First Day of School

First day of school this year did not go how I would have liked to it to have gone but everyone got to school and I got to snap a couple of pictures. We got back from Hawaii Sunday morning on a red eye and we hit the ground running because school started that Monday. Being gone for almost 2 weeks, I had 1 single day to catch up on all the paperwork for all 3 kids, paperwork for Michael's school soccer and squeeze in his sports physical. Thank goodness that a local urgent care does physicals for $20.

With having to adjust to the time difference and over confidence that my body would wake up in time, I overslept and didn't wake up until 7 in the morning. I had to get everyone to school by 7:30. Yikes! Needless to say, we were a little late so I didn't get one picture of Mark at his school. However, I did manage to get our traditional "by the door pictures."

This little guy is in 2nd grade. His teacher is Mrs. Moan and I did not get a very good first impression of her, but it's only been a day or 2. Mark seems to like her and that's really what's important.

Big year for this guy. Please pray for me. He's a junior. He's got his learner's permit but has not even touched a steering wheel. He's scheduled to take his ACT in September and his SAT in October. He is going to be a busy guy this year.

I didn't get an individual picture of Matthew which I now really regret. This is a big year for him too. First year of HIGH SCHOOL! What?! He seems to like it OK and he's got a good mix of challenging and easy classes.

I love these three boys so much and I hope that they have a great year. Michael will have one more first day of school picture left. I know I've said this a million times but how did we get to this point?

They all a had a great first day and I pray for a smooth year of transition for Matthew. I pray that Michael finally matures a little bit more and takes school more seriously than he has. And for Mark, I pray that he will go to bed without having me lay next to him until he falls asleep!

Happy First Day of School!

Visitors!

My brother and his family visited for over a week and we had the best time. Mark was so happy to be able to spend more time with Ben. It's so great that they are so close in age so they can grow up together.

There was a lot of swimming involved during this visit, but we did get to do some fun things. On Friday, we just hung out at the house and the kids swam. M and I also got into the pool because it was so hot to be in there.

This little guy is a firecracker.

The next day, they decided to get into the pool right after breakfast. I love seeing these guys get along. They mostly like to play with each other, but like any other relationship, they also love getting on each others' nerves. But 90% of the time, they are best buddies.

Love these laughing faces!

For lunch, we decided to go eat on the Marina. It was nice until it got too hot. Haha!

This guy got cranky and fell asleep in the car on the way back from lunch. Nothing sweeter than a sleeping baby.

After dinner, they decided to get in the water again. See? Lots of swimming involved...

We didn't do much on Sunday so I didn't take any picture except for this sweet one of Alex and his Uncle. These two are buddies. Alex obviously likes him more than me...

Monday morning started out as a nice day. I went and had my morning coffee outside. We planned on spending the afternoon at Dove Pool so the boys can go on the slides, play in the pool and all that good stuff.

It was great for about an hour before the lightning alarm went off. We decided to pack it up and hang out at home the rest of the time. I'm sure there's more swimming involved at the house, but I didn't get any pictures.

The next day, we ventured out and visited the Dallas Arboretum and the Rory Meyers Children's Garden. We couldn't ask for a more beautiful day to be at one of the most beautiful places in Dallas. Thank you mid-summer cold front!

There were these bronze statues placed throughout the Garden to celebrate childhood. They were so life-like.

This is what I get for asking my brother to pose with his son...

Another beautiful statue and more colorful flowers...

This little guy relented and let me take a picture of him.

More statues....

This was my favorite statue of all the ones I saw.

We finally made it to the Children's Garden!

Then they wanted to get wet so we found a great fountain for then to play in...

I'd say they had fun....

Later that evening, Kho took Nicole out to dinner to celebrate her birthday and we got to keep the boys. They had fun playing outside.

Of course we had to take a little road trip to Magnolia Market! Thank you again mid-summer cold front for cooling it down to 90 degrees. We had great weather and the crowd was small for Magnolia standards

When we got home, we had some homemade cookies and this guy really enjoyed it!

On Thursday, we celebrated Benjamin's 7th birthday! I took him to pick out a toy at Toy Maven but he didn't find anything he liked so we drove to Target. He picked out the classic Rock 'em Sock 'em Robot.

Then we celebrated with cake after dinner!

For the rest of their trip, we just swam some more and hung out at the house. They left super early this morning. We miss them already.

California Dreaming' Part 3

On Saturday morning, Mark snd I drove M to the airport in San Francisco and then drove down to Hollister to spend some time with my sister and niece.

On our way there, we saw a cute little farmers market so we decided to stop and buy some fruit and some corn. Nothing beats fresh-picked corn. It was so yummy. This is one of the things I really miss about California. The area where we live is dotted with these little farmers' markets and fresh fruit stands. I hope they don't start disappearing.

The next morning, I woke up early and went out on their porch to enjoy some coffee before anyone else was awake. So refreshing that I can sit outside during summer without getting bitten to death by those dang mosquitos! Got a little bit of Texas with me!

After everyone was up, we went into town to have breakfast at this tiny little cafe called the Cozy Cafe. It was cute and the food was pretty good. 

We drove back to Morgan Hill at about noon so I can meet up with my friend Jill for lunch in Los Gatos. I've known Jill since we started working together at an advertising agency right after I graduated from college. So I guess we've been friends for over 20 years? Anyway, she's going through a rough patch in her life and I wanted to be there to listen. 

Later that evening, we took the kids to see the San Jose Giants. Michael and Matthew weren't really into it, but I wanted them to go out and be with family. It was forced family fun. They are definitely at the age where they would rather stay home and do nothing but I feel like it's my duty to make them do things even if they don't want to participate. Mark had a great time, though.

On our last full day in California, we went strawberry picking! We've been doing this every year when we visit California and I hope to continue this for as long as I can. I can feel that it's coming to an end though because the older boys were fighting it a little. Michael says he wasn't going to pick any, but he couldn't resist those yummy red, ripe strawberries. It was a beautiful day to be out there and because it was a Monday, we were pretty much the only ones there.

So delicious. I love, love, love fresh strawberries!

My brother made these. So good!

Later that afternoon, I took the boys to Santa Clara University because Michael wanted to grab a few things from the book store. It was a short visit, but we took the long way to get to the book store. We walked through the renovated Benson Center and I was very impressed. It definitely looks a lot better than it did when I was going to school there.

The next day, it was time to fly back home. It was great trip, but like every other trip, it was good to get back home. We will see you again next summer, California!

He wanted me to tie his hair up so he can see.

On a side note, Mark made these signs and hung on the guest room door at my parents. I just love how his brain works!