*vacaciones

 A few days after returning from Nevada, we took an impromptu road trip down to Orange County. Ben is basically done with his dissertation, but can't defend until a certain committee member comes back from a trip. Matty was planning a big beach birthday celebration - it's always a bummer to miss out on the fun things going on down there, and Ben has some free time, so we figured why not just make the trip this time :) It's always so wonderful to be down there with the family just doing whatever. This time, however, really felt like a vacation. We went to a different beach every single day - the girls stayed home with Mike and Rosie a couple of the days I laid on the sand and read while Ben got to surf and just be in the water and with his brother. The first time they ran out into the water together I got a little lump in my throat - it's something he has sorely missed over the last 8 years and I really really wanted that job for him in Irvine :( Anyway, so thankful we had the opportunity to get away for an extra long weekend and so thankful for the awesome families we have!!!

***

Seriously, this lunch at Bear Flag in Newport hit the spot: good salty homemade tortilla chips to dip in poke + guacamole, smoked albacore tuna, cucumber salad...

The last day we went to Shaw's Cove in Laguna - every time we go here I always take a little hour for myself to walk along the path down to the shops.  So needed!!

Edie was a little star - so friendly and fun with her uncles and Lola + Grandpop.  And the cat, and Tula, and feeding the bird...  Basically she was in heaven!

first day we started at Newport:

Later that afternoon they body surfed at Victoria. 

It was gorgeous, I'd never seen the water so clear!

 The birthday party was at San Onofre. Some of Matty's friends got there early enough to reserve this shady pavilion:.

Rosie made spam musubi - they were so good and such a hit that she had to hide some so the later-comers would get one :)

Vera has loved Melissa from the moment she met her :)

Ben pushed V out on the surfboard for a little while, but she got cold quickly and was probably a litlte scared. She spent the rest of the time in heaven flying this little kite:

Crystal Cove:

last day at Shaw's Cove:

kisses for Pop-pop:

*weekend in Mevada

[Mevada - Vera can't seem to get that it's Nevada :)]

Summer is pretty busy this year!!! A couple weeks ago the girls and I went to Carson to help host a shower for Liz - a fun, pretty, classic ladies' tea. We had smoked salmon + herb butter and cucumber + mint tea sandwiches, cookies by Gianna, delicious chocolates and these brown butter cocoa nib cookies that I've been wanting to make for a while. My mom brought out all her pretty tea cups, silver and china and cut roses for her garden.

I made this fabric garland.  I got a little nostalgic making it, thinking of all the different fabrics coming together: things I've made for other people, fabric handed down from Grandma Kay, things my mom made for the girls and now all for Liz' shower and maybe she'll use it in her someday-baby's room :)

We also got to spend some time up at the Lake with Sarah and her kids - the weather was just perfect and the girls had fun playing in the sand... We'll be back there soon!

We were also there for my mom's 70th birthday!

We went out to the Ranch one windy afternoon to see my Grandma.  They played in the toybox and then we had cookies and milk at the table - so fun to see my kids doing the things I used to :)  Such a nostalgic place for me - even the sound of the wheels on the gravel road brought back memories!

 

 lots of fun pictures of my Grandpa JohnD around -
I know she misses him as much as ever:

My dad is always popular with the little ones.  Edie calls him Papa Thith and my mom Mamo Lala :)  Here is Papa Sam pushing the girls around on the train...

Here was Doctor Papa Sam removing Vera's funny bone. He also removed her gizzard and her appendix several times. She could have played this all day!

Elena happened to be in town the night of the shower and we got to hang out for a couple hours. I hadn't seen her in like 6 years! Our kids got along great - they pretended they were ants and collected every single pillow ["crumbs"] from my parents' entire house and put them on the top bunk. 

