorrow’s crazy day…and Mark came back as gitty as a 3 year old in a candy store with money to spend to tell us that it was boiling!! Did I mention that I made him stop at Goodwill and buy a pot AND he had to use the grills outside to boil it? I wasn’t about to let that happen IN the apartment!! Ha!!
Tomorrow’s plans are to hit the beach yet again after church IF the weather continues…we’ve been told a storm is headed our way sometime this next week…that shall be interesting cause we’ve yet to see what they call a storm! I’m kind of excited!
Oh, and in the van Ella yells out, “This is great…Mom’s given us SO many pets while we’ve been out here; we have Peanut at home, then the 2 frogs, then the starfish (which we killed!?!), and now a skull (which is NOT a pet!).” then she adds in a soft tone, “Mom, thanks SO much for letting us keep this cool skull, I can’t believe you let daddy have it…that’s so nice mom!!”
We’ve had a GREAT day!! Bring it on Butterflies!! I think that will be out last trip to Ft. Ord…I’m scared of what we may find if we go again!! AHHHHHH! And I was told it would be my boy CHILDREN that would bring home not cool things…NOT my grown-up husband!!
Sunday was started out yucky...a nice foggy morning with a steady mist. We headed to church with sweatshirts and jackets, but after church the fog had gone and so had the mist! It looked as if it were going to be a nice afternoon! So we decided to hit our last colored beach, The Purple sands beach! We'd found that this beach was not too far away, less then an hours drive south...BUT it was on highway 1...the puking highway! But we decided to go it anyway!It was a nice Sunday drive down the coast...the ocean was nice and calm. We almost passed our turn. It was an unmarked road to the beach probably the reason this beach is not covered with tourists! It was another curve side road back to the beach, but it wasn't anywhere near like the others. We parked, loaded daddy up with our beach stuff (we only took our bag). We came to the beach and I about fell over. I mean seriously...the wind was SO strong and heavy that it almost knocked us all over! BUT HOW BEAUTIFUL WAS IT!!
Mark cracked up when he saw the guy sporting the speedo sun bathing on the hillside...we know now that he was up there because that was the only place you didn't get wind burn! We walked around the hill a little to look for this purple sand. On the hillside you could see bits and pieces of what looked like purple sand, but nothing like a total color of sand. I've attached a few pictures have fun!
Daddy and Grissom headed to gather our 'purple' sand...
GET OUTTA MOMMY'S DRINK!! Why can't he drink daddy's!!
the calm...
Family photo...We are ALL into silloettes
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