Golf Cart!!

Nick would do this ALL DAY if he could. I kid you not. Here he is going on one of a bazillion golf cart rides on our recent vacation (see previous posts).



In a few years, we can just send him off on his own, right????

Long Beach Aquawarum

Nope, not a typo. That's how Nick pronounces aquarium. The weekend before our vacation, we headed down to the Long Beach Aquarium. Not a bad spot - certainly no Sea World or Monterey Aquarium, but it was still fun. Best of all it had some misters outside and was air conditioned inside. This was very nice given how hot it was that weekend.

Didn't take too many pictures, but HAD to get a picture of a puffin for Grandma Alice!!


The aquarium had those cool walk-thru tunnel tanks where you could get up close & personal with the animals. Here is Nick observing a sea turtle.


Outside by the misters (ahhhh). Nick driving the boat.


The also had a decent shark exhibit. I was able to stand up close to the tank for about oh, one minute, maybe, before I had to step away to prevent heart palpitations. Yes, I have an irrational fear of sharks. Yes, I know it's stupid. But it's not my fault. I blame my brother for tormenting me as a child with the Jaws theme & telling me there were sharks under my bed. They really are awful and we should stay as far away as humanly possible. God save me if Nick wants to learn to surf.

Ah, this is the life!

Or so Nick said during our vacation up to the Great Northwest. Yep, we were sitting around the dinner table up in Yaak, Montana when all of a sudden he whips out "Ahhh, this is the life!" I have no idea where he got it, but he was quite correct. I mean, if this is what you got to look at every day when you were eating your lunch, that'd be pretty cool, no? (click on the picture to get the full effect)


He now says "I see does and fawns and bucks and deers" - so cute.


As with his last trip last summer, Nick loved feeding the deer "corns" - he ran back and forth a number of times to make sure that corn pile was plentiful.


Here he is getting ready to go for a walk. Lucky guy - we brought the stroller with us so his "walking" was more like this: walk for a bit, climb in the stroller, declare "Hey! There's a rock!!", climb out of stroller, get rock, put rock in stroller basket, climb back into stroller, repeat. And considering all the roads and trails we were on were dirt... there were a LOT of rocks.


We drove and then did a short hike down to Savage Lake. Nick loved throwing rocks and sticks into the lake. Or as he was calling it, pond.


Grandma Alice surveying the rock-throwing.


Grandpa Bop surveying as well...


Digging in the mud. Thankfully he hasn't quite gotten into the full mud excitement yet, but I'm sure it's coming.


He was trying to skip rocks like Daddy. He soon got the arm motion down, but not the finesse yet.


Nick really wanted to put the "Big Stick" in the lake - it was tough, but he got it in!


One of Nick's favorite activities was helping Grandpa Bop work on the wood shed. Here they are getting ready to "work". Looks like Nick is checking his measurements while Grandpa Bop patiently waits.


Measure twice, cut once...


No one was hurt in the filming of this picture... He actually did really well in hammering. Hit the nail on the head every time and used enough strength to get it into the wood.


After working on the shed, time for happy hour on the swing.


Visitors during happy hour. Click on the picture to get the full view - a couple of bucks with a nice rack.


This picture kills me. Looks like he getting ready for a runway shoot or something. Strike a pose...


Total old man look - all hunched over. I have no idea why. But this is how many of our walks went. We were still on the driveway!!


It was a great trip. A little cold, but that was a relief given the hot past few weeks we had at home before we left. We also went to visit Uncle Jerry & Aunt Lou Ann at their house in Liberty Lake. They live on a golf course and have a golf cart that they use to head to the clubhouse, etc. Nick LOVED it. Spent most of the late afternoon & evening being driven around by various people on the cart. He also spent time on the practice putting green working on his short game. He wanted to hit the balls in the lake (there is a driving range on the course & the balls go into the lake). But since I told him if we hit them in the lake, we can't get them back, each time he went back to the driving range, he said "No, no hit in the lake!!" He'll be a pro in no time!!

We partied like it was 1929!!!