*nearly summer

documenting life via my iphone:

We've been riding our bikes [Vera can ride the whole way!] to the library for story time or just to pick up books we've requested [I just finished History of Love - so good!!] This is the amazing view from the roof:

 

Playing in the "7 canyons" water feature thing at our park. Here we were inspecting Edie's owie. She was fascinated with the "blup" = blood:

playing in Jack's backyard: 

Edie and Graham finding rollie pollies (sp): 

Making lots of mojitos - the sole reason I planted mint in our garden:

 

Eating a popsicle on the front step is a good cure for post-nap grumpiness:

 

 Lots of playing with Eloise:

 

Edie had been getting up at 6:00 and a few times we would take a walk after my mate and her Signing Time - it is so nice and cool at that hour that I decided that would be our routine.  The next day she slept until almost 7:00 and has been inconsistent almost every day since which makes it a little more complicated as Vera then wakes up. Anyway I will find a way to make our early morning walks work...

We all rode our bikes to the first Farmer's Market this morning - this is Edie fascinated by the man playing the piano-on-wheels.  He was playing "I'm always chasing rainbows" which Ben said was really nostalgic as they used to listen to his neighbor play it when he was little.  He even got a little choked up :)  The market was fun - a nice coolish day.  Ben got a pulled pork sandwich [which he actually regretted a little since we finally just finished leftovers from the graduation party], Vera got a snow cone and I got a Venezuelan empanada.  Edie ate chips and lemonade [bad mom!]. We also got some arugula which I'm making into a pesto tonight.  Not a bad start to summer!

*sounding out

Vera has been writing notes, lists and stories lately - sounding out most of the words.  I love it!!  What a fun stage this will be - finding her creative little notes strewn about.  Can I repeat myself and say I just love watching my kids learn and discover new things.

strawberries:

A dream she had: "Once upon time I was at ballet class with Mimi and Sam and Miss Kim"

on the back of a picture: "Mimi and Sam's birthday" [I think I told her how to spell and]

*

Well Vera had her last day of preschool last week! We really loved her creative arts school and the close little community of friends and teachers she had there.  She is really proud to be done and moving on to kindergarten - in fact she thinks the younger kids are still going every Tuesday/Thursday and can't seem to grasp that everyone is out for summer.  Goodness it really is crazy that she'll start kindergarten in the Fall!! I even just got her a little pottery barn backpack on sale today :)  It's just amazing watching a child grow and learn. 

 

Amelia wanted her horse in the picture :)

 

First day of school back in 2010! 

*el juego

One of my most favorite things in the world being a mom is to watch my kids quietly playing in their own little world.  It makes my heart swell :)

Edie kept herself busy here putting puppy and other things in the backpack - moving to another room, taking them out, repeating, etc. She had some little agenda going on in her sweet little head.

Vera played with this teeny tiny hippo all day which was the prize inside a chocolate kinder egg.  She'd hoped for a fairy, but loved this little hippo. She cuddled it and put it to sleep and made a leash for it, took it on our memorial day picnic, bathed it and reluctantly let Edie hold it a couple times. It's just so magical seeing a child's imagination at work!

*Edie lately

Just wanted to note down what Edie is into lately - she's cracking us up.

:: unzipping couch cushions/pillows and hiding stuffed animals and pajama pants in them
:: finding ants and not-so-gently picking them up with her little pincher grasp, exclaiming ANT! biiiiig ANT!
:: carrying around Vera's little backpack with puppy inside, exclaiming MY backpack!
:: biting, scratching, throwing things across the room when she is mad. Me: Edie we do not bite Mommy! Edie: Oh.  Me: It hurts! Edie: Oh. Owie? *kiss*
:: jumping on mom+dad's bed
:: not into diaper changes
:: going AYA! [outside]
:: "draw draw" on things she's not supposed to.  Me: Edie do we color on the chair? Edie: yeah! Me: No, we do not color on chairs.  Edie: Oh. 
::"reading" letters she sees: Ooooo EEEEE beeee EYYYE GEEEE EYYYE
:: biting the ends off crayons
:: going ahead and doing almost anything we tell her not to.

