Floaters

I took the girls to the pool Saturday and they ended up spending most of their time floating

Scooter Girl

 Miss Abigail LOVES her scooter. And now enjoys riding it to/from school each day!

The boys on our block ride as well, so it was a challenge for her to take it on and keep up with them, but she begged us and did it with success!

Maddy Playdate!

 Maddy had her first Monterey playdate!

This is her friend Zoha who she adores! And vice versa!

She is loving school three days a week, and Zoha is in her class.

Yard Improvements-SUCCESS!

 Mike worked really hard over the last few weeks to improve our mini yard!

He laid down sod and mulched the side planter!! This grass photo is two weeks old, but the grass took 100% and is thriving! So much better than the dirt mess that was there before!!

Evening at the Aquarium

The Monterey Aquarium hosts a lot of fun events.

As members its nice to take advantage of the non-tourist ones!!

For the summer they are doing evenings with late hours from 6-8pm.

They have a no-host bar with cocktails, and live jazz music. And last night we caught a winery doing free samples! So we got to drink and watch the fish!!

The place was practically empty, and we got to see so many things without rushing around crowds.

 Maddy is such a goof ball, she now lays down in the giant room with circulating fish to watch them.....lovely......luckily the place was empty!!

 Abby's favorite of the night was the jellyfish exhibit!

Gone Fishin'

Mike surprised the girls last week with their very own (princess, light-up) fishing rods!!

I'm not sure they cared if they actually caught a fish, but they were excited to try.

So Saturday morning Mike took them to the pond down the road for a test run!

Gorgeous morning.....but no fish :( They will be ready for the next time!

I think Mike was happy to share his love for fishing with them!!

Old Friends

My closest friend and college roommate Cailin and her kids (Connor 18 mos, and Sienna 3-1/2) came to visit this past weekend. We haven't had a weekend to catch up since we moved in, so the timing worked and we took advantage of it. She came down with the kids for a short visit. We live close enough now, I hope to see her more often!!

 Mike graciously entertained the 3 big girls at the house, so Cailin and I could escape with Connor to our local wine club taste room for some drinks!!

 Connor was such a love!! Almost makes me want another.......JUST KIDDING!!!!!

 Sunday we took the kids for a picnic lunch to the park down the hill.

All four of them got along so nicely.

Date Night

Mike and I got to go on our first official Monterey date night!

We got a sitter, and tried a place in downtown Monterey, and had dessert at a Crepe restaurant after.

Fun night out! As a bonus, the Pebble Beach "Concours d'elegance" famous car auction was going on all weekend, so we got to see some interesting and jaw dropping cars everywhere we went.

MotorGirl

The girls enjoy trying on Mike's motorcycle helmet.

Maddy's size, with the large helmet always makes me laugh. 

She gets quite the kick out of it!!

Soccer!!

Abby is on our neighborhood kids soccer team. They are the youngest group, mostly made up of those who have never played, ages 5-6.

She has refused to practice soccer with us on the field in front of our house, but FINALLY overcame her nervous, shy side and fully took part in her first team practice this past Friday. 

This is her first time playing a sport!!

 

These are the great moments!! A smile and some action.....

 Then there was the typical nose-picking, fussing with her pants antics that drove us nuts from the sideline.....

 All in all she had a great first practice. They practice weekly in August and games start on Saturdays in September!!

Lessons learned for practice #2:

*She needs hair clips or ponytails to keep her hair out of her face

*Tuck her shirt into her shorts

*And a well lubed nose of Vaseline to prevent picking....uggghh

Family Game Time

The girls love their board games! Memory is a favorite!!

First Day of Preschool

Maddy started preschool today!!

She was SOOOO excited and talked about it nonstop all weekend in anticipation.

Her school is right across the street from our house. She will go Mon/Wed/Fri 8:30-11:30

Can't wait to hear how her 1st day was when she comes home!!

Ballet Time

This BIG girl started ballet this week.

She was very excited,but a bit out to lunch during the class.

All she wanted to do was hang on the bars and be silly!! Typical Maddy

Hopefully the teacher gets on track and makes it interesting enough for her to take part.

Nonetheless she was SUPER CUTE in her ballet outfit.

Look who started Kindergarten!!!!

Abby started Kindergarten this past Wednesday August 7th 2013

She was SUPER excited to start this new chapter (and so were we!!!)

Her and dad all dressed and both ready for their school day!!

She goes full days 8am-2:25pm (Wednesdays are early release at 12:50pm)

 First day....waiting on her number to enter the class

 In front of her classroom

Watsonville Strawberry Festival

Last weekend we visited the Strawberry Festival

Face painting....and every type of strawberry filled food you could imagine!

 Strawberry Popcorn!!

Garbage Truck Excitment

Maddy is starting to become fascinated by the silliest things.

Lucky for her the trash is picked up weekly!!

She loves watching the trash truck come through our alley now.

Wine Tasting Afternoon

Last Friday Mike's sister Bonnie was in town for a day/night, so she took Abby to the aquarium.

Mike, Maddy and myself headed down the street to our local wine tasting room where we are members and did our first tasting. Family style!! Even with a kid in tow it was surprisingly enjoyable!!

And you couldn't beat the view of the bay!

We saw whale spouts, otters, birds and more!

Monterey Visitors!!

Week before last my Aunt Arlene and her boyfriend Mark were here to visit and explore Monterey.

This was us after a night out to a great Mexican restaurant. The owner came around and gave the girls these great glasses!!