Last weekend the D-tell's hosted a fab (if I do say so myself) party at Chez Desotell. We called it the "Mutt Party" because we really had a hodge-podge of reasons why we threw the party (aside from the obvious one that it's just fun!) Our wedding anniversary was August 13, we closed on our first house that same day, our house was built 80 years ago and it's summer, so why not? To go with the fact that our house was built in 1929, we decided to make it a 20's theme and asked people to come dressed up. We, of course, had plenty of food and PLENTY of cocktails - I mean, you can't have a 20's party without some hooch...

So here is the food spread... there was more in the kitchen along with the bar (no pictures of it this time, darn it!)


A close-up of the prosciutto-mozzarella-tomato-basil skewer thingies that I spent what seemed like forever putting together...


The hostess - it's hard to tell, but the dress is fun - layers of material, similar to a flapper-type dress. Alas, I do not have a picture with my shoes - I LOVED my shoes.


Here are the two of us - we bought hats for all the guys and beads & headpieces for all the ladies.


A great picture of Dina & Hillary...


Dina in her outfit... gorgeous dress!!


Scott, Betsy, Laurent and Hillary - note the appropriate martini in my great martini glasses!!


Betsy in her fab dress - perfect fringe for the party!!


Hill & Laurent - he looks like he's planning something sneaky...


So although it was a 20's theme, it wasn't just a reference to the 1920's. The invitation also said that you could dress up in something you wore when YOU were 20. So, here are Margaret, Jon and TJ in their "20's" garb. Jon & TJ both spent the majority of their twenties either surfing, swimming or playing water polo. So they spent a lot of time with a towel wrapped around their waist. And, yep, they were even wearing Speedo's. (Note the Bartles & Jaymes wine coolers - blech! They are still here in our house. Something tells me that they will continue to visit many houses in this area before they are finished...)


Mark & Susy in their twenties garb - love the side pony-tail!


We all had a blast - Nick was there & was having fun playing with Rowan & Riley until his bedtime. Then off to bed he went and stayed asleep for the rest of the night while all the adults enjoyed themselves!

Spoons are for chumps

Once again, Nick decides that spoons are really not necessary. Yogurt is nice and runny, so why not just drink it?


Gives you a great moustache, after all...


Tom Selleck, eat your heart out.

Pool Party!!!

Or, also known as, "How many people can we fit in the hot tub???" Our friends, the Pendleton's, bought a new house recently. And, to all of our joy, it has a pool & jacuzzi! Yay for all of us!! So this last Saturday we christened the house with what I am sure will become a regular thing as long as weather permits (and, hey, we're in Southern California. So weather will permit for a LONG time!!)

Nick has never been in a pool before, so I wasn't sure how he'd handle it. Especially given his introduction to the ocean (see Fourth of July post below). But, after a little hesitation, he took to it like, well, a fish to water! I won't say that he was swimming laps or anything, but he was certainly have fun with the toys, splashing, etc. He was one of the last ones out of the jacuzzi!!!


A water skateboard makes for a great drink holder!!


I was going for the "hide from paparazzi" look...


We can fit WAY more people in there, right??!!


So much fun! But I think I will need to invest in more swimsuits. Sigh. That is SUCH a fun excursion... not!!

Memorial Day BBQ

You're probably wondering why there is a Memorial Day posting in July, right? Well, just got the pictures from my friend. This was where Nick learned his bottle-opening skills as witnessed in an earlier posted video.

We went to the McMillin's house in Tustin and had a yummy BBQ. Lots of good food and - of course - beer. Here is the youngest kid of the group (Nick) with the oldest (Sean). Nick is just chillin' with his own cocktail...


Sean stole the camera from his Mom, Dina, and snapped a few shots of Nick. Sean & his brother, Evan, are so great with Nick - and Nick loves them too!


Here are all the ladies in the kitchen. From left to right, Betsy, me, Dina, Margaret, Christy, Bonnie, um-McMillin-family-friend-whose-name-I-can't-remember, and Anna.


Nick with his "cool" shades opening Mommy's beer...


And a shot of the two of us - we don't have many of those! And he's smiling! His eyes are a little buggy, but that's ok!


We do hire Nick out as a bartender now, just contact me if you need one!