*el domingo

At various points in the last couple years I've wanted to do regular "Sunday afternoon" posts. Aren't Sundays the best? The morning structured by church, home for a nice-ish lunch [well we used to do that... today I stood over the counter and scarfed leftover yogurt dill dip and crackers..] and then naps and the afternoon free to be together as a family. Especially in Spring - I mean it can't get any better. I took a couple first of the girls eating their popsicles and playing with the hose and decided I would take pictures the rest of the day to share here. Ben worked until after Edie's nap and then spent the rest of the day with us - it was really nice :)

I love to ask the question, "Who wants ____??" because Edie always replies "meeee!!!" no matter what you fill in the blank.  In this case I was asking if they wanted popsicles - I wish I had a video of how excited she was. Vera obligingly came to sit so I could get a picture of them:

They could have stayed here playing with the water the rest of the day:

...but we decided to go for a bike ride! We rode to Whole Foods which is just a little ridiculous... I mean in the "look how sustainable and cool our family is" kind of way :)  But I've always wanted to ride to the new store as it's not that far and I just love the idea of riding your bike wherever you need to go [sigh.. Missoula].

On the way back we stopped at the park for a while. It is always packed on Sundays which is actually kind of fun and festive.  Ben watched Edie as she went down the slide over and over and I sat on the [fake] grass and relaxed which was quite a treat. 

After dinner I planted our tomatoes, beans and beets and then Tia came over and showed us how to see the eclipse through binoculars. So fascinating! I had thought I would just watch it later on the news [lame, yes] but am so glad she stopped by.  I took this picture of her silhouette on the door:

A pretty nice day :)

*

The girls and I spent a good hour on the driveway yesterday - Vera riding her bike around pretending she was going to outer space and back, then sifting through a small pile of sand [something to do with her treasure map and captain hook..]. Edie was languishing after her 5:45 wake up and only a micro afternoon nap. I had a third round of yerba mate [needed after MY 5:45 wake-up call]. Anyway, just some everyday for ya.

*

A blog I follow is having a "pantry/freezer challenge" - motivating me to get through as many meals as I can using the things I have already. I was quite proud of myself last night being creative with what I had on hand. We had leftover salmon and pasta. I made a pesto with arugula, lemon juice, Parmesan, pine nuts, green onions, parsley + salt and then mixed it into the penne with some ricotta [from like 3 weeks ago - we always have remnants of this kind of thing that never get used] and some pasta cooking water. Yum I loved it and so did everyone else! It's a proud moment watching your 1.5 year old eat arugula :)

Tonight we'll have burgers - making a dent in the dozens of buns leftover from the graduation party! Maybe making this "public" on my blog here will keep me accountable and we'll save some money this month and get that freezer cleaned out...

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*el pescado

Rosie came to stay with us for a few weeks before and after graduation to help out with the kids, the cooking, etc.  Most of you know she has the magic touch when it comes to preparing food - everything she does tastes delicious and looks beautiful.  A few things we had that I want to remember are the sukiyaki, green curry, Ben's grandmother's rice pilaf, gobo [burdock root]...... I know there are others. 

The two that I really want to make a lot this summer, using things from our garden are these two salsas she got from Giada De Laurentiis - a citrus/parsley one with salmon and an arugula/parsley/lemon one with the halibut.  SO fresh and delicious, I just wanted to keep eating spoonful after spoonful.  I would really like to add more pescado to our diet.  Don't you just feel so healthy and smart when you eat salmon??  I definitely believe in eating good quality foods - I just try to temper the cost a bit having a weekly beans+rice dinner and as many 'leftover' nights as I can get away with.  Anyway we are having  fish tonight and I'm going to make one of her salsas using all the arugula and parsley I already have in the garden. I love summer eating :)

Here's the recipes:

Halibut with arugula salsa

Salmon with citrus salsa verde