urbanbundle

it happened. on sunday. she turned 3. every year, i ask myself. how does this happen? you think i’d learn by now.

but really…how does it happen? it goes by so fast. when you ask her how old she is, she says “i’m free!!!”. i ask her a lot, because it is so cute.

we didn’t have a major party this year. just a few friends at the park. i didn’t even get good photos…too busy playing hostess.

i will be taking some big 3 year old photos this week. hopefully she will oblige.

happy birthday, my sweet stella. we love you!

when it’s 100° outside, what can you do? paint a tiny birdhouse…and some rocks.

we got a wild hair and planned a trip at 11pm the night before we hit the road. it was my birthday weekend and john wanted us to all go to the coast – both for my birthday and to get out of the 100°+ temps! so off i went on the interwebs to find a place to stay in san luis obispo or san simeon. much to my dismay, i wasn’t finding anywhere to stay…everything booked?! what was going on? ah ha! renaissance faire…now i get it. well, we decided to roll with it and go there too (i mean how many other times in my life will i get to see a jousting match?) after finding a place and booking around midnight, it was time to get some shut-eye for our big 5 hour drive in the morning.

i love san simeon. it’s one of the first places john and i went on a road trip when we first started dating. it has great memories. we headed to jade beach which is filled with tons of rocks. i love sitting and just watching the ocean and helping the kids find “treasures” on the beach.

after the beach, we went back to the motel and decided to take the girls to the pool. (i have no photos because i didn’t feel like risking my camera around the pool.)

the pool made us all hungry so we made plans to have dinner with our niece natasha in slo. i’m so glad we got to spend a little time with her!

the next morning (my birthday!) we got up early and decided to pass on the continental breakfast at our motel – how do they get pastries to be that color? i swear they had turmeric in them – they were yellow! anyway…natasha also works at a great cafe, sally loo’s. so, off we went and had breakfast there with jessie! our other lovely niece – so great to see her too! i’m so glad those girls are doing well and enjoying their college life. we miss you though!!

now, the “ren faire”. wow, such great people watching. this is a total lifestyle choice for some. again, i didn’t get a ton of photos (too busy watching the kids.)

we had a great time – i think the kids really enjoyed it. they each got to ride on a horse (we were informed numerous times that the horse stella was on was NOT a pony but a miniature horse – well maybe you should take down your “pony rides” sign!)

anyway we also watched belly dancing and a jousting match. stella fell asleep in the stroller, so i didn’t get up close to see the jousting, but john took anya up close and she loved it!

it was a fun weekend (except the driving part) and i’m glad we are so spur of the moment sometimes!

the girls begged and begged to make chalk paint again.

so, off we went to the dollar store for our supplies:

corn starch
plastic cups
foam brushes
food coloring (which i already had)

to make chalk paint, just use equal parts corn starch and water (i used 1/4 cup of each) and mix them in a plastic cup. then add as much food coloring (the cheap drops work just fine) to make the colors you want. i made basic rainbow colors.

pretty!

i love the way the blue turned out.

i just put the kids in their swim suits and let them go to town. it seriously occupies them for over an hour. and don’t worry, it totally washes off – everything. i have the pool nearby for them to wash off in (and to cool off in this 100° heat!)

we sat outside and had snacks and painted. what a relaxing afternoon…

ah yes…so relaxing. i won’t mention the part about me walking in the house to bring my camera and iphone inside and my girls decided to get out the hose and spray the entire table (where my camera would have been sitting) and spray the back door – which is a screen – which means the water went all over the kitchen and i slipped and fell on my knee on my way outside.

oops…did i say that outloud?

yesterday was father’s day. we took john out to one of his favorite places…lucky cafe (it’s total greasy spoon and soooo yummy!) of course, i forgot my camera. but, after breakfast, we headed back home to get our camera gear together and head out to a place we’d never been to. i love those spur of the moment road trips.

the destination?…mare island. this is a former naval shipyard – in fact, mare island was the nation’s first naval shipyard on the west coast, established in 1854 and ultimately closed in 1996. that’s your history lesson for the day!

it’s a photographers’ dream. in fact, the few people we saw meandering around there had cameras in their hands as well. so many great buildings and bold colors and peeling paint (my favorite!). here’s a little glimpse into our day…

anya was a good model this day. very cooperative!

stella on the other hand would give me about 3 seconds and then run up to ask to see her picture. she loves looking at the photos right after they are taken. she’s so my kid!

i just love the colors there. it’s very inspiring!

these barrels might have been my favorite.

and some photos with daddy

it was a great day. mare island is in vallejo, ca. if you live nearby or are visiting the area, i highly recommend it. there are tons of areas that are off limits, but there’s plenty that isn’t and you will have a blast snapping away – it’s one of my new favorite places to take photos now!

so, this week is the end of my time watching our neighbor’s son, jackson. i pick him up from school and watch him in the afternoons. he’ll be in summer camp at the ymca so i won’t be taking care of him after friday. it’s bitter-sweet in that i think it’s hard to have another kid in your house nearly every day – it sort of messes with our daily routine and it makes getting things done a  little more difficult. but on the flip side, i will really miss these moments:

they came up with their own names.

“canaskit cat”:

and “storm hero”:

together, they are super tough…

…well, they tried anyway.

have fun at camp, jackson. be sure you only use your super powers for good and not evil.

thanks to megan over at whatever, i have started the first “summer list.” i think it’s a fantastic idea and the girls really enjoyed helping create their summer, so to speak. we have some busy days ahead of us, but i’m so excited to start crossing off some of these fun activities!

it’s really happening. she’s moving on to “real” school. it started sinking in when i registered anya for kindergarten last month. it hit even harder at parent orientation the other night. her preschool graduation was today and it was so bittersweet. i’m so looking forward to her finally getting to go to kindergarten. she’s been asking about it since her 5th birthday (she missed the age cut off by 1 week in our school district.)

how did we go from this…

to this…

she will always be my baby.

now we get to enjoy the summer before our crazy schedule begins in the fall!

i really loved taking my nieces maternity photos and thought the theme at iheartfaces this week would showcase some of my favorites from the day. i hope you enjoy. be sure to check out all the other amazing entries by clicking on the link above!

we took a trip to the zoo yesterday. it was crazy with all the kids we met up with, but still fun. i brought my camera in hopes of getting some photos but no such luck. i was busy playing “where’s my kid” and couldn’t spend any time looking through a lens. oh well. the two photos below are my failed attempts at trying to get my girls to take a photo together…as kangaroos. fail. i tried.