4th of July!

We joined some friends for a BBQ and watched a firework show! 

 

Just in case

 You need to hear the sound of the ocean and watch two boys play in the water.  It's a glorious thing.

This week

It was an exciting one!

Alison bought a car!!!

{Alison's in there...it's just hard to see with the reflection}

We celebrated with tacos ;). 

We are so proud of Alison's hard work to save up for the last few years to make this day happen.

We've made a summer bucket list and one of the items is to try a new coffee shop every week and rate them.  Downtown is full of different cafes and it's been fun trying them out.  This week we went to Camp Coffee and it has ranked supreme so far.  My coffee had roasted marshmallows on top!

Colin went to surf camp this week.  It's a good thing he already knows how to surf because there wasn't a lot of instructions going on, but he had a week of fun on the beach.

The Grant's drove through Oceanside and we were able to meet up with them at a park for a little bit.  Timmy quickly took to Colin and did not want to stop swinging with him.

Ben was hiking Mount Shasta and we worked on a Lego puzzle.

I love this sight:

Ultimately, Eli conquered the puzzle and I would say this was one of the most fun puzzles we've done.

 

Hiking Hot Springs Mountain

You know what the great thing is about having teens on summer break?  You can get up super early and go hike a mountain while they're sleeping in.

Hot Springs Mountian:

It was an easy 10 mile trail and we only saw one other hiker, which is just how we like it.

 

The White's visit

Colin's one request for his birthday was a day with Tolson.  Thankfully, the White's were willing to make that happen.  Actually, I think they were happy to make it happen considering it was 111 in Yuma and 8o here.  We met at the beach and the boys boogie boarded for hours.

We spent the rest of the day at our house.  The boys played games and games and games.

Who knew the highlight of this house would be sledding down the hill?

Tolson gave Colin a giant water fight set and they were quick to put it to use.

The adults basically spent the day talking and catching up :)

Which was fine by us, because these boys were busy having so much fun!

Colin's 13th birthday!

We are an all teen house now!

Colin requested eggs, bacon and hash browns for breakfast.  Then we opened presents before Alison had to go to work.

Ben took the boys out to lunch and to the exchange to do some shoe shopping.  Then we all went to Boomers.  First we played mini golf...Alison and Colin have never played before, so it was fun to finally play as a family.

It was a little warmer in the afternoon than we anticipated, so we got some lemonade.  Colin still loves his accessories :)

The boys played laser tag and then we all drove go-carts.

We had steak and potatoes for dinner and then Funfetti cake for dessert.  I love how timeless Funfetti cake is.

Happy Birthday, Colin!  I am so thankful for you!

Oceanside fun

Oceanside has a Sunset Market on Thursdays all year, but we learned this past week that in summer, it's like going to Times Square!  Okay, not really, but we did comment on how living in New York prepared us for navigating the crowds of tourists and locals all flocking to the same location. There are streets filled with a mix of food and craft vendors, along with several live bands playing.  We found some delicious food and Alison got a hoodie. 

Some people from our church meet at the Harbor every Friday in the summer.  I was surprised when all 3 of my kids asked if we could go.  The boys are playing football in the back of this picture:

I was even more surprised when the boys started boogie boarding together, without wetsuits!

We had a great afternoon with new friends.  And we even got to see Ben!  The Harbor is right down the road from work and he came surfing with a colleague.  Then we all went to In-&-Out...just a typical SoCal day that I am not complaining about :)

 

Last day of school pictures

Done with 9th and 7th grade!

The funny part of Colin's picture: if you look closely, his certificate says 'Colin L Shear'.  I printed these certificates over a month ago, Ben and I both signed them and they have been sitting out for all these weeks, for everyone to see.  I finally got the pictures taken and it wasn't until I uploaded this picture that I noticed the 'L'.  Oops.  Not to worry, a new one has been printed, but considering it took me a month to take these pictures, I'm just going to let it be a funny memory.  

I now have a kid in middle school, high school and college!

 

Balboa Park

2016.  Yikes, that was a long time ago...yet it feels like yesterday.  We were living in Yuma and I brought the kids to San Diego to go to the free museums at Balboa park.  However, I had unfortunately misread the website, went on the wrong day and we couldn't get into any museums.  We made the best of it and rode the train outside of the zoo.

9 years later, we get to live in San Diego and my once little munchkin, is now in love with aircrafts.  So I have had on my calendar for months, the correct day to get into the Air and Space museum for free.  I have to say, it was pretty exciting to be back and to actually go into the buildings.

Right next door, was the Comic Con museum.  It was slightly disappointing, but the cosplay costume room was pretty cool.

The great thing about 2025; we now know about the Taco Stand!

 

Jordan and Amanda visit!

One of the things I love most about living in San Diego is people can have a vacation and visit us at the same time.  Jordan and Amanda rented an Airbnb down by the water and we got to spend time with them in between nap times.  In the morning, they could walk to get breakfast or stroll down the beach and then spend the evenings hanging out with us.

Saturday, we started off with some coloring.

Then Colin had his playoff game for basketball.  They got second place!

Coach took the team bowling afterwards and bought a bunch of pizza for them...I think that may be the highlight of the season for them :)

Sunday, met up for lunch and the girls made up a game where they would poke Colin and then run away giggling.  This game continued the whole visit and eventually got a song to go along with it.  I love how the little things entertain kids.

While Abigail napped, Jordan brought Grace down to the beach and we watched Ben and Colin surf.

Monday, we went to the zoo!  This was Ben's first time there and it was even more fun with little kids.

That night, we played the game that Jordan and Amanda sent me for my birthday and had grilled peaches and vanilla bean ice cream which may be my new favorite.

We don't have many toys left in this house, so desperate times called for the giant white board.  It did the trick for the evening, although it made me feel like my dad.  I remember him taking my sister and I to work with him and he would put us in a conference room with a giant white board and tell us to draw while he was in a meeting.  I remember it being fun and clearly it still is.

Tuesday we went for hike at Torrey Pines.

And ended the day with more fun at our house.

We had such a sweet visit!

{Thank you Amanda and Ben for helping make some of these pictures possible}